Forget the London Eye, Newcastle’s ‘Whey Aye’ is set to outdo its southern sibling by becoming Europe’s tallest observation wheel. The 140-metre-tall (459-foot) attraction, which will be located at the east end of the city’s Quayside and offer 30-minute “flights”, will be five metres taller than the London Eye and takes its nickname from the oft-heard Geordie phrase, “Whey aye, man”. Around the observation wheel – which is expected to

Japanese studio Moriyuki Ochiai Architects have designed a cluster of vibrant, polygonal tea houses that double as a new “sanctuary for stargazing” for budding astronomers. Surrounded by rolling hills in the town of Bisei, Okayama Prefecture, the ‘Constellation of Stargazing Tea Rooms’ has been conceived for visitors who wish to participate in traditional tea ceremonies, watch concerts and plays, and, at night, sit back and look up at the stars.

Construction is nearing completion on the only new stadium being built for the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan. The 16,000-capacity Kamaishi Recovery Memorial Stadium in Iwate Prefecture will host two fixtures at next year’s tournament. It will first open on the 19 August 2018 for a memorial match between the Kamaishi Seawaves Rugby Football Club and Top League side Yamaha Jubilo, in honour of those who lost their lives

Costa Rican architects Studio Saxe have completed a hotel that steps down a steep coastal hillside, formed of a series of terraces that can be completely opened up to the elements. The firm – self-declared creators of ‘tropical architecture’ – have blended a European design aesthetic with Costa Rican craftsmanship, while opening up the building to allow the verdant landscape to invade from almost all directions. The Swedish owners of

Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts has announced plans for the development of Caye Chapel, a private island in Belize, to create “a luxury destination for residence owners and leisure travellers” in the heart of the country’s largest marine sanctuary. Scheduled to open in 2021, the project is in partnership with Thor Urbana, Inmobilia Desarrollos and GFA Grupo Inmobiliario, three real estate development groups based in Mexico. Named the Four Seasons

A disused petrol station adjacent to the BBC's former headquarters will be transformed into an arts and culture space as part of a multi-million pound regeneration of London's White City. Starting in Q3, members of Elephant magazine will curate a series of shows at the redeveloped site – now called Elephant West – which will feature exhibitions and performances from emerging young artists. Architects Liddicoat and Goldhill have designed the

The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) will open its new campus, designed by David Chipperfield, to the public on Saturday (19 May). To celebrate its 250th anniversary year, the RA – one of the world’s oldest and foremost artist and architect-led institutions – commissioned the renovation of its historic central London home, adding 70 per cent more public space and revealing many of its hidden secrets for the first time.

MVRDV founders Winy Maas, Jacob van Rijs and Nathalie de Vries have announced the opening of a new office in Spaces Réaumur, Paris, reflecting the firm’s long line of forthcoming projects in France. This year, construction has already begun on the reconstruction of the Part-Dieu shopping centre in Lyon and the extensive renovation of the Gaite-Montparnasse shopping centre in Paris, with a porous façade connecting the mall to the street,

A new restaurant brand from the creator of the hugely popular Paper Moon chain has launched in the heart of Milan’s Golden Rectangle, housed within a 200-year old mansion. Palazzo Reina, which was commissioned by the noble Milanese Reina family and built in 1830 by architect Nicola Dordoni, has been carefully restored and converted by Ed Ng and Terence Ngan of AB Concept especially for the first Paper Moon Giardino

Plans to replace the historic Meadowbank Stadium in Edinburgh with a modern £47m sports centre will be discussed by the City of Edinburgh Council next month. Two planning applications have been filed for the stadium, which was built for the 1970 Commonwealth Games. One application proposes a new £47m sports centre to replace the original venue, while the other lays out plans for a mixed-use redevelopment of the wider site,

Work has been completed on the new Glassell School of Art at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston (MFAH), designed by Steven Holl Architects. The School – the only museum-run institute in the US with programmes that serve students of all ages, from 3-year-olds to adults – is a major component of the museum’s 14-acre redevelopment, masterminded by Holl, which is currently the largest cultural project under construction in

Design initiative Young Architects Competitions (YAC) has announced the winners of an ideas contest for the transformation of a remote Italian fortress into "one of the most atmospheric centres of contemporary art in the Mediterranean". Italian studio Simposio have secured first prize for their proposal to carefully integrate new cultural and hospitality buildings into the rocky landscape of Favignana, an isle in the Southern Sicily that is home to Santa

London's Design Museum has been named the winner of the European Museum of the Year Award. Moving to its new £85m (US$115m, €96.4m) home in Kensington's former Commonwealth Institute Building in 2016, the museum was reimagined by architecture firm OMA, along with Allies and Morrison and interior designer John Pawson. Since moving, the museum has become an "inspiring, socially-aware museum", according to the awarding judges, who also acknowledged the museum’s

