Baca Architects has submitted a scheme to transform an unused flooded quarry and surrounding land into an eco-wellness resort, centred on waterside living and water-based recreation. In development is a response to pandemic travel bans, which are driving growth in the UK holiday market. The 80-hectare Ashwicken Lake site is situated in East Anglia, UK, and features woodlands, wetlands and a 1sq km lake. A £35m (US$49.4m, €40,7m) investment by

A new hotel room concept which "shapes around the visitors" looks to transform the overnight experience for hotel guests. Called Heya, the concept was created by a team of designers, led by ReardonSmith Architects. Using technology and innovative design, Heya can be dramatically reconfigured by guests to suit their purpose and is built around the idea that guests shouldn’t have to settle into their room: it should take shape around

Diamond Schmitt Architects, working with KWC Architects, have designed a joint facility for Ottawa Public Library and Library and Archives Canada (OPL-LAC) aimed at creating an inspiring place for gathering, learning and discovery. The CAD$193m (US$146m, €132m, £111m) building is scheduled to open in 2024, will cover 216,000sq ft (20,000sq m) and be split across five floors. It will house shared resources for the organisations including exhibitions and collections space,

Armin Sader, of hotel architecture firm Asaggio, is reimagining a historic hotel in the mountains of South Tyrol, Italy, with an emphasis on its solitary location in nature and a focus on wellness. The building in which Forestis is situated is located in the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Dolomites and was conceived by its original owners to be a sanatorium for lung disease sufferers prior to the First World War, making

Plans for the £337m ($438m, €394m) Museum of London, designed by Stanton Williams, Asif Khan and Julian Harrap Architects, have been submitted to the City of London Corporation. Described as "one of the biggest cultural projects happening in Europe", the museum has been in development since 2015, with the Stanton Williams and Asif Khan-led team announced in 2016 and the designs revealed earlier this year. The facility is to be

The New York Philharmonic has unveiled plans for the revamp of David Geffen Hall with Diamond Schmitt and Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects (TWBTA) designs aimed at fostering a sense of community and connecting it to the world outside. The $550m (€496m, £418m) project was initially to be led by Heatherwick Studio before those plans were dropped. The new plans will see Diamond Schmitt reconfigure the concert hall, which is

Destination spa Lefay will open a luxury eco spa resort in the Italian Dolomites on 1 August. Located in the ski area of Madonna di Campiglio, Lefay Resort & Spa Dolomiti features 88 suites and 22 branded residences, as well as a 5,000sq m Lefay spa – one of the largest spas in the Alpine region. The resort was designed by architect Hugo Demetz, who used traditional materials such as

The Global Wellness Summit (GWS) team has announced that designer Bill Bensley will deliver a keynote speech on hospitality design and sustainability at this year's summit in Hong Kong (15-17 October). Bensley's keynote will challenge delegates to rethink how hotels and resorts are designed and built, by posing questions he believes that the conscientious traveller of the future will be asking, such as: Does this hotel respect its environment? Does

New ultra-luxe residences in Bangkok, Thailand, will boast a botanical garden and rooftop infinity pool when they open next year. Property developers AP Thailand (AP) and the Mitsubishi Estate have joined forces to build the £221m (US$278.8m, €250m) development – called The Address Siam-Ratchathewi. The residences will comprise 880 one- to three-bedroom apartments and also feature indoor-outdoor amenity spaces, including a Technogym-equipped fitness centre and resident's lounges. Incorporating vibrant design

American architecture office Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill (SOM) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have teamed up with the European Space Agency (ESA) to develop the "Moon Village" project, the first full-time human habitat on the lunar surface. According to the design team, the future settlement, which would be situated in the rim of Shackleton Crater near the Moon's South Pole, would comprise three to four-story inflatable structures, "with

Architecture firm Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have joined forces to conceptualise a man-made archipelago for OCEANIX, a non-profit company interested in exploring the viability of floating cities. Intended to serve as a blueprint for future pelagic communities, the conceptual city – also named "Oceanix" – is designed to organically expand over time and accommodate up to 10,000 residents. "The additive structure has a

A new visitor centre is in the offing for London's famous replica of the Golden Hinde warship, which was captained by British naval officer Sir Francis Drake – the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe. The centre has been designed by London-based architectural practice SPPARC and will feature an accessible education facility exploring the vessel's history, as well as an exhibition space and viewing galleries. SPPARC's dual-level, 1,125 sq m

A former union club for naval officers in Berlin is to be converted into a new city museum for the German capital. Designed by architectural practice Adept, Stadtmuseum Berlin at 'Marinehaus' will be "a cultural pivot that anchors the museum in the neighbourhood through exhibitions, workshops and as a community centre for the locals", according to the architects. Renderings show that the 7,800sq m (84,000sq ft) building's existing floors will

American billionaires Mitchell and Emily Wei Rales are to reopen the Glenstone Museum, showcasing their extensive collection of post-war art, in Maryland, US next month following renovations and an expansion. The museum, located on the grounds of a former hunt club near Washington DC in Potomac, has undergone a serious overhaul. The attraction now boasts additional exhibition space, two cafés, a bookstore and a total of 230 acres of landscaped

