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

The highest outdoor observation deck in the western hemisphere, designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF), has opened at Hudson Yards in New York after nearly two years of construction. Edge takes the form of a triangular platform that extends 80ft (24m) out from the 100th floor of 30 Hudson Yards at a height of 1,131ft (345m). William Pedersen, founding and design principal at KPF, explained that it has been designed

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

The US pavilion for Expo 2020 Dubai is to be designed by the experiential design and production agency Thinkwell Group and will explore "the exciting future made possible by American innovation, vision, and enterprise". The building will be designed in such a way as to appear to be moving at times and will house exhibits about journeying to Mars, the city of the future and 3D-printed prosthetics and organs. It

​ Wheeler Kearns Architects have transformed a decommissioned cheese factory in the US city of Bentonville, Arkansas, into a multidisciplinary space for visual, performing and culinary artists. The Momentary was opened at the end of February as a satellite location of the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, which is also in Bentonville. The 63,000sq ft (5,900sq m) facility was conceived with the aim of providing a unique cultural hub

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

A new US$550m (€509m, £426m) African-themed water park and resort from Kalahari Resorts & Conventions is due to open in Round Rock, Texas, in November 2020. With 1.5 million sq ft (457,000sq m) of resort space, Kalahari said the resort would be its largest yet, and would also be America's largest indoor water park, at 223,000sq ft (68,000sq m). Facilities at the venue will include Tom Foolery's Adventure Park –

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,

Construction has begun on a Hassell -designed grass-covered dome pavilion at Jodrell Bank to help celebrate the site’s heritage and the beginnings of radio astronomy when it opens in 2021. Jodrell Bank is located in Cheshire, UK, and is home to one of the world’s largest and most powerful radio telescopes, the Lovell Telescope, which is used to explore deep space. The pavilion, built for the University of Manchester, will

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

A new £67m (US$86.9m, €79.8m) cultural and environmental Eden Project tourist attraction, designed by Grimshaw Architects, is to be built in Northern Ireland and is expected to open in 2023. Eden Project Foyle will cover a 100-hectare (250-acre) site along the banks of the River Foyle near Derry-Londonderry, brining previously inaccessible land, three historic walled gardens and an 18th-century icehouse back into use. The destination will feature a range of

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

Three huge entry gateways for Expo 2020 Dubai, designed by Asif Khan, will welcome visitors onto the site from 20 October, with a futuristic exploration of the traditional mashrabiya. Mashrabiyas are a type of decorative, projecting window often used to control light and airflow that typically found on Arabic residences. Khan's Expo Entry Portals, which are part of his wider work on the expo's public realm, are said to be