Therme Group is forging ahead with its ambitious global expansion plans and has unveiled plans for a futuristic new AED2 billion (US$545 million, €526 million, £438 million) flagship in the Middle East, called Therme Dubai – Islands in the Sky. The destination is set to open in the UAE in 2028. Designed by renowned architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Therme Dubai will be located in Zabeel Park, beside the Royal

Global wellbeing organisation Therme Group has acquired Therme Erding – a vast 145,000sq ft wellbeing destination located near Munich in Germany. Recognised as one of Europe’s largest thermal wellbeing complexes, Therme Erding features a 40-pool bathing oasis, 35 steam baths and saunas and 28 indoor and outdoor slides. Founded by architect and entrepreneur Josef Wund in 1999, the facility has become a cornerstone of the European wellness industry. The acquisition

French theme park Futuroscope has opened its new 6,000sq m waterpark, featuring unique immersive aquatic experiences as part of a €304 million investment by the French government which supports the park as a regional wealth generator. The new €57m Aquascope waterpark features three zones. The Thrill Zone, with eight slides including a spiral slide that winds around the building, a vertical drop launch slide and two-lane racer slide. This zone

Wake the Tiger, the Bristol-based immersive art experience, is set to open its 1,000sq m expansion on Friday 2 February. Dubbed ‘the world’s first amazement park’ Wake The Tiger was created by the team behind Boomtown music festival. It launched in a former warehouse in Bristol, UK in July 2022, featuring 27 different spaces, including ice chambers, secret passageways, underwater worlds, mechanical chambers and psychedelic forests. Since its launch, it

Global wellbeing organisation Therme Group has announced the location of its first Asia Pacific project. The upcoming resort will open in South Korea’s Incheon City as part of its Golden Harbor development. A memorandum of agreement was signed on 20 December by Therme’s senior vice president Stelian Iacob and Incheon Free Economic Zone (IFEZ) commissioner Kim Jinyong. The identification of the Golden Harbor site follows an initial letter of cooperation

Shenzhen Museum of Contemporary Art and Urban Planning (MoCAUP) has opened an exhibition which provides a retrospective of the research and practices of MAD Architects. Called Ma Yansong: Landscapes in Motion, the exhibition occupies an expansive space of more than 3,000sq m and takes visitors on a journey through 52 projects spanning almost two decades. MAD Architects is led by Ma Yansong, Dang Qun and Yosuke Hayano. The exhibition is

Timbaland, Platinum Grammy Award-winning producer, who's worked with artists such as Jay-Z, Missy Elliott, Madonna, Rihanna, Justin Timberlake and Drake and Björk, has announced a partnership with health and wellbeing music provider, Myndstream. The new partners will collaborate to produce an album of wellness music to help improve the health and wellbeing of listeners, whether that be to destress, relax, unwind or focus. They will be available for use by

Meow Wolf has opened its fourth permanent exhibition in Grapevine, North Texas. Called The Real Unreal, the immersive art attraction is being described as a "psychedelic playground for adults and kids alike". Located at the Grapevine Mills mall, the attraction was created by Meow Wolf's in-house team of artists in partnership with 38 Texas-based artists. After entering what seems like a normal house, guests are transported into a ‘realm of

Following a public consultation, Therme Manchester, the UK’s first city-based wellbeing resort, has submitted a refined new design for approval to Trafford Council. The concept for the project has transitioned, from primarily a single building with zones and an undulating roofline, to a flowing pavilion-style concept and will contain wellness, health and fitness, a waterpark and attractions as well as arts installations and a hydroponic farm. This new design features

London’s Victoria and Albert Museum has launched the final phase of its huge new photography centre, making it the largest space in the UK housing a permanent photography collection. The V&A Photography Centre features seven galleries, showcasing 600 pieces from the V&A’s vast, 200-year-old photography collection. The first phase of the project launched in 2018, with three galleries designed by architects David Kohn. The final phase sees the addition of

A £186m cultural centre, set to transform the arts and music scene globally, will open its doors in June this year. Factory International, based in Manchester UK, but with a global outreach, is the largest investment in a national cultural project in the UK since the opening of London's Tate Modern in 2000. The centre will house 13,350sq m of flexible floor area, utilising supersized moveable walls that can be

Planning approval has been granted for Camden Highline, a project to transform a section of disused railway into a new elevated urban park for London. Similar to the High Line in New York, US, the new green space will run for 1.2km, connecting Camden Town with the King’s Cross and St Pancras area – an important transport hub for the capital. The elevated public walkway is forecast to bring new

A new landmark maritime centre has opened to the public in Esbjerg, Denmark. Created by WERK Arkitekter and Snøhetta, the centre has been designed as a shared space for watersport clubs and visitors along the port, providing the town with a social maritime hub and architectural landmark. Dubbed "The Lantern", WERK Arkitekter and Snøhetta were chosen for the project following a design competition in 2019. Designed as a "community first"

