WASHINGTON, DC, USA – With its exterior walls now in place and glinting above the National Mall – the green swathe at the heart of Washington, DC – the National Museum of African-American History and Culture (NMAAHC), our Design Awards 2016 Best Cultural Draw, is most of the way through its four-year build. But the vision it fulfills is much older than that. In 1915, black veterans of the US Civil War proposed building a national memorial to African-American achievement. The idea languished for decades, and attempts to revive it in the 1970s and 80s met with political opposition. Finally, in 2003, the US Congress authorised a museum dedicated to the African-American experience, and assigned it the last buildable site on the Mall, close to the Washington Monument.

Lord Cultural Resources led the national public engagement process, developed a functional strategy, conducted a collections analysis and operations planning for the Museum. The program planning team was a collaboration of architectural and design firms Davis Brody Bond [Aedas] of New York and Washington; The Freelon Group of North Carolina; Lord Cultural Resources; and Amaze Design of Boston. In 2011, Lord Cultural Resources provided content development and communications services as part of the winning team of Ralph Appelbaum Associates for the exhibition design for the new museum. In 2012, an additional contract was awarded for concept development for the Resource Library.

ONTARIO, CANADA – Deep beneath the peaceful earth here just west of Ottawa lies the Diefenbunker — a fascinating trip into Canada's Cold War history, 1960s furniture and all. Commissioned by then-prime minister John Diefenbaker, it's a four-storey, 300-room building with 100,000 square feet of space, constructed entirely underground. It was built to be the refuge for the most important Canadians in case of a nuclear war with the Communists. "We would have had room for 535 designated people, not just random people who wanted to come in. None would have been allowed to bring their families, including the Prime Minister," says Diefenbunker executive director Henriette Reigel (a former consultant for Lord Cultural Resources). The site, which officials once furtively sought to keep secret, is today one of the Ottawa area's most intriguing attractions, "Canada's Cold War Museum." Restored to its Mad Men-era sheen and lovingly tended by both staff and volunteers, it draws up to 60,000 visitors a year, who can feed their minds on the time when it seemed quite possible that nuclear warheads might be lobbed over the Iron Curtain toward us.

WINNIPEG, MB, CANADA – It appears Canada's prime minister can draw, and quite well at that. "I had no idea he had any visual arts skills," said Gail Asper, president of the Asper Foundation and a board member with both the Canadian Museum for Human Rights and the museum's foundation. Asper is organizing an auction of a sketch of the museum that Justin Trudeau drew in March 2015. " He was clearly very inspired by what he saw, so he actually drew a lovely picture of the museum," she said. Asper said she first heard about Trudeau's artwork when it was used on postcards for Liberal Party of Canada fundraising. In the summer, she asked the Liberal leader if Friends of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights could have his piece for a fundraiser. When it arrived soon after, Asper admitted she was surprised how good it was.

Lord Cultural Resources has worked with the Canadian Museum for Human Rights since 2000. We have helped to develop the concept and to craft the three-volume Master Plan and business plan, provided the space program, assisted with the international architectural competition that selected Antoine Predock to design the building, and organized and facilitated the cross Canada consultation process that gathered human rights stories from thousands of Canadians in 19 cities. We have continued to provide advisory services to Board and senior management on all aspects of implementation, content and the inauguration.

TORONTO, ON, CANADA – The story of a disobedient boy with a fierce imagination, Where the Wild Things Are is one of the most beloved children's books of all time. In celebration of the 50th anniversary of its publication, Toronto Public Library presents a retrospective exhibition of original artwork by the book's revered author and illustrator, MauriceSendak. See more than 50 works spanning Sendak's acclaimed career, including sketches, illustrations and works on paper. The works on display highlight Sendak's range as an artist - beloved characters from Where the Wild Things Are and In the Night Kitchen, set and costume designs, animation cells, posters, and sketches for fans and close friends. The exhibition also features artwork from the Toronto Public Library's Osborne Collection of Early Children's Books.

Lord Cultural Resources was a subconsultant on the team led by the Martin Prosperity Institute commissioned to investigate the economic impact of the Library's services, collections, and facilities and how they link to the competitiveness and prosperity of Toronto. Lord Cultural Resources' role was to provide strategies for development of the community and cultural role of the Library reflective of the individual neighbourhoods, as well as a world class cultural institution.

TORONTO, ON, CANADA – Curator, art critic, publisher and festival organizer Chantal Pontbriand has promoted cultural internationalism in Montreal for more than 40 years. Now she is heading to Toronto on a mission to shake up that city's 15-year-old Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art. Pontbriand is bringing the international outlook that made her a driving force behind two major Montreal cultural forums – the bilingual art magazine Parachute (published 1975 to 2007) and the contemporary dance festival FIND, or Festival International de Nouvelle Danse (11 editions between 1982 and 2003).

