Architecture firm OMA has revealed designs for an ambitious underwater sculpture park which will stretch across seven miles off the coast of Miami Beach, Florida, US. Called ReefLine, the park is being developed by BlueLab Preservation Society in partnership with the City of Miami Beach and Coral Morphologic. It will feature art installations located around 20ft under water, which can only be viewed while snorkeling or diving. Conceived by cultural

Büro Ole Scheeren and Pritzker Prize-winning architect Shigeru Ban have been appointed to create a masterplan for the Hangzhou Wangjiang New Town project in China. Together, the architects will establish a new art and cultural destination in the historical city on behalf of New World Development Company, a Hong Kong-based group focused on property, infrastructure and hotels – and one of the largest foreign direct investors in mainland China. With

Banyan Tree Group has begun welcoming guests to a new 72-key beachfront resort and spa in Southern Thailand, named Banyan Tree Krabi. Design studio, Architrave, realised the new resort which is inspired by Buddhism, as well as the surrounding natural landscape, water and a mythical sea creature from local Krabi legends. Owned by Asset World Corporation, the five-star hotel houses a 517sq m rainforest-themed spa offering traditional Thai healing rituals

Designs have been revealed for the world’s first dedicated coral conservation facility, to be located at the gateway to the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland, Australia. Designed by Australian architects Contreras Earl Architecture, in partnership with Arup and Werner Sobek for the Great Barrier Reef Legacy, The Living Coral Biobank aims to secure the long-term future and biodiversity of corals worldwide. The 6,830sq m multi-function centre will have exhibition areas,

The architectural competition to decide the designer of the planned Shenzhen Opera House has reached the closing stages, with three high-profile practices being selected as finalists. Those making it to the final list are Jean Nouvel Ateliers, Bjarke Ingels Group, working with Beijing Institute of Architectural Design, and Kengo Kuma and Associates, working with Shenzhen University Institute of Architectural Design. The opera house project is being driven by the local

A team of architects have revealed plans to transform a multi-lane road in central Copenhagen into a green and car-free city park. The project will turn a famously congested passage to an inviting living space, where "nature is merged into the urban space". The road will be replaced by trees, water, wildlife and illuminations, with the aim of creating a new recreation area in the middle of the Danish capital

Having seen COVID-19 disrupt the very functioning of cities worldwide, what would we do differently if we built new cities from scratch? This is the topic of a webinar conference in The Big Rethink series from NewCities, happening today (26 May 2020), at 12.00noon EDT. Speakers include Greg Clark, global head of future cities and new industries at HSBC; Satish Kamat, president of Sri City near Chennai, India; and Carlo

Italian architecture studio Studio Apostoli is designing a luxury wellness centre in a restored twentieth-century Milanese palazzo, scheduled to open in 2021. The three-layer 1,000sq m facility will part of a boutique-hotel complex at the five-star Palazzo Bernasconi hotel, a project developed and owned by Italian hotel group Cipriani, and shall be named ‘Palazzo del Sarto’. Architect Alberto Apostoli has been commissioned by the client to develop the interior design

Since being established in 2003, COOKFOX Architects have gained a reputation for being proponents of architecture at the intersection of sustainability and wellness, which co-founder Rick Cook says is more pressing now than ever. "Our current studio is LEED Platinum, but it's also the first WELL Gold certified project in New York," he explained to CLAD in an interview by way of example. "Which has much more of a focus

Chelsea Football Club has allowed the planning permission for its new Herzog & de Meuron -designed stadium to lapse, keeping the project on hold until "economic conditions improve". The English Premier League received planning permission in 2017 to build a 60,000-seat venue at the site of its current Stamford Bridge stadium. But the club announced a year later that it had put the project on hold due to the "unfavourable

Spa consultancy TLee Spas, in collaboration with EDG Design, have unveiled a new 30,000sq ft (2,800sq m) spa at the Ritz-Carlton Reserve 's Zadún property in Los Cabos, Mexico. Spa Alkemia is inspired by Mexican traditions and culture with a natural aesthetic, with 'Alkemia' – meaning alchemy in Spanish referencing a focus on positive transformation and a heightened state of wellbeing through therapeutic modalities. “Spa Alkemia is the ultimate playground

Frederic Francis believes a drop-off in landscaping skills is one of the main challenges facing landscape architecture as a discipline in the Middle East. Speaking to CLAD about the challenges of practising in the region, he said: "The first one is the harsh climate, which makes things harder to grow than in Europe. Also, we frequently build landscapes from scratch, where nothing exists other than barren, desert land. "Although there’s

Studio Saxe have created a fitness centre in Costa Rica designed to be a "small village amongst the trees" that brings guests and locals together, as well as close to nature. The Athletic Center was built as an extension of the Gilded Iguana hotel in the town of Nosara. Rather than simply create a single large volume, the architects and the client wanted to work around the trees and the

The Musée d'Orsay in Paris, France, has announced plans for a major expansion project following an anonymous €20m (£17.6m, US$22.4m) donation. The project, called Orsay Grand Ouvert – or Orsay Wide Open – is thought to have been in development for a period of several months and has now been made public following the donation. A new wing and a 7,000sq ft (650sq m) Education Center, as well as an

