Shanghai Natural History Museum has moved into its new home – a nautilus-shaped building inspired by the biological structure of cells, the elements and natural phenomena. Designed by Perkins + Will, the green structure mimics architectural themes found in nature. The main area of the 479,000sq ft (44,500sq m) exhibition space rises from the site’s foundations, spiralling upwards like a shell. Within the structure, light is dispersed through a lattice

The French government has spent €56m (US$60m, £40.2m) recreating an exact replica of a cave discovered in 1994 containing a huge collection of prehistoric paintings of horses, mammoths and rhinos – among the oldest documented pieces on earth. The works – preserved thanks to a rock fall roughly 23,000 years ago – were quickly closed off to the public after their discovery on the basis that something as simple as

A decommissioned water reservoir turned public park in Colombia has scooped the top prize in a global awards competition for sustainable building and construction. The ‘Articulated Site’ project, designed by Mario Camargo and Luis Tombé of Colectivo720, with Juan Calle and Horacio Valencia of EPM Group, took the US$200,000 (€187,201, £134,517) Gold prize in the 2015 Holcim Awards. Located around a series of water tanks in Medellín, an outdoor auditorium

Norwegian architecture firm Snøhetta and Japanese design studio SANAA have both been awarded first place in a competition to design the New National Gallery and Ludwig Museum in Budapest, Hungary. Part of plans for Europe’s largest museum development, the announcement is the final piece of the puzzle in Budapest's HUF75bn (US$277m, €235m, £183m) cultural quarter. While both firms have been named winner of the contest, only one of the two

Preliminary work is underway on Perkins Eastman/EEK Architects' US$790m (€734m, £527m) redevelopment of Staten Island, with the US's largest observation wheel the centrepiece of the transformative plan. The wheel, which will for a time be the largest in the world assuming it is completed before the upcoming Dubai Eye, is being developed by engineering firm Starneth. After it opens in Q2 of 2017, the 630ft (192m) high wheel would dethrone

Exploring the crucial role of a bee colony in the global ecosystem, artist Wolfgang Buttress and architects BDP have created a hive structure to serve as the centrepiece of the UK’s pavilion at the upcoming Milan Expo. The impressive 14m3 aluminium lattice structure, called the Hive, has been constructed and manufactured by Stage One, which also built Thomas Heatherwick’s London 2012 Olympic torch. The company used 115,000 individual components to

Three finalists have emerged in the competition to redesign the St. Petersburg Pier in Florida, US. Designs from Alfonso Architects, St. Pete Design Group and Rogers Partners Architects + Urban Designers made the cut, following the latest meeting of the City of St. Petersburg’s Pier Selection Committee, at which four other concepts were eliminated. The replacement of the pier has been a matter for the whole community, with Mayor Rick

Work is progressing on the first phase of an experience destination in Tieling New Town, Liaoning Province, China. The development will capitalise on China's rapid urbanisation. Masterplanned by architecture firms RTKL International and Callison, La Viva is Hong Kong-based developer Hsin Chong’s first large-scale integrated project to be built in mainland China. Once complete the eco-friendly urban space will include retail, entertainment, tourist attractions, restaurants, hotels, office space and residential

Ambitious plans are emerging for a museum in the war-torn Gaza Strip, honouring Palestinian culture and history. The proposals are an offshoot of the £40m Palestinian Museum Hub – currently under construction more than 83km (52m) away in Birzeit, the West Bank – which is due to open next year. The Hub was designed by Ireland-based Heneghan Peng Architects As part of this project, there are plans for satellite sites

The One World Observatory at New York’s One World Trade Center building will open its doors to the public at the end of May, with tickets now on sale, enabling the public to visit the top of the western hemisphere’s tallest skyscraper. The building, which is largely office space, welcomed its first tenants – Condé Nast – in November 2014, 13 years after the 9/11 terror attacks. The tower, designed by

Plans for a development in Egypt, which were derailed by the Revolution in 2011, are back on track according to one of the key players behind the US$1.1bn (€1bn, £738m) safari, theme park and hotel development near Cairo. A consortium made up of Egypt-based 300 Years History, Canada’s Maple Leaf, South Africa’s Glen Afric, Italian Pinfari and Chipperfield Companies Group, is behind the proposal, which has been submitted to the

Global toy retailer Hamleys has taken the first step to becoming an experience brand after opening a mini theme park in its new Moscow store – also the largest toy shop in Europe. The new retail concept was developed by design studios Fitch and Paragon Creative within Moscow's Detsky Mir building. Hamleys Moscow offers shoppers and visitors nine “worlds of play”, including Enchanted Forest, Imagination, Lego World, Magic Kingdom, Metropolis,

A 2034 development masterplan for Mumbai, India, has come under fire after proposing to remove 70 per cent of the currently heritage-listed sites in the city, while incorrectly labelling others. Of the 1,488 listed heritage buildings, sites and precincts in the city, 1,000 will be removed under the new guidelines unveiled by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation. According to the contentious Mumbai Development Plan - 2034, the listed Jehangir Art Gallery