In 2009, in close consultation with MOCCA's leadership, Lord Cultural Resources led the Museum through a Strategic Planning exercise, which is now serving as a blueprint for a sustainable and successful future for MOCCA. Upon successful completion of the Strategic Plan, in 2010 Lord Cultural Resources was invited to conduct a Board Development Strategy, as part of the Museum's efforts to fulfill its strategic goals. Working with MOCCA's leadership, we developed a strategy to ensure a sustainable and strengthened Board that will enable the Museum to transition into its next phase of growth. In 2013 Lord Cultural Resources was engaged to prepare a business plan and projections associated with its new site.

CHICAGO, IL, USA – Chicago Architecture Biennial 2015: organisers of the inaugural Chicago Architecture Biennial have counted more than 500,000 visitors and the city has renewed its commitment to host another edition in 2017. The biennial drew a total of 530,551 visitors, which includes totals from the Chicago Cultural Center main venue (276,806), the Stony Island Arts Bank (8,100), the Lakefront Kiosks, and dozens of offsite events throughout the city and the larger region. The Chicago totals far exceed those of the 2014 Venice Architecture Biennale, which counted 228,000 visitors.

The Chicago Architecture Biennial was a key recommendation of the Chicago Cultural Plan facilitated by Lord Cultural Resources and led by Chicago's Department of Cultural Affairs (DCASE) in 2012. Launched by Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, it was the city's first Cultural Plan in over 25 years.

AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS – As popular public places, museums and other cultural institutions can play a role at the heart of their communities, being involved in all aspects of daily life, both digitally and physically. This allows them to shape our future, and address real issues in society, from healthcare and welfare to employment and security. On 27 January 2016 I gave a keynote about the roles and responsibilities of museum in the city of the future in the DASA in Dortmund, of which you can find an edited transcript below: We all know the most powerful statistics of cities: Currently, more than half the world's population lives in cities. In Europe, about three quarters of the population live in a city. Urban life is not the exception. It is the rule. Cities, and especially large capital cities, are magical places. Geoffrey West, who has done the math, shows how cities have disproportionally more of everything.

DAVOS, SWITZERLAND – Once a year, politicians, business gurus, journalists and celebrities from across the world gather at the annual "thought fair" in Davos, Switzerland. This year's annual winter meeting of the World Economic Forum will be held in Davos from Wednesday to Saturday. Because of the importance of the forum and the huge number of representatives, even some beds in Davos hospitals are said to be "rented out" to delegates during the annual forum. Given the mad rush, I've not been able to book a hotel room in Davos during any of the past six forums, and instead I have had to check into a hotel in a nearby town and commute for an hour by train to and from the forum venue every day. Nevertheless, the forum, thanks to the new ideas, trends, debates and conversations it generates, has been a regular feature on my calendar. Despite being a small country with a population of only about 8 million, Switzerland has occupied a prominent place in the world of economics and business. Now Davos has a sister gathering -Summer Davos held in Tianjin and Dalian in rotation-in addition to other important regional meetings in Africa, the Middle East and other parts of the world. Apart from that, Geneva is the second headquarters of the United Nations and home to dozens of international organizations, including the World Trade Organization and World Health Organization. And all these have increased the soft power of Switzerland.

NEW YORK, USA – The Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation has announced a round of inaugural grants totaling nearly $1 million to forty-six arts and cultural organizations in New York City through its new Art and Social Justice initiative. Grants will support organizations in the city working in the areas of arts education, art in service, artistic activism, expanded access, under-recognized artistic practice, public art, and community-based museums. Grant recipients were recognized for their commitment to social justice and programming that seeks to catalyze collective action, promote equality, contribute to advocacy and policy change, and develop capacity for greater civic engagement and public discourse.

Lord Cultural Resources commented on the architectural plans for the Rubin Museum of Art in 2000-02. We subsequently participated in successive phases of the planning and design of the building, advising on the exhibition plan and on visitor services.

SINGAPORE – Singapore has been bestowed the accolade of Creative City of Design by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), joining the Creative Cities Network (UCCN) which include the likes of Beijing, Berlin, Bilbao, Buenos Aires, Helsinki, Kobe, Montreal, Nagoya, Seoul, Shanghai and Turin. The UCCN set up in 2004 aims "to promote co-operation with and among cities that have identified creativity as a strategic factor in sustainable urban development". The application and selection processes are stringent, a testament to the UNESCO brand, such that in 11 years since its inception, only 116 member cities have made it to this list, across the seven creative fields - Craft and Folk Art, Design, Film, Gastronomy, Literature, Media Arts and Music.

