Architecture and design news:
museums & heritage
Bjarke Ingels, Jean Nouvel and Kengo Kuma named as three finalist for Shenzhen Opera House project
by Tom Walker | 19 Aug 2020
The architectural competition to decide the designer of the planned Shenzhen Opera House has reached the closing stages, with three high-profile practices being selected as finalists. Those making it to the final list are Jean Nouvel Ateliers, Bjarke Ingels Group, working with Beijing Institute of Architectural Design, and Kengo Kuma and Associates, working with Shenzhen University Institute of Architectural Design. The opera house project is being driven by the local
Eureka! reveals new designs for Eureka! Mersey – construction to begin in 2021
by Tom Walker | 30 Jun 2020
New concept designs and visuals have been released for the Eureka! Mersey project – a £11.75m children's visitor attraction being developed in Liverpool, UK. The science and discovery centre is being developed by Eureka! – the national children's museum – in partnership with Merseytravel, the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority and Wirral Council. Designed by a team led by K2 Architects, the £11.75m science attraction is set to take over
BIG creates spiral museum for Swiss watchmaker Audemars Piguet
by Tom Walker | 07 May 2020
Swiss luxury watchmaker Audemars Piguet will open a museum celebrating the company history next month (June 2020). Located next to the company HQ in the village of Le Brassus in the Vallée de Joux in Switzerland, the museum has been designed by Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) and will immerse visitors in the manufacturer’s "cultural universe past, present and future". BIG won an architectural competition to design the Musée Atelier Audemars
Expo 2020 Dubai likely to be postponed until 2021
by Lauren Heath-Jones | 31 Mar 2020
Expo 2020 Dubai has announced that it will likely be postponed by a year as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak. Representatives of the event have been working in consultation with key UAE and international stakeholders, as well as the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE), the governing body for World Expos, to ascertain the impact of the coronavirus and determine whether or not to go ahead as planned. A proposal
Feilden Fowles to create National Railway Museum's Central Hall
by Stu Robarts | 26 Mar 2020
A team led by Feilden Fowles has won the National Railway Museum 's competition to design its new Central Hall with an elegant timber-frame rotunda. Run in partnership with Malcolm Reading Consultants, the competition was launched in September 2019, with a shortlist of five teams announced in February 2020. Proposals were sought for a £16.5m ($22m, €20m), 4,500sq m (48,400sq ft) centrepiece building to provide a new entrance space and
Google Arts & Culture offers virtual tours of museums and galleries during closures
by Lauren Heath-Jones | 25 Mar 2020
Google Arts & Culture has partnered with more than 500 cultural institutions to offer 'virtual museum exploration', following the temporary closure of thousands of art galleries and museums during the COVID-19 pandemic. An online platform designed to provide public access to gallery and museum collections across the globe, Google Arts & Culture uses the same technology developed for Google Maps Street View to enable users to 'walk' through world-famous galleries
Kengo Kuma and K2LD to create Singapore Founders Memorial
by Stu Robarts | 24 Mar 2020
Kengo Kuma & Associates, working with K2LD Architects, have won a competition to create the Singapore Founders’ Memorial with a design that "draws from monuments of the past and the context of the present to create a space for the future." The Founders' Memorial International Architectural Design Competition was launched in January 2019. It sought an integrated building and garden experience, with exhibition galleries, landscaped spaces and art installations, as
Musée d'Orsay announces major expansion plans following €20m donation
by Lauren Heath-Jones | 12 Mar 2020
The Musée d'Orsay in Paris, France, has announced plans for a major expansion project following an anonymous €20m (£17.6m, US$22.4m) donation. The project, called Orsay Grand Ouvert – or Orsay Wide Open – is thought to have been in development for a period of several months and has now been made public following the donation. A new wing and a 7,000sq ft (650sq m) Education Center, as well as an
Therme Group gets go-ahead for £250m wellbeing resort
by Tom Anstey & Megan Whitby | 04 Mar 2020
Wellbeing developer Therme Group has been given to the go-ahead to build a £250m ($325m, €287m) wellbeing resort in Manchester, UK, aimed at addressing the need for physical and mental wellbeing for all. Expected to open in 2023, Therme Manchester will cover an area of 28ac (11ha), with a 65,000sq m (700,000sq ft) main building that will house wellbeing facilities, a waterpark and botanical gardens. It will be designed by
V&A Museum of Childhood to close for two-year AOC redevelopment
by Andy Knaggs | 21 Feb 2020
Creating an "unforgettable first museum experience for children" is the aim of the V&A Museum of Childhood in London, which has announced it will close in May 2020 for a two-year, £13m (US$16.9m, €15.7m) transformation by AOC. The museum said the "reimagination" of its collections, galleries, building and public programme will turn it into a "world-leading centre of creativity for children". Creativity is a major theme for the planned renovation,
