Buildings Coming Soon
We preview some of the most important new places you’ll be seeing on the international skyline in a few years’ time Media buzz in the North Manchester’s new MediaCityUK will open in 2011 as part of the ongoing redevelopment of the Salford Quays’ area, which began with arts venue The Lowry in 2000. A business [...]
We preview some of the most important new places you’ll be seeing on the international skyline in a few years’ time
Media buzz in the North
Manchester’s new MediaCityUK will open in 2011 as part of the ongoing redevelopment of the Salford Quays’ area, which began with arts venue The Lowry in
2000. A business workspace for the creative industries, replete with state-of-the-art studios and facilities for editing, post-production and more, it will boast none other than the BBC among its first residents. www.mediacityuk.co.uk
Luxe Vegas
The most expensive privately funded construction project in US history opens next year in Las Vegas – where else?
MGM Mirage’s CityCenter, on the Las Vegas Strip between Bellagio and Monte Carlo, is costing more than $11 billion to create and includes a casino and the
venue’s own fire station.
The development will feature two hotels – including Las Vegas’ first Mandarin Oriental – approximately 2,600 luxury residences, and The Crystals, a 500,000 sq
ft retail and entertainment district. The budget for fine art alone is $40 million. www.citycenter.com
Time travel Saudi style
Surely one of the most ambitious botanical garden projects ever, the King Abbdulah International Gardens in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, will attempt to recreate geological
evolution. It will include gardens based on the landscapes of Devonian, Carboniferous, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, as well as new buildings and more, all due for completion in 2011. www.kaig.net
Scots venue rocks
A new cultural arm is in the works to brighten up the Scottish Exhibition Conference Centre in Glasgow. It was largely a trade event venue, but work began
in 2005 to replace it with the National Arena Scotland, for stadium concert gigs and Broadway-style theatre shows.
The prestigious Foster & Partners are the architects masterminding the building, which will be on a par with stadium venues like the Manchester Evening News Arena
and the Cardiff International Arena. www.fosterandpartners.com
Olympic bonus
An unexpected cache of gold medals at Beijing 2008 helped boost public interest in the London 2012 Olympics, where the centrepiece of the Olympic Park will be
Zaha Hadid’s Aquatic Centre.
“The architectural concept of the Aquatic Centre is inspired by the fluid geometry of water in motion,” says the Iraqi-born architect of the building’s
rolling curves and wave-like roof. www.zaha-hadid.com
