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

US architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro (DS+R) has been announced as the design team tasked with creating the vision for a new Centre for Music in the City of London. The studio, which will work in collaboration with UK firm Sheppard Robson, has come out on top of a star-studded six-strong shortlist, that also included Snøhetta and the firms led by Amanda Levete, Frank Gehry, Norman Foster and Renzo Piano.

The architect David Marks, co-founder of Marks Barfield Architects, has died at the age of 64 following a long illness. Marks, best-known as the co-designer of the London Eye, died on Friday (6 October) surrounded by his three children and his partner in life and work, Julia Barfield. In a statement, Marks Barfield Architects said: “David was an architect whose work was founded in innovation, excellence of design and close

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

Plans by Heatherwick Studio and Diamond Schmitt Architects to renovate a concert hall for New York’s Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts have been dropped. The duo were awarded the US$500m (€427m, £383m) project in 2015 to significantly renovate the interiors of the centre’s largest hall – originally designed by Max Abramovitz and opened in 1962 – to create a 21st-century symphonic concert venue for the New York Philharmonic Orchestra

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

A new degree dedicated to experience design and themed entertainment is being launched today to coincide with the latest SATE (storytelling, architecture, technology and experience) conference in Los Angeles, California. Created by the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), the specialised degree will help to address demand from theme parks in the US and further afield to create new, immersive attractions that utilise the latest technologies. The bachelor of fine

Visitors to Chicago’s Navy Pier can now enjoy a show inside one of the world’s most flexible theatres, which has been constructed inside the attraction's Skyline Stage. Theatre design consultancy Charcoalblue and design firm Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture (AS+GG) have collaborated on the ambitious reuse project, called The Yard at Chicago Shakespeare. Rather than constructing a new theatre from scratch, the duo instead designed a fully enclosed, year-round

Sixteen giant galvanized steel columns arranged in a grid formation have been installed in front of Hull Minster, forming a new outdoor ‘room’ for the English city. Swiss artist Felice Varini and the Chilean architecture practice Pezo von Ellrichshausen have collaborated on the large-scale project – called A Hall for Hull – which has now been unveiled to the public. The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and Hull UK

Developer Nakheel and Thai hotel group Centara Hotels and Resorts have unveiled plans to open a hotel, beach resort and waterpark on Dubai’s Deira Islands. The two companies have formed a joint venture agreement for the “family-centric lifestyle destination,” which will be part of the newly-formed Deira Islands – a 15sq km (5.8sq mi) group of four reclaimed artificial islands currently under development. Set to open in 2020, the 600-bedroom

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

Sir David Adjaye's US$175m (€148.7m, £131m) vision for Harlem's Studio Museum will break ground next year, marking the institution's 50th anniversary. Since 1982, the museum – which celebrates the work of contemporary artists of African descent – has operated out of the former New York Bank for Saving, being adapted by late African-American architect J. Max Bond Jr following the move. New design renderings for the museum showcase a planned

The government of Dubai has announced plans for the development of a vast 'space simulation development' in Dubai called Mars Science City, as part of Dubai's Mars 2117 Strategy, which seeks to build the first settlement on Mars in the next 100 years. The AED 500 million-scheme, extending over 1.9m sq ft, will simulate conditions on the surface of the red planet, with heat and radiation insulation and walls which

Lego fans from around the world will soon be descending on the small Danish town of Billund to a new museum and experience centre dubbed the ‘House of the Brick’. Bjarke Ingels Group have created the 12,000sq m (129,000sq ft) Lego House as a vibrant three-dimensional village of interlocking buildings and spaces, with the structure designed to look like a giant stack of Lego blocks topped by a giant 2x4

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

Heatherwick Studio and SPPARC Architects have been announced as the lead design team who will comprehensively revamp London’s historic Olympia exhibition centre. The owners of the 130-year-old building, Yoo Capital and Deutsche Finance, want to transform the site into a “world-leading arts, entertainment, exhibition and experiential district whilst staying true to its original heritage as an exhibition business.” Olympia London, located in Kensington, was designed by architect Henry Edward Coe

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

Plans to develop a second zoo in Sydney, Australia, have been given the go-ahead after local government officials granted planning permission to the AU$36m (US$28.8m, €24m, £21.3m) “cage free” project in Bungarribee. First touted in September 2015, the proposal for the Western Sydney Parklands – masterplanned by Australian design firm Misho + Associates (M+A) in conjunction with landscape architecture from Aspect Studios – will create natural-looking spaces developed to showcase

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

Real Madrid football club has announced plans to create an interactive football experience centre as part of a major development in Zhuhai, China. Business conglomerate the Lai Sun Group is behind the development – an integrated tourism and entertainment project called Novotown – which will, in its second phase, feature the world-first Real Madrid experience. Utilising advanced technologies, entertainment elements and football, visitors will be able to experience a number

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

Foster + Partners’ plans to reinvigorate the famous Snowdon Aviary at ZSL London Zoo have received planning approval from Westminster Council. The Grade II listed structure, designed by Cedric Price with Frank Newby and Lord Snowdon in 1962, was the first aviary in Britain that gave visitors a ‘walk-through’ experience, bringing them closer to the birds in their natural habitat. The attraction was recently added to Historic England’s Risk Register