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

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

A new US$750m (£451m, €539.5m) 1,100-bedroom destination resort with spa facilities in Sullivan County, New York, US, has been revealed by developer EPR Properties. Located 90 miles from New York City, the four-season Adelaar resort will sit on 1,700 acres (2.6sq m, 6.8sq km) of land at the site of the former Concord Resort and golf course, which closed in 2009. Master planned by architectural firm Hart Howerton, the resort

Work on the first floor of France’s iconic Eiffel Tower is almost finished, with new upgrades offering visitors a glass floor to walk over, shops, restaurants, plus an events and conference space 57m (187ft) above Paris. The first floor is the most spacious but also least visited storey of the Parisian structure, but the development by French studio Moatti-Riviére Architects – the first refurbishment on the tower in more than

Europe is to get its first Ferrari-branded theme park when a new location opens near Barcelona, Spain in 2016. An existing Ferrari World is located in Abu Dhabi, while the new branded site will be the sole Ferrari theme park in Europe and will cost an estimated €100m (£83m, US$139m) to build. Ferrari Land will cover 75,000sq m (807,000sq ft) and feature several rides, including the highest and fastest vertical

A museum dedicated to the events of 11 September 2001 will open in New York City this May. At each stage of the design process, which incorporated objects from the World Trade Center, the museum had to consider what was appropriate to display and find a balance between commemoration and education. New York-based Davis Brody Bond is the lead architectural firm on the project and worked in conjunction with Oslo-outfit

Zaha Hadid Architects are among six shortlisted candidates vying to rebuild Joseph Paxton's Crystal Palace in London on a £500m (US$836m, €607m) budget. Chinese investor The ZhongRong Group plans to recreate the 19th century’s largest glass structure as a major cultural attraction. Famous for her futuristic fragmented geometry – including the Mind Zone at the Millenium Dome - Zaha Hadid is to team up with Indian sculptor Anish Kapoor in

The Frank Gehry-designed Biomuseo in Panama is set to open. The biodiversity and natural history museum has been in construction for almost ten years. The museum, which is located on the Amador Causeway at the entrance to the Panama Canal, has been designed to showcase the diverse range of species found in the region and represents Gehry's first built work in Latin America. The 43,000sq m (452,084sq ft) facility features

Paris’ 16 “ghost stations” which have been disused for decades could have new life breathed into them as leisure spaces, if ideas put forward by a politician come to fruition. As part of her election campaign, Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, of the UMP Party, has commissioned Oxo Architects and Laisné Architects to come up with designs for alternative uses for these redundant spaces. The designs show how Arsenal station – a disused