Australia’s minister for the arts Don Harwin has awarded AU$244m (US$186.2m, €164.8m, £145.4m) to the Art Gallery of New South Wales, with the funding going towards the museum’s grand AU$344m (US$262.5m, €232.4m, £205.2m) expansion. In addition to the government funding, the Sydney gallery is planning to launch a capital campaign later this year, seeking a further AU$100m (US$76.3m, €67.5m, £59.6m) in philanthropic support for the project, of which AU$70m (US$53.4m,

Dutch landscape architects West 8 are to develop a 17th century Dutch country estate and royal residence in Soestdijk, it has been announced today (9 June). The Netherlands’ minister of the interior, Roland Plasterk, has revealed that business consortium Made in Holland have succeeded in the bidding war to purchase and redevelop the palace and gardens of Soestdijk Palace. The group wants to transform the historic site into “a platform

A host of the world’s most high-profile architecture practices have entered the race to design a new branch of the Pompidou Centre art museum in Brussels, Belgium. The studio of Richard Rogers – who designed the landmark Pompidou in Paris in 1977 alongside Renzo Piano – are in contention for the €125m (US$136m, £104m) project, along with 91 other design teams. Among those to make the star-studded longlist are Bjarke

New drone footage has today (8 June) been released showing huge cast stone panels being hung on the curving walls of Kengo Kuma’s V&A Dundee; Scotland's first design museum. In total 2,466 pieces – each weighing between 1.5 and 2.5 tonnes – are being individually fixed into place, secured by two specially designed brackets secured to the building’s reinforced concrete walls. The video shows an engineer inspecting panels fixed to

The countdown has begun in earnest for the 2017 international architecture exposition in Astana, Kazakhstan. On 10 June, visitors will be able to explore the city’s futuristic new Expo City, which includes 28 buildings themed around the concept of ‘Future Energy’. Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture (AS+GG) masterplanned the site and have designed several of the buildings. The 174 ha site features exhibition and cultural pavilions (118,620sq m); service

The masterplan for the AU$28.5m (US$21.4m, €19m, £16.5m) redevelopment of the home of Australian artist Arthur Boyd has been unveiled by Bundanon Trust – the charity managing the property – with the plans expected to more than double visitation to the attraction. Created by Kerstin Thompson Architects (KTA), who won a competition in November from a shortlist of six Australian firms, the masterplan details a new gallery, visitors centre and

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston has broken ground on a new building dedicated to modern and contemporary art, designed by Steven Holl Architects. The 165,000sq ft (15,300sq m) Nancy and Rich Kinder Building is the centrepiece of the museum’s wider US$450m (€400m, £348m) expansion, and will house 54,000sq ft (5,000sq m) of gallery space for exhibitions showcasing its collection. The building will be clad in a translucent-glass exterior, which

Danish landscape architects SLA have won a design competition to develop a national park near the city of Roskilde into a 1,500 ha cultural landscape called The New Hedeland. The design concept is centred around the idea of bringing leisure and culture into the outdoors – creating an experience destination that will be a hotbed of voluntary work and human creativity. Flat fields will be transformed into mountains, new trails

Footballer Lionel Messi has inspired a new theme park in China, which will have over 20 multimedia attractions dedicated to the FC Barcelona star. A consortium of developers, including China’s Phoenix Group and Spanish conglomerate Mediapro, are backing the Messi Experience Park in Nanjing – described as “a unique global experience” that will allow visitors “to immerse themselves in all things Messi”. The park will utilise virtual and augmented reality

International architecture firm Snøhetta have unveiled new details of the riverwalk they are creating for North America’s second largest waterfall. For over a century, the 42ft high Willamette Falls has been cut off from public access by industrial infrastructure built along the water’s edge. Now, new public spaces are planned to offer observation points that do justice to the height and drama of the site. The design, which has taken

The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York has completed the first phase of its major renovation programme, and unveiled its final plans for a multi-year expansion designed by architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro, alongside Gensler. The renovation of the museum’s east section, which began in February 2016, is now finished. Galleries and public spaces have been enhanced on three floors with the reconfiguration of 15,000sq ft of space

Work is underway on a vast new riverside sports park in Cork, Ireland, which will surround the city’s regenerated Páirc Uí Chaoimh Gaelic games stadium. Demolition has begun to clear space for phase one of Marina Park – a €20m development created around the stadium and the adjoining agricultural Munster Showgrounds. The phase one masterplan published by the city council is focused on the area to the west of the

Port Lympne Wild Animal and Safari Reserve debuted its new Tiger Lodge on 27 May – a first of its kind accommodation in the UK, built inside the zoo’s tiger enclosure. Featuring large picture windows, guests will be able to get face-to-face with Port Lympne’s tigers from the comfort of their own accommodation. On the other side of the lodges, a balcony offers views across the reserve and further, with

Northern Ireland’s popular Titanic Belfast attraction has submitted plans to expand its facility, with the operator casting its eye towards the hospitality side of its business. The plans, submitted to Belfast City Council propose the extension, integration and alteration of titanic pavilions, with a single storey extension of pavilions three and four. The plans also include a change of use, from retail to additional conferencing facilities, as well as a

