Over 3,000 people have attended the topping-out ceremony for the Bjarke Ingels-designed Lego House, a visitor attraction made to resemble a giant stack of Lego bricks. Local citizens and Lego employees in the Danish town of Billund were invited to tour the construction site now the keystone brick has been set in place. According to the Lego Group, the completed experience centre will open to the public in the second

Global theme park and attractions operator, Merlin Entertainments, which is number two in the world to Disney, has revealed plans to build a Legoland in Shanghai. The US$300m (£194m, €265m) Legoland Shanghai is a joint venture between Merlin and Chinese investment firm China Media Capital. The popular Lego-themed attraction has been making headway in the Asian market in recent years, with Legoland parks under construction in Japan and South Korea,

An expert in the field of architecture and heritage has said that Microsoft’s HoloLens will play a huge part in the future of the sector. Speaking at CyArk’s annual summit, Adrian Ferrier – who heads up product development in visual intelligence solutions for California-based mapping company Trimble Navigation – envisioned an exciting future. He said when applied to the world of architecture, engineering and construction, the HoloLens device can extend

Japanese architecture practice Kengo Kuma & Associates has revealed radical designs for the new Museum of Indigenous Knowledge, to be built in Manila in the Philippines. The museum will cover 4,000 years of history, enabling visitors to experience the cultural and religious heritage of the islands’ indigenous peoples, starting from the Neolithic age. The design has turned traditional museum architecture on its head by creating a jungle-inspired building inside an

Scandinavia’s largest library has opened in Aarhus, as the high-profile regeneration of the Danish city’s historic harbour-front continues. The 30,000sq m (323,000sq ft) building, called Dokk1, has been designed by schmidt hammer lassen architects; the international studio responsible for the RIBA award-winning University of Aberdeen New Library. Dokk1's higher levels are contained with a polygonal structure, which the architects intended to create an impression of rotation and movement. The unconventional

The Musée de l'Homme (Museum of Mankind) has reopened in Paris after undergoing a €90m (US$103m, £66.9m) interior redevelopment. The relaunch comes six years after the institution closed and almost ceased to be amid uncertainty about its future under former President Jacques Chirac. The new design by Bordeaux-based Brochet-Lajus-Pueyo, in conjunction with architectural studio Emmanuel Nebout, takes note of the original design, retaining certain elements while increasing entry of natural

Construction work at Barra Olympic Park, the main competition cluster for the Rio 2016 Olympics, is now 92 per cent complete. In its latest update on building progress, Rio de Janeiro’s city government announced that 12 venues across the two main Olympic Parks – Barra and Deodoro – are now “nearly complete”, compared with six venues last month (September 2015). In Barra, finishing touches are being made to the athletes’

Visitors to Paprocany Lake near the Polish city of Tychy are finding time to relax by lying in specially-created nets suspended over the water. Architecture studio RS+ incorporated the nets into their €85,000 (US$96,600, £62,600) design for a wooden walkway that extends 400m along the bank of the lake, occasionally meandering into the water itself. In the evenings, the promenade is illuminated by energy-saving LED lights. The company were tasked

The Foster + Partners-designed hotel at the heart of London’s £8bn (US$10bn, €8.8bn) redevelopment of Battersea Power Station will feature a dramatic rooftop swimming pool with views of the London skyline. The Battersea Power Station Development Company (BPSDC) has revealed more information about the highly-anticipated 160-room project, including the fact that the PPHE Hotel Group has agreed to operate the hotel under its art’otel brand when it opens in early

Three high-profile projects designed by architecture studio Caruso St John have opened in the space of just two weeks. Two private art galleries designed by the firm have opened their doors in London; Damien Hirst’s £25m (US$38.2m, €33m) Newport Street Gallery and Larry Gagosian’s third – the largest gallery in the capital. Work has also been completed on a large-scale refurbishment of the 1939 Grade II-listed Liverpool Philharmonic Hall. The

Dutch architecture firm MVRDV has completed work on a new tennis clubhouse in Amsterdam which allows spectators to view the on-court action from the structure’s roof. Named 'The Couch' due to its distinctive design, the 332sq m (3,570sq ft) clubhouse features a roof which dips down towards the south side and is raised 7m (23ft) towards the north. Rows of seating are subtly incorporated for up to 200 spectators, who

The Renzo Piano Building Workshop (RPBW) has been commissioned to convert a historic Moscow power station into a brand new venue exhibiting contemporary Russian arts and culture. The firm - which has recently completed work on the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York - will create the new art space for the V-A-C Foundation on a two hectare plot in the Russian capital’s Red October district. The project

The Frank Gehry-designed Fondation Louis Vuitton has been awarded the prize for ‘Best Architecture & Spatial Design’ at the 2015 Leading Culture Destinations Awards in London. The 126,000sq ft (11,705sq m) museum, which houses Vuitton’s private collection, has become a popular Paris attraction since opening in October 2014. The €100m (US$132m, £80m) building won the prize for Gehry’s famous ‘glass cloud’ design. The ceremony, which took place on 9 October

The Galgorm Resort & Spa in Ballymena, Northern Ireland, has opened a new Thermal Spa Village, which means the resort now boasts 75,000sq ft (6,968sq m) of picturesque riverside spa facilities. The Thermal Spa Village was launched at the same time as the resort added another 48 guestrooms, designed by architect Douglas Wallace, bringing the total offering to 122. Spa consultant Jennifer Gorman helped create the Thermal Spa Village, which

