A US$300m (£183.3m, €231.7m) museum for the Oscars has come up against problems, with Los Angeles City Planning department expressing concern over potentially explosive gas pockets under the proposed site. The department has released a draft environmental impact report on the project, which highlights deposits of methane and hydrogen sulphide gas that could potentially harm construction workers and ultimately visitors. The planned Academy Museum of Motion Pictures – which will

As part of the London Design Festival 2014 (LDF), Zaha Hadid Architects will unveil a temporary installation in the John Madejski Garden at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A). The structure, named Crest, will be stretched across the pool in the V&A gardens from the 13 to 21 September, the duration of the LDF. Made of thin aluminium, the form will explore the relationship between different elements, such as the

Thomas Phifer and Partners (TPP) has been chosen, from a shortlist of eleven architectural practices, to design Warsaw’s new Museum of Modern Art and TR Warszawa Theatre, Poland. The New York-based practice has beaten other architectural heavy weights to the win the commission, including Foster + Partners and UNstudio. The new museum will be located in Warsaw’s Defilad Square, at the foot of the Palace of Culture and Science. TPP

A competition has been launched to find a landscape design team for the RAF Museum’s revamp. The attraction is undergoing a £23m renovation as it builds up to the centenary celebrations of the Royal Air Force in 2018. The winning team will help achieve the master plan designed by architecture firm Wilkinson Eyre in 2011. The four-phase renovation of the site in Hendon, London, is known as the Centenary Programme

Work has started on Copenhagen’s House of Culture and Movement (Ku.Be.) in Denmark, aimed at engaging the local population in a healthy and active lifestyle. Set to become a new major attraction in the Frederiksberg district, Ku.Be. will feature a range of facilities mixing the function of a community centre with exhibition and performance spaces, as well as a playground, park and health centre. Masterminded by ADEPT, a Danish architecture

Macedonia’s capital of Skopje is undergoing a major revamp, but some are calling the controversial makeover – intended to attract more tourists to the country – a “crime” against heritage and culture. Skopje, which became the capital of Macedonia in 1991 after the breakup of Yugoslavia, is trying to make a name for itself on the international stage, using eye-catching architecture to entice visitors from abroad. The €500m (US$656m, £395m)

The Le Rosey school in Switzerland is set to open its new concert hall and centre for art and culture – designed by Bernard Tschumi Architects (BTA) – on the 2 October 2014. After a long construction process, the new venue, constructed by BTA and Swiss-based Fehlmann Architects, will cover 8,000sq m (26,246sq ft) and boasts a number of features. A rectangular auditorium sits under the circular steel dome, with

Louis Vuitton’s museum project, designed by Frank Ghery of architecture firm Ghery Partners, is nearing completion almost eight years after plans for the €100m (US$132m, £80m) Paris-based attraction were first revealed. Set to open in October, the 126,000sq ft (11,705sq m) Louis Vuitton Foundation – designed to resemble “a cloud of glass” – includes 11 exhibition galleries dedicated to Vuitton’s private collection alongside a space for temporary exhibitions in addition

A giant inflatable turtle the size of a house has been installed in Australia's Sydney Harbour to mark the launch of an underwater art exhibition at the city’s aquarium. The 15m (49ft) long turtle is covered in a black and white coral reef pattern, with organisers looking to raise awareness of the Great Barrier Reef, which is deteriorating at a rapid rate thanks to a combination of pollution and seabed

Three years behind schedule, significantly over budget and with no lack of controversy, the Picasso Museum in Paris finally looks set to open. The French culture ministry announced the long-awaited unveiling would take place on 25 October, exactly 133 years since Pablo Picasso was born. Musée Picasso closed to the public in 2009 for the renovation of the 17th-century building and an ambitious expansion that would double the exhibition area.

After four years of construction, the House of Music, in Aalberg, Denmark, was opened this spring by the Danish Queen, Margrethe II. The centre, which was designed by Viennese architectural practice Coop Himmelb(l)au, is a combined concert hall and school. It features a 1,300 seat concert hall with rehearsal and training rooms arranged around it and a five storey-high foyer which acts as a meeting place for students, teachers and

Sydney, Australia, is seeing returns on the commitment it’s made to public art in recent years, announcing details of three prestigious works to launch the City Centre Public Art Plan. The works will be produced by Japanese architect Junya Ishigami, British artist Tracey Emin and Australian artist Hany Armanious. The AU$9m ($8.4m, £5m, €6.3m) initiative tops off Sydney’s regeneration programme, central to which is the new light rail project and

The RIBA and Bristol City Council have announced the launch of a competition to find an architect for ‘Bristol Arena’; a new 12,000 capacity, multi-use indoor entertainment space in the south west UK city. The site, located on a former diesel depot next to Temple Meads railway station, is currently owned by The Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) and is set to become part of a wider development, called Arena

With a budget of £215m ($361m, €270m), one might expect Tate Modern’s high-profile extension to be carried out to schedule and without incident. But a re-shuffle at the upper echelons of the project’s management, topped off with an admission that the budget will need to be revised, has raised questions from one of the UK’s Labour MPs. “There’s £50m ($84m, €63m) of taxpayers’ money in this project which is late

