Lego fans from around the world will soon be descending on the small Danish town of Billund to a new museum and experience centre dubbed the ‘House of the Brick’. Bjarke Ingels Group have created the 12,000sq m (129,000sq ft) Lego House as a vibrant three-dimensional village of interlocking buildings and spaces, with the structure designed to look like a giant stack of Lego blocks topped by a giant 2x4

One of Europe’s most iconic resorts has had a soft re-opening after nine years of construction, with its Qatari owners claiming to have overseen “the project of the century.” Sophia Loren lived there, Audrey Hepburn was married in the local chapel, Charlie Chaplin was a regular visitor and Sean Connery’s James Bond dropped by in Goldfinger. Now the Bürgenstock Resort Lake Lucerne has been transformed to appeal to a new

San Francisco’s Asian Art Museum has unveiled a US$90m (€76.6m, £67.2m) plan to transform the institution, a project supported by the largest financial gift in the museum’s history – a US$25m (€21.3m, £18.7m) donation from Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang. Los Angeles-based architecture firm wHY are behind the plans, which the museum says will create new interpretive approaches in its galleries, affirming the local relevance and global impact of Asian art.

Richard Meier and Partners have completed their first pedestrian and vehicular bridge, envisioning the sculptural crossing as a new type of public space for the Italian city of Alessandria. The international architecture firm have spent twenty years working on the Cittadella Bridge, which reconnects the modern city with the Citadella, an 18th century fort and tentative UNESCO World Heritage site. A separate stone bridge hailing from the Napoleonic era was

Hospitality designer Bill Bensley has teamed up with Cambodian luxury boutique hotel group Shinta Mani to launch his own brand of hotels in the country, with two projects already in the pipeline. ‘The Bensley Collection’ is billed as a portfolio of “super luxe hotels and resorts showcasing visionary concepts, extraordinary design and bespoke service”, with Bensley granted “complete freedom to let his famed creative spirit run free.” The debut property,

A new museum celebrating the art of graffiti has opened its doors in Berlin, Germany. The Urban Nation Museum for Urban Contemporary Art (UN Museum), which opened on Bülowstrasse, was developed to document and promote street art and graffiti for the first time. A portrait of a man sculpted out of the wall of the museum by the Portuguese artist Vhils, colourful figures by Berlin-based artist Mimi S, and paintings

Sports and leisure architects Populous have announced the opening of a new office in Tokyo as the firm continues its global expansion. The decision to establish an office in Japan expands Populous’ global footprint to 15 branches worldwide, including six in the Asia-Pacific region. The organisation now has more than 500 employees around the globe. “Japan offers a wealth of opportunity with its strong culture, burgeoning sports scene and as

Heatherwick Studio and SPPARC Architects have been announced as the lead design team who will comprehensively revamp London’s historic Olympia exhibition centre. The owners of the 130-year-old building, Yoo Capital and Deutsche Finance, want to transform the site into a “world-leading arts, entertainment, exhibition and experiential district whilst staying true to its original heritage as an exhibition business.” Olympia London, located in Kensington, was designed by architect Henry Edward Coe

Ritz Carlton has opened its second property in Langkawi, Malaysia, with the launch of an oceanfront resort designed by Philippe Villeroux of Kuala Lumpur-based Tropical Area Architects. Ritz Carlton Langkawi has been created to “immerse travellers in the island's natural ecosystem and local culture”. Reflecting the architecture of the nearby traditional villages – which are known as Kampongs – the resort is set in a tranquil private bay and surrounded

German architect Ole Scheeren, best-known as the designer of a series sculptural towers in Asia, has announced his first project to be built in Europe: a spectacular residential high-rise in the city of Frankfurt. Riverpark Tower, commissioned by developer GEG German Estate Group, will emerge through the conversion of a forty-year-old concrete office building. Büro Ole Scheeren, the architect’s eponymous practice, will cut some floors and insert new, larger horizontal

Officials in the city of Chicago are exploring a proposed plan to transform a network of underground tunnels into a tourist attraction, granting a non-profit permission to create more detailed plans for the project. Running beneath the city’s central business district, the Pedway connects more than 50 buildings and offers a convenient way to navigate downtown Chicago, but has been criticised for being difficult to navigate. The non-profit Environmental Law

One of Paris’ most controversial buildings is set to undergo a green-tinged transformation, with three architecture studios joining forces to comprehensively renovate the Tour Montparnasse skyscraper. The monolithic glass and steel building, which climbs 209m (685.6ft) into the sky, provoked a public outcry when it was completed in 1973 and is widely considered to be out of place in the city’s urban landscape. The negative reaction was so strong, the

One of China’s largest real estate developers has joined forces with hospitality company Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts to open a luxury property in the northeastern city of Dalian. Luneng Group has appointed architects NBBJ Shanghai and designers Hirsch Bedner Associates (HBA) to create the Four Seasons Hotel Dalian on a site within the Donggang East Harbour. The hotel will be housed in a new mixed-use tower overlooking Dalian’s historic

