A museum designed as a ”timeless treasure chest” showcasing Israel’s natural history is ready to open on the Tel Aviv University Campus. Architecture firm Kimmel Eshkolot have designed the Steinhardt Museum of Natural History, whose collections include five and a half million animals and plants telling the story of biodiversity in Israel and the Middle East during the past century. The building’s block-like form, attached to a large wooden-panelled shell

The Museum of Modern Electronic Music (MOMEM) is nearing completion in Frankfurt, Germany, and is turning up the volume on the plans with the launch of a pop-up museum this April ahead of a full launch at a later date. The museum was conceived to tell the story of the electronic music movement and its impact on youth culture – as art, design, fashion and technology – throughout Europe from

Asian hospitality operator Avani has today (1 March) expanded its new brand, Avani+, by launching its first hotel in Luang Prabang – a UNESCO World Heritage Site in northern Laos. Founded in 2011, the company is one of the fastest-growing brands to come out of Asia, having launched 23 properties in 15 countries, including Thailand, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Mozambique, the United Arab Emirates and Portugal. In a statement, the firm

The executive director of the Arkansas Arts Center (AAC), situated in Little Rock’s historic MacArthur Park, has announced details of a striking expansion for the attraction, designed by architects Studio Gang. Todd Herman revealed that 127,000sq ft (11,800sq m) of renovated and new spaces will be created for the centre to strengthen the connections between the visual and performing arts in an inclusive space that welcomes a diverse community. “This

A planning application has been submitted for a classic car museum in Oxfordshire, UK, with American vintage car collector and philanthropist Peter Mullin behind the £35m (US$48m, €39.5m) plans. Mullin, founder of the M Financial Group and Chairman of its subsidiary, M Financial Holdings, is an avid car collector, establishing in 2010, the Mullin Automotive Museum in Oxnard, California and also serving as the President of the American Bugatti Club.

International architects Henning Larsen have won a hard-fought competition to design a 16-acre masterplan for the mammoth mixed-use Belfast Waterside development in the Northern Irish capital. The firm will now develop the ambitious waterfront project to “repopulate the city of Belfast while reviving the potential of River Lagan – drawing inspiration from successful harbour front developments in Copenhagen.” It is set to become the single largest development in Belfast’s recent

Seattle’s former Key Arena is to undergo a US$600m (€491.7m, £435m) renovation courtesy of architects Populous, in a bid to reposition the facility as the premier sports and entertainment destination in the US northwest. Development firm Oak View Group (OVG) has released renderings illustrating its plans for the venue, which is situated in the Seattle Centre next to the Space Needle. Populous will retain the building’s landmark Paul Thiry-designed roof

Independent brewer BrewDog has revealed plans to build an immersive craft beer hotel and brewery expansion at its headquarters in Ellon, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. To be called DogHouse, the hotel is scheduled to open in the first half of 2019 and will be marketed as the world’s first craft beer hotel. Featuring 26 bedrooms, DogHouse will feature beer taps in the rooms, a built-in shower beer fridge, and rooms will overlook

Global architecture and design firm Gensler have collaborated with sports giant Reebok to create a new concept transforming gas stations across the US into fitness hubs. The proposal, called Get Pumped, is a long-term vision for adaptive reuse inspired by the rising demand for electric automobiles, which will lessen the demand for gas stations. Gensler have imagined various ways in which these redundant facilities could become community spaces, “where people

Georgia Aquarium – once the largest aquarium in the world – has revealed it’s planning a major extension project, including exhibit space and a new visitor entrance. The aquarium, which is located in Atlanta, Georgia, and is home to over 100,000 animals, including whale sharks, beluga whales, sea lions and manta rays, has hired PGAV Destinations as lead architect on the project. The new entrance is proposed for the Baker Street

Destination spa Lefay has announced plans for a second location, Lefay Resort and Spa Dolomiti, in the ski region of Madonna di Campiglio, Italy. Set in the Italian Dolomite mountains, the resort is due to open in 2019, and will include 84 suites and a 5,000sq m (54,000sq ft) wellbeing area. Swimming pools, relaxation areas, saunas, a fitness zone and numerous treatment rooms will all be included in the spa,

One of Asia’s most anticipated waterpark projects is almost complete, with the Atlantis Sanya resort approaching its May 2018 opening date. The resort – like its sister Atlantis The Palm in Dubai – will boast a world-class Aquaventure waterpark with an array of twisting waterslides and theming inspired by the the ancient Atlantis civilisation. Atlantis Sanya is located at Haitang Bay in Sanya on the south of Hainan Island, China

One of the largest ongoing leisure developments on the planet, EuropaCity in Paris, will feature a dramatic indoor/outdoor cinema embedded into the landscape, courtesy of a competition-winning design by UNStudio. The Dutch practice have been selected as the architects to realise the Centre Culturel Dédié Au 7è Art – one of eight key buildings within the wider EuropaCity masterplan created by Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG). Described by UNStudio as “a

In a bid to protect its World Heritage status, the City of Liverpool and Historic England have drawn up a heritage action plan, created to navigate the threat posed by a proposed development of the city’s waterfront, which could see it struck from the Unesco register. Granted outline planning permission in 2013, the £5.5bn (US$7.7bn, €6.22bn) Liverpool Waters 30-year development scheme from The Peel Group would “undoubtedly cause substantial harm