Saudi Entertainment Ventures (SEVEN) has signed an exclusive partnership agreement with Warner Bros. Discovery to bring purpose-built indoor adventures centres to the Kingdom. The new Discovery Adventures centres will integrate Discovery’s media content and will be designed to enable young people to "be entertained and gain informed insights with educational value". SEVEN, a wholly owned subsidiary of Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF), has a goal of transforming the entertainment

Saudi Entertainment Ventures (SEVEN), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Kingdom's Public Investment Fund (PIF), is to invest SAR50bn (US$13.3bn) to develop 21 integrated entertainment destinations across 14 cities in Saudi Arabia. Developed in partnership with a range of international brands, the destinations are set to feature more than 150 "innovative attractions". SEVEN has so far signed deals with Warner Bros., Discovery, Clip ‘n Climb and toy giants Mattel (for its

A new floating visitor center and art installation is showcasing aquaculture, informing the world on how to better feed the planet with sustainable seafood. Called Salmon Eye, the aquaculture centre is located in Norway’s Hardangerfjord, just outside the town of Rosendal. Created by Kvorning Design, the project was conceived and financed by Sondre Eide, the CEO of third-generation salmon farming business Eide Fjordbruk. A world-class visitor and learning center, Salmon

An immersive audiovisual experience that "observes everything as it is" was a among the highlights of this year's Noor Riyadh festival in Saudi Arabia. Created by design studio Nohlabs, the installation – called Everything – is true to its name and questions everything in existence by suggesting new possibilities for them. Offering visitors the opportunity to observe the elements that construct their everyday lives, the experience ascribes new meanings to

A huge "film city" and visitor attraction project in Nigeria has reached a major milestone, following the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between marketing and development agency Del York International Group and The Lagos State Government. The two partners signed what they described as a "monumental agreement to transform the face of the creative industry on the continent of Africa". The deal will see the state government officially

Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) have been selected as the architect for the Vltava Philharmonic Hall in Prague, Czech Republic. The first national concert hall to be built in the country in 100 years, the venue will be the home of the famous Prague Symphony Orchestra and will have an audience capacity of more than 1,800. BIG – which won an international competition between 19 other architectural practices to secure the

The MSG Sphere, a controversial auditorium and music globe designed by Populous, has been given full planning permission by the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC). If built, the Sphere would tower 90m above Stratford, London, and in addition to the auditorium, would include a nightclub, bars, restaurants, cafés, shops and parking. The sphere would boast the “largest and highest resolution LED screen in the world” – in the form of

The Burrell Collection in Glasgow, UK has reopened following a £68.25m refurbishment which took five years to complete. Exhibiting objects from Europe and Asia, the vast collection was donated to the city and people of Glasgow by art collector Sir William Burrell in 1944. A museum housing the collection, which includes more than 9,000 objects, was then built and opened in Pollok Park in 1983. The collection holds items from

Culturespaces has announced that its new digital art centre, Fabrique des Lumières, will open in Amsterdam on 22 April 2022. Located in the historic former gas plant of Westergasfabriek – built in 1885 by the Imperial Continental Gas Association – the cultural attraction will use "cutting-edge technology" to create immersive exhibitions devoted to some of the most celebrated figures in art history. The venue has a total surface area of

The number of registered visitors to Dubai's Expo 2020 has passed 10 million. Expo 2020, which was, as the name suggests, originally scheduled for 2020 but had to be moved due to the pandemic, is the largest major global event to be held since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak. In addition to physical visits, the Expo's digital platform had seen 37 million visits by 27 December 2021. The Expo

Los Angeles is to get a new leisure and mixed-use district called Fourth & Central, with masterplanning by LA-based Studio One Eleven. Denver-based developer, Continuum Partners and site owner, LA Cold Storage, have lodged a planning application with the City of Los Angeles for the redevelopment of the land which has been owned by LA Cold Storage for over 50 years.   The downtown gateway site will be reimagined with the

Global design and production agency BRC Imagination Arts has appointed Christian Lachel as chief creative officer, taking over the role from BRC founder Bob Rogers. Previously vice president and executive creative director, Lachel first joined BRC in 1997. Since then, he has helped guide the company during a period of rapid GLOBAL growth, and has taken lead roles on projects including Destination Scotland (Johnnie Walker Princes St, Glenkinchie Distillery), Jameson Distillery

Non profit, 'nomadic' Boston-based museum Design Museum Everywhere has launched its Diversity in Action three month training programme designed to promote diversity, equity and inclusion within the design industry. Led by Diana Navarrete-Rackauckas, Design Museum’s director of learning and interpretation, Diversity in Action was created for design professionals across the industry, and aims to provide the tools to examine their work and designs through an equity lens. Over the course

Coventry, the UK City of Culture in 2021, wants to seize a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to create an arts hub to establish the city as an international destination for culture. Coventry City Council (CCC) has revealed multi-million pound plans to transform the IKEA building in the city into a visitor attraction showcasing some of the UK's greatest works of art. The new national Collections Centre would be created through a partnership