Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa’s vision for Sydney’s Art Gallery of New South Wales will be realised after SANAA architects were named winners of the contest to design the AU$450m (US$344m, €315.6m, £225.2m) revamp of the facility and surrounding area. As part of the expansion, the existing building will become “a global cultural landmark” amid plans to double the size of the 23,000sq m (247,500sq ft) gallery. SANAA’s design incorporates

Zaha Hadid has designed a new Middle East Centre for Oxford University. Hadid, who was born in Iraq, expressed hope that the new building would help the Middle East Centre to continue its work in helping to foster greater understanding of the region. Hadid designed the building to connect existing protected properties and trees and has stainless steel cladding to reflect natural light and give it an ephemeral quality. The

Architectural practice BIG has completed the second phase of a project at Gammel Hellerup High School, Copenhagen, Denmark – the old high school of founding partner Bjarke Ingels. The new addition, a 1,400sq m (15,069sq ft) arts and culture building, follows the completion of a multi-purpose sports hall in 2013, which paid homage to Ingels’ old maths teacher by using the mathematical formula for a ballistic arc – the flight path

Singapore-based architects ar + d are leading the design on a landmark luxury waterfront hotel in New Zealand, the flagship for a harbour-wide regeneration scheme. Architects ar + d have previously worked on Hyatt hotels in Kilimanjaro and Koh Samui. Specialists in the hospitality sector, Conran and Partners, will be creating the interior design and visitor experience, using the hotel’s harbour settings as inspiration. The hotel will look out on

Ball-Nogues Studio has created an experimental installation for the Coachella festival using a unique production process and reclaimed paper. The Los Angeles-based design and fabrication practice said the installation, Pulp Pavilion, served as a bold and colourful canopy space and respite from the sun. Performances on two stages at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, held annually in the California desert, could also be viewed. The studio’s production process

A pair of architecture graduates have teamed up with Airbnb to create one of the more pleasant objects likely to be found floating on London’s River Thames – a buoyant guest house. Twins Nick and Steve Tidball – who graduated from London’s Bartlett School of Architecture and now work as creative directors in advertising – have paired up with the accommodation giant to create a city crash pad described as

The winner of the 2015 Mies van der Rohe Award has been announced as Barozzi / Veiga’s extraordinary, glowing concert venue, the Philharmonic Hall in Szczecin, Poland. The building scooped the €60,000 Prize for Contemporary Architecture from a shortlist of five projects, taking the award, which is given every two years in recognition of outstanding European architecture. Although Barcelona-based Fabrizio Barozzi and Alberto Veiga were inspired by the neo-Gothic spires

Three architecture students have been selected to build pavilions at this year’s Burning Man festival, having received art grants. Supported by Ramboll and Format Engineers, the trio’s installations are set to be constructed at the annual arts festival being held at the Black Rock Desert in Nevada, US, between 30 August and 7 September. The designs adhere to the event’s 2015 theme, ‘Carnival of Mirrors’. The students are part of

Foster + Partners have won a competition to mastermind a creative community and cultural epicentre aimed at attracting visitors and local artists to create a 'Middle-Eastern Shoreditch' in Dubai Design District (d3). The development plans outline a 1,000,000sq ft (92,903sq m) Creative Community to provide affordable space for emerging local designers and artists to establish themselves, and for art galleries and studios to exhibit their work to visitors. Foster +

OMA, the architectural practice founded by Rem Koolhaas, have converted a former industrial complex in Milan, Italy, into a new home for designer Miuccia Prada’s Fondazione Prada. Fondazione Prada was established by Miuccia Prada in 1993 as a cultural organisation dedicated to the arts, cinema and philosophy. The new venue opens to the public on 9 May. The 19,000sq m (204,500sq ft) art campus, has been seven years in the

Inspirational concepts from some of the world’s leading designers have gone on show today as Milan Expo 2015 opens to the public. Foster + Partners, Daniel Libeskind and Biber Architects are among the heavyweight architects and designers who have been enlisted to bring the Expo to life – with more than 10 million tickets already sold for the six-month event. The global commercial fair is the second to be held

Isambard Kingdom Brunel's original entrance to the world's first underwater tunnel is to be turned into a cultural venue for music performances, theatre and events. The 65ft (19.8m) deep entrance shaft to the Thames Tunnel, in Rotherhithe, London, was the first project the famous engineer worked on. Architectural practice Tate Harmer has now designed a freestanding cantilevered staircase that will provide public access to the circular ‘sinking shaft’ for the

The French government has spent €56m (US$60m, £40.2m) recreating an exact replica of a cave discovered in 1994 containing a huge collection of prehistoric paintings of horses, mammoths and rhinos – among the oldest documented pieces on earth. The works – preserved thanks to a rock fall roughly 23,000 years ago – were quickly closed off to the public after their discovery on the basis that something as simple as

A decommissioned water reservoir turned public park in Colombia has scooped the top prize in a global awards competition for sustainable building and construction. The ‘Articulated Site’ project, designed by Mario Camargo and Luis Tombé of Colectivo720, with Juan Calle and Horacio Valencia of EPM Group, took the US$200,000 (€187,201, £134,517) Gold prize in the 2015 Holcim Awards. Located around a series of water tanks in Medellín, an outdoor auditorium

