Global design firm Forrec is collaborating with BBC Worldwide on plans for fixed attractions based on some of the British broadcaster's most famous brands. Top Gear, CBeebies, Earth and Walking With Dinosaurs – among the BBC's most recognised IPs – have been proposed as candidates for permanent attractions, it was revealed at the Euro Attractions Show (EAS) in Gothenburg, Sweden. Forrec has been hired to deliver a series of prototypes

Vancouver Art Gallery is in line for a radical redevelopment, but only if the Canadian attraction can fund the multi-million dollar cost of the ambitious plans, which will double the institution’s exhibition footprint. The CA$350m (US$267m, €237.8m, £175.7m) plans, designed by Swiss architects Herzog and de Meuron, feature a wooden exterior, with rectangular stacks – each varying in size – sitting on top of each other. According to the architects,

Kuwait’s Scientific Center has said that 10 architects have presented bids for a multi-million dollar expansion of the facility. The visitor attraction in Salmiya, which serves as a centre for environmental education in the gulf region, laid out plans for a new facility to include dolphins and mammals, with plans also in the works for a conference facility and exploration hall. Scientific Center chair and CEO, Mijbil Al-Mutawa said in

Muzeiko – the first children’s museum to be built in post-Soviet Eastern Europe – has opened its doors to the public in Sofia, Bulgaria. Following two years of development, the Lee H. Skolnick Architecture + Design Partnership-designed (LHSA+DP) children’s science discovery centre has been conceived as a “journey moving through time and space”. The 35,000sq ft (3,250sq m) facility is set over three storeys. On the bottom floor, children can

US architects ArandaLasch have unveiled plans for a contemporary arts complex and gardens in Bali, envisioned as a place to experience “art within nature”. Revealed at the inaugural Chicago Architecture Biennial, the Budidesa Art Park – funded by Chinese-Indonesian entrepreneur Budi Tek – comprises a series of art gardens, a museum complex and residences surrounded by rice paddies near the country’s capital of Denpasar. Budidesa will act as a new

The first glass suspension bridge in China has opened above a canyon in Hunan's Shiniuzhai National Geological Park, offering bold tourists a chance to cross a 180m (590ft) deep chasm between two cliffs. Dubbed Haohan Qiao – Brave Men's Bridge – the 300m (984ft) long bridge was originally designed to be wooden before developers opted for a transparent glass floor 24mm thick, but 25 times stronger than usual. The glass

The work of the late Mark Fisher has been realised with the opening of Stufish Entertainment Architect’s Dai Show Theatre in Xishuangbanna, China. Fisher, who died in 2013, drew the initial concept designs for the Dai Show Theatre, which hosts a permanent 75-minute acrobatic water display created by show producers Dragone. Key to the Xishuangbanna’s cultural offering, the 19,500sq m (209,900sq ft) theatre is inspired by the natural and cultural

Oslo-based property developer Selvaag has been granted planning permission to develop one of the world’s largest indoor ski arenas. Masterplanned by London architects Chapman Taylor, in collaboration with Norwegian architect Professor Thomas Thiis-Evensen, the Winter Village scheme in Ødegården has been designed for cross country, free ski and downhill skiing, and will be the first indoor ski arena to be built in Norway. Offering year-round skiing for both local people

The Eden Project has signed a deal to create a new £100m (US$152m, €135m) Eden centre in China. The UK-based educational charity has teamed up with developer China Jinmao Holdings to design and develop an iconic tourism and education project in the city of Qingdao on the east coast. Grimshaw Architects, designers of the original Eden Project in Cornwall, UK, have been appointed to work on the Chinese version. The

London’s Natural History Museum (NHM) is to undergo a multi-million pound transformation of its grounds as part of an overall redevelopment of the popular tourist attraction. Niall McLaughlin Architects, in collaboration with Kim Wilkie, won a competition to redesign the grounds of the London attraction in April 2014. As part of a larger strategy, NHM is adopting "three great narratives", which will guide visitors around the museum based on the

Oscar-winning filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki has revealed plans to create real-life versions of the landscapes from his imaginative anime films, with designs for a 10,000-acre (40,000sq m) nature park on a remote island off the coast of Japan. Miyazaki, who retired from filmmaking in 2013, will recreate the magical worlds seen in classics such as Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle and My Neighbour Totoro, at the theme park on Kume Island

A £215m (US$329m, €296m) extension for London’s Tate Modern will open next year, the gallery’s director has said. The announcement should assuage fears that construction work for the popular visitor attraction was running behind schedule. The designs have been on the table since 2008, and the extension was originally slated to open in time for the capital’s 2012 Olympic Games. The 11-storey addition, designed by acclaimed architecture firm Herzog &

London’s Science museum has set a November deadline for architects to submit plans for its latest development as part of its ongoing five-year £60m (US$93m, €83m) transformation. In 2015, Zaha Hadid and Muf were awarded separate contracts to redevelop the museum’s Maths Gallery and Interactive Gallery respectively. Now the museum is seeking a world-class architect to work on it Exhibition Road entrance, which will welcome more than 3.3 million people

Newcastle-based architects Jane Darbyshire and David Kendall’s (JDDK) long-touted Landscape Discovery Centre and Youth Hostel at Hadrian's Wall in England’s Northumberland National Park is set to be realised after contractors for the scheme agreed cost proposals, with development now underway. The most recent plans for ‘The Sill’ were announced in October 2014, outlining that the project needed at least £11.2m (US$17.9m, €14.3m) to get it off the ground. A Heritage

