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

Peppas N Architects, Hirsch Bedner Associates (HBA) and Constantina Tsoutsikou are working together to create Royal Senses Resort & Spa Crete for Troulis Royal Collection, with a design inspired by the Cretan heritage. The aim has been to go above and beyond a typical luxury family resort while combining Crete’s rugged landscape and the character of its people with a cosmopolitan style. "The landscape’s rough beauty creates a wonderful juxtaposition

A team of researchers at the University of Maryland, College Park, have invented a special type of engineered wood that might be able to reduce carbon emissions and reduce cooling costs by 60 per cent. In order to create the material, the scientists soaked basswood in a solution of hydrogen peroxide to strip away its lignin (glue-like polymers that absorb heat and harden plant cells). The wood was then placed

New York-based Studio Libeskind have completed their first venture into China – a museum in the Hubei province’s capital city of Wuhan. Working in collaboration with the City of Wuhan and Vanke, the largest property developer in China, Studio Libeskind has designed the museum to function as a public hub with a fully landscaped plaza for locals to use. The museum’s upwards bowed central structure nods to ships sailing up

Pritzker laureate Alejandro Aravena has reflected on the impact of the 2016 Venice Architecture Biennale, which he curated, in the run up to the 2018 edition the renowned international exhibition, which opens to the public on Saturday (26 May). Two years ago, Aravena’s Biennale, themed ‘Reporting from the Front’, considered major challenges facing the built environment – from natural disasters to financial constraints, pollution, crime, housing shortages and a scarcity

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

Global architecture firm HOK have been appointed to design a permanent new home for US soccer franchise Louisville City FC. HOK will provide the vision for a 10,000-seat stadium in Kentucky’s largest city that could later expand in capacity to 20,000. The overall site plan will also include space for an office and retail development. “We’re getting closer to securing a lot in urban Louisville, and now we’re thinking about

Global architecture firm HOK have been appointed to design a permanent new home for US soccer franchise Louisville City FC. HOK will provide the vision for a 10,000-seat stadium in Kentucky’s largest city that could later expand in capacity to 20,000. The overall site plan will also include space for an office and retail development. “We’re getting closer to securing a lot in urban Louisville, and now we’re thinking about

The director of Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA), Patrik Schumacher, has come under mounting pressure for his recent controversial comments about social housing, with his own practice distancing themselves from his public pronouncements. In a strongly-worded statement, ZHA said: “Patrik Schumacher’s ‘urban policy manifesto’ does not reflect Zaha Hadid Architects’ past – and will not be our future. Zaha Hadid did not write manifestos. She built them.” The growing furore followed

Landscape architecture studio TLS will design a 74 acre urban park in the centre of Suzhou, China after winning an international design competition for the high-profile project. The park will be designed around the existing Lion Mountain – named due to the lion-shaped geological formation at its peak – and a newly-created lake. The site is currently home to a run-down amusement park and small pond – described as “less

Joyce Wang Studio have designed an atmospheric new restaurant in Sai Ying Pun, Hong Kong, with charred walls and coppery furnishings evoking the head chef’s love of grill cooking. The design team aimed to create “a relaxed and refined space” by modelling their vision around the passions, menu and culinary stylings of chef Nathan Green. Shou Sugi Ban, a traditional charred cedar wood cladding used in Japanese vernacular architecture, has

MVRDV are nearing completion on a reflective “hollowed-out” library in Tianjin, China. The 34,200sq m (368,000sq ft) building – which has just topped out – is built around a mirrored spherical auditorium which, coupled with the main atrium, forms a giant eye that looks out at passers-by. Designed with the Tianjin Urban Planning and Design Institute (TUPDI), the Tianjin Binhai Library is being constructed as part of a larger plan

Hyatt Hotels has opened the Grand Hyatt Chengdu in the capital of Sichuan province in Southwest China. Spanning floors 10 to 39 of the 166m (545ft) high Chicony Square, the 390-bedroom hotel is situated on the historic Chunxi Road, also known as Hundred Year Gold Street, in the heart of Jinjiang district. The hotel will include a 1,274sq m (13,713sq ft) Huan Spa, which is not yet open, designed by

International architects Snøhetta have designed a sanctuary for hikers seeking shelter in the remote and icy wilderness of southern Norway. Located in the the remote Tungestølen region, in the shadow of Jostedal – the largest glacier in continental Europe – the studio has created a series of angular wooden cabins after winning a design competition set by the Norwegian Trekking Association. The buildings – which have just opened – are

Global colour authority Pantone has announced its 2016 Color of the Year – for the first time, a pairing of two colours: Serenity and Rose Quartz – and said consumers’ need for “connection and wellness” helped influence the choice of colours. The company said the two colours are “a harmonious pairing of inviting shades that embody a mindset of tranquility and inner peace.” “As consumers seek mindfulness and well-being as

A dramatic mountain-shaped theatre in the southern Chinese city of Dali – the latest cultural creation from Beijing architects Studio Pei-Zhu – has entered the final construction phase. The Yang Liping Performing Arts Center will feature an enormous canopy roof, which falls and rises to evoke the surrounding Cangshan mountain range in China's Yunnan province. Visitors will be encouraged to walk over and under the roof in order to reflect