The abandoned east wing of London’s iconic Alexandra Palace entertainment venue is to be restored and reopened to the public for the first time in decades. Three million people visit the palace every year to explore its grounds, enjoy concerts and take part in sporting events. However, it has been many years since the public have been able to access the hidden Victorian theatre and television studio located to the

Following a two-year competition involving more than 100 leading architecture and design firms, Heatherwick Studio and Diamond Schmitt Architects have been selected to reimagine and renovate a concert hall for New York’s Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. The duo have been tasked with transforming the centre’s largest hall – originally designed by Max Abramovitz and opened in 1962 – into a 21st-century symphonic concert venue “where the architecture is

The latest striking creation from the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) opens to the public today (11 December) in the Dutch city of Rotterdam. Designed as a series of pixelated steel and glass cubes that appear to float skywards, the Timmerhuis is a mixed-use complex housing shops, restaurants, cafes and Rotterdam’s city museum. The building is a merge between a 1950s municipal office block – which now forms the interior

Australia’s Northern Territory Government has unveiled plans by Darwin-based DKJ projects.architecture to create a new visual art gallery in the centre of Darwin. Led by DKJ in partnership with Fender Katsalidis Mirams, the A$18.5m (US$13.5m, €12.3m, £8.9m) plans feature the redevelopment of the existing Harry Chan building, which will become a gallery for the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (MAGNT). “Our view about museums and galleries is

Plans to build a new five-star Peninsula hotel overlooking the gardens of Buckingham Palace in London have been given the green light. Construction will now begin in Q2 2017 on the 190-room Peninsula London – located in the district of Belgravia – which will be the first UK property for the luxury Hong Kong hotel brand. Westminster City Council have approved the design from British studio Hopkins Architects, who envision

The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has launched a new award for the best building in the world. The RIBA International Prize will be open to any building in any country, irrespective of its function or budget. RIBA President Jane Duncan said: “The winning building will demonstrate visionary, innovative thinking and excellence of execution, while making a distinct contribution to its users and to its physical context.” The new

Plans to build the tallest skyscraper in the City of London have been unveiled by Eric Parry Architects, who say it will feature the UK’s highest free public viewing gallery. At a height of 309.6m (1,000ft), Parry’s commercial tower, named 1 Undershaft, will be as tall as its Renzo Piano-designed neighbour The Shard – currently the tallest building in western Europe. It will be located in the heart of the

International innovators and architects NBBJ have revealed their latest unusual design concept: a series of natural ice rinks on London’s River Thames. The firm releases three outside-the-box concept designs every year to inform its commissioned physical projects. The idea is to resurrect a city tradition dating back to the 17th century called the Frost Fair, which would see Londoners take to the frozen waters of the Thames in winter to

Zaha Hadid Architects have designed a shell-shaped dining pavilion which mixes advanced technology and principles found in nature to create an eating space that doubles as a neofuturistic piece of art. The work, named Volu, was designed by Zaha Hadid and company director Patrik Schumacher for display at the 2015 Design Miami festival in the US state of Florida. The piece was commissioned by real estate developer Robbie Antonio for

Mexico City’s Papalote Children’s Museum has unveiled the winning design for its future home; a forest-inspired building that promotes fun, exploration and discovery. Barcelona-based design studio MX_SI and Mexican firm SPRB were awarded first prize in the competition for the project, which attracted 171 entries from around the world. Construction is expected to begin early next year in Iztapalapa district. The new museum building – which will house an expanded

Assemble, a collective based in London who work across the fields of art, architecture and design have become the first non-artists to win the UK’s most prestigious art award; the Turner Prize. Assemble were honoured for an urban regeneration project they organised in Liverpool, using art and design to oppose gentrification and improve the homes and public spaces of local residents in the city’s Granby Four Streets. The Turner awards

A David Rockwell-designed interactive light display in New York’s Winter Garden Atrium has opened, kickstarting a new seasonal tradition for Lower Manhattan based on the concepts of sharing, giving, community and light. Luminaries takes the form of approximately 650 twinkling LED cubic lanterns, which are suspended in a cascading canopy from the ceiling of the 10-storey glass atrium, located within Brookfield Place – better known as the World Financial Center.