Spa consultant Diana Mestre of Mestre & Mestre Spa and Wellness Consulting is creating a 12,000sq ft (1,115sq m) sunken spa for the upcoming 1 Hotel Los Cabos in Mexico, which is set to open in 2019. Designed with the purpose of revitalising the senses, the Seed Spa will use recycled and organic materials along with water, music, aromas, light and living plants with an aim to create an environment

Adria Lake of wellness and spa design company A.W. Lake Design has created a new Balinese spa for the Radisson Blu Uluwatu – the first Radisson Blu in Bali, which is set to open in December. The 633sq m (6,814sq ft) SpaEsc will include seven treatment rooms, including two doubles with private steam showers and two express massage rooms. A beauty area, “floating” courtyard relaxation room, fully equipped gym, yoga

The government of South Australia is commissioning an international search for a design team to create a second site for the state’s acclaimed art gallery. The project, called the Adelaide Contemporary, will form a new public and cultural space in the city, with the brief calling for an “architectural landmark on the celebrated North Terrace boulevard adjacent to the historic Botanic Garden.” It will house a community meeting place "integrating

A luxury 30,000sq ft club inspired by a film production’s backlot has been unveiled in California by Equinox. Located in Century City, LA, and designed as a chic and aspirational venue, the panoramic club will include expansive locker rooms with luxurious amenities, a 4,000sq ft (371sq m) outdoor lounge and convertible wall systems that enable an indoor-outdoor programming experiences. “Taking aesthetic inspiration from a film production’s backlot, we utilised studio

Plans to develop a second zoo in Sydney, Australia, have been given the go-ahead after local government officials granted planning permission to the AU$36m (US$28.8m, €24m, £21.3m) “cage free” project in Bungarribee. First touted in September 2015, the proposal for the Western Sydney Parklands – masterplanned by Australian design firm Misho + Associates (M+A) in conjunction with landscape architecture from Aspect Studios – will create natural-looking spaces developed to showcase

Construction is underway for a mountaintop retreat in Utah focused on entrepreneurship and innovation. Summit Powder Mountain, near Eden, is a ski village planned by architects and environmental designers Studio Ma to include residences and leisure communities that will host a year-round community of creative professionals and social entrepreneurs. The project is taking shape on a 10,000-acre public site surrounded by ski slopes. The centrepiece of the village will be

Property developer Qatari Diar has announced the appointment of Rosewood Hotels & Resorts as the operator for a new hotel opening within London’s former US Embassy building in Grosvenor Square. The selection follows a lengthy process in which a series of international hotel companies submitted proposals for how they would run an “ambitious world-class hotel, retail and event space” with 137 bedrooms, five restaurants, six flagship retail units, a spa

A new luxury spa has opened at the Portopiccolo Resort in Sistiana, Northern Italy, designed by Italian architect Alberto Apostoli. The facility is spread across three floors and covers a total floor area of 3,600sq ft (38,800sq ft). The ground floor houses the reception, hairstyling studio, a training pool and changing rooms, while on the first floor there is a relaxation area dominated by an indoor-outdoor pool, offering views of

Dubai has revealed its legacy plans following the 2020 World Expo, announcing plans to turn the site into a multi-use urban leisure district following the six-month event’s conclusion. More than 80 per cent of the HOK-Arup masterplanned expo site will be reused after the international event closes, with a new community-led development called District 2020 repurposing the site under the government’s legacy scheme. Anchored by 65,000sq m (700,000sq ft) of

Dutch design practice UNStudio has completed a vast leisure complex in Hangzhou, with a pair of sinuous towers providing a dramatic new landmark for the Chinese city. The 400,000 sq m (4.3 million sq ft) Raffles City development – nine years in the making – has been conceived as a lively vertical neighbourhood and transit hub for the Qianjiang New Town district, featuring apartments, a Conrad hotel, restaurants, shops, sports

Dubai developer Nakheel has unveiled a pipeline of new leisure developments across the emirate, collectively worth AED4bn (US$1.08bn, €908m, £806.8m). The company used last week’s Cityscape Global real estate convention as a platform to announce the new projects, which are all phased additions its previous leisure schemes. These include a luxury high-rise beachfront residential complex on Palm Jumeirah; a residential, mall, hotel and health resort at Discovery Gardens; a unique

Games developer and broadcasting giant Blizzard Entertainment has transformed a legendary Los Angeles television studio into a major eSports arena. The popularity of eSports competitions – in which opposing players compete at video games played online, often with thousands of digital spectators following the action – has grown at a huge rate in the last decade. The Blizzard Arena has been conceived to take advantage of this growing popularity. Located

The University of Birmingham has officially opened an indoor sports centre, designed by British architecture studio Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands, with the ambition “to provide future generations of the city’s athletes with world-class sports facilities.” The centre, which is open to students, academics and the public, includes the city’s first Olympic-standard swimming pool and a range of sports halls and gyms, laboratories, testing facilities and a large climbing wall. The building

Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, together with Astir Palace Vouliagmeni SA, will spend €100m ($US119m, £88m) to transform the iconic Astir Palace into the Four Seasons Astir Palace Hotel Athens. Due to open in early 2018, the resort will be the first Four Seasons in Greece. The 1960s hotel is undergoing extensive upgrades, with interiors by designer Meyer Davis, and, when complete, it will include 300 bedrooms and a wellness