Koah, I'll answer your questions...
Ok, as for origins, I've always wanted to create an adventure map. When ToJ needed a new world to go to I decided to take up the task of making one, and floating islands seemed like an amazing idea.

So I started to work on it behind the scenes and what not, uploading screenshots every once in a while. Pridelands didn't have an official name until me and bl were discussing it and came up with that. After a while of slaving at the map I noticed alot of things could have been alot better and decided to revamp it for 1.2 with the new map height and stuff because it really affect everything about how the map is designed.
As for it's designs, instead of giving you the old designs I'll tell you what I'm working on now. Pridelands is a floating islands map, much like Skylands, except that the focus is around adventure and building a community. I plan to accomplish this by having a building areas on large islands surrounded by smaller islands of various type. It really looks awesome and I think it will encourage creativity. There are random buildings that myself and a few others have designed that will encourage this community to grow together and have fun together rather than go off on their own to build. Also in Pridelands will be 3 other areas. A fire area, water area, and earth area, all central to this floating islands theme. The fire area will have volcano like islands and the only source of ores in the map which will appeal to those who love that sense of discovery and collecting things. The water area will have ice/snow and lake sort of islands as well as being a sort of parkour area for those who love to challenge themselves in how they play the game rather than what they do in the game. The earth area will be based on combat and dungeon spelunking for those who enjoy that sort of thing. All three areas will share common points, you will have combat in the ice and fire areas and you will have obstacles in the earth and fire areas, but it will not be the main point of the area. Now, when I say area I am talking about a division of the map into quarters. The map itself is a large 2500*2500 area. From spawn there will be 4 exits, one to each of the areas and one to a sort of nation "Pridelands" which will be where you would find The Dragon Nest (a giant arena) and Nielf City (my own personal project) as well as players houses.
Picture this... you exit the water element door from spawn and there before you lies a pathway leading to an island floating far above the ground, all around you are other floating islands of the sort made of various materials and all of it gives you a fantasy feel. You see a path from island to island leading to a giant structure and other pathways leading farther out into the map. You'd take this path to the structure which you discover to be a dungeon focusing on obstacle courses and traveling while facing various mental tasks and exploration. Each dungeon has a story and each new path leads to another dungeon for you to challenge yourself with or collect rewards from. This is the essence of Pridelands. To bring a community of players together to tackle an adventure together and to build together. Bringing Minecraft back to the place of dreams and visionaries working side by side with their friends to create something bigger than themselves.
As for when the map will be done... .-. my best guess is not soon, but not far. I plan to have a good solid version 2.0 up to play on but even while it is up I'll be working on the map still. This world is a handful for me, but I like big projects.
Oh! And the new spawn building of Pridelands: