The MSG Sphere, a controversial auditorium and music globe designed by Populous, has been given full planning permission by the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC). If built, the Sphere would tower 90m above Stratford, London, and in addition to the auditorium, would include a nightclub, bars, restaurants, cafés, shops and parking. The sphere would boast the “largest and highest resolution LED screen in the world” – in the form of

London’s Westminster City Council has approved developer Reef Group’s plans to invest over £150m (US$185.3m, €171.4m) in Cavendish Square, transforming the space into a subterranean mixed-use destination, with a focus on healthcare and wellbeing. Claimed to be London’s first subterranean health and wellbeing destination, the 280,000sq ft (26,000sq m) destination will deliver specialist facilities for London’s private healthcare sector. Currently an underground park, the existing structure will be reused and

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

Seeing Spheres, a new and permanent artwork by Olafur Eliasson featuring five reflective silver orbs has been opened on San Francisco's waterfront. The Mission Bay installation by the Danish-Icelandic artist is situated at a plaza next to the city's new Chase Center sports complex, where the Golden State Warriors basketball team will play. Each sphere is a 5m (16.4ft) high orb made of polished, hydroformed steel, each supporting a flat,

Neath Port Talbot council has greenlit plans for the Afan Valley Adventure Resort – a highly anticipated leisure destination set to rise on a 325-acre former forestry plantation in South Wales. The new attraction, which is being overseen by Peter Moore OBE – of Center Parcs fame – will comprise 600 trail lodges, a 100-room spa hotel, restaurants, and a plethora of sports and recreational facilities, including a survival academy

A unique construction created for U2’s most recent world tour has been purchased by Salt Lake City's Loveland Living Planet Aquarium, where it will now become a permanent fixture at the Utah attraction. From the mind of the late Mark Fisher of London-based architects Stufish, the 250-ton, 165ft-tall (50m) ‘Claw’ was designed by the firm and created by construction company Stageco, with three different versions built for the three-year tour.

Cricket Ireland has confirmed plans to develop a new national cricket stadium west Dublin, just months after the country secured Test status on the international stage. The national governing body has chosen Dublin’s National Sports Campus as the location for the venue. The move is part of a strategy to meet the requirements of future international and domestic first-class cricket in Ireland. Ireland was given full membership of the International

Architects Cullinan Studio and multidisciplinary firm Arup have received planning permission for the UK’s longest aerial walkway: a 400m-long (1,312ft) ribbon “floating through the treetops” of the Conkers visitor attraction in Leicestershire. The sinuous attraction – composed of a galvanised steel structure – narrows and widens at different points, creating passing places and observation points overlooking the forest below. Three timber-clad treehouses, or eyries, feature along the walkway, providing event

The first permanent venue built for the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo has opened to the public. The Musashino Forest Sport Plaza, located close to Kengo Kuma’s forthcoming national Stadium, will host badminton, modern pentathlon fencing and wheelchair basketball and has a seating capacity of more than 10,000. Constructed by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, the arena includes a swimming pool, gym, multi-use sports area and two fitness studios

Plans to develop a second zoo in Sydney, Australia, have been given the go-ahead after local government officials granted planning permission to the AU$36m (US$28.8m, €24m, £21.3m) “cage free” project in Bungarribee. First touted in September 2015, the proposal for the Western Sydney Parklands – masterplanned by Australian design firm Misho + Associates (M+A) in conjunction with landscape architecture from Aspect Studios – will create natural-looking spaces developed to showcase

Stadiums of the future may include permanent residential facilities and places of work if they adopt an innovative, community-focused vision put forward by Populous. The architectural practice behind the Olympic Stadiums in Sydney and London has imagined the ‘Stadium of Tomorrow’ for the July issue of National Geographic magazine. Part of the vision includes making stadiums “seven days a week, 365 days a year” venues, with residential and office facilities

David Chipperfield Architects have been invited to develop design proposals for an extension to Russia’s historic Perm Opera and Ballet Theatre, seven years after they won an international competition to refurbish and extend the building. Following a meeting on 3 March with Maxim Reshetnikov, the acting governor of Perm City, the studio have been asked to visualise a new freestanding building for the opera house on the southern bank of

The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) has awarded £9.1m (US$11.5m, €10.7m) to the Silverstone Heritage Experience, guaranteeing development of a new permanent exhibition at the home of British motor racing. Sitting at the main entrance to the race circuit, the exhibition by Mather & Co will create a series of interactive exhibitions and displays to be housed inside the only remaining Second World War hangar on the Silverstone site. For the

The world’s first permanent ice hotel has opened to guests 200km (124m) north of the Arctic Circle. Icehotel 365, located in the Swedish village of Jukkasjärvi, is a year-round extension to the world-famous 26-year old temporary structure, which is sculpted every winter using ice from the Torne River before melting in spring. To ensure the new structure stands firm all year round – despite its walls, floors and ceiling being

The United Kingdom’s Royal Air Force (RAF) will celebrate its centenary in 2018 by renovating the RAF Museum in London into “a world-class visitor facility.” Nex–Architecture and Agence Ter Landscape Architects have been commissioned to revamp the historic site, which sits on the edge of the former Hendon Aerodrome in the city’s Colindale area. The airfield was one of the first in the country and was instrumental during the Battle

Newly promoted League One side Fleetwood Town FC has been granted planning permission to start work on a new £6m training complex. Designed by architects Croft Goode, the facility will become home to Fleetwood Town’s first team, Thornton-Cleveleys FC and members of the local community. The site, based on Poolfoot Farm in Thornton, Lancashire will house a full-size 3G pitch, as well as a number of grass pitches, associated changing

Developer Almacantar, alongside Rafael Viñoly Architects, has gained planning permission for a £450m (US$755m, €554m) mixed use development scheme to be built in London’s Marble Arch. Westminster City Council has approved a bid to demolish the 1967 skyscraper currently standing on the site, with plans to replace it with two new towers, designed by Rafael Viñoly Architects, overlooking Hyde Park. The first tower – 17 storeys in height – will

Torbay council and Torbay Development Agency granted planning permission for a £90m luxury resort and flats development on the site of the existing Torquay Palace Hotel in Torbay in March. Mapstone Developments are consulting GJR Architects to create the 137 apartments – a mix of flats and duplex units – with 270 parking spaces, private spa and leisure facilities. Divided into four blocks of flats in a gated, concierge-serviced community

Planning permission has been given for a new country park and housing development in Ashford, Kent. The Conningbrook Lakes project will see the new site, formerly a quarry for sand and gravel, transformed into a country park with water-based activities, foot and cycle paths, nature trails, a water-front restaurant and a lakeside village of 300 homes. The site will be planned and designed by BDB Design Ltd, based in Canterbury

Image: How the new open courtyard will look The Victoria and Albert (V&A) Museum in London, UK has announced it has secured planning permission from the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea for its £41m (US$64m, EUR52m) Exhibition Road project. Amanda Levete Architects (ALA) were appointed in March 2011 to work on the scheme, which will lead to the creation of a new purpose-built underground gallery. Enabling work is now

Architects Foster + Partners have confirmed that the Hermitage Plaza, a mixed-use development planned for Paris, France has been granted 'permis de construire' - the final approval. The result of a close collaboration with EPAD, the City of Courbevoie, Atelier de Paysage Urbain and Département de Hauts-de-Seine, the project is intended to inject life into the area east of La Défense by creating a sustainable, high-density community. The project incorporates