A number of leisure projects have made it on the shortlist for The British Design Awards 2011. The UK Pavilion at last year's Shanghai Expo, designed by Heatherwick Studio; St Pancras Renaissance Hotel in London by RHWL and Richard Griffiths Architects ; and the Hepworth Wakefield gallery in Yorkshire all feature on the five strong list. The list also features the Plasma Studio-designed Creativity Pavilion at the Xi'an International Horticultural

The new US$2.9m Sturt Haaga gallery, which will showcase exhibitions of art, science and history, has opened at the Descanso Gardens botanical gardens in California, US. The new space has been five years in planning with funding being provided entirely from private sources, led by a US$2.1m gift local residents Heather Sturt Haaga and Paul G. Haaga Jr. The new gallery was created by restoring an existing structure adjacent to

West Nottinghamshire College (WNC) has unveiled a new £5m creative arts centre - Create - as part of a wider programme of development to transform its Derby Road campus. The new arts facility will provide media, music and performance students with facilities such as workshop and rehearsal space; a 150-seat performance theatre; and arts/dance studios. In addition to accommodating more than 200 students, WNC is also hoping that Create is

Japan-based architect Arata Isozaki and UK-born artist Anish Kapoor are to collaborate on a new mobile concert hall, which is to tour earthquake-affected regions in Japan next year. Under the direction of Isozaki, the creation of the Ark Nova venue has been initiated by the Lucerne Festival and will see works hosted in a variety of locations from spring 2012. Japanese concert and artist management group Kajimoto is also involved

A number of architects' companies have submitted their proposals for the Busan Opera House, to be built in the Busan Metropolitan City in South Korea. Swiss firm Kubota & Bachmann; New York, US-based WAHAG Studio; German company Peter Ruge Architekten; WEAVA Architects from Hong Kong; Portugal-based OODA; and Italo-Portuguese partnership CSR Architects are among the firms to have submitted their bids. The facility, due to open in 2014, will be

Canterbury's new £25.6m Marlowe Theatre - designed by Keith Williams Architects - will open its doors for the first time on 4 October, following a two-year construction project. Work started in 2009 with the demolition of the old theatre building, which was first opened in the 1930s as an Odeon Cinema before being turned into a theatre during the mid-1980s. Located next to the River Stour, the new-build Marlowe Theatre

A soccer school in Soweto, South Africa, and a tree hotel in Sweden are among some of the schemes to be shortlisted for the World Architecture Festival (WAF) Awards 2011. The fourth annual awards attracted a record number of entries, with more than 700 from 59 countries across the world seeking to be crowned World Building of the Year 2011. UK projects shortlisted include Holburne Museum of Art, Bath (Eric

Beacon Arts Centre, a new £9.5m arts venue currently under construction in Inverclyde, has been handed a £100,000 grant from The Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation (ALWF). The funding will go towards the establishment of a youth theatre providing opportunities for those from socially disadvantaged backgrounds in the Greenock area. Due to open in summer 2012, the new Beacon Arts Centre will replace Greenock Arts Guild Theatre - a venue that

A new home for Monaghan's Garage Theatre will be developed as part of a wider education complex earmarked for the Irish town's old Defence Forces barracks on Armagh Road. Jimmy Deenihan, minister for arts, heritage and the Gaeltacht, has awarded EUR2m (£1.8m) towards the new venue, which will replace the existing Garage Theatre opened in 1992. Monaghan Vocational Educational Committee (VEC) is heading plans for the new EUR35m (£30.7m) educational

Aspen Art Museum (AAM) in Colorado, US, has held an official groundbreaking ceremony to help mark the start of the work on a new 30,000sq ft (2,787sq m) home for the attraction. The US$50m (£30.4m, EUR34.6m) building has been designed by Shigeru Ban Architects and will be located at the corner of South Spring Street and East Hyman Avenue in Aspen. Construction work is due to commence during the first

Shakespeare's Globe has chosen architects Allies and Morrison to lead the design of a new indoor Jacobean Theatre, which is to be developed alongside the iconic London venue. According to Shakespeare's Globe chief executive Neil Constable, the development is set to fulfil Sam Wanamaker's bid for the venue to stage both indoor and outdoor performances. Allies and Morrison will work with reconstruction architect Jon Greenfield and the Globe's Architecture Research

A park celebrating the life of Jimi Hendrix is being developed in Seattle, US next to the city's Northwest African American Museum. Portland-based architects Murase Associates has been chosen to design the US$2m park, which is scheduled to open in 2012, marking the 70th birthday of Hendrix. Butterflies, guitars and spiral flowers are among the key elements of the design and the park will be decorated in lyrical stepping, stones,

firstsite, a Colchester-based visual arts organisation, has revealed that its new Rafael Viñoly Architects-designed home is to open its doors to the public on 25 September. An exhibition inspired by Colchester's history as one of the UK's oldest-recorded towns - Camulodunum - will mark the opening of the 3,200sq m (34,445sq ft) complex. Built at a cost of £28m, the new building will include flexible presentation spaces for visual art

