A striking new museum dedicated to the life and work of French fashion icon Yves Saint Laurent has opened today (19 October) in Marrakech, Morocco. French architecture firm Studio KO designed the 4,000sq m (43,000sq ft) terracotta brick home of the Musée Yves Saint Laurent on a site next to the city’s Jardin Majorelle, a garden the designer acquired himself to save it from being destroyed by developers. Saint Laurent

Adjaye Associates have revealed their design for a new spy museum and interactive experience in the heart of New York, which is set to open this December. The studio’s design for the 60,000sq ft (5,500sq m) building, called SPYSCAPE, is inspired by the architectural language of the world’s largest spy organisations and has been developed in collaboration with former directors of intelligence agencies and station chiefs. Conceived as an “iconic

An abandoned planetarium in Jerusalem will be converted into a museum dedicated to Albert Einstein as part of a US$5m (€4.2m, £3.8m) project to showcase his personal archives. Architects Arad Simon are behind the plans, which will see a museum and visitor centre built on Hebrew University's Givat Ram campus in Jerusalem, Israel. Arad Simon were selected from four local firms, with the university saying the winning proposal was “modest,

A futuristic home has been built for a Roman museum in the French city of Nîmes – in stark contrast to the real-life Roman amphitheatre next door. Construction has been completed ahead of the opening of the Musée de la Romanité de Nîmes in June 2018, with 5,000 exhibits from a collection of 25,000 set to move in over the coming months. Architect Elizabeth de Portzamparc is behind the striking,

Plans for a brand new waterside aquarium near the Norwegian capital have been unveiled, showing a pair of smooth, undulating domes jutting out into the fjord. Designed by London and Oslo-based practice Haptic Architects, the 10,000sq m (108,000sq ft) aquarium is encircled by walkways, providing a glimpse through the windows to the attraction’s interior. The building features a curved roof that will double as accessible public space. The aquarium will

Austrian architects Coop Himmelb(l)au have completed The Haus des Brotes (The House of Bread) – a shimmering museum and events centre for bread company Backaldrin. Conceived as “a cabinet of curiosities”, the sculptural building is located at the company’s headquarters in Asten, northern Austria. It is formed of a concrete rectangular base supporting a wooden and steel-clad structure, which contains a customer information centre, events rooms and a two-storey, free-form

Tate St Ives, the art gallery credited with helping to regenerate the southwest, will unveil its new look tomorrow (14 October) when it re-opens following a £20m redevelopment. Jamie Fobert Architects’ cliffside extension has doubled the exhibition space, with the aim of better accommodating the 250,000 annual visitors to the Cornish attraction. With an additional 600sqm floor space, the gallery will be able to host more exhibits, display more works

International architecture firm OMA are set to design their first public building in New York City, an expansion of the city’s New Museum. Studio partners Rem Koolhaas and Shohei Shigematsu will lead the project, which is being built on a site at 231 Bowery, purchased by the contemporary art museum in 2008. The expansion, first announced in May 2016, will double the museum’s footprint by providing an additional 50,000sq ft

Plans to build a 17m (56ft) viewing tower at one of Britain’s most archaeologically-significant sites can go ahead following a £1.8m (US$2.4m, €2m) donation from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF). In 1939 a hoard of treasures were discovered at Sutton Hoo in Suffolk, believed to be the final resting place of the 7th Century King Raedwald of East Anglia. The project, which will cost £4m (US$5.3m, €4.5m) in total, means

London’s Geffrye Museum will close in January ahead of a £18.1m (US$23.8m, €20.2m) transformation to create new spaces for its collections and library. Founded in 1914, the Geffrye Museum specialises in the history of English domestic home interiors, showing the changing styles through 11 displayed period rooms, from 1600 to the present day. Called 'Unlocking the Geffrye', the plans by London architecture firm Wright & Wright will allow visitors to

Derby Museums has secured final funding for its planned £16.4m (US$21.4m, €18.2m) Museum of Making following a £9.4m (US$12.3m, €10.5m) donation from the UK's Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF). The donation to the charitable trust, which represents Derby's Museum and Art Gallery, Pickford’s House and The Silk Mill, makes it the largest National Lottery-funded project in Derby’s history. The Museum of Making at Derby Silk Mill project will see a community-led

