Danish studio 3XN Architects have triumphed in an international design competition for a sweeping cultural complex and Smart City district in Wallonia, Belgium. Located in the city of Namur at the confluence of the Meuse and Sambre rivers, and adjacent to the historic Roman citadel and the Wallonian Parliament, the scheme has been envisioned as an economic driver for the region. At the heart of the scheme is the new

Bob Rogers, founder and chair of experience design firm BRC Imagination Arts, has said that visitor attractions must be designed as “netmarks” – a concept that takes into account social media impact on physical design. BRC last month completed the first phase of a multi-year, multi-million dollar revamp of Cleveland’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, introducing a 78-foot-long and 6-foot-tall row of red letters spelling the words

The French ski resort of Tignes will soon be able to offer 365-day skiing after having plans approved to build a €62m (US$66.4m, £52.1m) indoor slope on one of its existing runs. French architects De Jong (DJA) are behind the 400m (1,300ft) Ski Line snow centre, which will sit at an altitude of 2,000m (6,500ft) and will feature a chairlift to take visitors to the top of the slope, as

Moreau Kusunoki, the architecture studio behind the failed attempt to bring the Guggenheim art museum to Helsinki, have expressed their “disappointment” at the council’s decision to block the project. However, the philosophical founders of the Paris-based practice, Nicolas Moreau and Hiroko Kusunoki, told CLAD that the process of designing the project as an “extraordinary adventure” despite the result of the council’s vote, which was recorded as 53 to 32 against.

Ground has been broken on a project of ‘Titanic’ proportions, with a life-size replica of the doomed Titanic passenger liner now under construction in China’s Sichuan Province. Heading from Southampton to New York, the original Titanic hit an iceberg on 14 April 1912. More than two-thirds of the 2,224 people on board were killed. Dubbed ‘New Titanic’, the 269-metre (882-foot) -long replica will be the centrepiece of a high-end Romandisea

The world’s first permanent ice hotel has opened to guests 200km (124m) north of the Arctic Circle. Icehotel 365, located in the Swedish village of Jukkasjärvi, is a year-round extension to the world-famous 26-year old temporary structure, which is sculpted every winter using ice from the Torne River before melting in spring. To ensure the new structure stands firm all year round – despite its walls, floors and ceiling being

A US Army base in the centre of Seoul will be repurposed as a vast public park by Dutch landscape architects West 8. After four years of development, the studio have publicly presented their masterplan for Yongsan Park at a forum held at the National Museum in the South Korean capital The current Yongsan Park site is a walled, prohibited area completely cut off from the surrounding city. The US

Plans for the much-debated Guggenheim Museum in Helsinki have fallen through after city councillors rejected a proposal to provide state aid for the project’s development. During recent budget talks, the co-ruling nationalist Finns party objected to the €40m (US$42.4m, £33.5m) support costs offered by the government, especially during a time when Finland’s economy is struggling while the government pushes through a multi-billion Euro austerity measure to try and curb public

Faena Forum, the new cultural core of the Faena District in Miami Beach, has opened to the public in time for the Design Miami global forum. A procession down the city’s Collins Avenue congregated in the Forum's new canopy plaza and witnessed the official opening of the complex’s three buildings, which have all been designed by architecture studio OMA. To celebrate, a dance performance with scenography by the building’s lead

South Korean architect Moon Hoon has designed an unusually-formed museum dedicated to the folk story of Pinocchio. The client, an avid collector of Pinocchio dolls, wanted a museum and gallery on the outskirts of Seoul where her collection could be experienced and explained. The museum complex, called Pino Familia, is formed of three buildings in close proximity, which surround a grassed inner court containing a sky-train, a pond and a

The City of London’s planning committee has green lit architect Eric Parry’s design for the district’s tallest tower. With a gross estimated area of 30,000sq m (323,000sq ft) and a height of 309.94m (1,016ft) above ordnance datum, the tower, called 1 Undershaft, will overtake Rogers Stirk Harbour & Partners’ Leadenhall Building as the tallest building in the City. A new public square and 2,000sq m (21,500sq ft) retail court will

Madrid’s historic Hall of Realms will be refurbished and transformed into an important art exhibition space by architects Foster + Partners and Rubio Arquitectura, after the pair were named winners of an international competition for the project. The space will form an expansion to the city’s Museo del Prado campus; Spain’s main national art museum. The Hall of Realms building was part of the 17th century Royal Buen Retiro Palace

Wanda has announced two US$15bn (€14.2bn, £12bn) development projects in China, signalling chair Wang Jianlin’s continued efforts to make Wanda the world’s largest tourism entity by 2020. The two major projects were both announced in the space of a week, with agreements signed between both China’s Shaanxi provincial government and Changsha municipal government to build theme parks, commercial centres and sports developments in Xi’an and Hunan Province. In Hunan, a