SAO PAULO, BRAZIL – One of the things I miss about living in a city with a subway system is the myriad thoughtful design elements that go into managing a perpetual flow of tourists and commuters. New York's subway map presents us with an iconic tangle of interlocking tributaries resembling diagrams of a circulatory system. So you can imagine my envious delight in learning about Brazil's Ticket Books, which are exactly what they sound like—books that work as subway tickets, designed with the minimalist care that major transit systems do so well. And what's more, they're free: "To celebrate World Book Day last April 23rd," writes "future-forward online resource" PSFK, "[Brazillian publisher] L&PM gave away 10,000 books for free at subway stations across São Paulo.

USA – If you haven't heard of The Foundation for Art and Preservation in Embassies (FAPE), you will be properly impressed by their great ingenuity. According to their website they provide "permanent works of American art for U.S. embassies worldwide, contributing to the U.S. Department of State's mission of cultural diplomacy and cross-cultural understanding within the diplomatic community and the international public. All artworks commissioned or placed by FAPE are gifts, representing the generosity of some of the United States' greatest artists and philanthropists. As of 2015, FAPE's donations include permanent works by more than 200 preeminent American artists placed in more than 140 countries.

INTERNATIONAL – A pair of museums entirely dedicated to French designer Yves Saint Laurent's life and work are set to open in Paris and Marrakech in 2017, including a new building by Studio KO. Both museums will present a portion of theFondation Pierre Bergé – Yves Saint Laurent's collection of over 5,000 haute-couture garments and 15,000 accessories, as well as thousands of sketches, collection boards, photographs, and objects. The designer's most iconic garments include the Mondrian collection of dresses from his Autumn Winter 1965, based of the geometric paintings of the French artist of the same name, and the 1966 Le Smoking tuxedo suit for women. French architecture practice Studio KO will lead the design of the 4,000-square-metre building in Marrakech. "When Yves Saint Laurent discovered Marrakech in 1966, he was so moved by the place that he decided to buy a house and regularly go back there," said Pierre Bergé, Saint Laurent's long-term partner and president of the Foundation. "It feels perfectly natural, 50 years later, to build a museum dedicated to his oeuvre, which was so inspired by this country."

JAKARTA, INDONESIA – The first museum in Indonesia dedicated to international modern and contemporary art is scheduled to open in early 2017 in the capital, Jakarta. The private institution will be called the Museum MACAN, for Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Nusantara, an Indonesian term for archipelago. It is being built and financed by the Indonesian businessman and collector Haryanto Adikoesoemo. Thomas J. Berghuis, previously the curator of Chinese art at the Guggenheim Museum in New York, has been hired as director of the museum, which will join a flourishing art scene in Indonesia that includes a growing network of galleries, independent art spaces, artists' communities and events like the Jakarta Biennale and the annual ArtJog festival. "I want the Museum MACAN to develop and advance the understanding of Indonesians about art and the appreciation of art," Mr. Adikoesoemo said on Saturday by telephone from Singapore, where he was attending Art Stage Singapore, an annual international art fair. "I also want this museum to help cross-pollinate exchanges with Indonesia and the world, to provide a platform for Indonesian art internationally and to bring international art to Indonesia."

VILNIUS, LITHUANIA – Local philanthropists are teaming up with a world-renowned architect to hand Lithuania's capital Vilnius its first modern art museum, with doors due to open in early 2019. Designed by Daniel Libeskind, the author of Berlin's landmark Jewish Museum and New York's National September 11 Memorial and Museum, the Vilnius venue will feature Lithuanian art from the Soviet-era 1960s through to the present day. A model of the future museum reveals a striking angular white concrete cube with a diagonal passageway and a large mirrored outer terrace at the back. "It is not my largest project, it is one of the smallest," Libeskind said of the venue, the first of its kind in the Baltic states. "It's a museum for people. It is not just for art lovers, but for families, for kids. People just enjoy the public space, then will enter the museum and then get also interested in all the contents." Philanthropist Viktoras Butkus is spending 8.5 million euros ($9.2 million) on the museum and its unique collection.

EGYPT – Egypt on Thursday unveiled what it said is the Middle East's first museum dedicated to fossils that showcases an early form of whales, now extinct and known as the "walking whale." The unveiling is part of concentrated government efforts to attract much-needed tourists, driven away by recent militant attacks, and restore confidence in the safety of its attractions.

