Luxury hotel and spa operator Mandarin Oriental’s second London hotel will launch next January with a brand new spa designed as a boutique sister location to its flagship UK spa at Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park. Open to hotel guests, residents and the local community, the underground wellness retreat at Mandarin Oriental Mayfair will welcome its first guests in early 2024. Facilities will include an indoor heated swimming pool, a sauna,

1 Hotels, the eco-luxury brand and brainchild of Starwood Capital founder Barry Sternlicht, has opened its debut European property in the heart of the UK capital with design by GA Group. 1 Hotel Mayfair has been designed to set a new benchmark for lower-impact luxury in London and adhere to 1 Hotels’ sustainability-minded philosophy that “those that travel the world should also care about it”. The London location is gearing

A team of architects led by BIG and HOK have won an international competition to design the largest dock of Zurich Airport in Switzerland. Composed predominantly of regional wood, The new Dock A and adjacent buildings seek to strengthen the airport’s continued status as the gateway of Switzerland. Bjarke Ingels, BIG founder and creative director, said: “As airports grow and evolve and as international guidelines and safety requirements change, airports

Gurney's Montauk Resort 's waterfront spa in Long Island, US, is being reimagined by architect Ignacio Alonso of Alonso Designs. The year-round 158-room resort dates back to 1926 and consists of a two-story building on an oceanfront promontory with a large saltwater pool at the upper level and treatment rooms at the lower level. Currently, the resort’s 30,000sq ft Seawater Spa is closed for renovations and will reopen in December

Urban Prairie Architectural Collaborative (UPAC) have converted a large brick-built warehouse in Kansas City, Missouri, into a bouldering gym with a variety of other fitness facilities. Sequence Climb was the result of a two-year search across the US for the right building by founders Graham and Dara Hess. The 20,000sq ft (1,900sq m) warehouse that they settled on not only provides ample room, but also features a barrel roof under

Two winners have been chosen in this year's City of Dreams Pavilion Competition, with one constructed from air-filled materials and the other with an inverted pyramid that is a comment on environmental instability. The City of Dreams Pavilion Competition is run by FIGMENT, the Emerging New York Architects Committee of the American Institute of Architects New York Chapter and the Structural Engineers Association of New York. It is based on

Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA) and Cox Architecture have won an international competition to design the new Western Sydney Airport in Australia, proposing both a passenger-focused experience and a leisure destination for locals. The new AU$5.3b (US$3.6b, €3.3b, £2.8b) greenfield airport is aimed at helping to drive the growth of Sydney and its greater metropolitan area over the coming decades. In addition to a design for the airport, ZHA and Cox

Hudson Yards has announced that its Kohn Pedersen Fox -designed observation deck Edge will open in March next year at a height of 1,131ft (345m) and will extend 80ft (24m) out from the 100th floor of 30 Hudson Yards. Edge, which Hudson Yards says will be the highest outdoor observation deck in the Western Hemisphere, features an outdoor glass floor and an outdoor staircase from levels 100 to 101 with

Morgan's Wonderland, a completely wheelchair accessible theme park in San Antonio, Texas, has announced that it is to build a new "ultra-accessible" sports complex in the city, providing 8,000sq ft (2,440sq m) of covered space for wheelchair sports. Designed by Luna Middleman Architects, the US$3m (€2.7m, £2.45m) Morgan's Wonderland Sports complex will offer fitness and competition for athletes with different abilities. Facilities will include 8,000 sq ft (745sq m) of

Proposals for a world-class automotive museum in the heart of the English countryside have moved a step further towards realisation with the awarding of outline planning permission. The Mullin Automotive Park will be situated over 63 hectares at the disused Enstone airfield near Chipping Norton in The Cotswolds, UK. It would provide public access to view the classic car collection of US businessman Peter Mullin, founder of M Financial Group,

Architecture practice Ministry of Design (MOD) have completed Durasport – an interactive athletics retail boutique in Singapore. Situated at the recently renovated Jewel Changi Airport, the 183 sq m shop, with its chrome-finished, streamlined interiors, was designed to resemble a futuristic lab. According to the architects, the retail space was created to provide high-performance athletes, such as cyclists, mountaineers, and skiers, with personalised "experiential zones" where they can test and

The Moshe Safdie-designed Jewel Changi Airport – an atmospheric leisure complex and air terminus in Singapore – has finally opened its doors to the public. The result of a four-year construction process, the US$1.25bn (€1.1bn, £958m) structure is roofed by a unique glass and steel geodesic dome that links to its crowning feature, a 40-metre-tall waterfall dubbed the "Rain Vortex". The impressive complex – a city in its own right

The Kimpton Charlotte Square Hotel – formerly the Principal Edinburgh Charlotte Square – has opened in Edinburgh, Scotland. Overhauled by London-based studio Goddard Littlefair, who also led the Principal's award-winning £25m (US$32.7m, €29.1m) outfitting in 2017, the hotel features 184 rooms and 15 suites, plus a spa, gym, and BABA bar. Other offers at the Grade II-listed retreat include in-room yoga mats and free fitness classes. Managed by luxury hospitality

