Dorte Mandrup Arkitekter won the competition to design an extension for the headquarters of the Danish Society of Engineers (IDA). ‘‘The Opal’’ will form part of the scenic Copenhagen Harbour, accommodating a conference hall and restaurant. Of all shortlisted designs, the IDA stated that The Opal best-reflected "[their] vision of engineering."

The eye-catching design alludes to the gemstone it is named after, which reflects light to take on multiple colours. This reference is seen both in the structure and form of the new addition to the Copenhagen Harbour.

Four Dutch cultural institutions are collaborating to build a new repository for their vast national collections. The new Netherlands Collection Centre (CC NL) will be built in Amersfoort, east of The Hague, and will replace the current depositories belonging to Paleis Het Loo, the Dutch Open Air Museum, the Rijksmuseum and the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands, combining these collections in a central hub. With an area of 30,000 square meters, the building will house 675,000 objects, and is scheduled for completion in 2020.

Commissioned by the Danish Foundation for Culture and Sports Facilities, Andersen & Sigurdsson Architects’ Light Pavilion design is open and transparent, encouraging participation. With an area of 1,200 square meters, the multi-purpose structure will house a range of planned and spontaneous activities. The architects’ vision was to create a space in which a multitude of events could take place in and around it.

While the actual structure is currently under construction, a model of the building is on display at the Danish Pavilion for the Venice Biennale, alongside 15 other models of buildings that are deemed to be a source of national pride. The theme for this year’s Danish pavilion focuses on "architecture that benefits local communities," a quality the Light Pavilion encapsulates.

Bordeaux-based atelier d’architecture King Kong has unveiled their design for the new NH hotel at the Toulouse Blagnac airport in France. Both elegant and inviting, the hotel's warm atmosphere is achieved through the acoustic and thermal qualities of the sweeping ground floor area, which opens onto the exterior spaces.

The building consists of 150 hotel rooms, a business center, restaurant and fitness center. The bar, restaurant and terrace, located on the upper levels of the building, are "intimate in feel,’’ while offering unrestricted views.

Milan studio Piuarch unveiled their design for the new Latteria Sociale Valtellina cooperative dairy in the Italian Alps. The competition, commissioned by the Latteria, sought to renovate the old building and expand it to include a sales outlet, restaurant, conference room and small museum. Piuarch's winning design builds on the economic and historic context of the area and surrounding landscape.

A new video by JDS Development Group, Building Knowhow: Skybridge, begins with an anecdote of a day when the firemen showed up at the site. “We got a call – the buildings are falling down!” the chief fireman told Michael Jones, director of JDS. Jones responded with a chuckle, "they're supposed to be like that!"

Located on the East Side of Manhattan, the American Copper Buildings, designed by New York-based SHoP Architects, test the boundaries of engineering. In an informative video, JDS Development Group documents the building of a skybridge between the towers, outlining their detail-oriented, step-by-step approach. Located 300 feet in the air, it is New York's first major skybridge in 80 years.

TheeAe has revealed their competition entry for a new civic center in Ryde, Australia. As its name indicates, ‘Trianglemnant’ builds upon the unique triangular site area, and consists of a series of overlapping trilateral forms that shape the building and surrounding public spaces.

Trianglemnant was put forward as part of the international design competition ‘Design our Ryde’, which invited architects to present proposals for a new civic center at the gateway to the municipality. Though the project was not one of the four shortlisted, its attempt to create a diverse public space is noteworthy.

WATG’s Urban Architecture Studio has won First Prize in The Freeform Home Design Challenge, which challenged participants to “design the world’s first freeform 3D-printed residence.” The competition invited architects, designers, artists and engineers worldwide to investigate how 3D printing technologies can improve our built environment and lives today.