Aman Rosa Alpina and its Aman Spa have opened in San Cassiano, in the heart of the Italian Dolomites following an extensive renovation. The ski resort, located in the UNESCO-listed region, was reimagined by Belgian-born designer Jean-Michel Gathy of Denniston. The property now has 51 guest rooms and suites with large balconies, floor-to-ceiling windows and fireplaces. The Pizzinini family, who have owned and operated the property since 1939, commissioned the

Kerzner International has opened its first purpose-built Siro and the launch of the fitness and recovery-focused concept in Europe. Siro is a fully-integrated hospitality concept targeting guests looking to improve and enhance their active lifestyles. It’s built on five core pillars of wellbeing – nutrition, fitness, sleep, recovery and mindfulness. The wellness-centric hospitality brand, has only one other destination hotel – Siro One Za’abeel in Dubai, which opened in Q1

The Auberge Resorts Collection has opened the luxurious Collegio alla Querce in Florence, its first property in Italy. The 16th Century buildings were once home to a school, a chapel and theatre. The architectural restoration of the estate was led by Spanish father-son design duo, Esteva i Esteva, who have preserved the original character of the structures and also by Florentine interior designers, ArchFlorence, who have kept the Renaissance features

Tripolers, a travel tourism agency headquartered in Beijing, is working with architects Holloway Li to build a series of boutique luxury hotels following the route of the ancient Silk Road in western China. The first of these sites will be the 80-key Tripolers Oasis Spa Hotel, which is due to open in 2026 in a working vineyard on the edge of the Gobi Desert in Dunghuang province. The resort and

Hotel operator Aman has opened a third resort in Japan that has been designed by the late architect Kerry Hill and his team to capitalise on its lush forest surroundings. The 26-room Aman Kyoto, announced in February, is situated in a hidden garden close to Kinkaky-ji Temple, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, near the centre of the prefecture. The 80ac (32ha) Aman Kyoto site comprises 72ac (29ha) of permanent forest

The World Heritage Committee has added the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York to the UNESCO World Heritage List. The museum is one of eight Wright-designed US buildings to have made the list, after the American architect's 20th century works were awarded the honour. The others are the Unity Temple (Illinois), Frederick C. Robie House (Chicago); the Taliesin (Wisconsin); Hollyhock House (Los Angeles), Fallingwater Pennsylvania), the

British architecture firm Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios (FCBS) have won a competition to draft a master plan for Liverpool's historic waterfront district. Situated in the city's UNESCO-recognised maritime quarter, the rehabilitated development will – according to the architects – "maximise the use of the 18th-century dockland to create an outstanding visitor destination." Set to unfold over a 10-year-period, FCBS's plan will also see the area's disused listed buildings restored to

The Foreign Correspondents Club (FCC) Angkor – once the official residence of the French governor of the Cambodian protectorate, and a pied-à-terre for journalists and émigrés – is set to reopen its doors this spring, following a US$60m (€52.7m, £45m) renovation. Designed to evoke the "tropical modernism" of present-day Siem Reap, the mansion-like hotel will be managed by international hospitality group Avani Hotels and Resorts and feature 60 new rooms

The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the International Union of Architects (UIA) have named Rio de Janeiro as the first World Capital of Architecture. In its capacity as the 2020 architecture capital, the seaside metropolis, which currently boasts a population of more than 6.32 million people, will hold a series of events under the theme "All the worlds, just one world". According to UNESCO, the city's

Nygårdstangen Utvikling—a consortium consisting of developer Olav Thon, building management firm EDG Property and construction company Rexir— has commissioned Denmark-based architects 3XN to design a masterplan proposal for the city of Bergen, Norway. Bergen City has ambitious plans for itself as a Unesco World Heritage Site and, in response, 3XN has created an equally bold masterplan that makes a new arena the of epicentre it. Despite its World Heritage status,

Copenhagen-based design studio Kvorning Design and Communication have created a new installation for Norway's Alta Museum, with the permanent exhibition examining a collection of rock art dating back to the Neolithic era. Located in Alta, Finnmark, the World Heritage Rock Art Centre – also known as the Alta Museum – sits within one of five areas of rock art, which was inscribed on Unesco's World Heritage List in 1985. The

One of Europe’s largest and most dramatic skateparks has been built in Luxembourg, in the shadow of a UNESCO World Heritage site. The multi-level park has been built beneath the stony Fortifications of Vauban in the Peitruss Valley, which separates Luxembourg's Old and New Towns. French studio Constructo Skatepark Architecture, based in Marseille, worked with members of the local skateboarding community to create a facility suitable for their needs and

A blueprint designed to create a sustainable tourism model for, and to protect, the world heritage of Edinburgh has been revealed, with the City of Edinburgh Council, Edinburgh World Heritage and Historic Environment Scotland uniting to develop the five-year masterplan. Edinburgh is made up of two distinct areas – the Old Town and the New Town. The former is dominated by a medieval fortress, while the latter has been developed

A planning application for a new Welcome Pavilion to be built at Liverpool's Albert Dock has been submitted to the city council. Designed by K2 Architects, the structure represents the first phase of a masterplan to upgrade the dockland attraction – home to the largest group of Grade I listed buildings in the country – to the evolving needs of visitors, who travel to the landmark for its mixture of

