The Sacred River Spa at Four Seasons Resort Bali at Sayan has embarked on a new chapter after receiving a major renovation and expansion project. The riverside retreat in Ubud, Indonesia, has been relaunched with enhanced facilities, brand-new amenities and an elevated treatment offering. Honouring traditions Nestled amid rich tropical jungle foliage, the 4,970sq m facility has been refreshed with a concept inspired by the ancient Balinese philosophy of Niskala,

Little Island, an urban park built on stilts on the Hudson River in New York City, has opened to the public. Designed by Heatherwick Studio, in partnership with Arup and Mathews Nielsen Landscape Architects (MNLA), the 1.1-hectare (11,000sq m) park and performance venue features 540 metres of pathways and a range of performance spaces. Little Island’s distinct exterior is supported by 132 "tulip-like" concrete piles. Each tulip’s shape is unique

The residential offering of the South Bank of London's River Thames is set to be reshaped with projects by PLP Architecture and Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA). PLP, working with Native Land, recently received planning approval for new proposals for its Eastern Yards site, part of the £1bn ($1.25bn, €1.13bn) Bankside Yards mixed-use development for which planning consent was given in 2014 and construction began in 2019. PLP created the full

The Four Seasons Hotel Bangkok at Chao Phraya River is due to open early this year, with a design by Denniston founder Jean-Michel Gathy that is inspired by Thai culture and the hotel's riverfront location. Occupying a 200m (660ft) stretch along the Chao Phraya River, around which the Thai capital was first settled and grew, the hotel's design makes abundant and synergistic use of water. Flowing streams, waterfalls and pools

Everton Football Club has revealed the final Dan Meis designs for its planned new stadium on Liverpool's Bramley-Moore Dock, which will be submitted to Liverpool City Council in a planning application today. Initial designs for the stadium were released earlier this year, after which a public consultation process was carried out. The response from fans was overwhelmingly positive, but a number of changes have been made nonetheless. Most notably, the

Ground has been broken on the Eleven tower, designed by Robert A.M. Stern Architects, which will feature a variety of luxury amenities for its residents. The US$190m (€171m, £147m) development in the US city of Minneapolis will cover 146,000sq ft (14,000sq m) and spread 41 storeys across a height of 550ft (168m). It has been conceived to gradually taper as it rises, with floorplates of 12,500sq ft (1,200sq m) near

The Memphis Brooks Museum of Art in Tennessee has appointed Swiss architecture practice Herzog & de Meuron to design "Brooks on the Bluff", its new US$105m (€93.9m, £82.6m) home. The future art facility, which will overlook the Mississippi River, will boast 112,000 sq ft (10,405 sq m) of space and feature galleries, classrooms, a theatre, a café, museum shop, and sculpture garden. Memphis-based studio archimania, who have previously worked to

New York-based architecture firm Diller Scofidio + Renfro (DS+R) have unveiled the first series of renderings of "The Tide", a linear park planned for London's Greenwich Peninsula. The future leisure area will comprise 500 hectares of Thameside public realm and feature an array of contemporary art installations, sculpture gardens, terraces, and promenades. The space will also play host to a number of audio wellness portals (designed by BeBox), eateries, and

International architecture firm Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill (SOM) have unveiled their designs for a first-of-a-kind floating eco-park in Chicago. The scheme will see sections of the Chicago River and shoreline transformed into a nature reserve and leisure attraction for urban dwellers looking for a temporary escape from city life. Called "Wild Mile Chicago", the project – which is being supported by Chicago's Department of Planning and Development, as well as

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

American architecture firm Studio Gang have revealed the first set of renderings of their vision to regenerate the historic Tom Lee Park in Memphis, Tennessee. Part of what has been described as a "holistic redevelopment" of the Memphis riverfront, the revitalised public space, which Studio Gang is redesigning in collaboration with SCAPE Landscape Architecture, will take design cues from various riverside structures, machines, and transport vessels – such as docks,

Australian property company Northstar Developments has unveiled plans to construct a floating island oasis in the shallows of the Swan River in Perth. Designed to be a watersports and general leisure destination, the Swan River Deck–if approved–would be a jellyfish and algae-free zone, comprising multiple naturally heated pools, an outdoor cinema, a sand-bar for sunbathing, a top platform for dining and lounging, and a green-roofed conference hall with rooms inside

