The world’s second richest man, Carlos Slim, is poised to open a four-storey underground aquarium in Mexico City at a cost of approximately MX$250m (US$20m, €14.6m, £11.9m). The 37,700sq ft (3,500sq m) Inbursa Aquarium is home to 5,000 marine animals (eventually to increase to 10,000) and features 230 different species (to increase to 307) of sea creatures, split across twelve different ecological zones through its 48 showrooms and five big

The Southbank Centre, London, is to receive funding from Arts Council England to carry out part of the much need conservation project across the site. The £16.7m grant will fund the repair and maintenance of the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room and the Hayward Gallery. Starting in 2015, the project will begin to address an accumulated backlog of £24m worth of repairs. Arts Council England will meet 70 per cent

Niall McLaughlin Architects (NMA) and Purcell have won a competition to build a new national museum for religion and religious art at Auckland Castle, County Durham. Auckland Castle, considered to be the third most historically-significant ecclesiastical complex in Europe, is in the process of being transformed into a major visitor attraction by its owner, businessman and philanthropist, Jonathan Ruffer. Shortlisted for the 2013 Stirling Prize, NMA will be heading up

In an exclusive interview with AM2, Jamie Christon, MD of Chester Zoo, UK, has revealed the masterplan for the attraction’s second wave of expansion which will follow the completion of the zoo’s Islands project in December this year. Islands will open to the public in May 2015. The 111 acre (50 hectare) zoo has earmarked an additional 389 acres (157.4 hectares) of space for its second wave of development. Christon

The Babcock Galleries at The National Museum of the Royal Navy in Portsmouth Historic Dockyard have opened to the public following a £4.5m renovation. The opening coincides with the centenary of the First World War, with the Galleries house to host a new permanent exhibition which explores 100 years of life in the Navy and the personal stories from those who served at sea. The project, led by architects Purcell

A new Bourbon distillery, which has recently opened in Newport, Ohio, is expecting to bring around 40,000 visitors a year to the visitor attraction side of its business. New Riff Distillery, located near to downtown Cincinnati and which opened on 12 May, is the creation of Ken Lewis – former president of the wine and Spirits Guild of America. Included at the distillery is a private dining room, multiple guest

Philadelphia Zoo has opened a trail for its big cats, allowing them to leave their usual homes and cross an overhead visitor path to enter a second enclosure. The new ‘Big Cat Crossing’, designed by Philadelphia architectural firm CLR Design, is a 330ft (100m) mesh-engineered pathway that extends 14ft (4.2m) above the zoo’s main visitor path, allowing large animals such as tigers, lions and pumas to explore overhead. The first

Melbourne, Australia’s waterfront precinct is set to undergo a major redevelopment, which will include a host of leisure facilities. The City of Melbourne, in partnership with government body Places Victoria, has developed a six-part masterplan which will see the construction of a social hub in an effort to attract more markets, televised sporting events and musical performances to the redeveloped area. The proposal also includes the construction of heritage sheds

J. Mayer H. Architects has been announced as the the winning firm to carry out the proposal for ‘Volt Berlin’ – a new mixed-use development in Berlin’s city centre. Volt Berlin aims to be a new concept for shopping and urban experience within Germany’s capital. Situated near Alexanderplatz, the site is more about providing an exhilarating adventure for the visitor, than reliving the normal confines of a shopping mall. The

UNStudio, a Dutch architectural practice in collaboration with the Hong Kong based AD+RG, has been chosen to design a fifth arts venue in the West Kowloon Cultural District (WKCD), Hong Kong. Scheduled for completion in 2019 with schematic designs being released in Q3 of this year, the new 1,200 seat Lyric Theatre will be Hong Kong’s first dedicated facility for dance performances. The venue will also be used for the

Jasper National Park in the Canadian Rockies has unveiled its latest attraction – a suspended glass platform hovering high above the Columbia Glacier. The CA$21m (US$19.2m, £11.4m, €14m) Glacier Skywalk is made up of a combination of structural steel and glass with the Skywalk anchored into the rock on the side of the mountain. Visitors can travel to and from the Skywalk via free shuttle buses from the Park’s Glacier

A unique new attraction has opened in one of Chicago’s tallest skyscrapers – a glass wall that literally tips out to hover hundreds of feet from the ground below. Known as Tilt, the glass and steel moveable platform on the 94th floor of 360 Chicago (formerly the John Hancock Observatory) can hold up to eight people at a time and costs US$5 (£3, €3.60) to try out (plus a general

The National Galleries of Scotland has announced that Gareth Hoskins Architects (GHA) has been appointed to oversee a major redevelopment project at the Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh. Over the next four years, the Scottish National Gallery (SNG) will undergo a major transformation, led by newly-appointed GHA. The Glasgow-based practice beat several other finalists to seal the overhaul, including LDN Architects, Malcolm Fraser Architects, John McAslan + Partners, MUMA and Page/Park.