Norwegian architecture firm Snøhetta and Japanese design studio SANAA have both been awarded first place in a competition to design the New National Gallery and Ludwig Museum in Budapest, Hungary. Part of plans for Europe’s largest museum development, the announcement is the final piece of the puzzle in Budapest's HUF75bn (US$277m, €235m, £183m) cultural quarter. While both firms have been named winner of the contest, only one of the two

Three finalists have emerged in the competition to redesign the St. Petersburg Pier in Florida, US. Designs from Alfonso Architects, St. Pete Design Group and Rogers Partners Architects + Urban Designers made the cut, following the latest meeting of the City of St. Petersburg’s Pier Selection Committee, at which four other concepts were eliminated. The replacement of the pier has been a matter for the whole community, with Mayor Rick

Specially-commissioned slides which will allow visitors to travel from the Hayward’s Gallery iconic glass pyramid ceiling to the entrance level, will open in London this June as part of an exhibition of work by Belgian artist Carsten Höller. The exhibition Decision will immerse visitors in a series of experimental environments, aiming to transform their physical and mental experience in ways which will lead them to question their habitual perceptions. Other

Madrid-based SelgasCano architects have unveiled their designs for this year's Serpentine Pavilion in London, featuring an explosion of colour. To be constructed from ETFE, translucent fluorine-based plastic, the lightweight structure will be double-skinned, consisting of multi-coloured panels wrapped in webbing. Internally, the experience will be like passing under sheets of stained glass. When describing their design in a company statement, SelgasCano said they wanted to explore ways a visitor could

Hosted by London's Design Museum, the Design of the Year Awards 2015 exhibition is now open. The exhibition showcases 76 projects that have been shortlisted for this year's award. The projects range from cutting-edge technology, for example a solar powered table that can be used indoors, to epic architectural creations like Frank Gehry's Foundation Louis Vuitton, Paris. Curated by the Design Museum's Gemma Curtin, the exhibition is open to all,

Following an £80m (US$119m, €109m) renovation by international architecture firm, Wilkinson Eyre, the University of Oxford’s Weston Library has reopened to the public. Originally designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott in the 1930s and part of the infamous grade II listed Bodleian Library in Oxford, UK, the structure needed some extreme modernisation and renovation to open it up to the public. Wilkinson Eyre have incorporated several new features into the

The Office for Architectural Cultural (OAC) has revealed the competition winning design for the UNESCO World Heritage site at Daming Palace in Xi’an, China. The scheme will be an all-encompassing urban regeneration. Xi’an is home to several UNESCO world heritage sites, and OAC’s mixed-use project will cover part of the Daming Palace Heritage Park, as well as a large early 20th century Dahua Wool Spinning Factory. Spanning more than 500

Following the announcement this week that negotiations have begun for the funding of the £1bn (€1.3bn $1.42bn) Swansea tidal lagoon project in Wales, UK, CLAD speaks exclusively to Paul Newman, principal of Juice Architects, the firm behind the project's iconic visitor attraction. "The Tidal Lagoon is an extraordinarily important development and I am delighted the Visitor Centre has become the iconic symbol of this pioneering project” said Newman. “I am

International architecture practice Populous have been selected to design the £90m (US$135m, €119m) Bristol Arena in the south-west UK city. The winning team, comprising of Populous (with Feilden Clegg Bradley, BuroHappold and Vanguardia) has been selected from a shortlist of five to design the 12,000 seat multi-use venue. In a statement, Bristol mayor George Ferguson said: “The Populous team presented an innovative design. The new arena shone out as the

James Corner Field Operations (JCFO) has been picked to design the Miami Underline, a 10-mile corridor running below Miami-Dade’s Metrorail. The Underline will be a linear park from Miami River to Dadeland South Station. The project will feature a cycle path/ pedestrian walkway and provide hundreds of acres of green space for public use. Aiming to encourage healthy lifestyles, The Underline will provide an easily accessible place to exercise, create

Following the $91m (€86m, £62m) renovation of Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, in New York, USA, visitors are now offered a truly with interactive and immersive experience, entwined with creative technologies. Masterplanned by Gluckman Mayner Architects alongside Beyer Blinder Belle Architects & Planners with Diller Scofidio + Renfro (DS+R) designing the exhibition spaces on the ground, first and second floor galleries – the Cooper Hewitt Design Museum has been completely

MIPIM 2015 has nearly reached its climax and the annual Architectural Review Future Project Awards have been announced. Once again, leisure projects are showcasing some of the best new architecture globally. The overall winner of the Architectural Review Future Project Award was given to the ‘Hanging Courtyards’ The Urban Design of Qing Xiang Historical Cultural Block in Changzhou (China) - Southeast University. The scheme used sustainable techniques as well as

Barangaroo South, a complete new city quarter under construction in Sydney, Australia, looks set to be a game changer for the city’s leisure offerings. Developer Lend Lease is pouring AUS$6bn (US$4.6bn, £3bn, €4.3bn) into the 22 hectare site. Leading British architecture firm, Roger Stirk Harbour + Partners (RSHP) have masterplanned six hectares of the built development. From the previous state of a disused container port, RSHP plans to ‘return the