A £1m renovation of Liverpool's former Neptune Theatre - now called The Epstein Theatre in honour of former Beatles manager Brian Epstein - has been completed. Liverpool City Council (LCC) contributed £750,000 towards the project, which has seen the Grade II-listed venue restored to its former glory and ready to host productions once again. The 98-year-old property was acquired by Liverpool Corporation in 1967 and shut in 2005, with current

The opening date of the new multi-million pound Jerwood Gallery in Hastings, East Sussex - part of a wider bid to regenerate the resort - has been pushed back until early 2012. Jerwood Foundation director Liz Gilmore told the BBC that opening the new attraction next year was preferable to a Christmas 2011 launch as "there's a lot of other focus". Designed by HAT Projects, the complex will incorporate more

Oriel Mostyn Gallery - designed by Ellis Williams Architects - has received the Gold Medal for Architecture at the Wrexham and District 2011 National Eisteddfod of Wales. The contemporary art attraction in Llandudno, North Wales, underwent an extensive revamp that led to the addition of two new galleries at the Grade II-listed property. The Gold Medal for Architecture is sponsored by the Design Commission for Wales and is run in

Demolition work has started on site of Redcar's new £8.3m 'Hub' for the creative industry, which will bring about the transformation of the town's derelict Palace Theatre. Surgo Construction has been chosen by Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council (RBBC) to oversee the two-month demolition phase, with construction work to start in the autumn. Newcastle-based xsite architecture are involved with the project, which will lead to the creation of a new

London-based property group Grosvenor has submitted plans for a new mixed-use scheme in Southampton, which is to be anchored by a 100,000sq ft (9,290sq m) arts complex. New restaurant space is also proposed as part of the multi-million pound proposals, which will see the development provide a "major addition" to the city's Cultural Quarter. CZWG has worked in partnership with Grosvenor to draw up the plans, which will feature a

Belfast's new £18m Metropolitan Arts Centre (MAC) remains on track to open its doors to the public "early next year", according to Northern Ireland arts minister Carál Ní Chuilín. Located in the city's Cathedral Quarter, the venue will replace the Old Museum Arts Centre and has received £10.76m from the Department for Culture, Arts and Leisure (DCAL). Facilities will comprise two black box performance spaces with seating capacity for 120

London-based artist Cecil Balmond has been selected to work with designer Charles Jencks on the creation of a new contemporary landmark to be located at Gretna, Scotland. The Star of Caledonia is the working title of Balmond's response to a design contest for "The Great Unknown" as part of The Gretna Landmark Project. Wide Open (South Scotland) will develop and produce the project for the Gretna Landmark Trust, which evolved

Engaging with Architecture Scheme 2011 - designed to support new projects that bring the public and architecture together - has been launched by the Arts Council Ireland (ACI). First developed in 2010 as a partnership response to government policy and ACI research, the scheme is now accepting bids until 21 July. Projects must take place by 31 March 2012. Waterford Festival of Architecture and Kinsale Arts Week were among funding

Plans to extend the Serpentine Gallery in Kensington Gardens, London, UK have been approved. The directors of the gallery chose architect Zaha Hadid to design and create the new gallery in 2010, and the extension is now scheduled to open in 2012. As part of the project, the Grade II-listed The Magazine building of the gallery will be renovated and extended to house collections. The project, to be known as

A new art gallery and youth hostel has officially opened in Berwick-upon-Tweed, following the completion of a £5m refurbishment of the Grade II-listed Dewar's Lane Granary. In addition to the exhibition space and 55-bed hostel, the six-storey property also includes a modern bistro; meeting and conference rooms; and an outdoor courtyard seating area. The Berwick Preservation Trust (BPT) led the restoration programme, with One North East and the government's now-defunct

Cambridge Arts Theatre has unveiled plans for Act Two - a £12m construction project that is to include a new foyer and performance spaces in a bid to safeguard its future. Proposals would bring about a series of improvements to the venue's front-of-house areas, with the potential for creating additional bar and catering income streams. A 200-seat studio theatre on the fourth floor of the property has also been proposed,

One of the largest public artworks commissioned in Northern Ireland - the 37.5m (123ft)-tall RISE - is nearing completion above Belfast's Broadway roundabout. The work has been produced by Nottingham-based artist Wolfgang Buttress and features two globes - one inside the other - to symbolise the rising of the sun. Rasharkin-based M Hasson and Sons has manufactured the 65,000 individual parts that comprise the globes, with construction work due for

A groundbreaking ceremony has been held to mark the start of construction work on a new home for the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, US. The attraction has confirmed that it has already raised US$508m (£308m) towards the total US$720m (£436.5m) cost of the Renzo Piano-designed scheme. Forming part of a public-private regeneration of Manhattan, the new 200,000sq ft (18,581sq m) museum building is to be constructed

The Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) in Sydney, Australia, has announced that it is to reopen in March 2012, following a AU$53m (£34.2m, EUR39.2m, US$56.5m) overhaul. Work started on the redevelopment project last August, with architect Sam Marshall and the New South Wales Government Architect behind the design of the new-look attraction. An additional 4,500sq m (43,438sq ft) of space will be created as part of the project and will