Philanthropist and former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg has donated US$75m (€66.8m, £58.3m) to The Shed – an under construction cultural institution in New York’s burgeoning Hudson Yards district. Bloomberg made an initial donation of US$15m (€13.3m, £11.7m) in 2012, contributing a further US$60m (€53.5m, £46.6m) towards the project this week. His donation brings total funds raised up to US$421m (€375m, £327.4m) as part of a US$500m (€445.5m, £388.8m)

The first competition-winning cabins that form Epic Retreats – Wales’ first pop-up boutique hotel – have been revealed. Several architectural teams were chosen through a competitive tender to design the purpose-built glamping units, which are themed on “the mythology, tradition and beauty of Wales.” Launched to coincide with Wales’s ‘Year of Legends,’ Epic Retreats is designed to immerse visitors in the country’s heritage and natural beauty. The cabins will be

The Bass – a contemporary art museum on Miami Beach – has been given a reopening date of 8 October following a US$12m (€10.7m, £9.3m) renovation headed by project architects David Gauld and Arata Isozaki. First opened in 1964 inside the Russell Pancoast-designed former Miami Beach Public Library and Art Center, the then Bass Museum of Art has been in operation ever since, with the institution focusing on exhibitions of

Disney has celebrated the launch of its new Avatar land at Animal Kingdom with the operator marking the occasion by hosting a ‘Dedication of Pandora’ at the Orlando theme park. Based on the world of the 2009 Avatar movie, the striking ‘Pandora – The World of Avatar’ covers roughly 12 acres (48,500sq m) and feature multiple rides and attractions, entertainment, audio-animatronics, 3-D holograms as well as retail, food and beverage

The hotly-anticipated Marciano Art Foundation – a new art museum created by wHY Architecture and Design – opens tomorrow (25 May) in Los Angeles’ Windsor Square; within one of the city’s most unusual buildings. The 100,000sq ft (93,000sq m) arts space is housed inside the secretive former Scottish Rite Masonic Temple, designed by Californian painter and architect Millard Sheets in 1961. wHY’s founding partner, Kulapat Yantrasast, was tasked reinterpreting the

Horsen’s 162-year-old Prison Museum in Denmark has debuted a new permanent exhibition chronicling the escape of former prisoner Carl August Lorentzen. The exhibition, called Lorentzen’s Tunnel, tells the story of Lorentzen, a burglar who after 11 months of work had dug an 18-metre-long (60 foot) tunnel that led him to freedom on Christmas Eve 1949, leaving a note in his cell saying “where there’s a will, there’s a way”. While

The mayor of Seoul, Won-soon Park, has officially opened a 983 metre long botanical “floating walkway” along a transformed city highway. Designed by Dutch architects MVRDV, the Skygarden, known as Seoullo 7017, is a linear park featuring 24,000 plants, trees, shrubs and flowers from 200 local species – creating “a walkable plant library” for residents and visitors to the city. “Skygarden offers a living dictionary of plants which are part

Architect Marc Fornes has created a platform for people to express themselves creatively and spontaneously, with a vibrant green pavilion in a Maryland park. Located in Merriweather Park, Columbia, The Chrysalis is formed of a collection of cascading meshed aluminium arches that vary in size and function. The largest arch frames 'Stage Alpha', dimensioned, equipped and structured for official events, including the performances of musicians. Adjacent is 'Stage Beta', a

Italy’s government is giving away more than 100 historic buildings for free on the understanding that any prospective owners must turn their site into a heritage attraction. Hoping to breathe new life into disused public buildings, including castles, farmhouses and monasteries, the scheme was unveiled by the government-run Agenzia del Demanio (ADD) – Italy’s state property agency. "The goal is for private and public buildings which are no longer used

Weifang, China, is now home to an engineering marvel following the opening of the largest spokeless Ferris wheel in the world. Sitting over the Bailang River, the Bailang Bridge Ferris Wheel is located on the 1,771ft (540m) bridge that crosses the body of water in Shandong Province. Tianjin Craftsman Manufacture constructed the record-breaking wheel, which is the first to be built using a kite grid design, also described as a

As the Museum of London formulates plans for its £250m (US$324m, €291m) move to the iconic Smithfield Market, its exhibition team is digging deep to present London’s history in new ways – including opening up the site's underground passages for a glimpse of what the city was like in Victorian times. The museum was given the green light to move to its new home in January 2016, after alternative redevelopment

The co-founder of international architecture practice Snøhetta, Kjetil Trædal Thorsen, has spoken to CLAD about the opportunities and philosophical questions posed by the advent of technology that enables vulnerable heritage sites to be “reprinted.” Advances in 3D scanning, casting and printing are allowing designers and preservationists to create mirror images of both natural and man-made pieces of heritage. Examples include the Institute for Digital Archaeology, which has recreated Syria's Palmyra

The developer of a proposed US$150m (€135.6m, £116.4m) waterpark development in Niagara Falls, New York, is eyeing a 2020 completion date for the long-touted project. A public-private partnership between the Uniland Development Company and the state, the updated Wonderfalls masterplan sees a glass-enclosed waterpark at the heart of a complex surrounded by restaurants and retail to “create a vibrant pedestrian experience”. “We have spent a lot of time with our