British designer Thomas Heatherwick has launched an impassioned defence of his Garden Bridge project in London, arguing that the project has been used as a political football by “people with an agenda” and those “who love to sneer.” The scheme – a 367m (1,200ft) planted River Thames crossing linking South Bank and Temple – has attracted controversy and negative headlines over the allegedly opaque procurement process and the public funding

Famed Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama will be the subject of a touring exhibition, with the 87-year-old artist's “infinity mirror” installations set to travel the US in 2017 through 2018. Debuting on 23 February 2017 at the Smithsonian Institution’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirrors will then travel to a number of notable museums across the US including the Seattle Art Museum, the Broad in Los Angeles, Toronto’s

New Zealand practice Studio Pacific Architecture have developed alternative designs for a planned film museum in Wellington backed by Lord of the Rings director Sir Peter Jackson. The Movie Museum and Wellington Convention Center, which will cover more than 10,000sq m (107,639sq ft) of prime waterfront land in the city’s central business district, will house memorabilia from the sets of Jackson’s movies and the creations of the acclaimed Weta Workshop.

The first renderings of Montreal’s planned new biodome have been released by architecture studio KANVA. The dome, which has been part of the city’s natural science museum Space for Life since 1992, is being extensively revamped as part of Montreal’s 375th birthday celebrations. KANVA won an international competition for the project in 2014 after creating a concept design to “rethink the relationship between mankind and nature” and bolster the museum’s

A giant international hub for music and sound technology has opened in Calgary, Canada to house the country’s National Music Centre (NMC). Studio Bell, designed by Brad Cloepfil of Allied Works Architecture, is a vast street-crossing construction located in Calgary’s East Village. The 160,000sq ft (15,000sq m) building rises in nine interlocking towers clad in glazed terra cotta. It includes five floors of exhibition space showcasing over 2,000 artefacts and

The winners have been announced in an ideas competition to propose a new life for Philip Johnson’s famous New York State Pavilion in Queens. The iconic structure – which includes two observation towers and a large elliptical Tent of Tomorrow – was built at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park for the 1964-65 World Fair. However, in the last few decades it has fallen into disrepair. Despite this, the pavilion remains a significant

Visitors to a forthcoming food theme park in Italy will be able to grow their own food on-site in a futuristic pavilion designed by architecture and innovation firm Carlo Ratti Associati. The attraction, called the Area of the Future, will be one of the centrepieces of FICO Eataly World, an 80,000sq m (861,000sq ft) edutainment park focused on food-production and nutrition currently under construction in Bologna. Visitors to the circular

New renderings have been released of Peter Zumthor’s proposed redevelopment of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) ahead of a public consultation meeting on 24 August. The images visualise eight semi-transparent pavilions supporting an elevated, organically-shaped main exhibition level. The Pritzker Prize winning architect’s design will replace four of the museum’s deteriorating structures to house LACMA’s permanent collection of historic and contemporary art. Demolition of older buildings means

Architecture studio Alison Brooks have created a banana-like structure for this September’s London Design Festival, due to sit in the grounds of the Chelsea College of Arts during the event. Aptly named ‘The Smile’, the curving urban structure is being built from cross-laminated tulipwood and has been created as a means to demonstrate the structural and spatial potential of that material, in addition to its artistic purpose. The American Hardwood

Architects Hassell + OMA have unveiled their design for Perth’s AUS$428m (US$325m, €290.8m, £245.7m) Western Australian Museum building, with global contractor Brookfield Multiplex chosen to lead the landmark development. The design by the two international design practices combines a mix of heritage and contemporary architecture, with a modern roof and new buildings intersected by refurbished heritage buildings on the museum campus. The building, which will house the state’s scientific and

US President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama have reportedly chosen Chicago's historic Jackson Park as the site for their Obama Presidential Center. Media reports in the city claim the historic park has been chosen ahead of fellow South Side location Washington Park. Official confirmation is expected next week. Once the announcement is made, preparation work will begin ahead of the start of construction next year. Earlier this month,

Stanton Williams and Asif Khan have triumphed over a number of architectural heavyweights, winning a competition to design the Museum of London’s new home at Smithfield. The architectural duo overcame competition from firms including Bjarke Ingels, Caruso St John Architects and Studio Milou with their winning proposal, which will lift the dome on the market area to create a landmark light-filled entrance to the museum. Malcolm Reading Consultants handled the

The first venue within Hong Kong’s emerging West Kowloon Cultural District (WKCD) has been completed on time and on budget. The M+ Pavilion is a flexible small-scale arts space created by a trio of young local designers. The site is designed as an accompaniment to Herzog and de Meuron’s forthcoming M+ building – a new home for Hong Kong’s museum for visual culture, art, design and architecture. The new pavilion