Dreamworks founder David Geffen has donated US$150m (€128m, £114.1m) towards the US$600m (€511.9m, £456.6m) campaign creating a new home for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). Geffen’s donation is the largest single cash gift from an individual in the museum’s history, with his philanthropic support also making him the largest individual donor to the Building LACMA campaign. “This innovative addition to the LACMA campus will ensure ongoing and

Scottish football club Celtic has been granted planning permission in principle for a hotel and museum complex to be built adjacent to the 47-time Scottish Premier League (SPL) champions’ home ground in Glasgow. First revealed in February, the £18m (US$24m, €20m) plans, which were submitted to Glasgow City Council for approval, also include a new ticket office and retail store, with the development to come up outside the main stand

Los Angeles’ long-awaited Academy Museum of Motion Pictures has taken a big step forward this week, after media mogul Haim Saban donated US$50m (€42.4m, £37.2m) towards the US$388m (€329.2m, £288.7m) project. The donation from Haim and his wife Cheryl brings the museum’s fundraising total to US$288m (€244.3m, £214.3m) leaving it US$100m (€84.9m, £74.4m) short of its total. In recognition of the gift, the five-storey structure which will house the museum’s

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.

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

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

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

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

Heatherwick Studio’s latest completed building, the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz MOCAA) has been unveiled today (15 September) ahead of its public opening next week on Cape Town’s V&A Waterfront. The museum – the largest in the world dedicated to contemporary art from Africa and its diaspora – is housed in 9,500sq m (102,000sq ft) of custom-designed space, carved out of the city’s monumental historic Grain Silo Complex

The long-delayed and even longer-awaited Louvre Abu Dhabi has finally been given its launch date, with the Jean Nouvel-designed cultural institution opening to the public on 11 November. A string of setbacks dating back by more than decade have delayed the AED4.3bn (US$1.2bn, €1bn, £914m) project, which anchors the under-development Saadiyat Cultural District – where one day the Zayed National Museum designed by Foster and Partners and Guggenheim Abu Dhabi

The long-delayed and even longer-awaited Louvre Abu Dhabi has finally been given its launch date, with the Jean Nouvel-designed cultural institution opening to the public on 11 November. A string of setbacks dating back by more than decade have delayed the AED4.3bn (US$1.2bn, €1bn, £914m) project, which anchors the under-development Saadiyat Cultural District – where one day the Zayed National Museum designed by Foster and Partners and Guggenheim Abu Dhabi

Architect Frank Gehry has been commissioned to develop the design for a model railway museum in Massachusetts, which will feature miniature work from a host of the world’s leading designers. According to The Boston Globe newspaper, Gehry visited the city of North Adams last week to visit the site earmarked for the 83,000sq ft (7,700sq m) Extreme Model Railroad and Contemporary Architecture Museum. Architecture practice Gluckman Tang had been developing

The city council of Australia’s Gold Coast has fast-tracked the building a AU$60.5m (US$48.1m, €40.3m) art gallery to add to its fast-developing cultural precinct. Designed by ARM Architecture, the colourful, twisting gallery is expected to be built to the south of the city’s Evandale Lake. The building will feature up to five floors of exhibits and halls and a rooftop bar. According to the Gold Coast Bulletin, work is likely

A major modern art museum will open its doors in Jakarta, Indonesia, on 4 November. The opening is set to coincide with the Jakarta Biennale and Museum MACAN will stage a variety of events to engage the city and promote its burgeoning art sector. The passion project of Indonesian philanthropist and collector Haryanto Adikoesoemo, the multi-million dollar Museum MACAN – which stands for Modern and Contemporary Art in Nusantara –

British conservation charity the National Trust has announced a shortlist of six architects in the running to rebuild Surrey’s Clandon Park: a historic Palladian mansion that was gutted by a fire in 2015. An international design competition, organised by Malcolm Reading Consultants, was launched in March 2017 to find a multi-discipline team to restore the 18th century Grade I listed building. Sixty groups submitted designs for the re-imagined building, which

Yayoi Kusama – the Japanese artist famed for her use of repetitive patterns and bold colours – has announced the opening of her own art museum, in Tokyo, Japan. The five-storey museum building, designed by architecture firm Kume Sekkei, has already been erected in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo, but the purpose of the structure had been kept under wraps. Two of the storeys will be devoted to exhibiting Kusama’s