Competition entries are currently being sought for ‘Hello Nature!’ – a site located at the foot of Mt Omneberget in northern Sweden – which is looking for ”structures that celebrate nature” involving elements of “both education and recreation, or business and pleasure.” Combo Competitions – founded by London-based Swedish architect Per Linde – has placed emphasis on the ideas presented in proposals, rather than aesthetics alone. Combo Competitions’ main driver

Multiple images for each of the 1,715 entries for the Guggenheim coming to Helsinki, Finland, have been released by the upcoming museum, with a huge number of anonymous stage-one entries showcased. The €126m (£100m, US$160.5m) waterfront project is officially the most popular architectural contest in history, attracting more entries than the contest for the Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza, which was won by Heneghan Peng from 1,557 submissions. Competition organiser

New plans have been released for the London-based Geffrye Museum’s £15m (US$24m, €18.9m) transformation, which will create new spaces for the museum’s collections and library. The plans by architecture firm Wright & Wright include a gallery, café and conference facilities, as well as a rejuvenation of the current public spaces. The plans will create around 40 per cent additional space within the 18th century Grade I listed museum’s walls, by

Work on the upcoming Louvre Abu Dhabi has progressed, with construction of the mammoth US$653m (€512.9m, £404.6m) structure’s dome roof now complete. Building work on the dome started in December 2013 and the elaborate roof currently sits on 120 temporary support towers, which will be replaced with four permanent support pillars and the dome will be clad in aluminium. The construction of all the 9,200sq m (99,000sq ft) museum’s galleries

St Fagans National History Museum – Wales’ most popular heritage attraction – has named Kier Group as lead-developer for a £25m (US$40m, €31.5m) renovation of the site. With funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and the Welsh government, the Cardiff museum has started on the makeover, which will include both new build and refurbishment work. A new £16m (US$25.8m, €20.2m) sustainable building, designed by lead architecture practice Purcell, will

From 2016, London’s Design Museum will be offering free entry to permanent exhibitions following its move to a new site in Kensington. Chancellor of the exchequer, George Osborne, visited the Museum’s new site on 17 October and announced plans to support opening the doors for free under the VAT refund scheme for museums and galleries. The Design Museum will join more than 50 other museums across the UK capital opening

The first major museum to be built in Morocco since it gained independence from France in 1956 has opened in Rabat. Showcasing modern and contemporary works by Moroccan artists, the Musée Mohammed VI d'Art Moderne et Contemporain (Mohammed VI Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art) – now partnered with the Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC and the Louvre in Paris – had been under construction for a decade following a

Haworth Tompkins’ Everyman Theatre has beaten the likes of the London Aquatic Centre and the Shard to be crowned this year's RIBA Stirling Prize winner. The London-based practice had to fight off stiff competition from other illustrious firms and their projects including Zaha Hadid’s aforementioned Aquatic Centre and Renzo Piano’s Shard, as well as Mecanoo’s Library of Birmingham, O’Donnell + Tuomey's Saw Swee Hock and Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios' Manchester

Zaha Hadid Architects has revealed plans for a new museum, school, library and centre for the research of genocide in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The project is the architecture firm's first project in Cambodia and its first ever wooden construction. The centre will be a place for the Sleuk Rith Institute to compile, analyse and preserve information related to the Khmer Rouge era of genocide – which saw an estimated death

The town of Spijkenisse in southwest Holland is now home to a new theatre designed by Ben van Berkel, UNStudio’s founding architect. The Theatre de Stoep is designed to consider the two contrasting facets of the theatre archetype, as a place of wonder and illusion at the same time as being a place of community and social interaction. The theatre boasts progressive shapes and smooth curves typical of UNStudio’s work.

When it comes to how best to cater for cyclists in the UK’s capital, more ideas are being "floated" than ever before. The latest is the Thames Deckway, a 7-mile (11km) stretch of cycle path that would float alongside the banks of London’s famed river. Thames Deckway is a concept proposed by River Cycleway Consortium, which is led by architect David Nixon and environmental entrepreneur Anna Hill, in conjunction with

The shortlist for the Riba Stirling Prize – the UK’s most prestigious architectural award – has been revealed, with the winner to be announced on Thursday (16 October). The six finalists will now battle it out for the coveted prize, which was last year won by Astley Castle, near Nuneaton. The shortlist is as follows: London Aquatics Centre, Zaha Hadid Architects The London Aquatics Centre, which was home to high

After 11 years of campaigning, Margate's community can finally believe the fight to save Dreamland is won. The historic seaside attraction has been closed for 10 years and fallen into a derelict state. But Dreamland, in Kent, UK, has announced today it expects to reopen its doors by summer 2015. Thanks to the relentless Save Dreamland campaign, the site has survived everything from arson attacks to the threat of being

In the pipeline since 1999, Panama’s Biomuseo has finally opened to the public. Designed by famous architect Frank Gehry, the museum aims to celebrate the history of Central America's isthmus as one of the world's most diverse ecosystems. Situated near the mouth of the Panama Canal, the impressive structure houses eight galleries with 4,000sq m (43,055 sq ft) of exhibition space. These eight galleries are fully interactive, immersing visitors in

