A new visitor attraction at London's Marble Arch is set to anchor ambitious plans to "reimagine" the city's famous Oxford Street shopping district. The planned Marble Arch Hill visitor attraction, designed by architects MVRDV, is part of plans to attract people back to Oxford Street following the coronavirus pandemic. Considered Europe’s busiest shopping street, Oxford Street has been hit particularly hard by COVID-19 measures. Plans are already underway to diversify

Omega Mart, a permanent visitor attraction and art installation built by Meow Wolf, is set to open in Las Vegas, US, this month. The attraction, dubbed "America's most exceptional supermarket", is located at Area15 – an experiential, 200,000sq ft retail and entertainment centre – and will feature more than 250 art projects created by 325 artists. In total, Omega Mart houses more than 60 unique environments that include installation-filled rooms,

Design specialist BRC Imagination Arts (BRC) has been selected to design and produce the World Food Center Experience in Ede, the Netherlands. The attraction will become an interactive platform exploring the impact of the world’s food choices and the importance of sustainable and healthy food production. BRC's concept will take guests on a personalised journey that will "challenge what they know about how food is produced and consumed, worldwide". The

The Museum of Military Medicine in the UK has received planning approval for a new building in the city of Cardiff. As a result, the historic attraction will move from its current home in Surrey to a new flagship facility designed by architects Scott Brownrigg. The new building – set to be located in Cardiff Bay – will host the museum's comprehensive collection of archives and exhibitions documenting the legacy

Architecture firm OMA has revealed designs for an ambitious underwater sculpture park which will stretch across seven miles off the coast of Miami Beach, Florida, US. Called ReefLine, the park is being developed by BlueLab Preservation Society in partnership with the City of Miami Beach and Coral Morphologic. It will feature art installations located around 20ft under water, which can only be viewed while snorkeling or diving. Conceived by cultural

Football's world governing body FIFA has filed a criminal complaint over what it describes as "criminal mismanagement" of the World Football Museum project in Zurich. The project was first announced by disgraced former FIFA president Sepp Blatter in 2012 and the attraction opened its doors in February 2017 at a cost of around CHF500m (€459m, £415m). The 3,000sq m (32,300sq ft) museum is part of a larger development which includes

Disney has released the first visuals of its Star Wars -themed Galactic Starcruiser resort, which is set to open at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida next year. The ambitious new attraction will offer accommodation in hotel 'pods', which are part of a new type of "ultra-deep immersion" experience into the Star Wars universe. Each guest will be able to become the hero of their own adventure during a two-day,

Shrewsbury Flaxmill Maltings, one of the most important buildings of the UK's industrial past, is to be restored and redeveloped as a heritage visitor attraction. Built in 1797, the building is known as the "grandparent of the modern-day skyscraper", due to its pioneering cast iron frame, which was the first of its kind in the world and paved the way for the development of skyscrapers. It operated as a flax

Architects AZPML and UKST have secured the commission to design the Korean Museum of Urbanism and Architecture (KMUA), a £31.4m project in Sejong, South Korea. The competition was organised by the National Agency for Administrative City Construction (NAACC), which is looking to establish a museum exploring the history and the development of the built environment across the country. With a total floor area of 17,050sq m, the museum will be

A museum telling the story of the US Army has opened in close to Newington, close to Washington, D.C. The National Museum of the United States Army (NMUSA) is the first to outline the rich heritage of the oldest branch of the United States military had has been designed to serve as a center of education and as the Army’s symbolic "front door". Rather than focusing on battles or wars,

LA-based experience design studio, BRC Imagination Arts, is the creative force behind the new Glenkinchie Distillery attraction, which has opened today (29 October 2020) near Edinburgh, Scotland. The single malt distillery is located in East Lothian, a region known for its produce and has undergone a major transformation of its visitor attraction as part of a wider £185m investment by owner, Diageo. Glenkinchie will be known as the ‘Lowland Home

Designs have been revealed for the world’s first dedicated coral conservation facility, to be located at the gateway to the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland, Australia. Designed by Australian architects Contreras Earl Architecture, in partnership with Arup and Werner Sobek for the Great Barrier Reef Legacy, The Living Coral Biobank aims to secure the long-term future and biodiversity of corals worldwide. The 6,830sq m multi-function centre will have exhibition areas,

A new waterfront destination in San Francisco, US, would transform the city's South Beach neighbourhood. Designed by Heatherwick Studio, the project – called The Cove – would be developed on the site of three former piers which were destroyed in 1984. The Cove is based around a dramatic five-acre public park and has been designed to provide a new hub of activity for the city. The horseshoe-shaped building includes modular,

Warner Bros. has revealed plans to develop a Harry Potter studio tour attraction in Japanese capital Tokyo. To be located on the grounds of the Toshimaen Amusement Park in the city's Nerima ward, the attraction will become the second Harry Potter studio site, following the opening of the inaugural Warner Bros. Studios in Leavesden, UK. Since its launch in 2012, the Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making of

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

Following approval to build a £250mn wellbeing resort in Manchester, Therme Group has revealed plans to develop and expand its concept in other major UK cities. “Our aim is to ensure that a Therme Group wellbeing resort is within easy reach of 90 per cent of the UK population,” commented Therme UK COO, James Mark. The development plan includes projects – with a similar concept to Therme Manchester – in

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

Global wellbeing organisation, Therme Group, has confirmed its 28-acre wellbeing project in the UK is on track to begin construction. Set to open in 2023, the £250m (US$308.6m, €274.4m) waterpark and spa project will combine hundreds of water-based activities with wellbeing treatments, art, nature and technology to create a unique destination. Therme Manchester will feature a dedicated adults’ area with warm-water lagoons hidden among botanical gardens, therapeutic mineral pools, swim-up

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

Merlin Entertainments has announced that its upcoming Legoland resort in New York, US, will now open in 2021. The delayed opening of the theme park and hotel, which was originally set for a 4 July opening, is a response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. "Nothing is more important to us than the health, safety and security of our team, the partners we work with, and the communities we serve," said

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

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 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

The London Centre for Music, designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro, has received a funding boost of nearly £2m ($2.3m, €2.2m) for the next stage of its development. Announced in 2017, the vision for the centre is "to develop a world-class venue for performance and education across all musical genres". It will transform part of and be run by the Barbican performing arts centre and will be a new home

Developers have been given the green light to start work again on the US$750m (£647m, €688m) Nickelodeon theme park development at the Mall of China. Work was suspended as a result of the coronavirus outbreak, however, plans for the construction of the third and fourth phases to resume were approved following an inspection ensuring health requirements were met. Located in the Yubei District of Chongqing City, the Mall of China

The National Maritime Museum of China, designed by COX Architecture, has opened in Tianjin after a six-year design and construction process. Covering an area of 80,000sq m (860,000sq ft) on the waterfront, the three-storey museum comprises four long main volumes that are joined together by interconnected spaces. This design was inspired by ideas of jumping carp, corals, starfish, moored ships and an open palm. The volumes cantilever and fan out

The Central Coast Aquarium (CCA) in Morro Bay, California, could reopen with a contemporary and light-filled glazed building designed by RRM Design Group. The aquarium closed to the public in 2018, but proposals as part of a feasibility study suggest transforming the existing facility into a new 16,000sq ft (1,500sq m) aquarium. Concept drawings outline a multi-level building with full-height glazing in places, balconies and outdoor spaces. The new facility