Wellscape is a new company, spearheaded by industry figure Brian Paris, set to revolutionise spa, wellness and hospitality guest journeys with advanced immersive visual environments. After collaborating with a team skilled in creating VR settings for film and TV, Paris is using AI and high-resolution LED panels to bring healing spaces to life with naturescapes, light, scent and soundscapes – some of which are composed by wellness music provider Myndstream.

Music psychology specialist, Brian d’Souza, has launched a sound wellness business to offer transformative sound experiences to the hospitality, wellness and spa industries. Called Swell, the company delivers bespoke solutions combining field recording, music composition, nature and sound therapy to improve relaxation while promoting positive listening habits for deep relaxation. d'Souza says the traditional linear listening experience can result in 'listener fatigue' if guests and staff hear the same music

Icelandic attractions and hospitality brand, Pursuit, has launched Sky Lagoon, a restorative geothermal retreat just outside Reykjavik, situated against the striking backdrop of the North Atlantic Ocean. The new retreat is a competitor to the world-famous Blue Lagoon, which is located a 10-minute drive away. Features of the geothermal Sky Lagoon include an ocean-side 75-metre, (246 ft), infinity-edge pool showcasing expansive ocean and sky views, a sauna with Iceland’s largest

A South Tyrolean wellness resort in Saltaus, Italy, has received a new two-floor wellness centre designed to provide a sanctuary of wellbeing that integrates smoothly into the natural landscape. Apfelhotel Torgglerhof hotel’s new 570sq m facility has been created to complement the resort’s existing spa with its apple-shaped bio-sauna – inspired by the local apple orchards. Architecture and interior design firm Network of Architecture (noa*) led the overhaul, with construction

Six Senses has announced plans to open a new Italian resort at a historic castle estate nestled into the Umbrian countryside, in Perugia, scheduled to open in 2023. Architecture firm Woods Bagot is behind the masterplan, while interiors are being planned by Tokyo-based Design Studio SPIN. The redevelopment is being driven by VIY Management (VIYM), a London-based investment firm focused on luxury hospitality and mixed-use real estate projects, and Alessio

OF Studio have won a competition run by Emaar to create a new "landmark structure" on a 6,300sq m (67,800sq ft) plot within the 5.6 million sq m (60.3 million sq ft) Dubai Creek Harbour waterfront development. Participants were briefed to submit proposals that would respect the culture and climate of Dubai, but also expose children and families to new worldviews. OF Studio's LAND-MARK proposal was conceived to be a

Aurelien Chen has created a pavilion in China that reimagines the traditional Chinese landscape of mountains, forest, clouds and water. The 350sq m (3,770sq ft) Dragon Mountain Landmark Pavilion, so-called because of its location in Zhulongshan – literally Dragon Mountain, was created to draw the attention to the entrance of the Dragon Mountain Natural site. Described by Chen as "an ethereal and abstract version of a traditional Chinese landscape", the

MAD Arkitekter have planned a new district in Martineåsen, Norway, that is aimed at celebrating the beautiful landscape of the area while offering the qualities of a small-town community. Martineåsen Nature Town has been designed in partnership with Larvik Municipality, in which Martineåsen is situated. MAD sought to avoid what it saw as the typical suburban development of Norwegian city outskirts, with the extensive land-use, need for car ownership, infrastructure

Sordo Madaleno Arquitectos (SMA) have created a branched, undulating design for Chablé's planned Sea of Cortez spa resort that blends with the natural landscape and gives guests both privacy and ocean views. Located on the Baja California Peninsula just north of La Paz in northwest Mexico, the resort will cover an area of 64,900sq m (698,700sq ft). The site is set on the coast between two hills in a sparsely

Dorte Mandrup and her studio have won a competition to design an attraction dedicated to whales that will rise organically out of the ground and merge with the surrounding landscape. Called The Whale, it will be located 300km (186mi) north of the Arctic Circle on the northernmost part of Andøya island in Andenes, Norway. The area is regarded as one of the best places in the world for whale-watching and

Technology company Scape Technologies has gathered street-level data for 100 cities around the world, that it says can be used to create a new baseline for 3D mapping and enable city-wide augmented reality applications. The collection of more than two billion images has been taken by the company's local teams and will help the transition to electronic devices of the near future, in which cameras don't just take pictures but

Sydney-based Japanese architect Koichi Takada has unveiled plans to design a nature-inspired seafront community in Jakarta, Indonesia. The 9,000 sq m development, which is being spearheaded by real estate company Crown Group Holdings, will feature 2,000 apartments, a beach club, a marina, and a number of dining outlets. Set to be housed in eight concrete high-rises, the residences, which Takada said would take cues from rice terraces, forests, and other

Italian architecture firms Laboratorio Di Architettura e Design (LAD) and Hypnos Studio have proposed to create the "Sovraparco" – a bowl-shaped elevated garden on the Piazzale Loreto in Mian, Italy. The concave structure, which the proposers have likened to an inverted Panthéon, would house a miniature forest and be accessible through a basement-level stairway and ramp. Once inside, visitors would be unable to see the surrounding Milanese cityscape due to

