Danish architecture practice COBE have today (11 February) been named the winner of an international design competition to masterplan a new leisure district on an artificial quay in Copenhagen’s harbour. Despite its location next to the city’s opera house and the Royal Danish Playhouse, Christiansholm Island is the last undeveloped area along the city’s waterfront. It has been used over the past 50 years by the Danish press for newspaper

Four Seasons is planning a new luxury resort in Napa Valley, California, that will include a spa using the natural geothermal waters unique to the Calistoga region. Owned by Boston-based real estate private equity firm Alcion Ventures and developed in partnership with Colorado-based boutique firm Bald Mountain Development, the Napa Valley resort will include 85 guest rooms and 20 private residence villas. Designed by O’Bryan Partnership Architects, with interior design

Miami design studio Baker Barrios Architects have unveiled their vision for a national football stadium and sports complex in Guyana, South America. The proposed project – which has been developed by former Canadian international footballer Alex Bunbury, who was born in Guyana – is anchored by a 24,000-seat stadium which will host the nation’s home football fixtures. Baker Barrios’ 230-acre masterplan for the scheme also includes an 80,000sq ft (7,400sq

A turbulent bid to build a world-class science museum in Miami is back on track after two principal donors stepped in to provide crucial funding to the cash-stricken project. The US$307m (€283.5m, £214.1m) Patricia and Phillip Frost Museum of Science is entering the final construction phase, but a US$45m (€41.5m, £31.3m) funding shortfall emerged last month due to higher-than-expected construction costs and a failure to finance donor pledges. However, the

Danish architect Bjarke Ingels and his studio BIG have been chosen to design the 2016 Serpentine Gallery Pavilion within London’s Kensington Gardens. The studio now have six months to develop and complete their design before it goes on display as the centrepiece of this year's Serpentine Galleries summer pavilion exhibition. For the first time, the galleries have also announced an expansion to the annual four-month event, with four other architects

French artist and interior designer Emilie Bonaventure has drawn on her experience as a set designer to create an adaptable new restaurant in London’s Covent Garden. A 19th century marble fireplace and theatrical staircase are the focal points of Frenchie Covent Garden, which has been designed to recreate the immediacy and intimacy of the crowded eateries in Paris’s garment district. Frenchie was opened this month by chefs and restaurateurs Greg

A groundbreaking ceremony has been held to mark the beginning of “an architectural rejuvenation” for Canada’s National Arts Centre (NAC) in Ottawa. Toronto studio Diamond Schmitt Architects have designed a CAD$110m (US$79.3m, €40.4m, £54m) extension to the Brutalist 1960s structure, adding a new North Atrium and entrance made from glass and a marquee tower which will display live performances from the main stage on a huge screen. According to the

The architects behind the US$20m (€17.7m, £13.8m) renovation of the Westmoreland Museum of American Art in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, have claimed their work has launched “a new era” for the institution. New York studio Ennead Architects have used a simple palette of materials and textures – including precast concrete, zinc, brick and glass – to unify the 13,500sq ft (1,250sq m) expansion with the existing neo-Georgian structure. A new eastern brick

A huge carnival float has been built in Malta as a rather unorthodox tribute to one of the world's most famous architects. Renzo Piano – the designer of The Shard, the Whitney Museum of American Art and the nearly-completed Stavros Niarchos Cultural Centre – was honoured at last week’s Maltese Carnival for his architectural contribution to country’s capital, Valletta. A gigantic smiling depiction of Piano appeared on a special float,

British architecture studio Foster + Partners have been commissioned to restore a historic pavilion in Kulm Park, Switzerland so that it can be used at next year’s Ski World Championships. The two-storey Ice Pavilion, which is owned by ski and spa getaway Kulm Hotel St. Moritz, was constructed in 1905 in a traditional Swiss Art Nouveau style. Despite being listed for protection, the structure is on the verge of collapse

A recently-approved US$168m (€150m, £116m) expansion of the Deep Water Cay Resort in the Bahamas will include Six Senses as the operator of a five-star, mixed-use resort, according to a news release from the Bahamian government. Representatives from Six Senses were not able to comment on the news. Dr Michael Darville, minister for Grand Bahama, said the build-out will be phased over a seven-year period and will include 68 hotel

With the W57 ‘Courtscraper’ nearly finished and the 2 World Trade Center building still in development, Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) have unveiled their vision for another striking New York tower: a green-infused 65-storey glass structure called The Spiral. The 1,005ft (306.3m) office building – which takes its name from the series of cascading green terraces that swirl around the building – will be located at the intersection of the High

British exhibition and interior designers Mather & Co will venture into the US market for the first time after winning a competitive tender to develop a new visitor attraction and stadium tour experience at California’s world famous Rose Bowl Stadium. The 92,500-capacity facility, designed by American architect Myron Hubbard Hunt and located in Pasadena, is a National Historic Landmark and the country’s 12th largest stadium. Since its construction in 1922

