The Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, New York, is putting the final touches to its new wing before its grand opening on 20 March. First announced in 2012, the US$64m (€60.2m, £42.9m) development – by Thomas Phifer and Partners – is made up of a 100,000sq ft (9,290sq m) glass structure, which will house its glass collection of contemporary art and design. The architect’s design is a square, minimalist

MIPIM 2015 has nearly reached its climax and the annual Architectural Review Future Project Awards have been announced. Once again, leisure projects are showcasing some of the best new architecture globally. The overall winner of the Architectural Review Future Project Award was given to the ‘Hanging Courtyards’ The Urban Design of Qing Xiang Historical Cultural Block in Changzhou (China) - Southeast University. The scheme used sustainable techniques as well as

Merlin Entertainments has revealed new details about its upcoming fully immersive Shrek's Adventure attraction, which is set to be rolled out worldwide following its July 2015 debut in London's Grade II Listed County Hall. Collins-construction is working on the project build, which has been designed not to impact the listed building. “We’ve built into the rooms so as not to damage the existing building,” said Eddie Saul, creative lead for

Barangaroo South, a complete new city quarter under construction in Sydney, Australia, looks set to be a game changer for the city’s leisure offerings. Developer Lend Lease is pouring AUS$6bn (US$4.6bn, £3bn, €4.3bn) into the 22 hectare site. Leading British architecture firm, Roger Stirk Harbour + Partners (RSHP) have masterplanned six hectares of the built development. From the previous state of a disused container port, RSHP plans to ‘return the

Weedon Architects have revealed the masterplan for the £55m (US$82m, €77.7m) development of Twycross Zoo, UK, an investment to boost visitor numbers and improve animal welfare. Twycross Zoo is the only one in the UK to house all four kinds of great apes. The masterplan will bring bonobos, chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans all together in the new great ape centre, which will come up over the course of the next

For the first time ever, the World Architecture Festival (WAF) is coming to London in June. WAF, a high-profile architecture festival, will put on an exhibition during the London Festival of Architecture, which runs from 1-30 June 2015. An exclusive exhibition, hosted by WAF, will showcase its 2015 finalists on 24-27 June, in London, prior to the announcement of the winners of the sought after World Architecture Awards. The exhibited

Bjarke Ingels, in conjunction with Rebuild by Design, has laid out plans for ‘The Dryline’ – a leisure-oriented storm barrier for New York City. Following the devastation caused by Hurricane Sandy in 2012, where more than US$19bn (€17.9bn, £12.6bn) of damage was inflicted on New York, Rebuild by Design – a federally-funded initiative, which is part of the Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force and the US Department of Housing and

The team behind the upcoming Milan Expo is putting the finishing touches to the world fair before its debut in May. The six-month expo will be the second to be held in Milan and has been five years in the making since its November 2010 announcement. Using the theme feeding the planet, energy for life, the 2015 Expo will bring together more than 140 countries designing pavilions that embrace technology,

The Museum of the Future in Dubai, announced last week by Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, vice-president and prime minister of the United Arab Emirates, will start on site this week. The museum has been designed by architect Shaun Killa, for 16 years a director of Atkins, and responsible for some of the Middle East’s most celebrated buildings. Killa's new architectural practice, Killa Design – which is based in

BRC Imagination Arts is the creative force behind the recent US$4.7m (€4.2m, £3m) revamp of the Ford factory tour, offering visitors a close-up look at the creation of the automaker’s F-150 pickup truck. The Ford Rouge Factory Tour, based at The Henry Ford complex in Dearborn, Michigan, now includes a Manufacturing Innovation Theatre to showcase the build process at the facility. The reimagined theatre is designed to immerse visitors into

Ennead Architects has revealed futuristic plans for the new Shanghai Planetarium after the New York-based design firm won an international contest for its commission. The 38,000sq m (409,000sq ft) development – a part of the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum – has been designed to celebrate the continuum of time and space. According to Ennead, the plans mirror both the rich history of Chinese astronomy and the future ambitions of

Dutch architectural firm MVRDV has been granted approval for the restructuring of a mixed-use 1970s complex in Paris, France. Originally designed by Pierre Dufau, the Vandamme Nord, part of a wider urban development, currently houses retail and leisure outlets, as well as the 30-storey Pullman Hotel. MVRDV’s design will "reintroduce the lost human scale and bring back a sense of place within the Montparnasse district." The scheme will focus on

Bromley Council has terminated an exclusivity contract with Chinese investor the ZhongRong Group for the redevelopment of London’s Crystal Palace. A contract, that was originally signed in 2013, expired last month, following ZhongRong’s failure to produce a £5m (€6.8m $7.6m) down-payment to extend the deal for another six months. In March 2014 a shortlist of six architectural heavyweights were revealed to be vying for the Crystal Palace redevelopment, including Zaha

Jacksonville Florida's chances of getting a world-scale aquarium in a downtown location have taken a step forward with the news that a feasibility study is about to be launched – it's a significant step forward for a project that has been two years in the making. Massachusetts-based ConsultEcon will conduct the study on behalf of AquaJax – the group behind the aquarium development. The study will look at cost estimates,