French-born London artist and designer Henry Chebaane has said he wants his surreal and surprising new bar in Baku, Azerbaijan, to become a word-of-mouth sensation. Pivnaya Apteka – conceived and designed by Chebaane’s Blue Sky Hospitality design studio and operated by Azerbaijan’s Saffron Restaurant Group – is a mind-bending blend of bar, bistro, brewery and a pickling lab that can "both create and cure hangovers". Speaking exclusively to CLAD, Chebaane

Hilton Worldwide has secured a deal to open a new five-star hotel and apartment complex in Dubai, which will feature an artificial beach and rainforest for guests to enjoy. The Rosemont Hotel and Residences will be owned by Royal International and managed by Hilton Worldwide under the Curio - A Collection by Hilton brand; their first property in the UAE. It will open for business in 2018. The Canadian firm

After a near two-decade delay, Cincinnati Zoo’s US$34m (€30m, £22m) Africa exhibit will enter its final phase of development after meeting a US$7.3m (€6.4m, £4.7m) target to build a new state-of-the-art hippo exhibit. Set to house two Nile hippos, the paddock – designed by architects Cornette-Violetta – will include an underwater viewing area for visitors, employing a multi-million dollar bespoke filtration system designed to manage the large amount of waste

Dutch firm Neutelings Riedijk Architects have been commissioned to design a new high-rise residential and leisure complex on the site of an old Russian car factory. The 39,000sq m (419,000sq ft), 75m (246ft) high ZIL Tower will be located beside the Moskva River, 5km (3 miles) from the centre of Moscow. The site was once the home of an automobile plant owned by the Russian company ZIL, which manufactured trucks,

Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) have designed a new art gallery for a Norwegian sculpture park which will twist across a river below. The firm’s founding partner, Bjarke Ingels, described the design as the group’s “first experiment with social infrastructure – a building that serves as a bridge – or a cultural institution that serves as a piece of infrastructure.” The 1,400sq m (15,000sq ft) museum will be the new centrepoint

The New-York Historical Society, the city’s oldest museum, has commissioned Czech architect Eva Jiricná to create a new permanent gallery to house its 100-strong collection of Tiffany stained glass lamps. Eva Jiricná Architects Limited (EJAL) were initially appointed by the museum to redevelop the masterplan of its fourth level, which houses a collection of art, furniture and artifacts related to New York. They were then commissioned to design the museum’s

The JW Marriott will open a location in Los Cabos, Mexico next month, with a 21,000sq ft (1,951sq m) Jasha Spa with 12 treatment rooms. Designed by architect Jim Olson in collaboration with Mexico City-based design firm IDEA Asociados, the 299-room JW Marriott Los Cabos is situated in the Puerto Los Cabos community, amid the desert dunes of Baja California Sur, Mexico. The spa will include an outdoor garden and

French architecture studio New-Territories has launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund a unique hybrid architecture project in the Thai province of Krabi. When completed, people and birds will both live in the structure. Called MMYST (Make Me Younger, Shelter Temptation), the building will combine a small hotel with a manufactured habitat for Swiftlets – small birds which are native to Thailand. It will sit within the boundary of the region’s

Building work has begun on a multi-functional sports complex in the Chinese city of Sizhou, west of Shanghai. Designed by architects von Gerkan, Marg and Partners, the SIP Sports Park will include three national-standard venues – a 45,000-seat stadium, an indoor pool with 3,000 seats and a 15,000-seat indoor arena. The sports venues will be surrounded by residential quarters, a hotel and a leisure district offering community sports facilities and

A 1940s mansion in the Mexican city of Guadalajara has been transformed into the city's first design-led hotel, Casa Fayette. Casa Fayette sits in Guadalajara’s booming Lafayette district. It comprises of a new nine-floor modernist tower – which houses a rooftop spa and the hotel's 37 rooms and suites – and the original mansion's Art Deco structure. The latter contains a retro-inspired bar and restaurant. The hotel was designed by

The Mandarin Oriental Marrakech, set amid 20 hectares of landscaped gardens and 100,000 roses, is now open. The hotel features 54 private villas inspired by Berber and Moorish influences, all with secluded walled gardens, swimming pools and hot tubs, as well as nine suites – seven with their own rooftop plunge pool. The 1,800sq m (19,375sq ft) Spa at the Mandarin Oriental Marrakech was designed by French duo Gilles &

The SANAA-designed Grace Farms complex – a multipurpose facility which features a gymnasium, library and several performance spaces – officially opened on 9 October in New Canaan, Connecticut, US. The Grace Farms Foundation – a non-profit organisation established in 2009 to support initiatives in the areas of faith, the arts, justice and community – celebrated the milestone with a two-day celebration, which included a special performance by the Paul Taylor

The UK’s first glow-in-the-dark skateboard park has opened in Liverpool ahead of the city’s 2016 biennial arts festival. The permanent sculpture, which is named Evertro, opened to the public on 6 October. It has been designed by South Korean artist Koo Jeong A in association with developer Wheelscape Skateparks. The central bowl of the facility is coated in a phosphorescent paint, so when evening falls, the park glows a luminous