Virgin Active has opened the doors to its Wimbledon club following a comprehensive redevelopment and refurbishment of the site. The company said the property – described it as an 'all-new club' – has been meticulously planned to the highest standards. Facilities now include a 375sq m gym floor with10 Lifting Stations, Ski-Ergs, Echo Bikes, Eleiko weights and Technogym cardio equipment. A total of 10 personal trainers will also be available.

A network of Sports Illustrated branded resort and lifestyle complexes will launch in the US following a deal between Travel + Leisure Co and Sports Hospitality Ventures (SHV) – the hotel and resorts licensee for the Sports Illustrated brand in North America and the Caribbean. Each Sports Illustrated Resort campus is expected to feature a full-service hotel, a vacation club and residences, as well as a host of branded attractions

As part of the World Congress of Architecture in Copenhagen, Buro Happold will be hosting the one-hour walk and talk event through the city centre of Copenhagen to explore the challenges and solutions for active mobility planning. Buro Happold’s global lead for active mobility, Sidsel Birk Hjuler, will be hosting the side event on why it is so important to create more liveable places by making active mobility an integral

Virgin Active and Myrtha Wellness have joined forces to open a health club and wellness centre at Milan’s new Bocconi University. The entire campus was designed by Pritzker-prize winning architects, SANAA, whose work includes the New Contemporary Art Museum in Manhattan, the Christian Dior building in Tokyo and La Samaritaine department store in Paris for LVMH. The fitness and wellness facilities are located on the first floor of the Bocconi

A concept design for a "world-class" visitor centre at a Norwegian salmon farm has been unveiled by Danish exhibition design company Kvorning Design & Communication. It's hoped that The Salmon Eye visitor centre at seafood company Eide Fjordbruk's fish farming site in Hardangerfjord, Norway, will draw attention to and increase dialogue about standards of aquaculture, encouraging innovation. Should the project go forward following approval from the Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries,

A new interactive exhibition space, courtesy of US design studio Snarkitecture, has opened in the thriving Hudson Yards development in Manhattan, New York. Called Snark Park, the new 6,000sq ft (557sq m) space will put on three major experiences per year, starting with its first installation, Lost and Found – a grid-like ‘forest’ made up of columns of various heights that emerge from the ground which aims to encourage visitors

ACTVENTURE, the multi-million-dollar leisure and lifestyle mega-destination underway on the Sunshine Coast of Australia, is eyeing a rollout to the United Arab Emirates. US practice Thinkwell Group designed the plan for the AU$400m (US$305m, €280.7m, £243m) Queensland venture, with Canadian waterpark specialist WhiteWater West working on the waterpark. Members of ACTVENTURE’s advisory board – including Talal Najibi, executive chair of Najibi Investments, WhiteWater CEO Geoff Chutter, Joe Zenas, CEO of

A brightly lit, rainbow-coloured greenhouse has popped up in downtown Tokyo, Japan, inviting guests to step inside and interact with the sights and sounds created by its vegetable inhabitants. Japanese creative studio Party, which is headed up by Naoko Ito, created the Digital Vegetables installation to run over a three-week period until 5 November. Inside the greenhouse, which is covered in LED lights, visitors are invited to “Touch Design. Bathe

Real Madrid football club has announced plans to create an interactive football experience centre as part of a major development in Zhuhai, China. Business conglomerate the Lai Sun Group is behind the development – an integrated tourism and entertainment project called Novotown – which will, in its second phase, feature the world-first Real Madrid experience. Utilising advanced technologies, entertainment elements and football, visitors will be able to experience a number

A constantly evolving installation that adapts to heat, sunlight and the number of visitors has opened at the Museum of Modern Art’s (MoMA) sister institution in Long Island City. Jenny Sabin Studio have created 'Lumen' in the courtyard of MoMA PS1 as part of the annual Young Architects Program, which offers emerging architectural talent the opportunity to design and present innovative temporary, outdoor installations. The structure, on display until 4

Australia’s first “Active Lifestyle” project is coming closer to reality, with the Sunshine Coast Council granting development approval for the first phase of the $400m (US$305m, €280.7m, £243m) Queensland venture. SANAD Capital – the Australian offshoot of Dubai-based investment firm Najibi Group – is developing the project, called ACTIVE, across a 25 hectare plot on Steve Irwin Way, which it purchased in January 2016. The council has now approved 14

Danish architecture practice Dissing+Weitling have designed a 7.6km (4.7 miles) elevated bicycle route – billed as “the longest in the world” – in the heart of the Chinese city Xiamen. The ‘cycling skyway’ has been built in order to decrease traffic congestion and promote greener and more sustainable forms of transportation, as well as more active and healthy lifestyles. It was designed and completed in only six months. The route

The National Museum of Singapore has debuted a unique digital exhibit turning 69 drawings into a single giant animated interactive illustration. Using sensors set up in the newly-refurbished Glass Rotunda, the installation by Japanese art collective teamLab allows visitors to interact with the flora and fauna. Titled Story of the Forest, the digital piece, which is 15m (49ft) in height and 170m (558ft) long, is based on the museum’s watercolour