NEW YORK, USA – Move over, T. rex and Barosaurus. There is a new prehistoric giant in town, set to be unveiled this week at the American Museum of Natural History. The creature, known as the Titanosaur, goes on public view Friday. The biggest dinosaur ever exhibited at the museum and among the largest ever discovered, it stretches 122 feet long and will rise nearly 20 feet to reach the ceiling. It is believed to have weighed, when walking the Earth roughly 100 million years ago, some 70 tons—as heavy as at least 10 African elephants. Exhibited alongside the cast-model skeleton will be some of the best-preserved bones from the Titanosaur's recent discovery, including its nearly 8-foot-long thigh bone. "Everything was extremely large," said Diego Pol, one of the paleontologists who excavated the previously unknown dinosaur in Argentina in 2014. "After a few days working, we realized it was huge."

INTERNATIONAL – A look at the top institutions due to launch worldwide in the coming year.

INTERNATIONAL – The number of skyscrapers over 600 meters high – known as "megatalls" – is set to more than double in the next few years, say experts. Skyscraper authority the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) has revealed that the number of 600-metre-plus buildings in the world is set to rise from three to seven in the next five years. This includes the completion of the 1,000-metre-high Kingdom Tower in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and the 606-metre Wuhan Greenland Center in Hubei Province, China. CTBUH describes the height as the "new frontier for the world's tallest buildings". The Kingdom Tower is set to become the world's tallest building at over 1,000 meters. The predictions were made in an annual report released this week, which also revealed that 2015 saw more skyscrapers built than any previous year on record. According to the organization, the term "supertall" – used to describe buildings over 300 meters – is no longer an indicator of extraordinary height, as there are now more than 100 skyscrapers that meet that criteria.

ROTTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS – Landmark buildings and experimental construction are transforming the Netherlands' second city into a world-class destination for architectural innovation, and there is more to come say architects. In the last two years Rotterdam's cityscape has seen the arrival of several major buildings, from MVRDV's colossal market hall to OMA's towering De Rotterdam hotel and office block and the new railway station by Benthem Crouwel, MVSA and West 8. But it has also established itself as a hub for new building technologies, home to studios experimenting with floating architecture, robotic construction, wind power, lighting innovation and 3D printing. All this despite having been one of the worst-bombed cities during the second world war, when most of the city centre was reduced to rubble. "The city has had a remarkable turnaround in the last 20 years, and architecture is playing a big part in it," said Reinier deGraaf, who grew up in Rotterdam and is a partner at OMA, which has been based in the city since Rem Koolhaasestablished the firm in 1975. "It is becoming a centre for architecture," he told Dezeen.

INTERNATIONAL – London-based Mossessian Architecture has won a competition to design the Makkah Museum, a new building dedicated to the Islamic faith in Mecca, Saudi Arabia (+ movie). The Makkah Museum will occupy a site seven kilometres from the Grand Mosque, which houses the Kaaba – the most sacred location in the world for Muslims. The building will include 5,600 square metres of gallery space to host exhibitions related to the international practice and history of Islam and the life of Muhammad. It will also contain a reception area, an auditorium, book store, teaching space, roof garden and restaurant.

CALIFORNIA, USA – The University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA) in USA opens its new building to the public on Sunday, January 31, 2016, with an all-day open house. The building was designed by DillerScofidio + Renfro, known for such projects as the High Line elevated park in New York; The Broad museum in Los Angeles; and the Institute for Contemporary Art, Boston. Located in downtown Berkeley at the intersection of Oxford and Center Streets, directly across from the UC Berkeley campus, the new BAMPFA provides exemplary spaces for exhibitions and film screenings, as well as access to BAMPFA's encyclopedic collections of art and film. In its new location BAMPFA will continue to be a major destination for art and film lovers, including students, local residents, and visitors from around the globe.

INTERNATIONAL – Founded by architect Ma Yansong, Beijing- and Los Angeles-based MAD has designed many of China's most exciting new buildings. Incorporating "shanshui city" principles -- bringing nature into urban areas -- the firm's work is forward-looking, while also referencing eastern culture and art. Here are four of its projects under construction.

BERLIN, GERMANY – Collaborating with Man Made Land, Knippers Helbig and Mafeu Architektur Consulting, COBE Berlin has received 1st prize in an international competition to design Berlin's "Urbane Mitte am Gleisdreieck," a master plan located at the gateway to Gleisdreieck Park in Berlin, Germany. The proposal integrates the neighbouring structures, including entrances and thresholds, taking advantage of the synergies present in the area and fostering their spatial relationships. The new center has an urban, metropolitan appeal and incorporates Berlin archetypes, such as the iron truss structures of transit stations and typical Berlin blocks and high-rises. The master plan will open to the park nearby, and offer Berliners and visitors a wide range of uses.