The celebrated Chiva-Som International Health Resort in Hua Hin, Thailand, has reopened after the most recent phase of a five-year renovation that has seen accommodation and facilities upgraded, with a new Qatar presence also announced. Designed by Designrealization, the renovation masterplan was aimed at bringing a "modern and fresh take" to the resort, with teak, Thai silk, and bamboo complemented by a light colour palette of natural hues. As part

Final images of the 40,000-capacity Al Wakrah stadium – designed by the late Dame Zaha Hadid – have come to light. The expansive sports facility, which will host matches for the 2022 FIFA World Cup first broke ground in 2014. It is the second tournament-ready stadium to be inaugurated after the Khalifa International Stadium opened to the public in 2017. Hadid reportedly shaped Al Wakrah to mirror the lateen sails

International hospitality company Hilton Hotels and Resorts has opened the Tangier Al Houara Resort and Spa – a palatial getaway in Tangier, Morocco. The 304-key resort – the company's third property in Morocco – occupies 234 hectares of oceanfront land and boasts three swimming pools, as well as an 850 sq m spa comprising a jacuzzi, sauna, beauty salon, steam room, and fitness studio. Other facilities include an 18-hole golf

Cultural space developments in the Gulf region continue apace with the opening of a new US$434m (€383m, £328.7m) museum in Doha, Qatar. Designed by French architect Jean Nouvel, the museum resembles a desert rose and has been described as representing a kind of fantasy. "To imagine a desert rose as a basis for a design was a very advanced idea, even a utopian one," said Nouvel. He continued: "To construct

Qatar’s Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy (SC) has revealed the renderings for Lusail Stadium – one of the many multipurpose venues that will host the 2022 FIFA World Cup games. Designed by London-based architecture firm Foster + Partners, the 80,000-seat arena – the eighth World Cup structure to be unveiled by the SC – features a number of visual motifs derived from the Arabian Gulf's ancient artisanal cultures. The

The National Museum of Qatar – expected to become one of the princedom's most striking landmarks – will open its doors in March 2019. Designed by Pritzker award-winning architect Jean Nouvel and constructed by ASTAD Project Management, the new 40,000sq m building will be located on Doha Bay and encircle the recently refurbished old palace of Qatar’s founding father, Sheikh Abdullah bin Jassim Al-Thani. The museum, which has been in

Qatar has announced that it will build extensive public realm and plant thousands of trees in its capacity as the host of the 2022 FIFA World Cup. The plan, which will see the country’s newly-created sports stadia encircled by at least 850,000 sq m of walkable green parks, was revealed by the Gulf Organisation for Research and Development (GORD) at this year’s World Sustainability Summit. The news came a day

The Qatar National Library (QNL) in Doha, designed by international architects OMA, has been officially opened by the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani. Conceived as a space for reading, socialising and browsing, the building houses more than a million books and space for thousands of readers over an area of 42,000sq m (452,000sq ft). The marble bookshelves, organised around a central triangular space, segue with the

The seventh proposed stadium for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar will be constructed using shipping containers and will be completely demounted and rebuilt elsewhere after the tournament. The design of the Ras Abu Aboud Stadium – which will have a capacity of 40,000 and host matches up to the quarter-finals stage – has been officially revealed today (28 November), with World Cup organisers saying “it will change the

LivNordic’s Katara Beach Club in Doha, Qatar, is set to open at the beginning of October. Located at the Torch Hotel, the two-storey, 4,600sq m (49,514sq ft) club is described as “a unique fusion between Middle Eastern hospitality, Nordic design and treatment heritage, and innovative fitness facilities.” It will include separate male and female floors with gender-separated entrances, an Aurora Borealis light fixture in the relaxation lounges, Nordic bathing rituals,

Details of the latest proposed stadium for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar have been officially revealed, with a design inspired by the traditional Arab ‘gahfiya’ headdress. The Al Thumama Stadium – conceived by Qatari architect Ibrahim M. Jaidah from Arab Engineering Bureau, Qatar’s oldest design firm – will seat 40,000 fans in 2022, with the capacity reduced to 20,000 in ‘legacy mode’ after the tournament. The gahfiya, as

The first host venue of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar has been completed, five years ahead of the tournament. The Khalifa International Stadium, first built in 1976, has been extensively renovated and expanded by local architecture firm Dar Al-Handasah to hold 40,000 spectators. It will host matches until the quarter-finals of the 2022 tournament. The ground has been installed with a technologically advanced cooling system, which the organising

The architecture firm of Chilean Pritzker Prize winner Alejandro Aravena have won an international competition to design a “pre-eminent” Art Mill museum on the historic waterfront of Doha, Qatar. An international jury today (15 May) announced the selection of Elemental from an eight-strong shortlist, based on their strategies for the Doha Bay site and its links to the wider city. The museum will be built on a complex that has

