A competition to find alternative designs to replace the destroyed Notre Dame Cathedral roof has attracted a number of innovative "solutions" – including a rooftop waterway over the medieval cathedral. The People’s Notre Dame Cathedral Design Competition was launched in defiance of the French senate’s plans to restore the roof exactly as it was before the devastating fire earlier this year. Set up by book publisher GoArchitect, the campaign invited

A £5m (US$6m, €5.4m) programme of improvements at world-famous Tintagel Castle, Cornwall, UK, has reached a milestone, with the opening of a footbridge that joins the two halves of the castle for the first time in more than 500 years. Designed by Ney & Partners engineers and William Matthew Associates Architectural Practice, the bridge spans a 190-foot gorge between the 13th-century gatehouse on the mainland and the courtyard on a

The Harry S. Truman Library and Museum in Kansas City, Missouri, has closed to allow a year-long renovation, which will see the facility reopen to coincide with the 75th anniversary of Truman becoming US president in 1945. Museum planning and design firm Gallagher & Associates has created the new designs, and is working in collaboration with Monadnock Media, architectural firm The Clark Enersen Partners, and construction company JE Dunn Construction.

Proposals for a new £10m (US$12.48m, €11.21m) ReefLIVE aquarium in Belfast's Titanic Quarter are to be put forward for approval, with hopes that the attraction will draw more than 300,000 visitors per year. Designed by Ethos Design and Architecture, and with planning by consultants Turley, the aquarium would be situated opposite the Titanic Hotel on Queen's Road, which is a short distance from the Titanic Belfast museum. ReefLIVE, a UK

Danish architecture firm Cobe has won an international competition to create designs for a new science museum in the Swedish city of Lund, with the visitor attraction set to open in 2024. Constructed of wood, the museum will be CO2-neutral and will have "the potential to become a future icon of sustainability", according to Cobe. The two-storey building proposed in the successful design has a total floor space of 6,000sq

The first installation of the Museum of Underwater Art – a series of inter-tidal and fully submerged galleries planned for the Great Barrier Reef region of Queensland, Australia – is due to open in December on the coast at Townsville. Ocean Siren will be a solar-powered sculpture of a young girl, which uses live temperature data supplied by the Australian Institute of Marine Science to give a visual representation of

The Horniman Museum and Gardens in London is seeking feedback on concept plans produced by Studio Egret West that are designed to make the museum more accessible, enhance the visitor experience and develop more income-generating opportunities. Overlooking Dulwich in south-east London, the Grade II*-listed building opened in 1901 and houses around 350,000 objects, artefacts and specimens from around the world, with galleries that include anthropology, natural history, music and an

Cultural heritage has become the latest focus for Microsoft in its AI for Good portfolio – a five-year commitment to using artificial intelligence to tackle some of society's biggest challenges. The project will create opportunities for designers and architects to collaborate on projects impacting facilities. "As we have learned more about the dimensions that make up cultural heritage, we've concluded that preserving cultural heritage isn't something that is solely nice

The Museum of London has revealed the designs for its new home in West Smithfield, with the development scheme laying out a 24-hour cultural hub in the heart of the British capital. Described as one of the largest cultural projects in Europe, the design process has been led by Stanton Williams and Asif Kahn, with Julian Harrap Architects also involved. Celebrating the existing architecture of the Westfield site, which is

Singapore-based architecture firm Architects 61 and Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA) have begun design development workshops for the New Science Centre in Singapore. The Science Centre Singapore, which opened in 1977, welcomes more than a million visitors every year, and makes science accessible and engaging, with immersive exhibitions providing physical demonstrations of scientific principles and applications in everyday life. Its redesign was announced in May 2019, with Singapore's Minister for Education

CLAD has learned that the South Korean government plans to trigger a building boom in the museums and cultural sector, with the construction of 140 new museums and 46 new art galleries by 2023. The policy was announced by the country's Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism. The move is part of a new five-year plan aimed at making Korean art and artefacts more accessible and doubling the proportion of

OMA have released images of their latest design for the New Museum of Contemporary Art expansion in Manhattan, New York which has been in the planning stages since May 2016. Set to rise at 235 Bowery, next to the recently completed SANAA-designed flagship, the future structure will more than double the museum's capacity, adding 937 sq m of exhibition space. The US$63m (€55.3m, £49.5m) extension will also add an 80-cover

A new world-class museum project documenting the Roman history of the city of York, UK, will be part of a proposed £150m (US$190.5m, €167.5m) city centre redevelopment called the Roman Quarter. The York Archeological Trust is partnering with York-based property developers North Star, DC Architecture and hotel operator Native to deliver the project in Rougier Street. Three buildings will be demolished to make way for the development, enabling the 33,000sq

The first stage in the preparation of a planning application for the proposed Eden Project North in the UK has been completed, with the submission of an Environmental Impact Assessment Scoping Report to Lancaster City Council. Designed by Grimshaw Architects, the £85m (US$108m, €95.6m) development will see a series of mussel-shaped pavilions capable of housing a variety of environments built on the seafront at Morecambe, Lancashire. In the latest information

