Global wellbeing organisation, Therme Group, has confirmed its 28-acre wellbeing project in the UK is on track to begin construction. Set to open in 2023, the £250m (US$308.6m, €274.4m) waterpark and spa project will combine hundreds of water-based activities with wellbeing treatments, art, nature and technology to create a unique destination. Therme Manchester will feature a dedicated adults’ area with warm-water lagoons hidden among botanical gardens, therapeutic mineral pools, swim-up

Richard Hall Architect has designed a new art gallery for the Australian city of Launceston in the heritage-listed circular shell of an old gasometer. The DADA gallery will house the art of a private collector so that the public can enjoy it as well. The site is the last remaining gasometer frame in the city and is in a high-profile position close to the city's historic Albert Hall and opposite

Construction of the new Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education and Innovation at the American Museum of Natural History in New York has begun, following delays caused by a lawsuit brought by a community group. The hotly anticipated new wing of the museum – a projected US$383m (€338m, £301m), 230,000sq ft (70,104sq m) project – has been designed by Studio Gang Architects, with the intention of improving visitor circulation to

Polish architect Daniel Libeskind has released images of his breathtaking designs for "Ngaren" – a world history museum commissioned by famed paleoanthropologist, Professor Richard Leakey. Set to rise in the rugged hills of Kenya's Rift Valley – widely recognised as the cradle of human life – the jagged-shaped building will chart the course of sapient evolution with narrative-led exhibits that address misconceptions about extinction, climate change, war, and overpopulation. Speaking

The city of Lyon has selected French design firm Perrot & Richard Architectes to renovate the Salle Rameau, a 100-year-old concert hall in Lyon that once hosted performances by the likes of Louis Armstrong and Ray Ventura. French real estate firm Companie de Phalsbourg will lead the €14.3m (US$16m, £12.3m) overhaul, which will see the Art Nouveau building's dilapidated facilities converted into an 840-capacity theatre, a rooftop bar, a restaurant,

The Hyatt Foundation, the sponsor of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, has appointed a new jury chair for the award, following the retirement of Glenn Murcutt. Justice Stephen Breyer, who has been a member of the Jury since 2011, has been named as the new chair. The American lawyer and associate justice of the US Supreme Court has a long history in architecture, having worked closely with famed US architect Harry

The developer behind a new Four Seasons hotel and residential unit has called it “the finest and most architecturally-significant skyscraper ever built in Boston, ushering in a new era of modern development and elevating the standard of luxury living” in the US city. Richard L. Friedman, president and CEO of Carpenter & Company, said of Four Seasons Hotel & Private Residences One Dalton Street: “Watching this unprecedented, architectural landmark soar

Richard Meier has taken a six-month leave of absence from the architecture firm he founded, after allegations of sexual harassment were made against him by five women, including four former employees, in the New York Times. In response to the newspaper’s detailed accounts, a statement was posted on the website of Richard Meier & Partners, in which the Pritzker-winning architect said: “I am deeply troubled and embarrassed by the accounts

The reimagination of bridges as vibrant cultural and meeting spaces, as well as pieces of infrastructure, continues to gain momentum, with Swedish studio Erik Andersson Architects unveiling a proposal for a dynamic gathering place across the Kalix River. The Swedish Traffic Administration commissioned the practice to create a proposal to replace an existing bridge in Norrbotten County in 2019. More than a mere crossing, the architects decided to “introduce a

Award-winning Mexican architect Frida Escobedo has been commissioned to design the 2018 iteration of the Serpentine Pavilion. The Serpentine Pavilion programme, which began in 2000, sees an architect who has never built in the UK create a temporary summer pavilion and café space in Kensington Gardens. Zaha Hadid, Herzog & de Meuron, Jean Nouvel, Sou Fujimoto, SANAA, Bjarke Ingels Group and Diébédo Francis Kéré – whose tree-inspired 2017 structure has

Acclaimed Japanese architect Sejima Kazuyo has been appointed the newest member of the Pritzker Prize Jury, tasked with selecting the next winner of architecture’s most prestigious accolade. Sejima, who won the Pritzker Prize in 2010, is the co-founder of Tokyo studio SANAA, which she has led alongside fellow laureate Nishizawa Ryue since 1995. Their buildings together include the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art in Kanazawa, Japan; the Rolex Learning

The studio of Richard Rogers have been commissioned to design a luxury hotel and residences for hospitality group Mandarin Oriental in the fashionable heart of London’s Mayfair district. Due to open in 2021 between Bond Street and Regent Street on Hanover Square, the Mandarin Oriental Mayfair is described by developer Clivedale London as “an intimate, boutique property”. Architects Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners – who last year redesigned the entrance

Citizens should be empowered to play a much more active role in the design of the built environment as part of democratic society, Daniel Libeskind has argued in an exclusive interview with CLAD. The architect – known for designing buildings that explore themes of memory and identity – said that the need to enhance public participation in the design process is “the biggest challenge facing architecture today”. He also discussed