In a bid to protect its World Heritage status, the City of Liverpool and Historic England have drawn up a heritage action plan, created to navigate the threat posed by a proposed development of the city’s waterfront, which could see it struck from the Unesco register. Granted outline planning permission in 2013, the £5.5bn (US$7.7bn, €6.22bn) Liverpool Waters 30-year development scheme from The Peel Group would “undoubtedly cause substantial harm

The Pritzker-winning architect Shigeru Ban has completed the dramatic Mount Fuji World Heritage Center in Japan’s Yamanashi prefecture, with a design that mimics the famous dormant volcano. Located 20 miles southwest of the natural landmark, Ban’s 3,400sq m (36,500sq ft) facility is formed by an inverted latticed timber cone, that appears mountainous when seen in the large reflecting pool at the front of the complex. Inside, exhibitions tell the story

Richard Meier and Partners have completed their first pedestrian and vehicular bridge, envisioning the sculptural crossing as a new type of public space for the Italian city of Alessandria. The international architecture firm have spent twenty years working on the Cittadella Bridge, which reconnects the modern city with the Citadella, an 18th century fort and tentative UNESCO World Heritage site. A separate stone bridge hailing from the Napoleonic era was

An international design team led by US architects wHY have won the international competition to design the £25m Ross Pavilion and West Princes Street Gardens project in Edinburgh. The Ross Development Trust together with the City of Edinburgh Council are replacing a bandstand on the site, which has fallen into disrepair, with a new visitor centre, café and flexible platform for cultural programming. The surrounding landscape is also being improved.

Latvian practice Mailitis Architects have designed an amphitheatre with a unique wind tunnel for a band of levitating monks. The Shaolin Flying Monks Theatre has been built on Songshan Mountain in central China – a Unesco World Heritage that is home to the Shaolin Monastery, traditionally considered to be the birthplace of Zen Buddhism and Kung-Fu martial arts. The monks who live on the mountain develop skills in many scenic

Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA) are to build a cultural and research complex for a Unesco World Heritage site in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia. The firm have won first prize in the competition to build the Urban Heritage Administration Centre, which will incorporate a permanent exhibition gallery, library, lecture hall, educational and meeting spaces and a scientific institution for conducting field research for ongoing digs in the Wadi Hanifah valley. The 8,780sq

Olympic stadiums and facilities should be protected with their own cultural heritage listing, a leading member of the International Association for Sport and Leisure Facilities (IAKS) has argued. Speaking at the Olympic Museum’s new stadium design exhibition in Lausanne, Dr Miranda Kiuri, who is also an architect and researcher at the University of Liege, called on UNESCO to introduce a new listing category for stadiums that have a strong cultural,

A group of Japanese architects, including Fumihiko Maki and Kengo Kuma, are petitioning UNESCO to recognise the gymnasium building designed by Kenzo Tange for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics on its World Cultural Heritage list. The high-profile team today (21 September) launched a campaign to have the Yoyogi National Gymnasium listed before the Olympics return to Tokyo in 2020. The facility – which hosted swimming, diving and basketball events at the

Here are some of the most popular stories that appeared on CLAD this week, from the world's tallest Ferris wheel to a high-profile planning application hampered by bats. Monday • The world's tallest observation wheel is taking shape on Dubai’s Bluewaters Island. Read here. • Architects Höweler + Yoon have proposed an interactive ‘Living Lab’ for the Dubai 2020 Expo to explore human empathy. Read here. • A pop-up preview

Hospitality group Taj Safaris has opened its first lodge outside of India; a traditionally designed retreat within a national park once used as a hunting ground by Nepal’s royal family. Leopards, rhinos and Bengal tigers roam the UNESCO World Heritage listed Chitwan National Park located near the city of Bharatpur. The thick grasslands, meandering water bodies and abundant wildlife – including 68 species of mammal and 550 native bird species

Two architecture studios hope to show how remote heritage sites can be served by ‘satellite’ visitor centres through their own design for a tourist hub which celebrates an uninhabited Scottish archipelago from a location on a nearby island. Scottish studio Dualchas Architects and Norway’s Reiulf Ramstad Architects, who are working in the UK for the first time, have unveiled their masterplan for the St Kilda Visitor Centre. They propose the

Unesco has included a new addition to its World Heritage list for 2016, adding 17 sites across three continents, to recognise the work of Swiss architect Le Corbusier. Of the 21 new additions to Unesco’s list of more than 1,000, The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier, an Outstanding Contribution to the Modern Movement is perhaps the most unique as it covers seven countries – Argentina, Belgium, France, Germany, India, Japan

Danish architectural firm Dorte Mandrup Arkitekter have unveiled designs for an arctic visitor attraction designed to draw visitors to Greenland. The proposed Icefjord Centre in Ilulissat – a town in the Qaasuitsup municipality in western Greenland – will help develop Greenland’s tourism and will demonstrate the history and culture of the ice fjord, as well as highlighting the dramatic melting of the UNESCO-protected Greenland ice sheet. Scheduled to open in