Jewel Changi Airport – long-praised as representing a new paradigm in passenger experience design – is scheduled to open its doors this spring in Singapore. Planned by Safdie Architects and delivered by BuroHappold Engineering, the first-of-its-kind transit hub will double as an attraction and boast several publicly accessible and "community-centric" leisure facilities and hospitality outlets, including boutique hotels and restaurants, a 40-metre-high indoor waterfall, and a five-storey "paradise garden". Shaped

American architecture studio Perkins + Will have released renderings of Destination Crenshaw – an outdoor cultural museum set to rise in South Los Angeles. Designed in collaboration with Studio MLA, the community-driven attraction will be both a memorial and a public art space, celebrating the distinctive and varied contributions made by African-Americans to Los Angeles over the past century. Spanning 1.1 miles (1770 metres) between 48th and 60th streets in

Renowned British architect Sir David Adjaye has been named jury chair for the 2018 Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) Stirling Prize. Adjaye, whose recent endeavours include SPYSCAPE – an interactive spy museum in New York – will head the panel deciding the award winner, with other judges including RIBA president Ben Derbyshire, 2017 RIBA Stirling Prize winner Alex de Rijke and Woman of the World Festival founder Jude Kelly.

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

LICAMPA 1617, an enterprise led by Spanish billionaire entrepreneur Juan Roig, has revealed plans to develop a multi-use indoor sports arena in Valencia, Spain. The company is looking to create the region's premier destination for sports, music, arts, and cultural events and has appointed sports architects HOK to design the arena. The main tenant of the arena will be Valencia Basket, a professional basketball team – sponsored by Roig –

Airbnb has offered an exclusive meet and greet with Japanese architect Kengo Kuma, which will include a visit to his under-construction Tokyo Olympic stadium. Five guests were given the opportunity to book the rare experience on a ‘first come, first served’ basis, with the places quickly snapped up. The lucky few will begin their special ‘Airbnb Experience’ with a tour of Kuma’s studio in Tokyo’s Aoyama neighbourhood. The architect will

Planning permission has been granted to architects All Design for one of the late Will Alsop’s final creations before his death in May 2018, which will be a gregarious shopping centre and office development in Nairobi, Kenya. The Beacon will be the only African project produced by the legendary British architect and will carry all of the outlandish hallmarks typical of his work. The new open-air development will feature 24,300sq

Construction is nearing completion on “a world-class, signature lifestyle destination” at Singapore’s Changi Airport, which has been designed to boost the city-state’s appeal as a stopover point for global travellers. Conceived as the world’s most ambitious airport leisure attraction, the complex, called The Jewel, is being built inside an enormous glass dome covering a 40m-high indoor waterfall and a five-storey ‘forest valley’ with 2,500 trees and 100,000 shrubs. The building

Those with deep pockets and a passion for the world of aviation have been presented a rare opportunity to own a piece of flight history, with the entire contents of Heathrow Airport’s Terminal 1 about to go under the hammer in London. Lots up for grabs include airport furniture, working baggage carousels, check-in desks, the terminal’s signage and clocks, and a series of large murals created in the 1950s by

Leisure architect Claire Weisz, co-founder of WXY Architecture + Urban Design, has received the Medal of Honor from the American Institute of Architects (AIA). Citing her “distinguished work and high professional standing”, the AIA’s New York Chapter has presented Weisz with its highest accolade, while WXY co-founder Mark Yoes has been named an AIA Fellow in recognition of his “exceptional work and lasting contributions to architecture and society.” The duo

Steven Holl Architects and arts collective Kamen have won an international design competition to create a 2 million sq ft (200,000sq m) mixed-use district on a former paratrooper airfield in Moscow. Fuksas Architecture and Zaha Hadid Architects were among the rival firms in contention for the vast scheme in Tushino, which will include housing, social spaces and schools alongside spas, pools, cafés and lounges. The site, situated near the Moscow

Flyers of the future may be able to enjoy a session of yoga, a gym workout or a fine dining restaurant experience during their journey, thanks to a proposed modular system in aircraft cabins. A³, the innovation arm of aerospace giant Airbus, launched the Transpose company – which has since become independent – in 2016, with a mission “to change the way aircraft cabins are manufactured and monetised”. The concept

After suffering a number of delays, work on the AU$50m (US$39.6m, €33.7m, £30.7m) Cairns Aquarium is in the final stages, with 12 September being touted as the visitor attraction's official opening date. The three-storey, 10,000sq m (107,600sq ft) development will be home to more than 5,000 animals endemic to Australia’s Great Barrier Reef and Queensland's far north. This will be Australia's first new public aquarium to be built in 17

Global tour operator Virgin Holidays has announced plans to build an airport departure lounge with a difference: it will be located on a beach in Barbados. From summer 2018, flyers leaving the Caribbean country will be able to be transferred straight from their hotel to The Departure Beach, located on Brownes Beach in Carlisle Bay, where they will drop off their luggage and receive their boarding pass. Until it is