The Frank Lloyd Wright Trust has announced plans to build a visitor centre at the architect’s former home and studio in Oak Park, Illinois. Set to expand the property’s indoor and outdoor capacity by more than 20,000 sq ft (1,858 sq m), the future annexe will comprise a reception hall, ticketing area, shop, education centre, and conference room. The landmark will also feature an entry plaza, which will double as

The opening of the new Humboldt Forum museum in Berlin has been delayed until 2020 due to construction delays. Housed inside a reconstructed Prussian palace in the east of the city, the museum – which is named after the explorer and polymath Alexander von Humboldt – was due to open in September 2019. However, in a status update, it was admitted "it would be unrealistic to expect the building to

Construction of the new Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education and Innovation at the American Museum of Natural History in New York has begun, following delays caused by a lawsuit brought by a community group. The hotly anticipated new wing of the museum – a projected US$383m (€338m, £301m), 230,000sq ft (70,104sq m) project – has been designed by Studio Gang Architects, with the intention of improving visitor circulation to

A telescope that once belonged to Sir Isaac Newton, the microscope used by Robert Hooke to create the captivating drawings of insects and plants in his book Micrographia, and a range of objects commissioned by England's King George III upon his coronation, are among the exhibits at a new permanent gallery in London's Science Museum. The Science City 1550–1800: The Linbury Gallery exhibition, which is due to open in September,

Work has been completed on a contemporary art museum in San Antonio, Texas, designed by British architect Sir David Adjaye. Called Ruby City, the 14,000sq ft (1,300sq m), two-storey building will house the Linda Pace Foundation’s art collection, which includes more than 900 paintings, sculptures and installations by contemporary artists. The US$16m (€14m, £12.6m) museum has been privately funded by the foundation and is the legacy project of artist and

Proposals for a world-class automotive museum in the heart of the English countryside have moved a step further towards realisation with the awarding of outline planning permission. The Mullin Automotive Park will be situated over 63 hectares at the disused Enstone airfield near Chipping Norton in The Cotswolds, UK. It would provide public access to view the classic car collection of US businessman Peter Mullin, founder of M Financial Group,

The Memphis Brooks Museum of Art in Tennessee has appointed Swiss architecture practice Herzog & de Meuron to design "Brooks on the Bluff", its new US$105m (€93.9m, £82.6m) home. The future art facility, which will overlook the Mississippi River, will boast 112,000 sq ft (10,405 sq m) of space and feature galleries, classrooms, a theatre, a café, museum shop, and sculpture garden. Memphis-based studio archimania, who have previously worked to

The city of Paris has selected London-based landscape design practice Gustafson Porter + Bowman (GP+B) to lead a €72m (US$80.3m, £63.5m) expansion of the public realm around the Eiffel Tower. Expected to dramatically enhance and diversify the visitor experience at the iconic building, the project will see a variety of new spaces created, including a green amphitheatre at the Place du Trocadéro and two plazas – one on each side

The long-awaited International Spy Museum (SPY) – has officially opened to the public in Washington, D.C. Designed by Rogers Stirk + Partners and Hickok Cole Architects, the revamped 11,400 sq m facility features the world's largest collection of espionage artefacts. The firms' US$162m (€144.7m, £126.5m) intervention saw the museum gain a rooftop terrace, retail and lobby areas, and three floors of exhibits. The attraction also boasts a new set of

Polish architect Daniel Libeskind has released images of his breathtaking designs for "Ngaren" – a world history museum commissioned by famed paleoanthropologist, Professor Richard Leakey. Set to rise in the rugged hills of Kenya's Rift Valley – widely recognised as the cradle of human life – the jagged-shaped building will chart the course of sapient evolution with narrative-led exhibits that address misconceptions about extinction, climate change, war, and overpopulation. Speaking

Sir David Adjaye has been selected to design the new Kiran Nadar Museum of Art and Cultural Center (KNMACC) following a global competition that brought together 47 of the world's most prestigious architecture firms. Planned for New Delhi, the attraction – Adjaye's first cultural commission in India – will house a 6,000-piece collection of South Asian contemporary art as well as facilities for music and creative education. Adjaye's "veil of

The city of Lyon has selected French design firm Perrot & Richard Architectes to renovate the Salle Rameau, a 100-year-old concert hall in Lyon that once hosted performances by the likes of Louis Armstrong and Ray Ventura. French real estate firm Companie de Phalsbourg will lead the €14.3m (US$16m, £12.3m) overhaul, which will see the Art Nouveau building's dilapidated facilities converted into an 840-capacity theatre, a rooftop bar, a restaurant,

The Statue of Liberty Museum is set to make its long-awaited debut on 16 May. Designed by FXCollaborative, the 26,000 sq ft (2,415.4 sq m) attraction – said to be the largest addition to Liberty Island since the Statue of Liberty – will boast a number of exhibits produced by ESI Design, including an immersive theatre space and a gallery with the landmark's original torch. Other highlights will include an