A popular Snarkitecture-designed exhibit at the National Building Museum in Washington, DC, drew to a close this week, attracting almost 200,000 visitors in just two months. The temporary interactive exhibit, entitled BEACH, was installed in the museum’s famous Great Hall and made from a mishmash of construction materials and an ocean of 750,000 recyclable plastic balls. “We had around 182,000 visitors total,” a spokesperson for the National Building Museum told

Antoni Gaudí's Casa Vicens in Barcelona, Spain, is to be turned into a museum celebrating his work. It will open during the second half of 2016. The house was built in 1889 and is a UNESCO-listed World Heritage site. Gaudí, who lived from 1852 until 1926 is the best known practitioner of Catalan Modernism – a style centred in Barcelona and expressed mainly through architecture. Casa Vicens is the first

After drawing the ire of the Egyptian government when it created a replica sphinx last year, a Chinese theme park in Shijiazhuang has added to its collection, creating a 1:1 replica version of Paris’ Louvre Pyramid. Not sharing quite the same iconic locale, the replica Louvre Pyramid – the original of which first opened in 1989 – sits in the overgrown field of the unique amusement park/movie set in Shijiazhuang,

Croatian-Austrian design collective numen/for use have unveiled a new installation at Aut. Architektur und Tirol museum in Innsbruck comprised of a series of interactive, explorable, stitched safety nets. The temporary exhibition, which closes on 10 October, uses elastic strings tethered to the ceilings and walls of the exhibition space, forming a fluid tunnel for intrepid visitors to traverse through. The architect’s design uses dispersed structural support to allow for an

SO-IL has revealed its design for an art gallery in Brooklyn, New York, which explores the relationship between both exterior and interior, and light and dark. The four-storey Artes Amant – expected to complete by 2017 – is a haven for modern art, where artists can create, display and store their work. The designs for the 1,320sqm (14,250sq ft) Artes Amant began with the inside, looking first at the functionality

Global design, architecture, engineering and planning firm HOK has redesigned 42 suites at the Mandarin Oriental New York hotel to offer guests a unique experience of the city. The HOK-designed one and two-bedroom suites feature panoramic views of Central Park, the Hudson River and the Manhattan skyline and aim to invoke New York City life through the course of a day with their distinct theming. To achieve this, the project

More than 100,000 visitors have visited an unusual seaside-inspired installation at the National Building Museum in Washington, DC, causing online ticket sales to be ceased to ensure current ticket holders can be accommodated. The temporary exhibit, entitled BEACH, has been installed in the museum’s famous Great Hall and is the work of architecture practice Snarkitecture. The Brooklyn-based firm’s 10,000sq ft (929sq m) interactive architectural exhibit – made from a mishmash

Rumours that urban artist Banksy is behind a pop-up visitor attraction in Weston-super-Mare, England, were given further credence today (20 August) as Dismaland’s website went live, revealing a cavalcade of counter-culture contributors. Dismaland, a twisted version of a Disney theme park, has been installed at the town’s Tropicana lido, which has been derelict since 2000. According to the website, hosted at dismaland.co.uk, “Dismal Land is a festival of art, amusements

Gucci has become the latest fashion powerhouse to bring its brand into the restaurant business, opening 1921 Gucci in Shanghai, China. The chic new eatery, which can only be accessed via an elevator inside the Gucci Shanghai boutique, follows in the footsteps of Armani's Fifth Avenue restaurant in New York City and Ralph Lauren's Polo Bar, as fashion giants seek to harness their brand power in new markets. Although Gucci

Having recently chosen Chicago, Illinois, as the host location for Barack Obama’s presidential library, The Barack Obama Foundation is now launching a competition to find an architect for the US President’s legacy project. The presidential library – a repository for preserving and making available the papers, records, collections and other historical materials of every President of the US since Herbert Hoover in 1929 – will be developed in partnership with

Banksy has reportedly created a twisted version of a Disney theme park, which the anonymous street artist is planning to open this weekend as a pop-up visitor attraction in Weston-super-Mare, England. The subversive theme park-cum-art exhibition has been built over the past several months under the guise of a movie set at the 10,200sq ft (950sq m) abandoned Tropicana lido. Signs at the site indicated Grey Fox Production were shooting

A former salt depository has become one of Ibiza’s most prominent art galleries after renowned New York-based collector Lio Malca converted the former warehouse into a contemporary arts venue. Known as La Nave, the 8,000sq ft (743sq m) conversion on the south-east coast of Ibiza – founded by the Colombian-born Malca who also runs a modern and contemporary art gallery in New York – debuted with an exhibition profiling Brooklyn

Singapore’s National Gallery will open to the public at the end of this year with a new S$532m (US$379.6m, €344m, £243.7m) development housing the world’s largest public collection of Singaporean and Southeast Asian art inside two of the country’s most historical buildings. Designed by Studio Milou Singapore, in partnership with CPG Consultants, National Gallery Singapore is housed within two heritage buildings in the city’s Civic District. Taking up the former

Shanghai’s G+PARK museum cluster has unveiled a colourful new wedding chapel, creating a kaleidoscope of colour for adventurous couples to tie the knot. Designed by Coordination Asia, the Rainbow Chapel is made up of 3,060 glass panels painted in 65 bright translucent colours, surrounded by a square white structure partially open to the surrounding museum park. Both shapes are traditionally important in Chinese symbolism, with the circle representing fullness and

