A floating park designed by Thomas Heatherwick for New York’s Hudson River has overcome a major hurdle after a judge in Manhattan dismissed a lawsuit seeking to halt the project. According to the New York Times, civic group City Club of New York filed the action, claiming the US$130m (€1115.4m, £91.8m) project was not transparent, had not been subjected to enough public scrutiny, and should face a new environmental review.

Kengo Kuma architects have unveiled their latest completed project: an angular wooden cultural centre near the Japanese Alps in snowy Nagano prefecture. The project was commissioned to coincide with a new high-speed railway line connecting the small city of Iiyama to the Hokuriku region on Japan’s main island. Both openings have been planned to revive the city's economic prospects. Kuma’s building is formed of three volumes: two events halls for

While the Smithsonian is stalling on plans to move to London’s Olympicopolis site, the British Museum is looking at the possibility of a satellite site at the upcoming cultural hub. For the Washington-based Smithsonian, which has 19 affiliates in the US, uncertainty over costs to open a new 3,750sq m (40,300sq ft) satellite facility within the new cultural quarter on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park has delayed a final decision.

A controversial restoration of an ancient Spanish castle has been awarded an international architecture prize, despite being lambasted by a national heritage group as “lamentable”. Spanish studio Carquero Arquitectura’s modernist reinterpretation and renovation of Matrera Castle was the Popular Choice winner at the Architizer A+ Awards, which promotes and celebrates “meaningful architecture”. The 1,000 year-old stricture, which was falling into ruin, was propped up by a white cuboid structure, formed

The board of the Serpentine Galleries in London – famous for organising the architectural Serpentine Pavilion programme – has announced the appointment of entrepreneur Yana Peel as the organisation’s new CEO, in place of departing director Julia Peyton-Jones. Peel, previously a trustee at the galleries, is the co-founder of the Outset Contemporary Art Fund and CEO of live debate forum Intelligence Squared. In her new role, she will work alongside

Ground has broken on the latest project of Swiss architects Herzog and de Meuron: a new home for the National Library of Israel. The new building – which will replace the library’s current 1950s home, described as “outdated and barely serviceable” – is located in Jerusalem’s National District adjacent to Israel’s parliament building. When it opens in 2020, it will protect, preserve and showcase the country’s cultural and intellectual books,

Beijing-based innovators MAD Architects have designed a flowing, translucent installation for the 2016 Milan Design Week in the famous courtyard of the city’s university. The sculptural piece, called Invisible Border, forms a rippling canopy descending across the Cortile d’Onore courtyard from a loggia to the ground, establishing a shelter for people to gather, socialise and contemplate their surroundings. “Architects usually create borders by defining spaces – what is inside and

Daniel Libeskind yesterday (11 April) publicly revealed for the first time that he has been developing a Kurdistan Museum in Erbil, the capital of the autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan region. The Polish American architect spoke out about the secretive, long-gestating project during an appearance at Bloomberg Design Week in San Francisco. The project was commissioned by the prime minister of Iraqi Kurdistan, Nechirvan Barzani – who approached Libeskind seven years ago

Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto has designed an immersive installation called Forest of Light for Milan Design Week. A darkened space is illuminated by towering cones of light that respond to visitors’ movements. Fog and specially-composed sounds add an atmospheric effect, and mirrored walls have been installed to create the illusion of an infinite landscape, where the conical spotlights form countless abstract trees. “People meander through this forest, as if lured

The Center for Architecture in Portland, Oregon, is to launch the first major US exhibition on international architecture studio Snøhetta and their work around the world. Named Snøhetta: People, Process, Projects, the exhibition will explore the practice's culture and design philosophy and follows on from a similar event held last year at the Danish Architecture Centre in Copenhagen. It will be launched on 17 April 2016 to kick off Design

Four young American entrepreneurs are building a unique, crowdsourced ski resort on Utah’s Powder Mountain with arts and culture at its core. The collective, called Summit, are overseeing the construction of a new ski village on the site of a mountainside ranch, which will feature restaurants, cafés, artisan stores and artists’ workshops. The village will also house the headquarters of the Summit Series community – a movement formed by the

Dutch exhibition designers Kossmann.dejong have created a show celebrating the “spectacular” interior designs of the Amsterdam School of architecture in the early 20th century. The exhibition, called Living in the Amsterdam School: Designing for the Interior 1910-1930, will open in the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam tomorrow (9 April). The Amsterdam School – which grew out of international Expressionist architecture – is famous internationally for the progressive buildings its followers produced,

Dutch architects MVRDV have announced an eye-catching temporary installation for Rotterdam: a giant staircase leading from the plaza outside the city’s central train station to the top of an adjacent historic building. Called The Stairs, the 29m (95ft) tall, 57m (187ft) long installation will be open from 16 May to 12 June 2016. It has been commissioned as part of an event called Rotterdam celebrates the city, which marks the