Developer Tishman Speyer and architects DSDHA have completed the first phase renovation of famous Alison and Peter Smithson’s Economist Building and Plaza on London’s St James’s Street. The Brutalist Grade II*-listed complex, completed in 1964, was originally commissioned by the Economist magazine, which had its offices there for more than half a century. The buildings are now being upgraded, with new public amenities added. As part of the first phase,

Multi-disciplinary designer Clodagh, whose recent projects include the Six Senses Douro Valley and the reopened Six Senses Kaplankaya, will share her vision for truly integrated wellness design with conference delegates at the Global Wellness Summit in Italy this October. Clodagh, head of New York-based interior design firm Clodagh Design, will take the stage at the 2018 conference to share her belief that wellness is a crucial requirement in design that

Carlo Ratti has created a climate-controlled garden pavilion with green spaces curated by Patrick Blanc and Flavio Pollano for the 57th annual Salone del Mobile in Milan. The pavilion, entitled Living Nature, uses an innovative energy management system “to allow spring, summer, autumn and winter to coexist under the same roof” and aims to explore the effects of climate change and the link between nature and the city. It evolved

Underscoring the important connection between design and wellness, Antonio Citterio, the architect behind the design of Technogym Village – the 2018 Global Wellness Summit venue – will be a keynote at this year’s conference in Cesena, Italy, set to take place 6-8 October. Citterio is co-founder of the multi-disciplinary design practice of Antonio Citterio Patricia Viel, which works in architectural, interior and urban design. The firm’s projects include residential and

Adare Manor, Country Limerick’s historic hotel and golf resort, has re-opened its doors after a multi-million-euro redevelopment, planned to establish a ”new legacy” as Ireland’s leading luxury resort. Led by ReardonSmith Architects, the large-scale project has included the creation of new buildings as well as the restoration and refurbishment of existing properties, joined by interconnecting spaces Meanwhile, the repair and enhancement of the surrounding 840-acre estate – complete with manicured

Italian design studio Network of Architecture (noa*) have been inspired by the world of the theatre for their latest hotel project: a glass and timber structure looking out towards the Dolomites. The family-run Valentinerhof hotel is situated 1,200m above sea-level in the commune of Castelrotto, South Tyrol. The architects were commissioned by the owners to design two new guest buildings offering views from every point of the nearby Schlern mountain.

It was built as a grandiose home for an 18th-century archbishop, and later became a luxury hotel frequented by the likes of Ronald Reagan, Jacqueline Kennedy and Richard Burton. Now Ireland’s Cashel Palace Hotel is set to be given a new lease of life, courtesy of architecture and design firm ReardonSmith. The building – designed in an Early Georgian style by Sir Edward Lovett Pearce, the architect of the Old

Plans by Heatherwick Studio and Diamond Schmitt Architects to renovate a concert hall for New York’s Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts have been dropped. The duo were awarded the US$500m (€427m, £383m) project in 2015 to significantly renovate the interiors of the centre’s largest hall – originally designed by Max Abramovitz and opened in 1962 – to create a 21st-century symphonic concert venue for the New York Philharmonic Orchestra

Construction is underway for a mountaintop retreat in Utah focused on entrepreneurship and innovation. Summit Powder Mountain, near Eden, is a ski village planned by architects and environmental designers Studio Ma to include residences and leisure communities that will host a year-round community of creative professionals and social entrepreneurs. The project is taking shape on a 10,000-acre public site surrounded by ski slopes. The centrepiece of the village will be

Northern Ireland’s popular Titanic Belfast attraction has submitted plans to expand its facility, with the operator casting its eye towards the hospitality side of its business. The plans, submitted to Belfast City Council propose the extension, integration and alteration of titanic pavilions, with a single storey extension of pavilions three and four. The plans also include a change of use, from retail to additional conferencing facilities, as well as a

Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava has told CLADglobal how he wants to use technology and advanced engineering “to push the limits of expression.” “From day one, movability has been important to me,” he said, in an exclusive interview. “Today we can create this sense that architecture is no more an aesthetic and firm thing, but rather something that transforms, something alive, something new and poetic.” Calatrava also discussed his controversial reputation,

Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have announced a new breakthrough in the architectural applications of 3D printing, with the design of a system that can produce the basic structure of an entire building. MIT’s Mediated Matter Group – which focuses on “nature-inspired design and design-inspired nature” – claim the machine they have invented will eventually produce buildings faster and less expensively than traditional construction methods allow. What’s

The sweeping Dolomites mountain range in northeastern Italy has inspired a dramatic new hotel designed by architecture firm Network of Architecture (noa*). The irregular, asymmetrical silhouette of the Hotel Tofana in the town of St. Kassian is designed to evoke one of the tree-lined mountain peaks that dominate the region’s Badia Valley, complete with plants lining the building's terraces and façade. Guests can “ascend” the hotel as if it was