Shigeru Ban’s latest project – the Oita Prefectural Art Museum – has opened in Japan, becoming an artistic piece in its own right to inspire the local community, acting as a “cultural catalyst.” Located on the southwestern island of Kyushu, the building’s timber-lattice clad structure – in reference to the region’s history of producing fine wood crafts – covers three floors and is designed so the external walls, comprised of

Auckland-based architects Patterson Associates have created a shimmering art museum dedicated to experimental artist Len Lye. The NZ$18m (US$11.9m, €10.8m, £7.6m) Len Lye Centre in New Plymouth, New Zealand, is the country’s first institution dedicated to a single artist. Described as 'a temple for art', the gallery creates a sensory experience of light inspired by Len Lye, who was known for his kinetic and multimedia pieces. The stainless steel shimmering

The local council of Manchester, UK, is searching for an architect to design a new proposed £110m (US$172.2m, €156m) flexible art space within the city. Supported by £78m (US$122m, €110.6m) in funding from the UK government, the new arts space is dubbed ‘The Factory.’ It forms part of a wider initiative in the north of England to restore the “cultural and economic counterbalance” to London in the south, which in

Work is underway on a new concert hall in Boca del Rio, Mexico, designed by Rojkind Arquitectos. This landmark site is part of a masterplan to regenerate the surrounding area through culture. Once an important port, crime and pollution levels have risen over the past 20 years. The concert hall will also provide a home for the Boca del Rio Philharmonic Orchestra, which was formed last year as part of

Architects Pieterjan Gijs and Arnout Van Vaerenbergh have created an intricate maze at the heart of Genk’s c-mine arts centre in Belgium, using the ‘age-old’ form of the labyrinth to create a structure exploring space and architecture. The Belgian duo, collectively known as Gijs Van Vaerenbergh, have created ‘Labyrinth’, a sculptural-spatial intervention based on the artists' interest in fundamental architectural typologies. Using unique compositions of wall and void, the labyrinth

“With big projects like this one, there's always going to be controversy,” said Nicolas Moreau, co-founder of Moreau Kusunoki, the Paris-based practice that won the competition to design the Guggenheim Helsinki. Moreau Kusunoki – founded by husband and wife team Nicolas Moreau and Hiroko Kusunoki – were announced as the winners of the Guggenheim Helsinki competition in June. Their design features a series of linked pavilions and a glass-topped 'lighthouse-style'

El Equipo Creativo has completed the interior design for Barcelona restaurant, Disfrutar, giving it a distinctly Mediterranean flavour. Ceramics, in different formats, have been used to give each part of the restaurant – the bar, the kitchen and the patio - its own identity. “The client wanted to transmit naturalness, humility and respect for the history and heritage of the Mediterranean,” said the architects. “In each space it is transformed

Italian architectural practise, Archea Associati, has created a ceramic museum in Liling, China, comprised of a number of vase-like structures. Set for completion later this year, the volumes are arranged in a circular plan and clad in a variety of patterns and colours. The architects say the inspiration was the city’s ceramic heritage and the client’s wish to include various functions on the site, including a museum, a hotel and

Elephants at the Kaeng Krachan Elephant Park at Zoo Zurich, in Switzerland, now have an architecturally designed enclosure, thanks to Markus Schietsch Architekten, who designed an elaborate new habitat. The 73,000sq ft (6,782sq m) enclosure includes shelter within a wood and ETFE geodesic dome, with a glass enclosed swimming pool. A series of open air spaces, with rocky terrain and dense vegetation, are connected to this sheltered habitat. The impressive

A monumental aerial sculpture created by Echelman Studio has been suspended over Boston’s Rose Kennedy Greenway, bringing art to the city's skies. Commissioned by The Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy, As If It Were Already Here is the signature contemporary art installation in the Greenway Conservancy’s Public Art Program, running from May until October. Made out of 100 miles of twine, the sculpture soars 600ft (183m) in the air, spanning the

UNStudio have been chosen to design a new city centre theatre in Den Bosch, the Netherlands. The design competition involved the local residents voting for one of two finalists and UNStudio received 57 per cent of the vote, seeing off competition from Rotterdam studio Ector Hoogstad Architects. The Theatre on the Parade will be located on the large and lively public square, which was an important consideration in the design:

McInnes Usher McKnight Architects' (MUMA) “highly-original” extension and refurbishment of Manchester’s Whitworth art gallery has made the shortlist of six for this year's Stirling Prize. It was described by award organisers, the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), as “a project for all seasons, where art, nature and architecture combine” which “could be the eulogy for a building which is neither high-key nor overtly fashionable”. The Whitworth reopened on 14

A competition for the development of a 6,000sq m (64,583sq ft) visitor attraction based on the fairytales of Hans Christian Andersen has been launched in Odense, Denmark. Part of a downtown regeneration of Odense, the contest comes two years after an initial contest kicked off on the same site for a ‘House of Fairytales’. Transborder Studio, Rodion Kitaev and London-based Leith Kerr Architecture were named winners of the previous contest,