Seven galleries dedicated to European art and history at London’s Victoria and Albert (V&A) Museum will reopen on 9 December following a £12.5m (US$19m, €17m) redesign by architects ZMMA. The entire front wing of the museum has been restored to house more than 1,000 artefacts dating from Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries. Storage space has been reclaimed to enlarge the galleries by a third to 1,550sq m (16,700sq

The Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles reopens today (7 December) following a multi-million dollar redevelopment marking its 20th anniversary. The museum closed in October 2014 in readiness for an extensive US$125m (€112m, £80m) transformation both inside and out. The original 1960s building has been painted a bright red and fitted with a ribbon-like stainless steel exterior shell, designed by architects Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates. More than 800 LEDs accentuate

CLAD understands that the award-winning design for China’s new National Maritime Museum, created by Australian practice Cox Rayner Architects, is now likely to be realised in 2017. The project, located in the city of Tianjin, was originally set to open in 2015 but has suffered delays since it was named the Future Project of the Year at the World Architecture Festival (WAF) in 2013. A representative from Cox Rayner told

A Seattle studio that specialises in creating culture and leisure buildings has won the 2016 AIA Architecture Firm Award; the highest honour bestowed by The American Institute of Architects. LMN Architects – founded in 1979 – have designed more than 50 modern, accessible and sustainable arts centres, concert halls, community theatres and music schools across the US. Their recent projects include The Tobin Center for the Performing Arts in San

Craig Robins, founder of real-estate company Dacra, has kicked off Miami Art Week with a tour of the latest luxury retail openings in the newly developed Design District – while across the water, the Faena District celebrated the opening of its hotel. Faena Hotel Miami Beach launched with a celebratory event on 1 December attended by a slew of celebrities and the project's author, Argentine developer and hotelier Alan Faena.

A group of architects, artists, interior designers and developers have joined forces to open a seafood restaurant mixing street art, design and fine food in Montreal, Canada. Être Avec Toi – which means ‘to be with you’ in English – opened on 3 December inside the city’s four star W Montreal Hotel. Creative agency MASSIVart have collaborated with Sid Lee Architecture, real estate company Ivanhoé Cambridge and hospitality development consultants

CLAD has learned that the grand opening of the Estonia National Museum’s (ENM) new home will take place in September 2016. ENM – located in the city of Tartu – is returning to its original location in the district of Raadi. The museum, formerly based in an 18th century manor, was bombed during the Second World War and had to move to different premises, which it has occupied ever since.

A museum dedicated to the Chicago blues is coming to Illinois, with plans by BRC Imagination Arts to give the genre a new home on the city’s historic Navy Pier. The US$45m (€42.5m, £30m) Chicago Blues Experience, on track to open during Q3 of 2017, is based away from the south side of the city where the style originated. The area of the city, once home to many of the

International studio Architects of Invention have designed the interiors for an exclusive new club in the heart of London’s illustrious Mayfair district, which will feature a restaurant run by Michelin-starred chef Shaun Rankin. The interiors of 12 Hay Hill, which opened in late September, have been refitted at a cost of £3m (US$4.5m, €4.2m) to create a sophisticated space for entrepreneurs seeking a private social and business environment. The 1,800sq

A design team led by Nikken Sekkei have won an international competition to develop a feasible plan for 24km (15m) of railway track stretching the length of Singapore. Inspired by New York’s phenomenally successful High Line – a disused railway transformed into a public greenway – Singapore’s Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) invited international architecture studios to propose similarly innovative schemes for the city-state’s longest abandoned rail line. Japanese architects Nikken

German studio KSP Jurgen Engel Architekten have been named as the design team for the new Shenzhen Art Museum and Library complex in China. The firm were chosen ahead of several other shortlisted studios – including star names OMA, Steven Holl Architects and Mecanoo – to design the cultural hub, to be located in the southern province of Guangdong. KSP’s winning design consists of three elements – an art museum,

Scent manufacturer Glade has teamed up with Radical Media to create a pop-up exhibition and experience in New York for the eyes, ears, nose and hands. Glade, usually seen on supermarket shelves in the air freshener section, has taken a unique approach to unveiling its new line of scents with the multi-sensory experience completely built around the senses. The exhibition uses five scents representing the emotional states of optimism, joy,

German-born architect Annabelle Selldorf is transforming an abandoned flour mill in downtown Los Angeles into a multi-disciplinary arts centre for gallery heavyweights Hauser & Wirth and art curator Paul Schimmel. Selldorf – the founder of New York’s Selldorf Architects – is working with local studio Creative Space to retrofit seven interconnected late 19th and early 20th century buildings located at 901 East 3rd Street in the city’s burgeoning arts district.

Kieran Stanley, founder and CEO of Dan Pearlman architecture studio, has revealed new details about their upcoming Giant project, due to take its first big steps in Berlin in 2017. The Giant – which comprises a multi-storey sculpture mounted on a plinth housing a museum – has been touted as “the visitor attraction for the 21st Century”. The sculpture itself will take the form of a mythical giant, with moving

A Parisian hotel created inside a 19th century bathhouse, once frequented by novelist Marcel Proust, has won the top prize at the 2015 European Hotel Design Awards at a ceremony in London. Les Bains in Paris – designed by Tristan Auer and French studio RDAI – claimed the Hotel Design of the Year Award for the sophisticated new interiors which have been created within the existing 1885 building. Located in