Oregon State University's Lynn Dierking suggests places where adults and kids can learn. It's easy to add a bit of education to your family vacation. Museums have upped the wow factor in recent years, creating galleries and programs that engage the mind and imagination. "These are cool places where you get to see things that aren't in your everyday life," says Lynn Dierking, a science and math education professor at Oregon State University and co-author of Museum Experience [...]

The Prahran Hotel is a substantial two storey corner pub with a striking streamlined art deco facade. The rear of the venue had a poorly proportioned, internalised single storey extension and the clients brief for the project called to demolish and replace it with a dramatic double height space with a central courtyard. The use of large stacked concrete pipes for the street facade of the addition struck a chord for multiple reasons: they have a depth and can be interactive, they have a dramatic, sculptural quality, they reference existing internal circular motifs and they suggest stacked kegs or barrels. [...]

The perfect destination for a private retreat offers uninterrupted views of the ocean nestled into the steep caldera cliffs. [...]

The Grand Canyon and Yellowstone are great and all, but considering going farther back in time this summer with a trip to China to see the Great Wall, Tiananmen Square, and the Terracotta Warriors. Said warriors are in Xi’an, where Swisstouches has recently opened a new property, its first in China, Swisstouches Hotel Xi’an. Designed by global hospitality design firm HBA/Hirsch Bedner Associates, which has offices in 13 countries, the 318 room hotel has a contemporary Swiss sensibility, a first for the ancient metropolis. [...]

The team of Sergey Makhno and Vasiliy Butenko designed the concept for the interior of the Kiev, Ukraine restaurant, Twister. The two-story dining area was inspired by rain and, you guessed it, tornadoes. The upper story is made to look like tornado-shaped balconies that you can dine in. The walls and ceiling of the bar area are covered in sticks giving it more of a “calm after the storm” type feel. [...]