A new museum celebrating country music, built in conjunction with the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, has opened on the border between Tennessee and Virginia in the south of the US. Designed by Peyton Boyd Architects, the US$11m (€8.2m, £6.5m) Birthplace of Country Music Museum, which opens today (8 August) in Bristol, VA, has been in the pipeline for several years. The 24,000sq ft (2,229sq m) museum will feature several different

Hip boutique hotel chain Ace Hotels has launched its latest property in Los Angeles’ historic United Artists building. Originally designed by architect Howard Crane for the United Artists film studio, the 18-storey building opened in 1927 and was used as a movie theatre until 1974. Atelier Ace worked with Commune Design to restore the United Artists building and theatre. The exterior façade was stripped, cleaned and restored, ‘as it would

The new home for the Aspen Art Museum (AAM) is now complete, and ready to open to the public on Saturday 9 August. Designed by Pritzker Prize winning architect Shigeru Ban, the 33,000sq ft (10,058sq m) museum and gallery is the new home for the Aspen Art Museum, which had outgrown its old place of residence. As Ban’s first permanent museum in America, the backdrop of the building is the

The French government has announced that it will pledge €200m ($267m, £160m) for urgent repairs and restoration to the iconic La Défense Grande Arche, located in Paris’s financial district. Inaugurated on Bastille Day in 1989, the 20th century answer to the Arc de Triomphe was mastermind by Danish architect Johann Otto von Spreckelsen and completed by French architect Paul Andreu. Standing at 110m (360.8 ft) high, 110m wide and 110m

From a shortlist of six architectural practices, Goldsmiths College, London, has announced that Assemble - a London based architecture collective - will be designing their new £1.8m ($3.1m, €2.2m) gallery in South East London. Housed in Grade II listed swimming baths, Assemble’s design for the gallery will incorporate the original black steel water tanks as part of the new exhibition space, while creating new gallery spaces tacked onto the outside

To commemorate the centenary of the First World War, a monumental pillar of light was shot into the air last night, eerily hung amongst London’s famous skyline. Together with the nation's Lights Out initiative, which saw households and businesses across the UK extinguishing all but one of their lights at 10pm last night (4th August), acclaimed artist Ryoji Ikeda’s latest installation lit up a corner of Westminster and spread 15km

George Lucas’ legacy project – the US$300m (€220m, £179m) Lucas Museum of Narrative Art (LMNA) – has revealed that Beijing-based MAD Architects has been selected as principal designer for the project, while Chicago-based Studio Gang will work on the landscape. In addition, VOA Associates, based in Chicago, will serve as the executive architect and lead the implementation of MAD’s design. Pending approval by the Chicago Plan Commission, Lucas' 95,000sq ft

Aberdeen City Council is looking for construction firms to carry out a £30m (US$50.9m, €37.8m) revamp of the Scottish city’s art gallery. The local authority’s approved plans include the construction of a new rooftop gallery and the extension of the gallery’s iconic war memorial. “It's great to see the next step towards expanding the Art Gallery has been taken,” said council chair Dustin Macdonald in a statement. The council has

Brighton, UK's, Hippodrome looks set to enjoy a new lease of life after Brighton & Hove City Council approved plans to transform the 117-year-old structure into a cinema and restaurant complex. Alaska Development Consultants is behind the £18m plans and – having been advised by Indigo Planning – will bring the Grade-II listed, ‘at risk’ building back into use, based on designs from Russ Drage Architects. The proposals include an

London’s five-star Andaz Liverpool Street Hotel by Hyatt is the latest to embrace the growing trend of teaming hospitality offerings with the world of art, following the launch of its Room With A View project. The trend to combine hotels and art has also seen London offering The Beaumont Hotel – due to open later this year – work with award-winning artist Sir Anthony Gormley to create an iconic room

De Matos Ryan – a London based architectural firm – has been granted planning permission to go ahead with a £4.1m revamp of The York Theatre Royal, UK, while nearby Newcastle's Theatre Royal is also getting a makeover, albeit behind the scenes. After a large fundraising effort, the York project is now set to move forward with an onsite start date of March 2015 and a provisional completion date of

Rome’s long-awaited €250m, (US$340m, £198m) Cinecittà World theme park – designed by multiple-Oscar-winning production designer designer Dante Ferretti – will finally open its doors to the public on 24 July after a decade of delays. Conceived as Italy’s take on Universal Studios, Cinecittà World comprises 20 attractions, including roller coasters, dark rides and a flight simulator. Incorporating elements of science fiction, Bollywood, spaghetti westerns and many other themes from more

Roger Stirk Harbour + Partners’ have completed their £135m (US$231m, €170m) extension to the British Museum, London. As one of the most popular visitor attractions in the world, the British Museum is a defining institution and its new World Conservation and Exhibition Centre has been a long time coming. Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners (RSHP) won the contract for the extension in 2009 from a shortlist of top architectural practices,