America’s Alcatraz - one of the world’s most notorious prisons and now a top tourist attraction - is to play host to an art and sculpture exhibition by dissident artist Ai Weiwei. Opening to the public on the 27 September, seven new installations by Ai Weiwei, a Chinese activist and artist, will be on display throughout Alcatraz prison. The multimedia exhibition, named @Large, aims to explore human rights and freedom

Oslo-based architecture and design firm Snøhetta has unveiled plans for its competition-winning Central Library and Plaza in Calgary, Canada. Following a contest to design the project in November 2013, Snøhetta and Dialog (a Canadian firm) beat 38 other teams to the job with their public orientated offering. The 21,925sq m (235,999sq ft) library has been inspired by the nearby foothills surrounding the city. Covered with a geometric patterned facade, natural

Oslo-based architecture and design firm Snøhetta has unveiled plans for its competition-winning Central Library and Plaza in Calgary, Canada. Following a contest to design the project in November 2013, Snøhetta and Dialog (a Canadian firm) beat 38 other teams to the job with their public orientated offering. The 21,925sq m (235,999sq ft) library has been inspired by the nearby foothills surrounding the city. Covered with a geometric patterned facade, natural

Internationally renowned gin brand, Bombay Sapphire, is set to open up its new home, a distillery and visitor centre in Laverstock, Hampshire. Opening its doors on 1 October, the Laverstock Mill has been completely renovated and fitted out for its new purpose of housing Bombay Sapphire’s headquarters and distillery. With a full range of behind the scenes visitor experiences, the new site is to showcase the story behind Bombay Sapphire,

Since opening in May 2014, the emotive 9/11 Memorial Museum, NYC, has seen more than one million visitors walk through its doors. Designed by David Brody Bond Architects in conjunction with Snøhetta, the 9/11 Memorial Museum provides a space for telling the story of the 9/11 attacks and their repercussions. And the tasteful approach to the difficult subject matter has seen the attraction more than fulfill visitor number expectations. With

Hadrian’s Wall’s 1960s-era visitor centre will bow out to make way for a brand new facility after plans got the go-ahead from authorities. The English border village of Once Brewed, which serves the stream of hardy walkers who tackle the 117.5km (73 mile) trek across the historic wall, will be home to an £11.2m ($17.9m, €14.3m) development. The Sill National Landscape Discovery Centre, imagined by Newcastle-based architects Jane Darbyshire and

Allford Hall Monaghan Morris Architects (AHMM) has released new images of its proposed masterplan for the former BBC headquarters site in the White City area of London. Developer Stanhope has commissioned AHMM to be in charge of the redevelopment at the site, with work due to start in Q2 2015. Following its transformation, the site will include office and studio space for the BBC, a range of entertainment and leisure

Up to 34 Transport for London (TfL)-owned “ghost” train tunnels running beneath the UK capital could soon be transformed into an array of attractions and leisure sites, according to reports. It is understood that TfL is preparing to invite companies to bid to take part in the transformation of several disused Underground and Overground Stations, as well as old horse tunnels that run below the city. Ajit Chambers, a former

Following a lengthy competition process ending in 2013, French architect Jean Nouvel and the Beijing Institute of Architectural Design (BIAD) have begun work on the greatly-anticipated National Art Museum of China (NAMOC) in Beijing. Located in Beijing's Olympic Park – a legacy from the 2008 Games – the NAMOC will occupy 130,000sq m (1,399,308sq ft) of space as part of a new cultural district in the park itself, near to

Skateboarders in London’s South Bank Undercroft have won their 17-month battle to keep the space under Queen Elizabeth Hall designated for skateboarding, BMX riding, graffiti and urban activities. On 18 September, details of a binding agreement between the Long Live Southbank campaign, the Southbank Centre and Lambeth Council were released; meaning that both parties will withdraw from further legal action and the site will remain open, free of charge, for

Officially opened to the public yesterday (21 September), the third and northernmost phase of the New York High Line elevated park is now complete. Designed by James Corner Field Operations, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, and planting designer Piet Oudolf, the High Line project has been underway since the disused rail structure was initially saved from demolition in the late 90s. Now for the first time, the northernmost section of the

The Patricia and Phillip Frost Museum of Science (formerly known as the Miami Science Museum), which is nearing the halfway stage of moving to a new US$275m (€212m, £168.5m) facility in downtown Miami, has received a donation of US$5m (€3.9m, £3.1m) to fund health and wellness programmes when the new facility launches in 2016. To be located inside the new science museum, the Baptist Health People & Science Gallery will

The Japanese architect, Shigeru Ban has won an international competition to design and build the new Tainan Museum of Fine Arts, Taiwan. Pritzker Prize-winner Ban has designed several well known museums, the most recent being the Aspen Art Museum, USA. The Tainan Museum of Fine Arts project aims to promote the development of Taiwan’s emerging cultural significance by recognising its arts and heritage. The new museum will have a particular