The University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) has selected OMA and KOO to plan its US$95m (€85.1m, £75m) Center for the Arts. The 88,000 sq ft (8,175.4 sq m) complex will have a translucent roof with embedded photovoltaics that will reflect light from the performance halls. The facility – to be located on the school's north-west campus – will comprise a 500-seat concert hall and a 270-seat auditorium, as well

The Neri & Hu-designed Aranya Art Center (AAC) has finally opened to the public in Qinhuangdao, China. Situated opposite the Bohai Sea in an affluent resort community known as the "Gold Coast", the cultural hub comprises a café, an amphitheatre, a rooftop viewing area, and multiple galleries. The building, which is composed almost entirely of concrete, also features a neo-Brutalist, pixellated façade. According to Neri & Hu, the appearance of

Design practice SO-IL and landscape architects West 8 have won a competition to redesign ArtPark – a 37-acre cultural hub and events venue located on the Niagara Gorge in Lewiston, New York. The aim is for ArtPark to become an internationally recognized, financially sustainable destination and a location for the intersection of art, performance, and community. The overhaul will see the 1970s-era attraction gain a renovated main stage, an outdoor

Architecture firms Snøhetta and Blight Rayner have won an international competition to design an AU$150m (US$103.8m, €90m, £81.4m) theatre for the Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC) in Brisbane, Australia. Set to open in 2022, the pivotal facility, which will turn QPAC into the largest performing arts centre in Australia, will feature two studios, foyer spaces, and an expansive glass façade. "The building will glow by night and sparkle by day

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

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,

London-based architects Sergison Bates have won an international contest to design a new performing arts centre in the medieval quarter of Leuven, Belgium. The €60m (US$67.1m, £51.6m) project will see the Sint-Pieters Hospital, which dates to the 11th century, transformed into a 10,000 sq m multi-use structure with concert halls, rehearsal rooms, and lounge areas. "This will be more like a cultural platform than a conventional arts venue," explained the

American culinary arts non-profit The James Beard Foundation (JBF) has announced the winners of its 2019 Restaurant Design Awards. Atomix, a Korean eatery designed by New-York based firm Studio Writers, won the category for "75 Seats and Under", while the "75 Seats and Over" award went to Pacific Standard Time – a Chicago restaurant conceived by Parts and Labor Design. Completed in 2018, Atomix features neutral-toned interiors and an intimate

Berlin-based art and design team Olafur Eliasson and Sebastian Behmann, co-founders of Studio Other Spaces (SOS), have been commissioned to transform a 1960s-era courtyard into a canopied community hall at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, New York. The new atrium – dubbed Common sky – is expected to further augment the institution's US$160m (€142.6m, £122.8m) expansion, which is being led by the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) and which

Some of the 1,600 objects previously exhibited in the Triennale di Milano have found a permanent home in Milan's newly-opened Italian Design Museum. The museum, which was made possible by the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities, opened on 9 April to coincide with Milano Design Week 2019. Sitting under the artistic direction of Joseph Grima, the museum is aiming to become "the leading international centre dedicated to Italian

Some of the 1,600 objects previously exhibited in the Triennale di Milano have found a permanent home in Milan's newly-opened Italian Design Museum. The museum, which was made possible by the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities, opened on 9 April to coincide with Milano Design Week 2019. Sitting under the artistic direction of Joseph Grima, the museum is aiming to become "the leading international centre dedicated to Italian

Some of the 1,600 objects previously exhibited in the Triennale di Milano have found a permanent home in Milan's newly-opened Italian Design Museum. The museum, which was made possible by the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities, opened on 9 April to coincide with Milano Design Week 2019. Sitting under the artistic direction of Joseph Grima, the museum is aiming to become "the leading international centre dedicated to Italian

A new home for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) – worth an estimated US$650m (€574.6m, £497.3m) – has cleared a major hurdle having had its plans approved. Designed by Swiss architect Peter Zumthor, a former Pritzker Prize winner, the new building’s plans were approved at a county vote, which also cleared US$117.5m (€103.9m, £89.9m) in taxpayer funding for it. The museum’s design has received criticism for its

The Shed – the long-awaited movable events space and one of the crowning structures of the Hudson Yards development – has finally opened to the public. The multi-use arts venue, which was co-designed by Rockwell Group and Diller Scofidio+Renfro (DS+R) kicked off its events programme with The Soundtrack of America, a five-night concert celebrating African-American music. The production was conceived and developed by British filmmaker Steve McQueen in collaboration with

OPEN Architecture have transformed five decommissioned oil containers into the Tank Museum Shanghai – an art gallery and exhibition complex. The new 60,000 sq m attraction, which is situated near an airfield that was active in the 1920s and '30s, also includes a landscaped concourse and "urban forest", as well as retail shops and restaurants. "While paying tribute to the site's industrial past," the architects outlined in a statement, "the

A new interactive exhibition space, courtesy of US design studio Snarkitecture, has opened in the thriving Hudson Yards development in Manhattan, New York. Called Snark Park, the new 6,000sq ft (557sq m) space will put on three major experiences per year, starting with its first installation, Lost and Found – a grid-like ‘forest’ made up of columns of various heights that emerge from the ground which aims to encourage visitors

A new cultural centre that incorporates an art museum, science centre, a book mall, and a youth centre has finished construction in Shenzhen, China. Designed by architects Mecanoo, the Longgang Cultural Centre is located along a long, narrow strip in the city and is comprised of four angular red buildings, each housing one of its four main elements. The art museum showcases a number of public artworks on its upper

The Green Ark, Belgium's winning concept for the 2020 World Expo in Dubai, will function as both an exhibit of biophilic architecture and an illustration of the country's green future. Designed by Belgian bureaux Vincent Callebaut Architectures and Assar Architects, the future building will feature merchandise shops, a brasserie, terrace, and a naturally ventilated agora. Set to be constructed from sustainable materials, the Ark will also have an oasis-like garden

Japanese architect Arata Isozaki has been named this year's recipient of the Pritzker Prize – widely considered the highest honour in the world of architecture. Isozaki, 88, has enjoyed a six-decades-long career that goes back to postwar Japan. An early populariser of Metabolism – a postmodernist architecture style developed in the 1960s – Isozaki drew influence from diverse cultures, including "the Islamic world, villages in the deep mountains of China,

Architecture bureau RKW Architektur (RKW) have unveiled renderings of the "Neue Deutsche Oper am Rhein" (New Opera on the Rhine) – multifunctional art, culture, and hospitality venue proposed for the Rhine embankment promenade in Düsseldorf, Germany. If approved, the riverside opera house – shaped to reflect the city's cosmopolitan history – will feature a built-in 310-room hotel, a 1,500-seat audience hall, a top-floor swimming pool, and multiple dining areas. In

Chinese architecture practice OPEN have unveiled renderings of the Chapel of Sound – a cavernous amphitheatre currently under construction north of Beijing, outside the city of Chengde. The 790 sq m, roofless structure – shaped to resemble the curvilinear appearance of mollusc shells and human ears – will function as a concert venue and community space. The Chapel will also feature as a kind of temple to nature, providing panoramic

Scandinavian architecture practice Henning Larsen have been tapped to expand the Opéra Bastille – the largest opera house in Paris. The renovated structure will feature an extended foyer, an 800-seat concert hall, workshop facilities, and a public garden path with links to the Viaduc des Arts and the rue de Lyons. First proposed in 2017 in response to a competition announced by France's Ministry of Culture and Communication, the new

The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) in London has released details of its redevelopment plans, which entail a new entrance, new public galleries in the building’s East Wing and a new learning space. Jamie Fobert Architects (JFA) have designed the plans with help from architectural conservation specialists Purcell. Three windows in the current facade turned into doorways, taking pressure off the existing main entrance and allowing for disabled and non-disabled access

New York-based architecture practice Diller Scofidio + Renfro (DS+R) have released the first concept designs for the long-anticipated London Centre for Music. Set to become the newest addition to London's Culture Mile – an array of institutes and landmarks situated around St. Paul's Cathedral – the Centre for Music will feature a 2000-person capacity, surround-seating concert hall designed by Nagata Acoustics; a multi-tiered foyer with extensive public galleries and event

Transdisciplinary designer and musician Kanye West has donated US$10m (€8.7m, £7.7m) to help fund the still unfinished Roden Crater – an atmospheric complex situated within a 400,000-year-old volcano in Arizona. Designed by American artist James Turrell in the 1970s, the subterranean space, which – some have said – can induce altered states of consciousness, features a series of passageways, chambers, and amphitheatres. Along with Turrell's iconic Skyspaces, Roden Crater has

Funding for the planned World Trade Center performing arts complex in New York has taken another major step forward, with the award of a multi-million dollar grant from the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation and the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. The grant of US$89m (€78.11m, £70.11) to the Ronald O.Perelman Center for the Performing Arts takes funding raised to 82 per cent of its total construction costs. Major

Dutch architecture practice UNStudio have unveiled renderings for the Lyric Theatre Complex – an expansive cultural venue currently being constructed in Hong Kong's West Kowloon Cultural District. The mammoth complex, which will occupy roughly 41,000 sq m of the city’s waterfront, will include a 1,450-seat Lyric Theatre inspired by European "Baroque-era" extravagance; a 600-seat Medium Theatre for smaller-scale productions; and a 270-seat Studio Theatre for intimate performances. The arts facility