Here are some of the stories that appeared on CLAD this week, from a spectacular cantilevered skybridge in Dubai to stadium seats made from palm trees. Monday • Kengo Kuma’s US$33.5m US$33.5m (€31.3m, £26.2m) expansion of Portland’s Japanese Garden, celebrated as one of the most authentic of its kind gardens outside Japan, has opened to the public. Read here. • Japanese architecture practice Nikken Sekkei are designing “a timeless new

South Korean architecture studio Heerim Architects and Planners are reportedly in line to design Qatar’s 40,000-capacity Fifth Precinct Stadium, which will host matches up to the quarter-final stage at the 2022 FIFA World Cup. According to Reuters, the practice said in a stock exchange statement on Tuesday (25 April) that it has agreed a US$16.2m (€14.8m, £12.6m) design and engineering services contract for the project. A joint venture of Qatar’s

A team of engineers in Saudi Arabia has proposed how stadium seats in the near future could be made more sustainably using the fibres of palm trees. A five-member group from Al Faisal University submitted the plan as part of a regional innovation competition established by the Qatar’s Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy, which is overseeing the 2022 FIFA World Cup in the country. The team’s method involves using

The famous Middle Eastern folk tales of One Thousand and One Nights are the inspiration behind a lavish dome-topped hotel opening imminently in Doha, Qatar. Local practice South West Architecture and Dutch interior designer Marcel Wanders – working in the region for the first time – have collaborated to create the “fantasy-like” Doha Mondrian for hotel operator sbe. Design features are inspired by the local patterns, ornate Arabic writing and

The organisation responsible for delivering the stadiums and infrastructure for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar has appointed the main contractor to build the 40,000-capacity Al Thumama ground. The Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy (SC) has announced a joint venture partnership between Qatari construction firm AlJaber Engineer and Turkey’s Tekfen Construction will build the stadium, which has been designed by the emirate’s oldest building consultancy, the Arab Engineering

The government of Qatar is spending as much as US$500m (€467m, £399m) a week on infrastructure ahead of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, according to the emirate’s finance minister. Ali Sharif El-Emadi told journalists on Tuesday that the weekly investment “will carry on for the next three to four years to achieve our goal and objective of really getting the country ready for 2022.” While nine stadiums are being built

The construction of Qatar’s Al Rayyan Stadium, a proposed host venue of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, has entered a new phase after the first concrete was poured at the location of the stadium’s West Stand. The milestone means the project, designed by architecture studio Ramboll and Pattern, is now five weeks ahead of schedule. As well as being a World Cup venue, it will also serve as the new

Spa operator Raison d’Etre will open a two-storey, 4,600sq m (49,514sq ft) LivNordic Spa at the Katara Beach Club in the Katara Cultural Village in Doha, Qatar. Set to open in Q1 2017, the Katara Beach Club by LivNordic Spa & Wellness will be on two club floors, with the ground floor for men and the first floor for women. Designed by Gillian Docherty of Studio HBA in Dubai, the

Construction on future World Cup venue the Qatar Foundation Stadium is expected to begin soon, with a contractor reportedly now attached to the project. According to Arabian Business, Cyprus-based engineering firm Joannou & Paraskevaides (J&P) has been awarded the contract to build the 40,000-capacity venue, which will host games at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. The stadium has been designed by Fenwick Iribarren Architects, who have taken inspiration

Two leisure projects designed by Zaha Hadid Architects as part of a masterplan for Lusail City in Qatar have gone into development, it has been announced. The first scheme is a 70,000sq m (753,500sq ft) hotel with residential apartments located in Lusail City’s Marina District. Set to be completed by 2020, the 38-storey project has been inspired by the structure of the Desert Hyacinth; a flowering plant native to the

Larsen & Toubro, the largest construction firm in India, has won the contract to build Qatar’s 2022 World Cup venue, the Al Rayyan Stadium. Construction of the 40,000-capacity arena will be delivered in a joint venture with Qatari contractor Al Balagh Trading & Contracting. The deal was announced by the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy (SC) – the organisers of the tournament. “This marks an important milestone in our

A shortlist of eight celebrated and emerging architecture practices has today (21 April) been announced for the final stage of an international architecture competition to design a waterfront arts district in Doha, Qatar. The studios of Pritzker winners Alejandro Aravena and Renzo Piano are in the running for project, called Art Mill, alongside other big names including EAA Emre Arolat Architecture and Atelier Bow-Wow. The site of the new district

Public consultation is imminent for a new David Chipperfield-designed luxury hotel and spa on the famous site of the US Embassy in Grosvenor Square, London. The embassy will soon relocate from the Mayfair location to a new site at Nine Elms, and real estate developer Qatari Diar has commissioned Chipperfield’s studio to breathe new life into the building it leaves behind: a mid-20th century listed structure designed by iconic Finnish

Qatar may accommodate thousands of fans in Bedouin-style tents in the desert after declining oil prices have forced the nation to rethink projects including the building of hotels. In the lead-up to its successful World Cup 2022 bid in 2010, officials from the Gulf state said it would build 55,000 hotel rooms to house supporters, however that has now been altered to 46,000 rooms following the dent in its oil-dependent