Carles Enrich Studio's timber scaffolding reactivates 13th-century lookout tower
by Stu Robarts | 18 Feb 2020
Carles Enrich Studio have created a timber frame for the ruin of a 13th-century tower in Catalonia, Spain, that not only helps to support it, but that also provides a means for visitors to explore the heritage structure. Located in the municipality of Puig-reig, Merola’s Tower was constructed as a lookout point, but is said to have been largely destroyed as a result of earth tremors in the area during
Shortlist revealed for National Railway Museum's Central Hall
by Stu Robarts | 14 Feb 2020
Five proposals have been shortlisted for the design of the National Railway Museum 's Central Hall in York, UK, which is scheduled to open in time for the museum’s 50th anniversary in 2025. Run in partnership with Malcolm Reading Consultants, the design competition sought proposals for a £16.5m ($22m, €20m), 4,500sq m (48,400sq ft) centrepiece building to provide a new entrance space and integrate the museum estate. It will house
Hollywood's Academy Museum of Motion Pictures to open in December
by Andy Knaggs | 10 Feb 2020
The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, which has been designed by Renzo Piano, is set to open in Hollywood on 14 December 2020 it has been announced. The museum will be located in the former 1939 May Company department store, now called the Saban Building, with a spherical building added. Renzo Piano said: "The historic Saban Building is a wonderful example of Streamline Moderne style, which preserves the way people
Tadao Ando-designed HE Art Museum delays opening due to coronavirus
by Andy Knaggs | 03 Feb 2020
China's HE Art Museum has postponed its planned opening in March due to ongoing concerns regarding the coronavirus outbreak in the country. The museum, in Shunde, Guangdong Province, is a private, non-profit art institution, devoted to collecting and exhibiting Chinese and global contemporary art. The 16,000sq m (52,500sq ft) facility was designed by Tadao Ando, and was due to hold a ceremony to mark its opening on 21 March 2020.
Seattle Asian Art Museum to reopen after LMN Architects revamp
by Stu Robarts | 03 Feb 2020
The Seattle Asian Art Museum will reopen this weekend after a $56m (€51m, £43m) renovation and expansion of its historic 1933 Art Deco building by LMN Architects. The project, which has taken 12 years from planning through design and construction, was the first major renovation of the 64,250sq ft (6,000sq m) facility since it was constructed. Most notably, preservation work has been carried out on the building and its Art
Contemporary Calgary opens doors following CA$25m transformation
by Lauren Heath-Jones | 30 Jan 2020
Calgary's Centennial Planetarium has reopened as a contemporary art gallery following a major CA$25m (US$18.9m, €17.2m) renovation carried out by the City of Calgary and Lemay + Toker. Called Contemporary Calgary, the planetarium – which is known for its brutalist architecture and imposing concrete dome – had been vacant since 2011, following the opening of Calgary's TELUS Spark Science Centre. It was put out for expression of interest by the
Denver Art Museum to unveil new OMA-designed galleries
by Stu Robarts | 28 Jan 2020
Around 10,000sq ft (930sq m) of new galleries, designed by OMA, will be unveiled on 6th June as part of a phased reopening of the Denver Art Museum 's newly renovated, Gio Ponti -designed Martin Building. The work is part of a project led by Machado Silvetti and Fentress Architects to update elements of the museum and to reunify its campus. By horizontally bisecting the museum’s original Stanton Gallery, OMA
Sea urchins inspire pod designs for new Buhais Geology Park
by Stu Robarts | 27 Jan 2020
The Buhais Geology Park Interpretive Centre, with a Hopkins Architects design inspired by fossilised sea urchins, has opened in the United Arab Emirates. The centre is part of the new Buhais Geology Park, which is located on the al-Madam Plain approximately 30mi (50km) from the city of Sharjah. Although now desert, the site used to be a seabed and has an abundance of marine fossils from over 65 million years
Studio Roosegaarde create glowing stone Holocaust memorial
by Stu Robarts | 22 Jan 2020
A temporary memorial for victims of the Holocaust, designed by Studio Roosegaarde, is on display in the Netherlands, with 104,000 luminescent stones representing each one of the country's victims. Levenslicht (literally "Lifelight") was created for the National Committee for 4 and 5 May, a Dutch authority for war monuments and memorials, in recognition of the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz on 27 January 2020. Studio Roosegaarde explained: "The
Construction of the International African American Museum is underway at Gadsden’s Wharf
by Stu Robarts | 20 Jan 2020
Construction has begun on the International African American Museum, which has been designed by Pei Cobb Freed & Partners to honour the site at which enslaved Africans were brought into the US. Initially proposed in 2000 and now scheduled for completion in late 2021, the 41,800sq ft (3,900sq m) facility is being constructed on Gadsden’s Wharf in Charleston, South Carolina. It is estimated that up to 80 per cent of