Work has been completed on the US$425m (€307m, £254m) Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) by Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA) in South Korea. ZHA won an international design competition for the project back in 2007 and the scheme has finally come to fruition, having opened in time to host Seoul Fashion Week at the end of March. The 86,574sq m (931,874sq ft) DDP comprises a design museum, educational facilities, a sky lounge

A heritage row has erupted over plans to build a permanent home and museum for the Nobel prize – the first in the award’s 114-year history. The new headquarters threaten two historic buildings with demolition and a group of more than 5,000 has formed in protest of the plans. Under the proposals, a 25,000sq m (269,000sq ft) facility will open in 2018. The new centre will house nearly all Nobel’s

A Mars encounter could soon become a reality, after plans were revealed to build a US$80m (£47.7m, €57.9m) Mars-themed attraction in Brevard County, Florida. 4Frontiers – the company behind the plans – has launched an initial private offering to finance the first phase of Interspace Florida, an interactive space-themed destination focused on the red planet. The first phase of development will see construction of one-third of the site, leaving room

Work to create Sydney’s version of New York’s High Line has begun, with plans to transform a disused rail track, originally used for transporting freight, into a reinvigorated public space for leisure. The High Line is a public park built on the former rail line that ran above the streets of New York and is the inspiration for the Australian Sydney project. The Goods Line in Sydney stretches for 500m

Legendary 19th century engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel – creator of UK landmarks like Bristol’s Clifton suspension bridge – is to be the subject of a new £7m ($11.6m, €8.5m) museum celebrating his work. The attraction, Being Brunel, will sit next to the SS Great Britain ship museum in Bristol, which centres on another of Brunel’s famous creations. It will be built within the historic Great Western Steamship Company dockyard and

The Hongkun Fine Art Gallery has reopened in Beijing following a refurbishment by Vienna and Beijing-based architectural firm Penda, featuring a fluid, curved design. The all-white gallery encompasses 2,000sq m (21,528sq ft) of exhibition space across two floors. The refurbishment involved the addition of a new reception area and gently curved archways of different sizes, that open out onto the existing exhibition space. The continuous arch was selected as a

The Shard, the London Aquatic Centre, and Portsmouth’s Mary Rose Museum are among 233 projects shortlisted for the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) Regional Awards. London-based architect Allies and Morrison has the most buildings shortlisted with six, followed by fellow London firm Haworth Tompkins with five. A total of 64 projects have been shortlisted in the London region alone for this year’s RIBA Awards, including the Shard, which opened

The Catalina Island Museum is moving to the Ada Blanche Wrigley Schreiner Building – four times the size of their rented Avalon Casino accommodation – on Santa Catalina Island, California. Scheduled to open in 2015, the private, non-profit museum bought the land for US$1.9m (€1.3m, £1.1m) with funds from private donations. The new 11,000sq ft (1,021sq m) building will cost US$6m (€4.3m, £3.5m). Founded in 1953, the museum has always

Eco sculptor Jason deCaires Taylor is looking to use underwater sculpturing to help boost coral reef environments, while also bringing a new form of experience to the attractions industry. Developing underwater museums, through the use of sculptures installed on coral reef beds, Taylor is helping to transform languishing environments, as well as relieving strain by opening up new options for tourists among heavily populated hot-spots. Taylor has so far opened

Cambridge University’s Museum of Zoology is to undergo a complete redevelopment after receiving a grant of £1.8m ($3m €2.2m) from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF). The funding will support £4.8m ($7.9m €5.8m) plans to redevelop the Museum of Zoology with new displays showcasing the animal kingdom, as well as new stores to preserve its outstanding collections for future display and expand the museum’s learning programmes, reaching out to wider audiences

A new museum memorial centre acting as a leading light for leisure restoration projects could be in line to receive two design awards. The National Mining Memorial Centre at the National Mining Museum Scotland has been nominated for a Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland (RIAS) award, as well as an Edinburgh Architectural Association (EAA) award in the Small Projects category. Located at the Lady Victoria Colliery, Newtongrange, the centre

Arran Brewery has got approval from the National Park Authority on plans to open a new brewery, hotel and visitor centre in Perthshire, Scotland. The development – on the site of the former Drummond Hotel in St Fillans – will include a 32-bedroom hotel with banqueting hall, three bars, three restaurants, visitor centre and a brewery making both lager and cider. Commercial activity on the site, which is now part

One of the world's largest indoor illumination experiences, Illuminasia, will open in Olympia Arena at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool, UK on 18 April. The £3m investment means the 45,000sq ft (4,180sq m) space inside Olympia Arena will be made into six family-friendly zones, illuminated by 35,000 lights using Chinese lantern crafts and LED bulbs. Investors - Shanghai's Yi Sai Culture Communication, International Special Attractions Ltd and Global Entertainment Productions