Following a lengthy competition process ending in 2013, French architect Jean Nouvel and the Beijing Institute of Architectural Design (BIAD) have begun work on the greatly-anticipated National Art Museum of China (NAMOC) in Beijing. Located in Beijing's Olympic Park – a legacy from the 2008 Games – the NAMOC will occupy 130,000sq m (1,399,308sq ft) of space as part of a new cultural district in the park itself, near to

Skateboarders in London’s South Bank Undercroft have won their 17-month battle to keep the space under Queen Elizabeth Hall designated for skateboarding, BMX riding, graffiti and urban activities. On 18 September, details of a binding agreement between the Long Live Southbank campaign, the Southbank Centre and Lambeth Council were released; meaning that both parties will withdraw from further legal action and the site will remain open, free of charge, for

Officially opened to the public yesterday (21 September), the third and northernmost phase of the New York High Line elevated park is now complete. Designed by James Corner Field Operations, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, and planting designer Piet Oudolf, the High Line project has been underway since the disused rail structure was initially saved from demolition in the late 90s. Now for the first time, the northernmost section of the

The 2014 Asian Games began today (19 September) at South Korea’s Incheon Asiad Main Stadium with a colourful opening ceremony being staged at the 70,000-seat arena. From now until 4 October, almost 10,000 athletes from 45 countries will compete in 439 events across 36 sports and disciplines. Both the opening and closing ceremony, plus all of the athletics events, will be staged in the Incheon Asiad Main Stadium, which has

Bjarke Ingels, and his architecture firm BIG, have unveiled plans for a public promenade mixed-use scheme to be built in Aarhus – Denmark’s second largest city. Known as ‘Aarhus Island’, the scheme will be stretched along Aarhus harbour and features over 200 residential units, plus a series of public spaces including swimming pools, and areas for recreational activities. Each aspect of the design has been carefully manipulated with interventions that

Work has now officially begun on the £9.3m Queen’s Park Sports Centre in Chesterfield, with a ceremony confirming the start of the construction process last week. The project recently received a boost when £2m of extra funding was awarded by Sport England to help push the project along and extend original plans for its facilities, with other investors including main backers Chesterfield Borough Council and Chesterfield College, which has agreed

The Patricia and Phillip Frost Museum of Science (formerly known as the Miami Science Museum), which is nearing the halfway stage of moving to a new US$275m (€212m, £168.5m) facility in downtown Miami, has received a donation of US$5m (€3.9m, £3.1m) to fund health and wellness programmes when the new facility launches in 2016. To be located inside the new science museum, the Baptist Health People & Science Gallery will

The Japanese architect, Shigeru Ban has won an international competition to design and build the new Tainan Museum of Fine Arts, Taiwan. Pritzker Prize-winner Ban has designed several well known museums, the most recent being the Aspen Art Museum, USA. The Tainan Museum of Fine Arts project aims to promote the development of Taiwan’s emerging cultural significance by recognising its arts and heritage. The new museum will have a particular

Borrowing and visitor numbers to the UK's new £189m (US$307m, €237m) Library of Birmingham – designed as both a library and a visitor attraction – by Mecanoo Architects, have doubled in comparison to its predecessor, the old Central Library. The Library of Birmingham, which opened on to the public on 3 September 2013, has had more than 2.7 million people visit come through its doors over the last year. Figures

Las Alcobas, a Luxury Collection Hotel by Starwood in California's Napa Valley, is expected to open in October 2015 once a multimillion renovation is complete. The property is being transformed from the former Grandview Hotel & Spa into a 57-guestroom hotel which is owned and being developed by Spring Mountain Hotel – a joint venture between real estate development company Presidio Companies and Las Alcobas Hotel Group. To be conceived

The long-awaited creation of the Romford Leisure Development has taken a step forward, with demolition work beginning to clear the ground of an old ice rink, allowing Havering Council to concentrate on its own plans for an ice-rink led leisure project. The development is to see the demolition of the area’s rink in Rom Valley Way, with the site expected to become home to a new Morrison’s foodstore, while the

The evolution of London’s Science Museum is now well underway, with several ‘starchitects’ being named to design its new galleries, while a new exhibition space is now set to open on 25 October. Universal Design Studio’s Communication Gallery The impending gallery, designed by Universal Design Studio, is the first in the UK to be entirely dedicated to the history of information and communication technologies. Boasting 2,000sq m (21,528sq ft) of

Following a six month nationwide competition, four multidisciplinary architecture and design teams have been chosen to reveal their design concepts for Washington D.C's first elevated park. The four finalists are as follows: Balmori Associates / Cooper, Robertson & Partners, OLIN / OMA, Stoss Landscape Urbanism / Höweler + Yoon Architecture and Wallace Roberts & Todd (WRT) / NEXT Architects / Magnusson Klemencic Associates. The 11th Street Bridge Park Competition, has

Mayor of London Boris Johnson, has opened a major design competition for a new £400m (US$650m, €503m) educational and cultural quarter at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, east London. Billed as the ‘Olympicopolis’, the project will be situated on the former 2012 Olympics site showcasing London’s ‘exceptional art, dance, history, craft, science, technology and cutting edge design’. Although visitors to the park are already able to enjoy its parklands, waterways,