London's Design Museum welcomes the public to its new home on Kensington High Street today (24 November) marking the culmination of one of the most innovative and unlikely architectural collaborations on a major leisure project in recent times. The museum is located inside the city’s former Commonwealth Institute Building, a Grade II* listed structure that had lain dormant for many years before architects OMA won a competition in 2008 to

Ennead Architects have broken ground on the Shanghai Planetarium for the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum (SSTM) in the city’s Lingang district. The international competition-winning design draws inspiration from astronomical principles, invoking the experience of orbital motion. Visitors will be guided through each of the building’s three principal forms – the Oculus, the Inverted Dome and the Sphere – that act as astronomical instruments, tracking the sun, moon and stars

Architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro and design studio Rockwell Group have unveiled their plans for an expandable cultural venue in New York’s burgeoning Hudson Yards district. The duo, who are both based in the city, have designed The Shed; a new centre for artistic invention set to open in early 2019. Currently under construction on the far west side of Manhattan, where the High Line meets Hudson Yards, the facility

The National Museum and Dialogue Centre in Szczecin, Poland has been declared the World Building of the Year 2016. Polish architecture studio Robert Konieczny KWK Promes were awarded the prize by a jury led by British architect David Chipperfield. The result - which caps what has been a transformative year for leisure architecture - was revealed at a gala dinner in Berlin on the final day of this year’s World

Almost 100 entries from 26 countries vying for the honour of designing the new National Memorial to the Holocaust have been whittled down to a final ten. The shortlisted design teams include some of the most internationally renowned architects and artists, including Turner Prize winner Sir Anish Kapoor who is working with Zaha Hadid Architects. The teams are now invited to submit designs for the memorial, which is planned to

Danish studio Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects have revealed the first design details of their collaboration with American artist James Turrell on a major expansion of the ARos Aarhus Art Museum. The €40m expansion plan, called Next Level, will add a 1,200sq m underground gallery and a gigantic semi-subterranean Turrell art installation called The Dome. Visitors will face “an experience in colour and light” as they travel through a string of

Leisure architecture was a big winner on the opening day of the World Architecture Festival (WAF) in Berlin, with a quintet of projects triumphing in several categories of the prestigious WAF Awards. The Culture category, which consisted of 17 projects, was won by Polish architects Robert Konieczny KWK Promes for their National Museum and Dialogue Centre in Szczecin, Poland. The museum sits underground, with the roof forming part of the

Developers of shopping malls and large retail centres can no longer ignore leisure, the director of the International Retail Real Estate Market (MAPIC) has told CLAD. Nathalie Depetro said that “the growth of digital e-commerce has pushed the need to make the physical shopping experience more amazing than ever before to remain relevant.” MAPIC 2016, which takes place from 16 to 18 November in Cannes, is one of the world's

Architecture studio Chapman Taylor have announced two major design projects in Iran, as the country seeks to create new large-scale leisure destinations. With the Iranian economy recovering after the alleviation of international economic sanctions, local investors have started reaching out to global architecture studios to develop new infrastructure and facilities. After being invited to Iran by developers, Chapman Taylor have reached a deal to masterplan and design the 750,000sq m

The architecture studio of David Chipperfield have announced significant progress on two key museum projects in their portfolio: an extension to the Kunsthaus museum in Zurich, Switzerland and an cultural complex near the Taj Mahal in India. A foundation stone laying ceremony for former project took place on Tuesday (8 November), with guests from the world of Swiss politics, business and culture joining Chipperfield, who helped bury a time capsule

After 15 years and three phases of development, Chicago studio Ross Barney Architects have completed their dramatic transformation of the city’s central riverfront – the most visible public project in the city since Millennium Park opened in 2004. The Chicago Riverwalk – a 1.5 mile (2.41 km) promenade along the Chicago River lined with public amenities, restaurants, cultural activities and access to natural habitats for city residents and visitors –

Global architecture firm Foster + Partners have been appointed to redevelop London Zoo’s famous Snowdon Aviary. The Grade II* listed structure, designed by Cedric Price with Frank Newby and Lord Snowdon in 1962, was recently added to Historic England’s Risk Register for structures in danger of falling into disrepair due to the high expense of necessary repairs compared with the likely end value. The aviary was the first in Britain

Proposals by six international teams – representing seventy-three artists, architects, designers, planners and engineers – to illuminate 17 of central London’s bridges along the River Thames will be unveiled on 9 November. The Illuminated River International Design Competition called for lighting designs that include new technologies and display outstanding aesthetic quality. It attracted entries from 105 teams working in the fields of art, technology and design and a shortlist of

The long-awaited Louvre Abu Dhabi has been delayed yet again, with the highly-anticipated project now postponed to 2017 due to pending construction work. The news is the latest in a string of setbacks for the project dating back to 2012. According to Reuters, multiple sources have reported there is still “work to be done” on the museum. Government officials had said at the end of 2015 that the museum was