Aecom to create international tourist destination in Seoul, UK's first community sports hub built on landfill site and a new addition to the Louvre breaks ground.
SOUTH KOREA
Aecom's New York office will reinvent Seoul Grand Park after winning a design competition commissioned by the Seoul Metropolitan government. The 560 ha park consists of the city's zoo and an amusement park and its revitalisation is expected to transform it into an international tourist destination.
UNITED KINGDOM
Planning permission has been granted for a sustainable $53 million sports hub to be built on an old landfill site. The UK's first community sports club, the Orford Park project, will comprise swimming pools, a sports hall, a health centre, library and football fields. Capita Symonds worked with Warrington Borough Council on the 20 ha project, which is due to open in November 2011.
FRANCE
The new branch of the Louvre, spanning 27,870 sqm, has broken ground in Northern France. The Louvre-LENS was co-designed by Imrey Culbert, Sanaa and Mosbach Paysagistes and is being built on an abandoned mine field. The design consists of five one-storey structures that will blend in with the surrounding landscape, rather than dominate it.
IRELAND
Selma Harrington, from Ireland, has taken up office as the newly elected president of the Architects' Council of Europe. She will remain in the role for two years. Harrington's previous roles include secretary general of the European Council of Interior Architects, president of the Institute of Designers in Ireland and honorary treasurer of the Institute for Design and Disability in Ireland.
SPAIN
Rafael Manzano Martos has won the 2010 Driehaus prize for achievements in classical architecture in the contemporary built environment. Martos's work in the Middle East, which includes hotels, private houses and resorts, has received significant attention. He has also worked on some of Spain's biggest restoration projects.