It’s no secret that athletes are said to have a ‘home-game advantage’, but how do teams combat the sometimes negative effects of ‘playing away’? Nike and design consultancy Teague have come up with a solution. In order to minimise the effect of air travel and changing time zones on sportsmen and women, Teague and Nike have conceptualised a new form of transport for athletes, ensuring their performance is top notch,

The Urban Resort Concept-operated (URC) PuShang Hotel and Spa in Xiamen, China, is set to open in Q4 of 2016 with a Water Palace Spa, based on the importance of bathing in Chinese culture. The 175-bedroom hotel’s 3,200sq m (34,445sq ft) URSPA will include 12 treatment chambers – two of which are double treatment suites. The chambers, which occupy 2,717sq m (29,246sq ft) of the spa, are lantern-like cubes dispersed

A consortium of Chinese investors is backing plans being put forward for the creation of a new £65m leisure, residential and business district in the steel city of Sheffield. Headed by businessman Jerry Cheung, managing director of Sheffield-based developer New Era Development, the project has evolved out of original plans to create a Chinatown in the city back in 2005. However, the six Chinese backers who have put money into

A development group led by tennis coach Judy Murray, mother of star Andy Murray, has been dealt a blow after a prominent member of Stirling Council’s planning office said that it could not support plans for the creation of the Park of Keir sporting hub in Scotland. Led by Murray and the King Group, the project is also backed by her son Andy and former Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie,

Delos, the company that created the Well Building Standard™, has agreed to design, build and operate a newly-formed Well Living Lab with renowned US health provider Mayo Clinic Center. This will be a multidisciplinary lab focused on the interaction between health, wellness and the built environment. Delos’ Well Building Standard™ is a construction framework based on seven design categories including clean air, water and light. It includes elements such as

A hotel dedicated to cyclists has opened in Onomichi – a coastal city in Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan – allowing guests to check in while still on their bikes. Masterminded by Suppose Design Office, this new hotel is the first of its kind in Japan. Constructed in a renovated warehouse along the Onomichi waterfront, ‘Hotel Cycle’ offers guests a five-star experience for their bikes, and a chance to relax and unwind

Nearly a year ago the UAE won the right to host the World Expo in Dubai in 2020, and now the master planners behind the original bid have been selected to design the host venue at the 438 acre (1.77sq km, 0.68sq m) Dubai Trade Centre-Jebel Ali. A consortium of HOK and Arup professionals has been merged to create the team behind the design of the 2020 host venue. The

Muf Architecture/art has won a competition to design a new interactive gallery for the Science Museum, London. From a shortlist of several renowned architectural firms, including David Kohn and Grimshaw, Muf has been chosen by the museum to design the £4m ($6.4m, €5m) new space. Due to open in 2016, the new gallery aims to build on the success of the current ‘Launchpad’ children’s gallery and create a larger, more

The Regina Hotel Baglioni in Rome, Italy, unveiled its Spa by Caschera on 1 September, designed by Milanese architects Rebosio+Spagnulo. The 118-key Regina Hotel Baglioni is one of the Baglioni Hotels Collection – owned by CEO Guido Polito – and is a member of Leading Hotels of the World consortium owned by Hotel Representative, AG. The Spa by Caschera will be managed by spa consultant and entrepreneur Paolo Caschera and

Colombia’s answer to Brazil’s Christ the Redeemer is nearing completion as Monumento Santisimo – the centrepiece of a new US$23m (€17.7m, £14.2m) eco-park in Floridablanca in the north of the country – starts to take shape. Slightly differentiating itself from the famous Brazilian statue built in the 1920s, Monumento Santisimo comprises a large statue of Jesus Christ with his left hand over his chest rather than outstretched. At around 40m

Frank Gehry’s designs dating back to 2003 for a $395m (£245m, €305m) performing arts venue at the World Trade Centre have been axed after the project's management made a u-turn on the plans. As part of Daniel Libeskind's masterplan for the World Trade Centre and Ground Zero site, Gehry’s performing arts centre has been the slowest to materialise. Now, more than a decade later, the board behind the centre have

The Opus Building, located in the Burj Khalifa district of Dubai, UAE, is to dedicate 250,000sq ft (23,225sq m) of space to a new ME Hotel, completely designed by internationally-renowned ‘starchitect’ Zaha Hadid. The entire complex is a mixed-use development and Meliá Hotels International is keen to expand its experience-based brand by placing a 100-bedroom hotel within The Opus Building itself, developed by real estate company Omniyat. Although no stranger

A US$300m (£183.3m, €231.7m) museum for the Oscars has come up against problems, with Los Angeles City Planning department expressing concern over potentially explosive gas pockets under the proposed site. The department has released a draft environmental impact report on the project, which highlights deposits of methane and hydrogen sulphide gas that could potentially harm construction workers and ultimately visitors. The planned Academy Museum of Motion Pictures – which will