​ Wheeler Kearns Architects have transformed a decommissioned cheese factory in the US city of Bentonville, Arkansas, into a multidisciplinary space for visual, performing and culinary artists. The Momentary was opened at the end of February as a satellite location of the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, which is also in Bentonville. The 63,000sq ft (5,900sq m) facility was conceived with the aim of providing a unique cultural hub

Fox Browne Creative have created a treehouse-like overnight retreat for the &Beyond Ngala Private Game Reserve in South Africa that will give guests the chance to sleep under the stars in the Kruger National Park. The Ngala Tree House is to be offered in addition to two existing lodges that &Beyond has at the reserve and can accommodate up to two adults and two children aged between 10 and 16.

Wutopia Lab have transformed a former church in China into a 388sq m (4,176sq ft) poetry bookstore by installing a large freestanding steel frame that provides shelving and creates a space within a space. The St. Nicholas Church in Shanghai was built in 1932 and has variously been used as an office, a factory, a warehouse, a canteen, a residential space, a club and a restaurant. Its historic status meant

MVRDV is one of two finalists in a competition to design the Shimao ShenKong International Centre, with a proposal that combines stacked terraces, curved organic forms and lush greenery. The competition sought designs for a municipal facility for Universiade New Town in China that would accommodate a variety of different amenities and green spaces. MVRDV'S 101,300sq m (1 million sq ft) Shenzhen Terraces proposal was conceived as a new urban

Already the architect developing the Sundsholmerne ecovillage on the waterfront of the new Stigsborg district in Aalborg, Denmark, C.F. Møller has now also been chosen to create its surrounding green space. The Sundsholmerne sustainable community is part of the 54ha (133ac) Stigsborg Waterfront project, which is transforming old industrial sites into new neighbourhoods. Covering 5,000sq m (54,000sq ft), Sundsholmerne will feature a variety of housing with communal facilities that will

A new amenities space, designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro with interiors by Rockwell Group, has opened 900ft (274m) up in the air at Fifteen Hudson Yards in New York. Skytop is part of the building's 40,000sq ft (3,700sq m) of wellness, entertaining and leisure amenities and is located in the cloverleaf-shaped curves of the building’s crown. The 6,000sq ft (560sq m) of amenities it offers include an open-air terrace

A newly opened park in downtown Dallas has been designed by SWA to be welcoming to dogs but to minimise their impact and ensure it remains a pleasant place for people to spend time. Pacific Plaza Park is one of four new green spaces that Parks for Downtown Dallas plans to have introduced to the area by 2022, with the aim of providing more outdoor amenities for its growing population.

Mario Cucinella Architects have designed a new mixed-use building for Tirana, Albania, that is inspired by the shape of the nearby Mount Dajti and is wrapped around a central scoop filled with greenery. The 93m (305ft)-tall, 24-storey Ekspozita Building will house a variety of commercial, residential and public amenity spaces. Occupying three and a half sides of a square footprint and tapering as it rises, the building will accommodate commercial

Lemay 's "judicious" design for an aquatics centre in Canada ensures it is not only sleek and sympathetic to its context, but that it uses energy-saving measures to moderate its running costs. The Beloeil Aquatics Centre was completed last year with little in the way of fanfare, but it shows that attractive and intelligent design can be delivered on a modest budget. The CAD$16.5m (US$12.5m, €11.5m, £9.5m), 55,000sq ft (5,100sq

Alexis Dornier has created an "experimental treetop boutique hotel" located in Ubud on the island of Bali, Indonesia, with a mix of part-industrial, part-natural structures in a tropical forest setting. In designing the 10ac (4ha) Lift hotel, Dornier sought to forgo the typical concrete-based development approach on the island in favour of low-rise and treehouse-like structures made of metal elements and natural materials. Each of the structures has a different

Cyclists in Belgium's Limburg province are being brought closer to nature in a variety of innovative and unusual ways. "25 years ago Belgian Limburg was the first region worldwide to develop a cycle node network, where you cycle from junction to junction," explained Igor Philtjens, Minister for Regional Tourism, chairman of Visit Limburg and the driving force behind the projects. "We were a pioneer in recreational cycling tourism, but over

Dutch boutique fitness brand Switch The Gym has launched a second technology-based studio aimed at optimising workouts for each individual, designed by DR+ Architecten, No Bears and First Impression. Founded by Terry Labee, Switch The Gym provides a timetable of HIIT group workouts at an affordable price point. "It offers the fun and energy of group training with the attention and expertise of personal training, but without the expense," Labee

A sports centre in Barcelona, designed by Anna Noguera and Javier Fernandez, has won awards for its sustainable and innovative design, which includes a greenery-covered façade, swathes of glazing and timber interiors. Barcelona City Council appointed Noguera and Fernandez after they won an architectural competition it ran in 2014. The competition briefed for the creation of a sports centre in the Turó de la Peira area of Barcelona, in which