Long-running plans to build a permanent home for the Universal Hip-Hop Museum (UHHM) in the US have moved a step closer to reality, after architects BrandNu Design unveiled renderings showing what the project could look like. A disused courthouse in The Bronx, New York, has been proposed as the site of the museum – the first time a specific building has been suggested. BrandNu’s proposal for the 38,000sq ft (3,500sq

Exhibition designs for a museum dedicated to the world’s only preserved Nordlandsjekt – a 17th century Norwegian cargo ship – have been unveiled by design firm Kvorning. Located in Bodø lake in north-western Norway, Anna Karoline, will be centred around the vessel of the same name, which will form the centrepiece of the museum as part of a wider exhibition looking at jekt shipping heritage. The ship has spent the

Unesco has included a new addition to its World Heritage list for 2016, adding 17 sites across three continents, to recognise the work of Swiss architect Le Corbusier. Of the 21 new additions to Unesco’s list of more than 1,000, The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier, an Outstanding Contribution to the Modern Movement is perhaps the most unique as it covers seven countries – Argentina, Belgium, France, Germany, India, Japan

Two international architecture competitions have been launched to design a pair of major arts facilities for one of the biggest districts in the Chinese city of Shenzhen. The district government of Bao’an has fired the starting gun on the contests to create both a Public Culture and Arts Center and a new library and concert hall. The former is a new build project which will house a museum, art gallery

Burgos & Garrido Arquitectos and Llama Urban Design have been declared winners of an international design competition to expand the Lima Art Museum in Peru. The studios will develop a new public plaza and extension to the museum, including new galleries for its permanent collection, a library for 40,000 books, classrooms, a café and workshop spaces. The competition jury received 387 entries from 56 countries, which was whittled down to

The first museum in the world to be dedicated entirely to roses has opened in Beijing, with a design packed with motifs and references to the flower. The distinctive Rose Museum, designed by NEXT Architects, is a solid volume covered by a detached silk-like skin of stainless steel with a pattern of cut-out Chinese roses. This 300m (984ft) long, 17m (56ft) high façade extends outwards from the main museum building,

The Geffrye Museum of the Home in London will be comprehensively revamped in a bid to improve the experience of visitors to its Grade I listed buildings and gardens. Wright & Wright Architects have designed a £15m (US$19.5m, €17.6m) scheme – called Unlocking the Geffrye – to significantly open up the museum’s 18th century almhouse buildings, improving circulation and access and revealing previously hidden spaces to the public. This, along

Rome's Archaeological Heritage Department has completed the first phase of a major restoration of the historic Colosseum, aimed at returning the landmark to its former glory and possibly turning it into a regular entertainment venue. With funding support from Italian fashion brand Tod’s Group, the first phase of restoration has included the surface cleaning of the northern and southern façades, removing dirt and gunge created mainly by vehicle pollution, which

A biblical theme park in the US state of Kentucky opens tomorrow (7 July), with a full-size recreation of Noah’s Ark at its heart. The Ark Encounter explores the famous Bible tale of the great flood and Noah’s quest to build an ark to save his family and two of every animal on the planet. The boat is 510ft (155.5m) long, 85ft (26m) wide and 51ft (15.3m) high – converted

A unique museum dedicated to a single bronze statue of Apoxyomenos has opened its doors on the Croatian island of Lošinj. The CK25m (US$4m, €3.6m, £3m) Museum of Apoxyomenos, funded by the City of Mali Losinj and the Croatian Ministry of Culture, has been designed by architects Idis Turato and Saša Randic. Centred around Apoxyomenos – a bronze statue of a young athlete, discovered in 1996 in the area at

Following the sudden death of its founder earlier in the year, plans are moving forward to create an £80m (US$105m, €94.2m) dinosaur attraction inside a former quarry in Dorset, UK. Dubbed Jurassica, the project suffered a major blow when CEO Michael Hanlon died from a heart attack in February, aged just 51. The project’s board however, which has the backing of the likes of businessman Sir Tim Smit and naturalist

The international architecture competition to design a Museum of 20th Century Art in Berlin is entering its final stages, with 42 firms asked to submit their proposals before a decision is made by the end of the year. Sou Fujimoto, Zaha Hadid Architects, David Chipperfield, Herzog & de Meuron, REX Architecture, OMA, Snøhetta, SANAA and UNStudio are among those to have qualified from previous rounds, or who have been invited

Danish architecture firm Kvorning Design & Communication has won the contract for a new Secrets of the Sea exhibition at the Norwegian Petroleum Museum, designed around a whirlpool creation as the new centrepiece for the museum. Featuring different zones with analogue and digital activities to encourage collaboration, learning and play, the exhibition design has been inspired by the sea, which is fitting for the museum located in the port of

Barack and Michelle Obama have chosen the architectural team of Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects and Partners (TWBTA) and Interactive Design Architects (IDEA) to design the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago. The Obama Foundation – started by the Obamas in 2014 to “inspire the next generation of young leaders across the world" – issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) to seven architectural firms in December. The shortlist, which was whittled