British architecture firm Flanagan Lawrence have won a design competition to renovate a 1970s Polish theatre with their vision for an “acoustically optimised outdoor performance space.” The studio have proposed the installation of a curving roof canopy of inflatable panels, which will envelop the stage and auditorium of the 2,500-capacity outdoor Summer Theatre in the city of Szczecin’s Kasprowicza Park. “The real inspiration from our point of view was to

The high-profile development of Panama’s Amador Causeway has taken another step forward, with construction underway on a sweeping 32 acre leisure complex designed like a bird. The Harpy Eagle – the country’s national symbol – is the inspiration for the wing-like structure of the Panama Center for Events and Performing Arts, which will contain a 240,000sq ft (22,000sq m) interior banqueting hall reflecting the rainforest canopies that are the bird’s

Hotel brand Renaissance will open New York City’s “first digitally enhanced hotel” in Manhattan’s famous garment district in Q1 2016. Designed by local studio Jeffrey Beers International, the 348-room Renaissance New York Midtown Hotel will feature several large-scale digital attractions created to celebrate the history and glamour of the location, which is a centre of clothes manufacturing and home to many of New York’s fashion designers. A digital tapestry the

After years of waiting, the people of Torun, Poland finally have a high-quality cultural venue in their city, which is a UNESCO world heritage site. First announced in 2008, work has finally been completed on the CKK Jordanki concert hall – designed by Spanish architects Fernando Menis Arquitectos – and the venue is hosting its first shows following a high-profile inauguration ceremony broadcast live on television. The building – located

Turkish studio EAA-Emre Arolat Architecture have created a striking new home for some of Turkey's most important art works: a renovated warehouse which has been stripped of its floors and walls. The studio’s design team have stripped an abandoned dockland building so that only the concrete structure remains. This stark 24,000 sq m (258,000sq ft) structural grid will support large overhanging red containers, within which 15,000 art works dating as

An abandoned, bomb-damaged dockland warehouse in the Dutch city Den Helder has been transformed into a concert hall, art centre and restaurant by architects Van Dongen-Koschuch. The Kampanje, located in the city’s old Willemsoord naval yard, had sat empty for more than 70 years since being partially destroyed during the Second World War. Now it has been carefully restored and renovated by the studio to create a new cultural landmark

French architecture studio Dominique Coulon & Associates have added colour to their new building for the Conservatoire of Music, Dance and Dramatic Arts in Belfort, France by covering the outer walls with Jackson Pollock-inspired splatters of paint. The 3,895sq m (41,900sq ft) building – which houses two auditoriums, a theatre, a large dance room, a media library, over 30 classrooms and several studios tailored to specific instruments – has been

A glowing pink cube in the heart of Moscow is providing passers by an immersive spot to take stock and look out at the city. The P-Cube, designed by Spanish-Icelandic artist Marcos Zotes and his studio UNSTABLE, is a temporary installation commissioned by the city’s Polytechnic Museum to stand in VDNKh Park. The skin of the 9m (29ft) high structure is clad in a semi-transparent layer of fabric covered with

Some of the world’s best-known interior and furniture designers will embrace their creative side when displaying their latest creations at this year’s IMM Cologne; one of Europe’s largest trade fairs for furnishing, living and lifestyle products. Kaleidoscopic furniture, a birdcage-shaped table, and a swinging chair suspended above a circus ring will be among the more unusual displays at the event, which will take place from 18-24 January in the German

The protracted development of Budapest’s museum quarter has taken a surprise twist, with organisers launching a second design competition for the new Museum of Ethnography building. Last year, French studio Vallet de Martinis DIID Architects won a competition to design a new home for the museum – which has a collection of more than 200,000 ethnographic artefacts and 400,000 historical documents. However, a government decision to relocate the planned building

The year ahead promises much excitement in the world of leisure architecture and design. New designs will be unveiled, ongoing projects will take shape and we will have our first look at completed buildings from the likes of Snøhetta, Thomas Heatherwick, Renzo Piano, Bjarke Ingels Group and David Adjaye. To celebrate the New Year, we have compiled a list of 12 projects scheduled for completion in 2016 that we are

Hard Rock International has revealed its plans to build a 372-room music-themed hotel in Berlin adjacent to Checkpoint Charlie and displaying a section of the Berlin Wall. According to project partner the Trockland Development Group, the hotel will form part of a 2.5 acre multi-use project commemorating the history and symbolism of the checkpoint; which was the best known crossing point between East and West Berlin during the Cold War.

