Dutch architecture studio Mecanoo have been named the winners of an urban design competition to totally transform a business district in Shenzhen, China. Twelve staggered skyscrapers, an elevated pedestrian network and a vast green urban park form the key elements of the 1.36 million sq m (14 million sq ft) development Mecanoo will now design for the area around Shenzhen North railway and metro station. Mecanoo’s proposal – featuring retail

Plans for a multi-million pound hotel complex complete with a rooftop swimming pool, nightclub, restaurants and retail outlets have been unveiled for Newcastle city centre. Local firm Space Architects are designing the scheme, which will encompass nine existing neoclassical buildings – seven of which are Grade II listed – along the city’s Grey Street The studio have been tasked with creating a new visitor attraction for the North East region,

Architect Frank Gehry has been commissioned to develop the design for a model railway museum in Massachusetts, which will feature miniature work from a host of the world’s leading designers. According to The Boston Globe newspaper, Gehry visited the city of North Adams last week to visit the site earmarked for the 83,000sq ft (7,700sq m) Extreme Model Railroad and Contemporary Architecture Museum. Architecture practice Gluckman Tang had been developing

Boutique hotel group The Hoxton has debuted its fourth property, with the new opening inside an 18th century Paris townhouse once home to Louis XV’s main courtiers. The Hoxton, Paris – located on Rue du Sentier in the French capital’s 2nd arrondissement – occupies three buildings and has 172 bedrooms, two courtyards, a modern French brasserie, an intimate bar, seven meeting rooms and a communal pantry kitchen. The building, originally

The city council of Australia’s Gold Coast has fast-tracked the building a AU$60.5m (US$48.1m, €40.3m) art gallery to add to its fast-developing cultural precinct. Designed by ARM Architecture, the colourful, twisting gallery is expected to be built to the south of the city’s Evandale Lake. The building will feature up to five floors of exhibits and halls and a rooftop bar. According to the Gold Coast Bulletin, work is likely

Luxury goods giant LVMH have announced a €60m (US$71.4m, £55m) plan to turn Paris’s 19th-century leisure park, the Jardin d‘Acclimatation into one of France’s top three theme parks. Work to restore the historic sections of the park and to build 17 new attractions - much of which will be themed around the steampunk genre - will begin on September 4 and is expected to last until May 2018. The park

Chinese architecture practice Studio Zhu-Pei have completed work on a ‘hovering’ garden installation in a Chinese sculpture park, which allows visitors to wander the grounds over, under and around huge stacks of plants and flowers. New images of the project, called Yi Garden II, reveal how an abandoned two-storey concrete frame has been used as the foundation for a seemingly gravity-defying arrangement of greenery in the grounds of Quanzhou National

A major modern art museum will open its doors in Jakarta, Indonesia, on 4 November. The opening is set to coincide with the Jakarta Biennale and Museum MACAN will stage a variety of events to engage the city and promote its burgeoning art sector. The passion project of Indonesian philanthropist and collector Haryanto Adikoesoemo, the multi-million dollar Museum MACAN – which stands for Modern and Contemporary Art in Nusantara –

Singapore-based wellness design firm A.W. Lake has acquired a 16-hectare (40-acre) property in Colorado, which will be the site of its new headquarters in the US. Located 20 miles outside of Fort Collins, the mountaintop property borders more than 325,000 hectares (800,000 acres) of national forest land. “After spending almost two decades in Asia, I’m thrilled to be back in the US and to expand our business here,” said company

Hospitality giant Four Seasons has opened a new hotel in Kuwait City, created by architects Gensler and designers Yabu Pushelberg. The 284-room Hotel Kuwait at Burj Alshaya is located in one of two soaring glass towers in Kuwait City. The second tower, set to open in 2018, will provide high-tech corporate headquarters for employees of hospitality company Alshaya’s retail franchise business. The hotel’s design concept has been crafted around a

Edmonton’s Telus World of Science in Canada is about to enter the next phase of its CA$40m (US$31.9m, €26.7m, £24.7m) Aurora Project – the year-long construction of a new planetarium theatre with higher screen resolution than any other planetarium in the world. The renamed Zeidler Dome Theatre, formerly the Margaret Zeidler Star Theatre planetarium, will include a projector and screens capable of 10K resolution, more than double that currently on

An architecture competition has been launched to design of Australia’s first purpose-built Pride Centre for the LGBTI community. Located in Melbourne, the Victorian Pride Centre (VPC) will be a gathering place for Victoria’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex communities, and will “celebrate, bolster and protect equality, diversity and inclusion.” The centre will provide flexible and multi-use spaces including a theatre, gallery, café/bar, prayer room, library and health service, in

Conran and Partners have redesigned the 267 guest rooms at the Andaz London Liverpool Street, two decades after the architecture practice first worked on the hotel – originally built in 1884 as one of the city's original railway hotels. The renovation – commissioned by Andaz owners Hyatt – has updated the rooms to reflect changes in the surrounding City of London and the district of Shoreditch, and includes contributions from

Billionaire Hui Ka Yan – majority owner of property developer China Evergrande Group – has announced plans to build 15 theme parks across China as the market continues to boom in the region. Branded Children's World, the Evergrande theme parks will be built across second-tier cities in China and focus on Chinese and Western mythology. Each park will target 15 million annual visitors and generate revenues of US$3bn (€2.5m, £2.3bn)