Gesellschaft von Architekten (Graft) have revealed their final designs for Apassionata – a horse theme and adventure park being built in Munich, Germany. The competition-winning proposal will see a 12-acre hub for leisure and entertainment incorporating adventure, nature and architecture, with 12 themed pavilions anchored by a central structure known as the show palace. The pavilions – which are made primarily of wood – will house an array of activities,

The Houston Astrodome, could be saved and turned into a multi-use leisure facility, following the publication of a new report by the Urban Land Institute (ULI). The ULI report was complied by a panel of experts from the fields of architecture, urban planning and land use. Suggestions include a ground-level open space that could host an array of activities including an adventure park, indoor track, zip lines and mountain bike

New York’s Times Square is ready to go wild after a campaign to bring a temporary forest to the urban jungle surpassed its crowdfunding goal. Ecologist Marielle Anzelone wants to create an immersive natural experience in what she describes as "the most unnatural place on the planet", by bringing the installation of grasses, trees, ferns, and wildflowers to a public plaza in the world-famous area of Manhattan. PopUP Forest: Times

Designed by Rotterdam-based Ooze Architects, a naturally filtered swimming pool is under construction in the heart of London’s King’s Cross redevelopment. Ooze Architects, working in collaboration with Slovenia-based artist Marjetica Potrc, have come together to create the freshwater pond. The structure will be 10m (32ft) wide and 40m (131ft) long. Completely chemical free, the pool, which will be used for swimming and outdoor activities, will be surrounded by a green

A new approach to 3D printing promises to deliver commercial quality manufactured parts at a much faster rate. Silicon Valley-based Carbon3D’s ‘Continuous Liquid Interface Production’ (CLIP) technology harnesses light and oxygen to continuously grow objects from a pool of resin instead of printing them layer-by-layer. It says the technique is 25-100 times faster than conventional 3D printing, and can deliver commercial quality objects with consistent mechanical properties. A broad range

Design International is to design a destination mall as part of a project which aims to boost Morocco’s standing as a tourism and cultural centre. The Mall of Rabat will be one element of the mixed-use Wessal Bouregreg project, which also features a Zaha Hadid-designed theatre, a national library, an archaeology and earth sciences museum, a hotel, a marina, and a residential area. Wessal Bouregreg will cover an area of

Ohio’s Toledo Zoo has reopened its aquarium following a near three-year, US$25m (€21.5m, £16.4m) renovation, which has seen the interior of the historic facility revamped to provide a brand new, world-class visitor experience. The aquarium, which first opened in 1939, was closed in 2012 for the renovations. The new development has almost tripled the amount of water inside the aquarium. The building’s historic exterior architecture, by the Works Progress Administration,

Architects OMA and landscape architects OLIN have been selected to design the 11th Street Bridge Park, an elevated park in Washington D.C, US. Chosen from a shortlist of four architecture and design teams – including Balmori Associates / Cooper, Robertson & Partners, Stoss Landscape Urbanism / Höweler + Yoon Architecture and Wallace Roberts & Todd (WRT) / NEXT Architects – OMA + OLIN will be transforming the aged freeway bridge

Madrid-based SelgasCano architects have unveiled their designs for this year's Serpentine Pavilion in London, featuring an explosion of colour. To be constructed from ETFE, translucent fluorine-based plastic, the lightweight structure will be double-skinned, consisting of multi-coloured panels wrapped in webbing. Internally, the experience will be like passing under sheets of stained glass. When describing their design in a company statement, SelgasCano said they wanted to explore ways a visitor could

An exhibition gallery and education centre will form the heart of a new corporate headquarters by Zaha Hadid Architects for environmental management company Bee’ah. It will be built just outside Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates. The building will be used as a learning resource to demonstrate practical environmental awareness to the community and will be the first building in the UAE to be fully powered by renewable energy. A

Hosted by London's Design Museum, the Design of the Year Awards 2015 exhibition is now open. The exhibition showcases 76 projects that have been shortlisted for this year's award. The projects range from cutting-edge technology, for example a solar powered table that can be used indoors, to epic architectural creations like Frank Gehry's Foundation Louis Vuitton, Paris. Curated by the Design Museum's Gemma Curtin, the exhibition is open to all,

Following an £80m (US$119m, €109m) renovation by international architecture firm, Wilkinson Eyre, the University of Oxford’s Weston Library has reopened to the public. Originally designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott in the 1930s and part of the infamous grade II listed Bodleian Library in Oxford, UK, the structure needed some extreme modernisation and renovation to open it up to the public. Wilkinson Eyre have incorporated several new features into the

Blackstone, one of the world's biggest real estate investors, has announced that it will buy Chicago’s Willis Tower, the second-tallest building in the US for US$1.3bn (€1.19bn, £800m). Previously known as Sears Tower, the Willis Tower is an iconic structure – designed by Skidmore, Owings, & Merrill – it dominates the Chicago skyline. Vendors, 223 South Wacker, said Blackstone will be an "excellent steward of this world famous building". Blackstone

The Office for Architectural Cultural (OAC) has revealed the competition winning design for the UNESCO World Heritage site at Daming Palace in Xi’an, China. The scheme will be an all-encompassing urban regeneration. Xi’an is home to several UNESCO world heritage sites, and OAC’s mixed-use project will cover part of the Daming Palace Heritage Park, as well as a large early 20th century Dahua Wool Spinning Factory. Spanning more than 500