The founder of Australia’s (MONA) in Hobart, Tasmania, has unveiled a host of planned leisure projects for the institution; including a 160-room art hotel, a casino and a collaboration with famous artist James Turrell. In a blog post titled Stuff We are Planning to Do, posted on the museum’s website, MONA founder David Walsh revealed several ambitious projects involving individuals from the worlds of art, architecture and design – including

Heatherwick Studio has designed a vast mountain-inspired mixed-use development to be located next to Shanghai’s arts district. The British firm – led by designer Thomas Heatherwick – is creating a verdant 300,000sq m (3.2 sq ft) complex of buildings, with approximately 1,000 structural columns supporting plants and trees. “The design has been conceived not as a building but as a piece of topography, taking the form of two tree-covered mountains,”

A group of Canadian designers have collaborated on a huge illuminated playground in Montreal where members of the public can ride 30 glowing, musical see-saws. Located in the city’s downtown, each see-saw is fitted with LEDs and speakers and emits waves of light and sound which change in intensity depending on movement. The subsequent music and visuals merge together to create an ever-changing composition. The dreamlike effect is enhanced by

South Australian winemaker d’Arenberg is hoping to create a new national landmark by building a twisting new visitor centre mimicking a Rubik’s Cube. Nic Salivati from ADS Architects has designed the five-storey d’Arenberg Cube, which is currently under construction in McLaren Vale, a wine region in the Fleurieu Peninsula. The centre – which will contain a wine tasting room, several bars, a restaurant and a viewing gallery when it opens

Parisian fashion brand Pigalle and architecture firm Ill-Studio have collaborated to create a vivid multicoloured basketball court squeezed between two apartment buildings in the French capital’s 9th arrondissement. Pigalle founder and basketball aficionado Stéphane Ashpool had previously renovated the Rue Duperré court – where he himself plays and offers coaching to local youths – in 2009 with the help of sports brand Nike and basketball icon LeBron James. The colourful

Intricate geometric patterns of insects cover lurid pink walls inside the recently renovated Renwick Gallery in Washington DC, as part of an exhibition exploring the concept of wonder. American artist Jennifer Angus – who is acclaimed for her artistic installations using insects – is behind the work, titled In the Midnight Garden. To complete the piece, she selected 5,000 preserved insects from a variety of brightly-coloured Southeast Asian species and

A unique new attraction is set to open in the Turkish city of Antakya by the end of 2016: a museum/hotel hybrid where guests can walk around archaeological ruins dating back more than 2,000 years. In 2010, international design studio Emre Arolat Architecture had been developing a five-star hotel development on the site, located close to St. Pierre Church – an early centre of Christianity and an important pilgrimage site.

A busy overpass next to Seoul's central train station has been closed as construction work begins on a new city skygarden designed by Dutch architects MVRDV. The 45-year old overpass is being stabilised in readiness for its transformation into Seoul Skygarden; a 938m long (3,077ft) public park, featuring cafés, flower shops, street markets, libraries and greenhouses. MVRDV won a Seoul metropolitan government competition to design the project earlier this year.

A mixed-use piazza designed by Heatherwick Studio for London’s King’s Cross has been given the green light. Camden Council have approved Heatherwick’s plans to transform two disused Victorian coal drop buildings at King’s Cross railway station into 100,000sq m (1m sq ft) of culture and leisure space. The historic structures, which stand apart, will be repaired and connected by a new upper level stitching their two roofs together. Inside, 65

A crumbling 100-year old church in Llanera, northern Spain, has been transformed by local skateboarding enthusiasts and a hotly-tipped artist into a spectacular indoor skate park. Almost every interior surface in the ‘Iglesia Skate’ church is painted with bright murals and geometric patterns, creating a kaleidoscope of colour. The collective behind the scheme – who call themselves the Church Brigade – describe it as “a temple of urban art.” “It’s

Plans to turn Edinburgh’s neoclassical Old Royal High School into a luxury hotel have been turned down at the first vote by the city council. Developers Duddingston House Properties and Urbanist Hotels had proposed a £75m (US$115m, €102m) project to restore and convert the listed 1820s property – which has stood vacant for almost 50 years on Edinburgh’s Calton Hill – into a 147-bedroom Rosewood hotel featuring two newly-constructed, landscaped

A community group in London has completed a design brief for an elevated linear park following one of the city’s disused railway lines. Named the Peckham Coal Line, the proposed green space would occupy a 900m (1km) stretch of a line once used to transport coal between two train stations in Peckham, south-east London. The planned park consists of pedestrian and cycle routes running through Victorian brick viaducts before dropping

A striking, sinuous opera house designed by Beijing studio MAD Architects has opened in the northern Chinese city of Harbin. Located within the wetlands surrounding the Songhua River, the Harbin Opera House has been designed as a response to the region’s untamed wilderness and chilly climate. The building’s smooth white aluminium walls twist and turn as if sculpted by the water and wind, blending into the surrounding environment and transfusing

Rio de Janeiro’s hotly-anticipated Museau do Amanhã (Museum of Tomorrow) – designed by prize-winning Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava – will be officially opened tomorrow (17 December) by the city’s mayor. The contemporary science museum, which has taken five years to build, is located in the city centre’s Porto Maravilha district – the site of the largest urban development project in Brazil. The Museum of Tomorrow will allow the public to

Street artists and New York businesses have joined forces to beautify the city’s Lower East Side using one simple tool: spray paint. One hundred metal storefront security gates in the Manhattan neighbourhood have become city-sanctioned canvasses for a carefully selected group of graffiti artists, illustrators, graphic designers and abstract painters – including rising stars Shantell Martin, Faust and Mr Stash. The creators have each been partnered with a local business