The shortlisted designs for a new art museum in Adelaide have been officially released, offering a first glimpse at what the likes of Adjaye Associates, BIG, Diller Scofidio + Renfro have in mind for the planned South Australian Landmark. Intended to revitalise the site of the former Royal Adelaide Hospital (oRAH), Adelaide Contemporary will be a sister museum to the Art Gallery of South Australia, combining exhibition, research and education

Spanish football giant FC Barcelona has reached a deal to open a number of Barça-themed “experience spaces” around the world. Club president Josep Maria Bartomeu has signed a five-year agreement with leisure park developer Parques Reunidos to get the ball rolling on the project, which will see indoor parks, between 3,000 and 10,000sq m in size, opened in “busy shopping malls and iconic establishments in the centres of cities with

Tributes from around the world have poured in for the British architect and artist Will Alsop, who died on Saturday (12 May) aged 70 following a short illness. Alsop – who once stated that “architecture is the only profession that actually deals in joy and delight” – was known for his bold, colourful and often avant-garde buildings, including Marseille’s bright blue Hotel du Departement; the Ontario College of Art &

New York's Museum of Modern Art has named Rob Giampietro as its new director of design, with the former Google man taking charge of the institution's design output. A member of MoMA's newly-formed creative team, Giampietro will help to "extend MoMA’s identity as a dynamic and progressive cultural institution physically rooted in New York City, with a global reach and impact on modern and contemporary art and design." Working closely

French architecture studio SCAU have won the design competition to create an Olympic stadium and leisure park in the suburbs of Paris, with their vision for a venue extensively covered by plants. The practice will develop and expand the existing Hunebelle Stadium into a 24,000sq m (258,300sq ft) mixed-use ground with a connected bowling alley, gymnasium, athletics hall and parking that flow organically into one another, partially underground. Situated on

The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has announced the 20 buildings that have won its International Excellence Awards, one of which will go one to be named the world's nest new building by the design body. The buildings, from 16 countries, range in scale and typology and include a number of leisure projects. “The RIBA Awards for International Excellence 2018 are a testament to the breadth and quality of

Kew Gardens in London has completed the largest restoration project in its entire history: a redevelopment of its iconic Temperate House, now home to 10,000 plants, including some of the world’s rarest. The long and painstaking repair of the historic glasshouse, overseen by Donald Insall Associates and costing £41m (€46m, US$54m), saw 400 staff and contractors remove 69,000 individual elements from the building to be cleaned, repaired or replaced. The

The 264-bedroom Grand Hyatt Kochi Bolgatty has opened in the south Indian state of Kerala, marking Hyatt’s third branded hotel in the country. Designed by architects from Wimberly Allison Tong and Goo UK Limited, the hotel is located near the town of Fort Kochi and owned by Lulu Group International. The property's Santata Spa offers a modern wellbeing experience with traditional ayurvedic and international spa treatments. Spanning more than 11,000sq

Landscape architects West 8 have revealed their first clear-cut plans for a new 120 acre Houston Botanic Garden set to open to the Texas public in 2020. The firm have released details of ‘Botanic Beginnings’, the first phase of their 120-acre masterplan for the site, which will be developed over the next three decades on a site located a short distance outside downtown Houston. The Garden, conceived as “Houston’s next

New York-based shared workspace specialist WeWork has announced Bjarke Ingels as its chief architect, and he will be responsible for advising and developing the company’s design vision and language for buildings, campuses and neighbourhoods globally. The company designs and builds physical and virtual shared workspaces for individuals and companies – from startups and freelancers to large enterprises. Increasingly, it has also branched out into the world of leisure, with initiatives

Multi-disciplinary designer Clodagh, whose recent projects include the Six Senses Douro Valley and the reopened Six Senses Kaplankaya, will share her vision for truly integrated wellness design with conference delegates at the Global Wellness Summit in Italy this October. Clodagh, head of New York-based interior design firm Clodagh Design, will take the stage at the 2018 conference to share her belief that wellness is a crucial requirement in design that

InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) is to expand its luxury estate in the UK after securing a deal to rebrand and operate 13 upscale hotels. IHG will operate the properties on behalf of French real estate group Foncière des Régions (FdR), which acquired the hotels from an affiliate of Starwood Capital Group for a reported US$1.1bn (£830m) earlier this month. The deal will see IHG introducing its boutique brand, Kimpton Hotels

A new cultural destination in London, celebrating Japan and funded by its government, has announced its public opening date. Called Japan House London, the new attraction will offer visitors authentic Japanese encounters when it opens on 22 June, with the best in the nation's art, design, gastronomy, innovation and technology. Almost every aspect of the new space has been derived “from source” in Japan. Japanese interior designer – Wonderwall principal

The James Beard Foundation (JBF) has held its 2018 Restaurant Design Awards, presenting a hat-trick of prizes to the new eateries it judges to be the best-designed in North America. New York-based concept, design and branding studio The MP Shift have been recognised for their work designing De Maria in the city, which was named the best new restaurant with a capacity of 75 seats and under. The New York