The development of the new Western Australian Museum building in Perth has reached a significant milestone, with a design team led by international architects OMA now in negotiations to oversee the project. Multi-disciplinary practice Hassell and British constructors Brookfield Multiplex have joined Rem Koolhaas’ studio to design and build the museum, which will house the state’s scientific and cultural collections. The design team overcame competition from firms including Foster +

An expensive and long-awaited cultural centre and metro station created by French architects Patrick Berger and Jacques Anziutti on the site of a historic Paris marketplace has been officially unveiled. The design at Les Halles is known as the Canopy due to its enormous umbrella-like glass roof, which comprises 18,000 pieces of glass supported by 7,000 tonnes of steel. Construction on the €1bn (US$1.42bn, £806.7m) project, funded by the City

The Park, a brand new entertainment district in Nevada, offers visitors a new way to soak up the famous Las Vegas Strip, according to developer MGM Resorts International. The Park, which opened on 4 April and cost US$100m (€88m, £71m), is a dining and entertainment zone located in landscaped gardens beside the 20,000-seat T-Mobile arena. The pedestrianised area offers a sanctuary from the hustle and bustle of the busy Strip.

For their latest project – a 20,000-capacity indoor multipurpose arena – global architects Populous had to “out-Vegas Las Vegas.” That’s the view of studio principal Kurt Amundsen, who has talked in detail about the creation of the high-profile T-Mobile Arena, which opens to the public in the US city on Wednesday (6 April). The US$375m (€329.5m, £263m) venue will become the region's largest indoor sports and entertainment venue and has

The UK’s Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) has revealed new details of its biggest ever international collaboration: a design museum in Shenzhen, China, created by Japanese architecture studio Maki & Associates. The new museum, called Design Society, is scheduled to open in early 2017 within a larger cultural complex called the Sea World Culture and Arts Centre. The V&A has now announced it will curate a special gallery devoted to

The residents of a luxury apartment building in London will be able to enjoy their very own exclusive David Bailey art gallery, as the worlds of leisure, fashion and high-end property collide. Development company Frogmore & Galliard Homes have said the permanent gallery – located at The Chilterns development in the inner-city Marylebone area – is the first in the city to be located within a private luxury apartment building.

Artist Bruce Munro has created a gigantic art installation at the foot of Uluru in Australia, using 50,000 solar-powered flowers to create a sea of colour at the cultural landmark. The vast field of light, which opens on 1 April, is the latest of Munro’s public light works; he has also done similar installations at London’s V&A Museum and at locations across the UK, US and Mexico. During the nights,

British architect David Adjaye is collaborating with an energy company, a team of top international artists and the City of Newark to create a 30ft high ‘Art Wall’ for the US metropolis. The project is designed to beautify the protective façade of an electrical switching station in the city’s Fairmount Heights community, which is operated by the Public Service Enterprise Group. It will create construction jobs, provide opportunities for artists

The creative director of Flanagan Lawrence has told CLAD about the British studio’s design for a ready-to-assemble theatre, which can be used to quickly and efficiently build cultural hubs around the world for urban regeneration schemes. According to Jason Flanagan, the theatre – which will initially be located close to London’s Wembley stadium – will be a “unique cultural venue” with a rotating central auditorium. “It’s a fascinating, quite remarkable

The creative director of Flanagan Lawrence has told CLAD about the British studio’s design for a ready-to-assemble theatre, which can be used to quickly and efficiently build cultural hubs around the world for urban regeneration schemes. According to Jason Flanagan, the theatre – which will initially be located close to London’s Wembley stadium – will be a “unique cultural venue” with a rotating central auditorium. “It’s a fascinating, quite remarkable

New York’s iconic Met Breuer building re-opens today (18 March) following a period of renovation to recreate Hungarian architect Marcel Breuer’s original vision for the structure – which will house some of the world’s finest modern and contemporary art works. The building first opened in 1966 to display the collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art. However, following the Whitney’s 2015 move to its new Renzo Piano-designed home in

The Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland (RIAS) will today officially launch its 2016 Festival of Architecture with Hinterland, a night-time public art event held in one of Scotland's most iconic modernist buildings. Leading public arts organisation NVA has designed the arts experience, which will see visitors walk through the ruined buildings of St Peter’s Seminary in Cardross while accompanied by monochromatic light installations and specially commissioned choral music by

US arts collective Section1 are transforming a vacant 3.5 acre site in the heart of Baltimore, Maryland into "the world’s largest urban art park." The ambition is to create the highest concentration of street art in the United States, alongside space for three live performance venues, an 18,000sq ft (1,600sq m) skate park and an acre of green space beneath the city’s Jones Falls Expressway. The site – which is

Innovative design can raise awareness of important social and environmental issues in an accessible, fun and persuasive way, according to the designers of VelO2 – an installation that illustrates air pollution through cycling and light. In an exclusive interview with CLAD, Matthias Gmachl, creative director of London based ‘spatial laboratory’ Loop.Ph, said: “If you have a fun, humorous and lighthearted way to introduce ideas, people are generally more open to