The architectural team behind director George Lucas’ Museum of Narrative Art have revealed revised renderings of the plans, which have been drawn up to counter a lawsuit filed by green space advocates. Images by Beijing-based MAD architects, which will be officially presented to the City Council this week, show a significantly smaller but similarly-designed version of the lakefront buildings, with more green space for recreational use. Earlier this month, a

The Broad, a new contemporary art museum, has become the latest addition to the Los Angeles cultural sector, with the free-to-visit attraction opening to the public on Sunday (20 September). Designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro (DS+R) in collaboration with Gensler, the museum cost US$140m (€123m, £91.6m), with funding coming from billionaire philanthropists Eli and Edythe Broad, founders of the The Broad Art Foundation. The dramatic honeycomb structure cladding the

Dalian Sunasia Tourism Holding will invest up to C¥5bn (US$785m, €693m, £506m) into a mixed-use waterfront leisure project, after signing a deal with the Chinese government for the development of the Moby Dick Coastal City in Liaoning province. According to an Investment Framework Agreement signed between Dalian Sunasia and the Wafangdian City People’s Government, the project will sit on 730,000sq m (7.85 millionsq ft) of state-owned land. Included will be

The Myanmar office of Singapore-based urban consultants Surbana have created the eco-friendly Yangon Aquarium in Yangon, Myanmar. It will partially open in 2016, following delays. Surbana won the job in November 2013, while SIPM Consultants were selected to handle construction management of the project. LLandscape architecture is by the Yangon City Development Committee. Surbana also masterplanned the 18,200sq m (196,000sq ft) development. The two-storey structure, which has been designed to

Swiss-based architecture firm Savioz Fabrizzi have repurposed a number of shipping containers, inserting them into an existing venue in the town of Sion in Switzerland to create a grunge-style music hall. The two-storey Le Port Franc, which is centred around a 300-seat concert hall, also includes a rehearsal space, dressing rooms and a breakout lounge. The containers have been converted for multifunctional use, with one being transformed into a bar.

Dubai-based developer Meydan has launched a record-breaking project that will bring Dubai the world’s longest indoor ski slope, biggest gym and tallest residential tower among a host of leisure amenities. The 1.2km-long (0.74 miles) indoor ski slope will eclipse the current record holder, the paltry in comparison 400m (1,312ft) slope at the Mall of the Emirates, which opened in 2005. The record-smashing slope will be the centrepiece of the new

The Flight 93 National Memorial Visitor Center has opened to the public in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, remembering those who lost their lives on United flight 93 during the attacks of 9/11. The memorial opened on 10 September – the day before the 14th anniversary of 9/11. The site has a 4,000sq ft (371 sq m) permanent exhibit and Wall of Names dedicated to the passengers and crew who died as they

Jack Rouse Associates (JRA) have unveiled the masterplan and preliminary concept design for Crystal Lagoon Water Theme Park – part of the AED20bn (US$5.4bn, €4.8bn, £3.5bn) Sharjah Waterfront City development in the UAE. To include a mix of 40 water and dry rides, including a rollercoaster that combines the action of a water ride with the interactive nature of a video game – a first for the Middle East –

An open competition to design a museum near the site of the iconic German art and design school Bauhaus has been jointly won by two teams of international architects. The final proposal for the Bauhaus Museum will be developed by Spain-based architects Gonzalez Hinz Zabala with landscape firm Roser Vives de Delas, as well as Young & Ayata and Misako Murata from the US, after their designs were chosen from

In response to a lawsuit aiming to halt development of George Lucas’ legacy project on Chicago’s waterfront, a revised proposal for the Lucas Museum – which includes a scaled-back building design with more green space – was unveiled during a federal court hearing on 10 September. The new designs force Friends of the Parks – the nonprofit group suing in an attempt to halt development on the Chicago waterfront –

Plans for the world's first revolving glass observation pod in the centre of Bath, UK, have been unveiled, with design by SRA Architects. The £5m (US$7.7m, €6.9m) plans would see the rotating 65m-tall (213ft) ‘AquEye’ built on the city’s Pulteney Weir Island next to the historic Pulteney Bridge, according AquaEye founder Nicholas Stubbs. The structure, made up of two long masts and an observation pod would swing out over the

A popular Snarkitecture-designed exhibit at the National Building Museum in Washington, DC, drew to a close this week, attracting almost 200,000 visitors in just two months. The temporary interactive exhibit, entitled BEACH, was installed in the museum’s famous Great Hall and made from a mishmash of construction materials and an ocean of 750,000 recyclable plastic balls. “We had around 182,000 visitors total,” a spokesperson for the National Building Museum told

PGAV Destinations have been appointed by Oklahoma’s Tulsa Zoo to develop a new US$16m (€14.3m, £10.4m) Asian animal exhibit slated for launch in 2017. Known as Lost Kingdom, the new exhibit will be realised through the renovation of existing buildings, repurposing of structures and development of brand new facilities. Covering 20,000sq m (215,000sq ft), the PGAV-designed exhibit is inspired by Asian cultures, featuring animal habitats, guest attractions and a dining