The Elizabethan theatre where William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and Henry V were performed for the first time is at the centre of a new £750m (US$1bn, €968.7m) mixed-use destination for London. The historic remains of The Curtain Theatre, which dates back to 1577, were discovered buried three metres beneath a disused Victorian goods yard earmarked for development in 2011. The Curtain was home to Shakespeare’s Theatre Company and the

Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava has beaten competition from five unnamed international rivals to design a landmark cultural tower in Dubai. The ruler of the emirate, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, approved Calatrava’s futuristic design, which he hailed as an "architectural wonder that will be as great as Burj Khalifa and Eiffel Tower." According to the Emirates News Agency (WAM), the sheikh – who is also vice president of the

A groundbreaking ceremony has been held for the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach, Florida. British architects Foster + Partners are expanding the existing Art Deco-inspired museum – which opened in 1941 – adding 12,000sq ft (1,100sq m) in gallery space and creating a new entrance to regain the symmetry of the building’s original east-west axial arrangement. Three new double-height pavilions made of white stone will house a

French hospitality company Louvre Hotels Group is preparing to open hundreds of luxury accommodations at the heart of “the world’s largest eco-theme park” – the US$240m (€216.2m, £166.8m) Funtasy Island development in Indonesia’s Riau Islands. Louvre’s luxury hotel complex will include 341 five-star villas under the Royal Tulip brand and a 183-room Golden Tulip hotel with a 260-seat restaurant. Constructed primarily from wood and bamboo, the buildings will be linked

Speaking during her RIBA Royal Gold Medal lecture in London, British architect Zaha Hadid claimed that unlike artists, architects have a duty to the community's wellbeing and should not dwell on “contemplation, expression or provocation” in their work. “For me there was never any doubt that architecture must contribute to society’s progress and ultimately to our individual and collective wellbeing,” she said. “It performs and facilitates everyday life.” Hadid added

A design competition has been launched to transform a civic hub in northern Sydney into a new gateway for culture and commerce. The competition to revitalise the City of Ryde has invited “the world’s most talented and creative architects” to submit “new, unexpected and iconic solutions to engage the community” and unlock the potential of the site – located on a prominent ridgeline with views of the surrounding Blue Mountains.

A Kickstarter campaign has been launched to fund a drone racing centre for the US city of Portland. Entrepreneur Toby Johnson is trying to raise US$10,000 (€8,900, £6,800) by late March to develop a design for a facility that “may one day host the Drone Racing World Cup.” First person view (FPV) drone racing is a relatively new sport where competitors fly miniature, camera-mounted multi-rotor drones as if they were

New renderings have emerged of the recently commissioned stadium of National Football League (NFL) franchise the Los Angeles Rams, which features a vast swooping roof designed by architects HKS. In January 2016 the team – formerly known as the St Louis Rams – was granted NFL permission to relocate from Missouri to LA, where it played before 1995. The Rams will begin playing at their new US$1.86bn (£1.3bn, €1.69bn) stadium

Health and fitness operator Life Time will open its first New York fitness club in Q1 2016 within Manhattan’s largest residential tower. The club will take up a 70,000sq ft (6,500sq m) area inside the 71-storey Sky building, which is set to be completed in the next few months. The structure was designed by Goldstein Hill & West with interiors created by David Rockwell's studio, the Rockwell Group. The Life

The winners of the 2014 Stirling Prize, Haworth Tompkins, have replaced Frank Gehry on a multi-million pound project to create a moderns sports and leisure complex in Brighton & Hove, UK. Plans to renovate the city’s King Alfred site – a leisure centre “which no longer meets modern expectations and is expensive to operate and maintain” – were first mooted in 2005 when development company Karis proposed a £300m (US$436.1m,

US President Barack Obama will promote the advancement of liveable cities next week with a White House budget proposal raising money for green transportation projects. According to reports, the mooted proposal would raise funding for environmental infrastructure initiatives by making US oil firms pay a tax of US$10 (€8.90, £6.85) on every barrel of oil they produce. Obama will reportedly make the case for $300bn (€286.1bn, £208.3bn) worth of investments

Helsinki City Museum in Finland has announced an opening date of May 2016, following an €11m (US$12.3m, £8.4m) 18-month refurbishment of its premises, the most extensive transformation in the museum’s 105-year history. Moving from its current home within Helsinki’s historical district to a new location in Senate Square, the museum will be made up of a group of five historical buildings surrounding three inner courtyards, opening up spaces never previously

When Copenhagen studio PLH Arkitekter decided to enter a design competition for an experience and knowledge centre at a historic Danish Viking site, they had a particularly creative idea: to build it in the image of a Viking shield. The studio’s design for the centre in Trelleborg – a Viking ring castle that is one of Scandinavia’s most important Viking monuments – subsequently won the competition, and will now be

A major international architecture competition for the urban regeneration of Paris has concluded, with 22 design teams selected to develop their innovative visions for the future of the French capital. The project, called reinventer.paris, launched in November 2014 with an invitation for architects, designers, investors, companies, collectives and artists to “prefigure what the Paris of tomorrow might be” for “an urban experiment on an unparalleled scale.” Over 800 proposals were