Atlanta’s new two million square foot stadium has hosted its first game – a preseason National Football League tie between the Atlanta Falcons and the Arizona Cardinals. Tens of thousands of supporters attended the match to take a first look at the hotly-anticipated US$1.5bn (€1.24bn, £1.16bn) sports and entertainment facility, named the Mercedes-Benz Stadium after its principal sponsor. Designed by the Sports + Recreation + Entertainment arm of architecture firm

The Buffalo State College in New York State, US, is about to enter the third phase of a US$35.5m expansion to its Science and Mathematics Complex (SAMC), with the plans to include a new planetarium open to members of the general public. Once complete, the Whitworth Ferguson Planetarium will include a 35ft (10.6m) diameter projection dome with state-of-the-art digital and analogue projectors and seating for 48 people. The planetarium itself

Danish architects Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects (SHL) have revealed the design of their first US project – a major mixed-use development in downtown Detroit. SHL, working in collaboration with developer Bedrock Detroit, local architects Neumann Smith, engineering firm Buro Happold and landscape architects SLA, have conceived a “destination and an icon for the future development of the city.” Their project, called Monroe Blocks, will see the addition of Detroit's first

US-based private property investor Trinity Investments has partnered with Oaktree Capital – a global asset management firm – to acquire a high-value portfolio of luxury hotel and resort assets. The joint venture will invest up to US$3bn (£2.3bn, €2.5bn) in high-end hotel and spa resort properties in Trinity’s core markets in Hawaii, California, Mexico and Japan. The partnership has already acquired its first property – a long-term leasehold interest in

A star-studded line-up of architects, designers and urbanists has been announced for the World Architecture Festival 2017 (WAF), which is taking place in Berlin from 15-17 November. Rafael Viñoly, Pierre de Meuron, Alison Brooks, Sir Peter Cook and WOHA founders Richard Hassell and Wong Mun Summ will all take to the stage to deliver seminar talks on topics related to this year’s festival theme, ‘Performance’. WAF is the only global

Hospitality giant Hilton has opened its first Curio Collection property in the UK, renovating a landmark hotel in London's Trafalgar Square as a “sanctuary of style” in the heart of the city. The Trafalgar St. James has 131 bedrooms and 15 suites. Each has been designed by British studio Shh Architects with Art Deco flourishes and references to the history of the building, which once housed the offices of the

British architecture practice FaulknerBrowns have been selected to design a £50m (US$64m, €54.3m) indoor sports centre for the University of Portsmouth. The building, to be situated on the University's campus in Ravelin Park, will feature an eight-lane swimming pool, a fitness suite, a sports hall, a climbing wall and squash courts, in addition to spaces for exhibitions and social and community events. While further design details have not been revealed

Weta Workshop – the special effects and prop company behind such epics as The Lord of the Rings and Avatar – have thrown their weight behind a NZ$45m (US$32.5m, €27.5m, £25.3m) redevelopment of the Napier National Aquarium in New Zealand. Napier City Council (NCC) has announced the plans, which will see the aquarium on Marine Parade expanded from 3,400sq m (36,600sq ft) by almost three times to 11,100sq m (120,000sq

Global luxury hotel operator Aman has added a new two-storey, 767sq m (8,256sq ft) spa at Aman Le Mélézin in Courchevel, France, which is due to open in December for the Alpine skiing season. The hotel is celebrating its 25th anniversary, and has undergone two years’ of redevelopment, a process which began in 2016 with the refurbishment of all the rooms and suites. Construction work involved the entire building being

Construction is about to start on a close replica of William Shakespeare’s famous Globe Theatre, with only two key differences from the original: this version will be located in Detroit and it will be built entirely out of stacked shipping containers. The Container Globe is the brainchild of entrepreneur Angus Vail, who wants to build cost-effective venues around the world to host performances of the Bard and other live events.

A Japanese-inspired hotel spa in Germany, billed as the country’s first, has opened among Bavaria’s Alpine peaks. Located in the town of Rottach-Egern, which sits alongside Lake Tegernsee, the Mizu Onsen Spa is inspired by Japanese minimalism – with clean lines, a neutral colour palette and subtle lighting – allowing guests to fully connect with their senses. German practice rgp architekten and New York studio Design MW have used locally-sourced

A heritage listed city hall Scotland is about to undergo major works, after local authorities in Perth selected Dutch architects Mecanoo to transform the space into a new cultural venue for the city. Perth & Kinross Council have selected Mecanoo to renovate the listed Perth City Hall, which will feature exhibition galleries, learning suites, a café and shops. According to the council, the reinvigorated city hall will create "a new

Hirsch Bedner Associates (HBA), one of the world’s largest hospitality interior design firms, has launched its seventh subdivision, HBA Resorts, which will specialise in the creation of bespoke luxury resort properties. Headquartered in Bali, Indonesia, HBA Resorts provide tailored interior design, architecture and landscape services, with staff collaborating with artisans in Southeast Asia to create “indigenous and authentic design projects for the world’s most treasured resorts.” Explaining the decision to