Kris Yao | Artech has been selected to design the New Taipei City Museum of Art after winning an architectural contest with its “Contemporary Museum of Art among the Reeds” design. The NT$2.17bn (US$68.9m, €60.6m, £44.4m), 44,000sq m (473,600sq ft) development, located in New Taipei, Taiwan, is being funded by local government. Kris Yao’s winning design will incorporate the site’s historical, cultural and geographical features to form a sustainable vision

Developer and investor Union Hanover Securities has submitted a planning application for a new boutique hotel scheme at Stratford City, the former site of the 2012 Olympic Games. Designed by New York-based Grzywinski + Pons Architects, the £100m (US$155m, €136m) dual hotel scheme has been dubbed the Penny Brook Development. The scheme will consist of a 137-bed Adagio building and a 249-bed boutique hotel, called the Penny Brook. The Penny

Adelaide-based Phillips/Pilkington Architects has drawn up plans for Zoos South Australia's (ZSA) masterplan, which is set to transform both its Adelaide and Monarto Zoos over the course of the next two decades. The plans detail several immersive environments, including a nature playground at Adelaide and for Monarto the addition of a Predator Experience, new visitor centre and overnight safari-style accommodation. The masterplan has been designed to enhance the zoos’ capacity

SO-IL and Freaks Freearchitects have jointly won an architectural competition to redesign a glass museum and gallery on the site of an 18th century factory in Meisenthal, France. New York-based SO-IL is collaborating with Paris-based Freaks to give the Site Verrier Meisenthal – first opened in 1704 – a complete makeover. Renovations of the former glass factory will include a new cultural centre, glass art centre and glass gallery. According

In the wake of the loss of four of its 12 casinos, Atlantic City is continuing to push for new, non-gambling attractions in a complete rebranding of the city. The latest redevelopment plans include a beachfront giant Ferris wheel and zip line, restaurants, an extension of the Steel Pier and a rebuilt Boardwalk. The city’s Casino Reinvestment Development Authority has approved the projects in an attempt to make its tourism-centred

Matt Gibbs, a landscape architecture student, has come up with a proposal for a frosty new transport network. An 11km (6.8m) long ‘Freezeway’ that will offer people a chance to ice skate to work. Edmonton in Alberta, Canada, maintains an average sub-zero temperature throughout the winter. Instead of seeing these conditions as a challenge, Gibbs wants to harness this environment and create a dual function commuter network that acts as

An Argentinian design team, headed up by Carlos Nahuel Recabarren, has won a UNESCO design competition to create a Cultural Centre in Bamiyan, Afghanistan. From more than 1,000 design proposals that were submitted in the single stage competition – which opened in November 2014 – Carlos Nahuel Recabarren, Manuel Alberto Martinez Catalan and Franco Morero’s project, entitled ‘Descriptive Memory: The Eternal Presence of Absence’ was picked as the winner. Paolo

Sport, museum, culture, recreation and mixed use schemes all feature on the shortlist for this year’s Designs of the Year award. Of 76 nominated projects, representing the work of the best global design talent, an overwhelming number are leisure-related. Organised by the Design Museum, London, the Designs of the Year awards have been running for the past eight years. Awards are presented in six categories; architecture, digital, fashion, product, graphic

Foster + Partners has revealed its designs for the NT$150m (US$4.8m, €4.1m, £3.1m) aquarium to be built at the National Museum of Marine Science and Technology (NMMST) in Keelung City, Taiwan. Scheduled to open in 2018, Foster and Partners’ plans for what will be the country’s largest aquarium employs titanium and green designs to create a modern light-filled environment, reminiscent of the ocean shallows. The design also incorporates a building

A groundbreaking ceremony has been held for South Korea’s US$1.8bn (€1.6bn, £1.2bn) Resorts World Jeju, which is aiming to rival its Singaporean counterpart at Resorts World Sentosa. Being jointly developed by Chinese property developer Landing International Development and Genting Singapore, the resort will cover 2.5sq km (1sq m) and will offer more than 20 different rides and attractions in seven different zones. Also included will be a waterpark and a

Jon Jerde, founder of The Jerde Partnership, has died aged 75. Jerde, who was viewed by many as the father of modern shopping centre design, died on 9 February 2015 at his home in Los Angeles, US. Jerde established his practice in 1977, following a commission for a retail centre in San Diego from Ernie Hahn, a shopping mall developer. For years Jerde designed shopping malls and he began to

The Indian government is planning on expanding its world-famous Film City in Mumbai, with future additions for the home of Bollywood to include a theme park to lure in more tourists. Primarily being built to meet demand for India’s ever-growing entertainment industry, the new Film City will be built on 438 acres (1.7sq km) of land at nearby Kalyan, with the entertainment hub aimed at capitalising on “Bollywood tourism.” In

Bollywood star Sanjay Khan’s RS10bn (US$162m, €127.5m, £99.7m) theme park in Agra, based on developing replicas of past and future civilisations, has been given a one-month deadline to acquire land for the project. The land acquisition deal has hit several hurdles after some farmers – who use the land as their only source of income – were resistant to the sale of land. With a deadline set for 8 March,