Richard Meier and Partners have completed their first pedestrian and vehicular bridge, envisioning the sculptural crossing as a new type of public space for the Italian city of Alessandria. The international architecture firm have spent twenty years working on the Cittadella Bridge, which reconnects the modern city with the Citadella, an 18th century fort and tentative UNESCO World Heritage site. A separate stone bridge hailing from the Napoleonic era was

The renowned paleoanthropologist Richard Leakey is developing a museum dedicated to the history of human evolution on the banks of Lake Turkana in the Kenyan desert. Polish-American architect Daniel Libeskind is developing the project design for Leakey, and told CLADglobal the museum will “present our entire history through a spatial experience and the exhibits inside.” Leakey is best known for discovering Turkana Boy, the most complete skeleton of an early

A host of the world’s most high-profile architecture practices have entered the race to design a new branch of the Pompidou Centre art museum in Brussels, Belgium. The studio of Richard Rogers – who designed the landmark Pompidou in Paris in 1977 alongside Renzo Piano – are in contention for the €125m (US$136m, £104m) project, along with 91 other design teams. Among those to make the star-studded longlist are Bjarke

One of the individuals integral to the completion of Paris’ landmark Pompidou Centre has told CLADglobal about the “terrific fight” Richard Rogers, Renzo Piano and the rest of the design team had with the French architectural establishment to realise their “radical” vision for the controversial project. In an exclusive interview to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the building, Davies revealed that many local practices “resisted the notion of foreign architects

Architecture studio Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners (RSHP) have been commissioned to design a major extension to the British Library in London. The design team will build 100,000sq ft (9,300sq m) of new spaces on a 2.8 acre site to the north of the library’s Grade 1 Listed building at St Pancras. Their design will include facilities for learning, exhibitions and public use, in addition to a new northern entrance

Here are some of the stories that appeared on CLAD this week, from Nike’s sci-fi gym pop-up in Shanghai to an announcement about the 2017 Pritzker Prize. Monday • The rise of modernism and motorism has created “technocratic, soulless cities which make cars and developers happy, but have no concern for people living in and using them,” according to Danish architect and urban designer Jan Gehl. Read here. • David

Failing to consider the context in which they're working is "the biggest mistake" made by architects today, argues Richard Meier in an exclusive interview with CLAD. The renowned Pritzker Prize winner states that “just because you can build 100 stories high, doesn’t mean you should,” and bemoans the number of new city buildings that are out of place in their environment. The full feature interview – in which Meier also

Legendary South Florida retreat The Surf Club has been reimagined by Four Seasons and is slated to open early 2017. In the 1930s, the property was a favourite destination for world leaders, artists and Hollywood film stars, and now the iconic club has been brought back to life by architect Richard Meier and Paris-based architect and designer Joseph Dirand with 77 guest rooms, 119 private residences and a 15,000 square

Adjaye Associates, David Chipperfield, Richard Murphy, Allies & Morrison, Barozzi Veiga and KPMB have been announced as the architects who will compete to design a multi-purpose concert hall and arts centre for Edinburgh. The high-profile shortlist has been announced by IMPACT Scotland, the charitable trust overseeing the major cultural project in the city’s St Andrew Square. In total, 69 international firms expressed interest in the project after it was announced

The Universidad de Ingeniería y Tecnología (UTEC) in Lima, designed by Grafton Architects, has won the first ever RIBA International Prize. Six projects were shortlisted for the award – which recognises the best building in the world – four of which were leisure buildings. The eventual winner however was the educational complex in Peru – although it does have a leisure component with the inclusion of a theatre and cinema

Richard Meier & Partners have unveiled designs of their tallest tower in New York; an “East River icon” that will place leisure at its heart. The 42-storey, 460ft high 685 First Avenue building will rise just south of the United Nations Headquarters in Manhattan. “Minimalistic in form, the design of this predominantly black glass building evidences great consideration for materiality, lightness, transparency and order,” said the studio in a statement.

Here are some of the stories that appeared on CLAD this week, from the latest organic leisure design from MAD Architects to Richard Meier’s thoughts on private developers and public space. Monday • Lebanese French Architect Hala Wardé wins competition for modern, contemporary art museum in the heart of Beirut, Lebanon. Read here. • A coalition of American and Italian researchers can turn any window into a daytime power source.

Pritzker Prize-winning architect Richard Meier has spoken about the importance of good quality public space in cities, arguing that there should be incentives at government level for developers to incorporate public space into their projects. Speaking exclusively to CLAD, the Getty Center architect said: “The problem is that developers really have no incentive to create public space. It's rare that a developer is going to give up space on their

The new leadership of London's Serpentine Galleries have announced they are expanding the art museums’ famous pavilion programme and launching a Zaha Hadid exhibition focusing on the late architect’s design notebooks. In their first joint press conference, newly-appointed CEO Yana Peel and artistic director Hans Ulrich Obrist announced “an exciting new chapter” in the development of the Serpentine, with a new emphasis on technology, partnerships, innovation and accessibility. A new