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

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

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

Architecture firm Purcell will create an extension to the historic home of the University of Manchester - Manchester Museum, after winning planning and listed building consent last week. The design team have imagined a contemporary new entrance and two new galleries, which will double the capacity of the museum – part of a wider development plan as it seeks “to become the UK’s most imaginative, inclusive and caring museum.” Purcell

Public artist and designer Steed Taylor has completed the largest continuous street mural in the world, spanning the full length of Downtown West Palm Beach in Florida. The mile-long ‘road tattoo’ is called Genii Loci, or ‘the protective spirits of a place.’ Local people were invited to paint parts of the mural – which takes the form of interweaving three-colour Celtic knots and emphasises the power of community. The north

International architects Snøhetta have designed a new planetarium and a visitor centre for Norway’s largest astronomical facility by studying the night sky for design inspiration. Nestled in the dense forest of Harestua, 45km north of Oslo, Solobservatoriet is the largest solar observatory North of the Alps. Its original observatory was built by the University of Oslo for the total solar eclipse of 1954, and a satellite tracking station was established

The Prime Minister of Lebanon, Saad Hariri, has announced plans for a new museum of antiquities, which will be designed by Italian architect Renzo Piano. The Beirut Historical Museum will be constructed in the capital’s downtown area, running from Martyrs Square to the waterfront. Funded in part by the state of Kuwait, it will house archaeological artefacts from a host of civilisations, from the Bronze Age onwards. Exhibits will include

The Seoul Metropolitan Government has released the first design images for a new Seoul Cinematheque – a complex celebrating the visual arts to be built in Chungmuro, the heart of South Korea’s domestic film industry. Opening in February 2021, the venue will show non-commercial, independent, artistic, and classic films across four theatres, including one on the rooftop, with capacities ranging from 150 to 300. The project will be built on

International architects OMA have completed their latest addition to fashion house Prada’s arts complex in southern Milan, on the site of a former gin distillery. Torre is a nine-level, 60m (197ft) high tower with a facade that alternates between glass and white concrete surfaces. Devoted to “the development of a new typology for the exhibition of art” at Fondazione Prada, the structure’s different levels each have different spatial parameters, due

British architects HawkinsBrown have won planning and listed building consent for their regeneration of a complex of Victorian-era mill buildings in Yorkshire to form an arts-led leisure district. Their 130,000sq ft (12,000sq m) masterplan for the Rutland Mills project will deliver studio space for artists, designers and musicians; restaurants; event and gallery space, a retail zone; a hotel; and several areas of public realm. The mixed-use district will be sited

Montreal’s contemporary art museum has unveiled the design for its new home, after selecting the winning proposal from a hard-fought architecture competition. Quebec studios Saucier+Perrotte Architectes and GLCRM & Associés Architectes unanimously swayed the judges with a vision described as “luminous and relevant”. The Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal (MAC), located in the city’s Quartier des spectacles, is one of Canada’s most important national museums, dedicated exclusively to the promotion

The Dutch municipality of Den Helder has today (12 April) announced MVRDV as the winners in a competition to design a new public installation on the city’s northern dike representing the connection between city and sea. The design, called SeaSaw, is a viewing platform that takes the shape of an infinite loop, with visitors able to walk across it in either direction. Den Helder is located on the country’s northernmost

Bjarke Ingels Group are designing a hotel next to their forthcoming Audemars Piguet watchmaking museum in the village of Le Brassus, Switzerland. As with that subtly spiralling attraction – which is due to open in 2019 – the new project, Hotel des Horlogers, will be integrated into the topography of the landscape. Five zigzagging room slabs will expand into a gently sloping exterior path, leading directly to the museum and

New details have been announced for the entertainment arena being developed in Swansea as part of a £1.3bn leisure investment designed to reinvigorate the Welsh city centre's cultural scene. Swansea City and County Council has announced the signing of a deal with live entertainment company the Ambassador Theatre Group (ATG) to operate Swansea Arena, construction of which will begin this year. Architecture practice ACME is designing the 8,825sq m (95,000sq

Architecture and planning practice FXCollaborative have been selected by the Children's Museum of Manhattan (CMOM) to transform a historic New York church into the attraction’s new home. The 1903 building, located on 96th Street in Manhattan, was originally designed by architects Carrère & Hastings to house the First Church of Christ, Scientist. The site has now been acquired by the museum, which wants to adapt it into “an ever-evolving place