The leader of a Californian golf club claims to “have walked through the threshold of the future” by overseeing the construction of a luxurious new Clubhouse that provides a “tableau for a new lifestyle experience.” R D. Hubbard, chair of the Bighorn Golf Club in Palm Desert, said the site's former clubhouse was torn down in 2016 in order to be replaced by a building “that is as much about

Noma, the two-Michelin-star restaurant regularly ranked as among the world’s finest, has reopened in Copenhagen last week after relocating to a new home designed by Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG). Opened by chef René Redzepi in 2003, noma is known for its twist on traditional Nordic Cuisine, with people traveling from across the world to try the award-winning food. The success of the restaurant has led to the launch of international

The Six Senses Kaplankaya luxury resort, located close to the Turkish resort town of Bodrum, will reopen in May following a comprehensive redesign by New York-based design studio, Clodagh Design. Located across a bay from Bodrum, the 141-bedroom resort is carved into giant rock formations and initially opened as Canyon Ranch Kaplankaya in July 2016 – the first international location for the Arizona, US-based resort company. An attempted Turkish coup

The new stadium of English Premier League football side Everton will “break the mould”, according to chief executive Robert Elstone, who pledged the club will ensure its new home is not “predictable and formulaic” like other recently-built grounds. Everton’s long-running quest to build a modern stadium took a major step forward last November after it reached an agreement to lease land for the ground at Bramley Moore Dock in Liverpool.

Frank Gehry and Santiago Calatrava could be the next high-profile architects to win projects for New York’s Hudson Yards mega-development, according to The Wall Street Journal. The newspaper reports that “a person familiar with the matter” has claimed the pair will work on projects in the Western Yard – a 6.2 million sq ft area that will include several residential towers, an office complex, retail and leisure amenities and a

The RIBA Stirling Prize-winning Hastings Pier, designed by architecture studio dRMM, has been put up for sale. Property agent GVA has been instructed to offer the iconic structure to the market after the Hastings Pier Charity, which runs the asset, entered administration in November 2017. The 280m-long (918ft), Grade II listed Victorian pier, originally opened in 1872, was virtually destroyed by fire in 2010, but was eventually rebuilt by dRMM

International architects Snøhetta have unveiled their kitchen extension and garden redesign for the world-renowned restaurant The French Laundry, in Yountville, California. The three-starred Michelin restaurant, which was founded in 1994 by American chef Thomas Keller and named after one of the building’s former uses, is regularly listed as one of the best in the world. Snøhetta – working in collaboration with San Francisco studio Envelope A+D and Keller – aimed

Rem Koolhaas and OMA’s plans to renovate the largest museum building in Russia have been unveiled. The New Tretyakov Gallery houses an extensive and important collection of Russian art, including work from Malevich, Kandinsky, Chagall, and Soviet artists such as Aleksandr Deyneka and Vera Mukhina. The 61,000sq m (657,600sq ft) building, which includes multiple exhibition halls, was originally designed by architects N.P. Sukoyan and Y.N. Sheverdyaev in the 1960s, and

Architects Cullinan Studio and multidisciplinary firm Arup have received planning permission for the UK’s longest aerial walkway: a 400m-long (1,312ft) ribbon “floating through the treetops” of the Conkers visitor attraction in Leicestershire. The sinuous attraction – composed of a galvanised steel structure – narrows and widens at different points, creating passing places and observation points overlooking the forest below. Three timber-clad treehouses, or eyries, feature along the walkway, providing event

Japanese architecture giants Nikken Sekkei have partnered with construction firm Sumitomo Forest to create the world’s tallest wooden skyscraper, which they hope will inspire the transformation of “cities into forests” around the globe. Located in central Tokyo, the timber tower, tentatively called the W350, is set to be completed by 2041 to celebrate Sumitomo Forest’s 350th anniversary – a milestone that has informed its anticipated height of 350m (1,148ft). The

Gary Sweet, CEO of English League Two football side Luton Town FC (LTFC), has branded delays in a decision over the club’s proposed stadium “unfathomable”. The club submitted a planning application for the 23,000-seat stadium to Luton Borough Council in August 2016, but despite having “answered all the questions” over the scheme, Sweet said the club is still awaiting a decision. “There is very little now we can possibly answer,

The French government has unveiled an ambitious plan to renovate Paris’s landmark Grand Palais and create a cultural boulevard linking the historic site with the Champs Elysees and the River Seine. First built for the Exposition Universelle world fair in 1900, the giant glass vault of the Palais had a strong impact on the country’s Art Nouveau movement and has become one of the French capital’s best-known icons, as well

Atlantic Wharf in Cardiff has been selected as the preferred site for a new 15,000-seat indoor arena. The planned £110m (US$155m, €124m) venue – which would be capable of hosting sports, cultural, and entertainment events – is now set to be built across two sites in Atlantic Wharf close to the Red Dragon Centre in Cardiff Bay. Cardiff Council, which is driving the project, has identified a large indoor venue