Plans submitted for one Europe's "biggest cultural projects"
by Stu Robarts | 14 Jan 2020
Plans for the £337m ($438m, €394m) Museum of London, designed by Stanton Williams, Asif Khan and Julian Harrap Architects, have been submitted to the City of London Corporation. Described as "one of the biggest cultural projects happening in Europe", the museum has been in development since 2015, with the Stanton Williams and Asif Khan-led team announced in 2016 and the designs revealed earlier this year. The facility is to be
Heneghan Peng Architects-designed Grand Egyptian Museum to open at end of 2020
by Andy Knaggs | 13 Jan 2020
The Grand Egyptian Museum, designed by Heneghan Peng Architects, has finally been given an opening date, with one of the year's biggest cultural openings now scheduled to open in the final quarter of 2020. Construction of the museum began in 2006 but was delayed by the 2011 revolution in Egypt. Around 90 per cent of construction work is now complete, though, and all of the planned artefact transfers to the
Olson Kundig's new Burke Museum provides space, flexibility and transparency
by Stu Robarts | 02 Jan 2020
The new Burke Museum of Natural History & Culture in Washington State, designed by Olson Kundig, opened towards the end of last year, providing more space and flexibility, a more transparent layout and improved climate control. The building was actually completed in October, but information from the architects has just been made fully available. The 105,000sq ft (9,800sq m) building, which is 66 per cent larger than the old building,
teamLab bring a world of immersive artworks to Macau
by Stu Robarts | 02 Jan 2020
Art collective teamLab, working with Sands Resorts Macao, are set to open a museum of immersive digital artworks in Macau, China, this February. teamLab SuperNature Macao is based on the collective's SuperNature concept, through which they create a world of interactive artworks aimed at blurring the boundaries between people’s bodies and art. The new attraction will be located at the Venetian Macao hotel in an expo hall covering an area
Hassell and OMA combine heritage buildings with new volume for New Museum for Western Australia
by Stu Robarts | 20 Dec 2019
Hassell and OMA have completed construction of the New Museum for Western Australia, which houses museum exhibitions, event spaces and public areas in a newly unified group of old and new buildings. Located in Perth, the facility combines four heritage-listed buildings with a newly created volume, tripling the size of the museum. Inside, there are eight new galleries, a 1000sq m (10,800sq ft) special exhibitions gallery, multipurpose spaces for programs,
Herzog & de Meuron to design museum complex on China's Grand Canal
by Stu Robarts | 19 Dec 2019
Herzog & de Meuron have won a competition to design a new museum complex on China's Grand Canal with the aim of the reflecting the river's importance in Chinese culture and to create a new gathering place. Situated in the city of Hangzhou at the junction of the Grand Canal and the Hanggang River, the museum will be surrounded by water on three sides. it will cover an area of
Gibbs Gage and KPMB transform Calgary's Centennial Planetarium into art gallery
by Lauren Heath-Jones | 19 Dec 2019
The Contemporary Calgary art gallery is set to reopen next month following the first phase of a $92m (€83m, £71m) transformation and expansion of its home at the former Centennial Planetarium, carried out by Gibbs Gage Architects and KPMB Architects. Known for its brutalist architecture, with an imposing concrete dome atop the main structure, the building is having its existing spaces renovated and a new wing constructed. The first phase
Moreau Kusunoki Architects to create cultural hyper-platform in Sydney
by Stu Robarts | 17 Dec 2019
Moreau Kusunoki Architects, working with local firm Genton, have won a competition to transform Sydney's Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences with a design aimed at challenging the perception of a conventional museum. The new Powerhouse Parramatta venue is envisaged as a multi-functional "hyper-platform" comprising seven flexible spaces that will allow the museum to host a variety of exhibitions and immersive experiences, as well as showcase its collection. Beyond its
Weiss/Manfredi to reimagine the La Brea Tar Pits
by Stu Robarts | 16 Dec 2019
Weiss/Manfredi have been chosen to lead a masterplanning project for the 13ac (5ha) campus of the La Brea Tar Pits, which is described as the world’s only active paleontological research facility in a major urban area. Tar Pits form when a type of naturally occurring petroleum leaks to the surface of the ground and its lighter elements evaporate off, leaving a sticky pool that can trap and preserve animals. Research
JKMM Architects to design new annexe for National Museum of Finland
by Stu Robarts | 12 Dec 2019
JKMM Architects have won a competition to create a new annexe for the National Museum of Finland with a disc-shaped, pavilion-like design that connects its interior with the museum's previously underused garden through floor-to-ceiling windows. The competition brief sought additional exhibition space and workshops, a new restaurant in the enclosed garden, improved accessibility and a new museum entrance. Called Atlas, JKMM's proposal was inspired by similar pavilion structures used in
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