The new home for Brazil’s 50-year-old Museum of Image and Sound (MIS) is entering the final stages of its development, with the Diller Scofidio + Renfro-designed (DS+R) building taking shape on Rio’s beachfront. Opened in 1965, MIS offers a vast archive of photographs, film, documents and sound recordings reflecting the cultural history of Rio. In 2009, DS+F were selected from a number of world-class architects, beating the likes of Daniel

The first renderings have been released showing what the Madison Square Garden Company’s (MSG) striking spherical entertainment venue will look like in London. Designed by Populous, the MSG Sphere London has been conceived as the conglomerate’s first international arena, and an “iconic venue that will feature game-changing technologies and pioneer the next generation of transformative, immersive experiences.” It will host concerts, live shows, expos, esports and other large-scale events. MSG

The developers of EuropaCity in Paris have provided a first glimpse at the eight key leisure buildings that will be constructed for the €3.1bn (US$3.8bn, £2.7bn) project. Following a competitive six-month competition process, several established and emerging architecture practices from France and further afield have been selected to work on the accommodation and attractions that will form the cultural heart of the vast scheme – which has been masterplanned by

A much-hyped movie museum in the home city of famed director Sir Peter Jackson could be in need of a reshoot, with the movie mogul calling for a temporary cut on the long-delayed project after locking horns with the city council. Located in a prime tourism spot, opposite the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, the proposed Movie Museum development includes the visitor attraction occupying two floors of the

SMAR Architecture Studio have won the international design competition to create a Science Island attraction in Kaunas, Lithuania. The practice, with offices in Australia and Spain, were selected ahead of SimpsonHaugh and Donghua Chen Studio for the prestigious €25m (US$30.6m, £21.8m) project, which will be officially known as the National Science and Innovation Centre. Expected to open a year in advance of Kaunas’ tenure as European Capital of Culture 2022,

Experimental New York design studio Snarkitecture are returning to Washington D.C.’s National Building Museum, three years after their enormous ball pit became a huge attraction for the institution. The museum has announced the New York collective will create a sprawling Fun House in its Great Hall for the 2018 edition of its annual Summer Block Party, from 4 July to 3 September. The freestanding structure will recall and re-imagine the

London architects Sergison Bates have won the international competition to convert the Citroën Yser Garage in Brussels – once Europe’s largest car factory – into a new branch of the Pompidou Centre art museum. The firm, along with Zurich studio EM2N and Brussels practice Aarchitecten, have been selected ahead of the likes of Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Christ & Gantenbein and OMA for the high-profile commission – the largest new

A dramatic drone video released by international design studio Ennead Architects has offered a glimpse at their planetarium for the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum taking shape in the Chinese city. The footage provides a sweeping overview of the 38,000sq m (409,000sq ft) structure as it rises from the ground in the city’s Lingang district. Construction began on the project in November 2016, and completion is scheduled by 2020.

US architect Steven Holl has won an international design competition for the new Angers Collectors Museum and hotel, inspired by the medieval Apocalypse Tapestry displayed in the French city. Collaborating with Parisian real estate firm Compagnie de Phalsbourg, Holl’s design for the museum is inspired by the historic Chateau d’Angers – built by King Louis IX in the 13th century – with the architect planning to create a new cultural

The official groundbreaking has taken place for the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art – Star Wars creator George Lucas’ long-awaited cultural venture in Los Angeles’ Exposition Park. The 300,000sq ft (27,800sq m) museum will celebrate the art of visual storytelling – from comic art, paintings and illustrations to photography, filmmaking and drawings – with collection galleries, exhibition spaces and two theatres displaying original works of art, digital technologies and daily

The latest design proposals for David Chipperfield’s 1,000-capacity concert hall in Edinburgh – the city’s first in 100 years – have been publicly revealed for the first time. The venue, situated behind the historic Dundas House at 36 St Andrew Square, will be the permanent home of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra (SCO) – with a “world class” auditorium and recital and recording space “to rival the best in Europe.” In

Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) have revealed their competition-winning design for the National Theatre of Albania, a 3-in-1 cultural venue shaped like a bow tie. Designed in collaboration with British consultancy Theatre Projects, the 9,300sq m (100,000sq ft) venue has been commissioned to host local and touring theatre companies in the Albanian capital, Tirana. Situated adjacent to the historic Skanderbeg Square, the National Opera and the National Art Gallery, the project