Design and technology consultancy Hirsch & Mann are set to transform everyday pedestrian crossings into playful multi-sensory experiences after winning the 2016 Playable City Award. Artists, designers, architects, technologists and creative practitioners from all over the world were invited to propose distinctive ideas to reuse city infrastructure and utilise smart city technologies “to put people and play at the heart of the future city.” Eight projects out of 81 applications

The Sanad Capital investment group is planning an AU$400m (US$302m, €271m, £245.6m) “active lifestyle” destination in Queensland, Australia. Sanad – the Australian offshoot of Dubai-based investment firm Najibi Group – is financing the “never-before seen in Australia” project, which will feature extreme water facilities and an Olympic-standard training centre. The mixed-use project will also have a 4-star hotel, conference and exhibition centre, restaurants and retail elements. The development is expected

Taronga Zoo, near Sydney, Australia, has received planning approval for a new science and conservation education centre. The A$30.7m (US$23.5, €20.8, £17.8m) Taronga Institute of Science and Learning (TISL) has been designed by New South Wales architecture firm NBRS. The old learning facility will be replaced by the new three-storey design, which is inspired by patterns in nature and will offer an immersive and interactive experience. NSW Department of Planning

Dubai investment firm Najibi Group has unveiled plans for a AU$400m (US$300.7m, €270.4m, £226.3m) “active lifestyle” destination in Queensland, Australia. Najibi recently launched its new Australian investment and development offshoot Sanad Capital, which has been created to serve as a springboard for a diverse range of projects on the Sunshine Coast. The firm’s first project will be a community lifestyle and tourism hub “never-before seen in Australia”, according to Sanad.

Innovative design can raise awareness of important social and environmental issues in an accessible, fun and persuasive way, according to the designers of VelO2 – an installation that illustrates air pollution through cycling and light. In an exclusive interview with CLAD, Matthias Gmachl, creative director of London based ‘spatial laboratory’ Loop.Ph, said: “If you have a fun, humorous and lighthearted way to introduce ideas, people are generally more open to

Josef Hargrave, an associate with Arup’s global Foresight + Research + Innovation team, has predicted that the cities of the future will “identify, understand, manage and solve social, environmental and economic shifts and shocks”. Hargrave outlined his vision at Conscious Cities, a conference organised today (1 March) in London to explore the relationship between neuroscience and architecture. He imagined a future where sensors embedded throughout cities will be able to

We’ve had suggestions for a floating cycle highway along London's river Thames and and another in the sky. Now a quirky scheme has been proposed to enable people to travel around London with ease – a moving walkway following the city’s underground Tube train network. The concept, designed by architects at NBBJ, would reinvigorate urban mobility in the capital, which suffers from overcrowding during rush hour. The studio proposes replacing

Brazilian architect and designer Guto Requena has completed a new interactive light facade around the Hotel WZ Jardins in São Paulo. Award-winning architect Guto Requena, creative director of Estudio Guto Requena, recently completed the new facade for the Hotel WZ Jardins as a research project exploring the ‘Hacked City’. The concept explores how we can bring positive changes to cities, their public spaces and architecture by plugging in poetic and

Transport for London (TFL) has issued a public tender for a designer and supplier to create the next generation of ‘Boris Bikes’ and inspire more Londoners to get active. Although the contract to supply bikes for London’s public cycle network doesn’t expire until 2017, TFL is already on the hunt for a new party to take on the job of designing, building, testing and supplying the next generation of bikes

Experience designers Thinkwell Group have created a new 25,000sq ft (2,300sq m) addition to the Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood, a finale to the backlot attraction and the culmination of a two year project exploring how films and TV shows are made. The new aspect of the Los Angeles attraction, known as ‘Stage 48: Script to Screen’, provides cutting-edge technology to create a hands-on look at the world of filmmaking,

New research has reinforced the long-held view that cities which strive to promote physical activity gain a significant economic advantage. The findings, presented this week at an Active Cities Summit in Bristol, show that investing in parks and green spaces, removing the barriers to active commuting and encouraging exercise in schools and offices can pay sizeable dividends. The University of California study – which was commissioned by Nike and UK

Jack Rouse Associates (JRA) is finalising work on a science and technology focused children’s museum in the US ahead of its opening in Q3 of this year. JRA is providing final concept, schematic and detail design for the 8,000sq ft (743sq m) exhibit space at the US$6m (€5.3m, £3.8m) Children’s Museum of Siouxland in Sioux City, Iowa. Targeting children aged between six months and 10 years, the 15,000sq ft (1,394sq

Japanese architects are getting out of the blocks in terms of promoting active design ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, with Narita Airport’s newly-opened Terminal 3 centred around an indoor running track. The Tokyo Olympics will have a strong theme of active design, with Arup set to masterplan the Games. The cycling helmet-shaped Olympic Stadium has been designed by Zaha Hadid, while several other wellness-related facilities are also in the

Matt Gibbs, a landscape architecture student, has come up with a proposal for a frosty new transport network. An 11km (6.8m) long ‘Freezeway’ that will offer people a chance to ice skate to work. Edmonton in Alberta, Canada, maintains an average sub-zero temperature throughout the winter. Instead of seeing these conditions as a challenge, Gibbs wants to harness this environment and create a dual function commuter network that acts as