Dutch architects MVRDV have won an international competition to build Vanke 3D City, a mixed-use development with a number of what the design practice have termed "three dimensional" public areas. The 250-metre tower, which will overlook Shenzhen Bay in China, will take the form of eight porous but interlinked blocks. The complex will also feature landscaped gardens, atriums, hotels, apartments, and offices, some of which will be built in open-air,

A Uruguayan hotel and winery has been designed to disappear into its surroundings with a creative mirrored exterior design. The Sacromonte Landscape Hotel sits in a 250-acre mountain range between Punta del Este, José Ignacio and Pueblo Garzón. Designed by MAPA Architects, it comprises 13 hotel cabins, a winery and a farm, which provides food for the restaurant. The 13 cabins were prefabricated in the Uruguayan capital, Montevideo, and assembled

An international design competition to determine who will design the first Garden City of the 21st century has been whittled down to five, with Ebbsfleet to become the largest of 10 "Healthy New Towns" being developed in the UK. The competition was launched by the Ebbsfleet Development Corporation and the NHS in March to find the best creative and inspiring ideas, which will be used to shape the landscape of

Norwegian architect Reiulf Ramstad has revealed the design his firm have created for a hotel that will be blended into the landscape of the Alsace hills in France. Construction on the Breitenbach Landscape Hotel will begin in the next few months. Conceived to “gather the best of architecture, design, spa facilities and food culture in the region”, several distinctive architectural forms will be spread across the valley to create “a

The executive director of the Arkansas Arts Center (AAC), situated in Little Rock’s historic MacArthur Park, has announced details of a striking expansion for the attraction, designed by architects Studio Gang. Todd Herman revealed that 127,000sq ft (11,800sq m) of renovated and new spaces will be created for the centre to strengthen the connections between the visual and performing arts in an inclusive space that welcomes a diverse community. “This

A team of academic researchers, landscape architects and artists have come together to look at how nature in cities affects mental wellbeing. Researchers at King's College London, landscape architects J & L Gibbons and art foundation Nomad Projects have used smartphone-based technology to assess the relationship between nature in cities and mental wellbeing in real time. Not surprisingly, they found that being outdoors, seeing trees, hearing birdsong, seeing the sky

The first competition-winning cabins that form Epic Retreats – Wales’ first pop-up boutique hotel – have been revealed. Several architectural teams were chosen through a competitive tender to design the purpose-built glamping units, which are themed on “the mythology, tradition and beauty of Wales.” Launched to coincide with Wales’s ‘Year of Legends,’ Epic Retreats is designed to immerse visitors in the country’s heritage and natural beauty. The cabins will be

Here are some of the stories that appeared on CLAD this week, from Elon Musk’s latest big idea to a knighthood for David Adjaye. Monday • In an exclusive interview, James Corner, one of the leading figures behind New York’s High Line elevated park, has described landscape architects as “the unsung heroes of the public realm.” Read here. • Architecture and planning studio Ecosistema Urbano have won a design competition

James Corner, one of the leading figures behind New York’s High Line elevated park, has described landscape architects as “the unsung heroes of the public realm.” “We sometimes feel as though we’re in a 1950s TV series in regards to our relationship with architects,” he told CLAD, in an exclusive interview. “They’re the 50s husband – dominant and frontal and vertical and visible. And we’re the stereotypical ‘good wife’. We’re

Fresh off the back of revamping New York's Times Square and designing a major museum celebrating Europe’s oldest cave paintings, architecture studio Snøhetta have completed something rather more intimate: a new range of ready-made mobile cabins. Called Gapahuk, the simple structure is designed to fit into nearly any scenery – from mountains to forest or by the sea. The product has been designed for Rindalshytter, Norway’s leading producer of leisure

Architecture firm Benoy have released their latest designs for a retail-led leisure destination on China’s reclaimed Hexin Island in Hainan province. The 32,000sq m (34,400sq ft) project is the second phase of the wider Sanya Eyot scheme – a resort, billed as “the largest of its kind in the world”, being developed by the China International Travel Service to integrate leisure, high-end hospitality and natural attractions. Benoy have visualised a

Landscape architects McGregor Coxall have won an international competition to design a wetland nature sanctuary envisioned as the world’s very first “bird airport”. Each year more than 50 million birds fly from the Antarctic reaches to the northern tip of the earth along the East Asian-Australian Flyway (EAAF) seeking food and shelter. However, this corridor is under severe threat from coastal urbanisation and the resultant destruction of bird-friendly habitats. In

The Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London has won the Rosa Barba International Landscape Prize; one of world’s leading awards for landscape architects. The park's designers, Hargreaves Associates, were named the winners of the €15,000 accolade following the decision of a jury chaired by James Corner; one of the creator’s of New York’s High Line elevated park. The competition was organised by the Architects’ Association of Catalonia and the Catalan

The International Garden Festival has begun in Quebec’s Redford Gardens, with five award-winning garden installations open to the public for the first time. They are being displayed alongside 22 other creations designed for the festival by landscape architects in Canada and around the world. The prize-winning studios – who hail from Canada, the United States, France and Switzerland – won the right to build their gardens following an international competition