Marriott International’s W Hotels brand has re-entered the Australian market with the opening of the W Brisbane, a new hotel that features fast-paced urban style and modern design with a “decidedly cheeky Aussie point of view”. Owned by Shayher Group, the 312-bedroom W Brisbane is located riverside in the city’s central business district. With interiors from Nic Graham & Associates, the hotel embraces Brisbane’s connection to Australian identity and uses

Four design teams have been shortlisted for a project to reimagine the Eiffel Tower's visitor experience. Groups led by AL_A, Gustafson, Porter + Bowman, Agence Ter and Koz Architectes are in the running for the large-scale project, which covers a 540,000sq m area either side of the River Seine. Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo has voiced the city’s ambition to make every visit to the landmark more enjoyable and accessible by

British architects HawkinsBrown have won planning and listed building consent for their regeneration of a complex of Victorian-era mill buildings in Yorkshire to form an arts-led leisure district. Their 130,000sq ft (12,000sq m) masterplan for the Rutland Mills project will deliver studio space for artists, designers and musicians; restaurants; event and gallery space, a retail zone; a hotel; and several areas of public realm. The mixed-use district will be sited

Plans to revitalise a 19-mile strech of the Lower LA River have been revealed, with new renderings showing how desolate concrete stretches – famously providing the dystopian backdrop to Terminator 2 – could be transformed into vibrant community hubs. Architecture firm Perkins+Will have worked with the County of Los Angeles, Tetra Tech Engineers and the LA River Working Group – formed of 13 stakeholder communities – to create the Lower

English football club Fulham FC has announced that its plans to redevelop the Riverside Stand at its Craven Cottage stadium have been approved following a planning hearing at London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. Construction work on the new stand, which will raise the overall capacity of Craven Cottage to around 30,000, is set to commence by the summer of 2019. Sports architects Populous are behind the design, which club

V&A Dundee, Scotland’s first design museum, will open to the public on Saturday 15 September 2018, it has been revealed. New images of the Kengo Kuma-designed building have been released to coincide with the announcement, as have details of the museum’s inaugural exhibitions. Standing at the centre of the £1bn (US$1.3bn, €1.1bn) transformation of the city’s waterfront, once part of the docklands, V&A Dundee has been designed to evoke the

Fulham Football Club has submitted an application to the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham Council for the redevelopment of the Riverside Stand at its historic Craven Cottage home. New renderings released by Populous show how the stand has been designed with “an iconic roof design” to better connect with the river. Sports architects Populous are behind the proposals, which club chair Shahid Khan claims will “transcend the customary standards

A vacant plot located along the Harlem River waterfront in New York has been earmarked as the site for a major new residential and leisure development – including a home for the city’s first dedicated hip hop museum. The New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) has announced a raft of ambitious plans for its new Bronx Point destination, including public open spaces, a hi-tech multiplex theatre, education facilities for

English football club Fulham FC has revealed fresh details of how it plans to create a new “leisure destination for use on match and non-match days” at the club's Craven Cottage stadium. Global sports architects Populous have created a proposal for the club that its chair, Shahid Khan, claims will “transcend the customary standards of football grandstands” by “blending history and the contemporary like no stadium in the land or

Fulham FC have appointed global sports architects Populous to lead the redesign of the Riverside Stand at the club’s London home, Craven Cottage. In his programme notes for the Championship match against Hull City on 13 September, Fulham FC chairman Shahid Khan pledged that the project will “transcend the customary standards of football grandstands” by including riverside pubs and restaurants, event facilities, green spaces and public access to a river

German architect Ole Scheeren, best-known as the designer of a series sculptural towers in Asia, has announced his first project to be built in Europe: a spectacular residential high-rise in the city of Frankfurt. Riverpark Tower, commissioned by developer GEG German Estate Group, will emerge through the conversion of a forty-year-old concrete office building. Büro Ole Scheeren, the architect’s eponymous practice, will cut some floors and insert new, larger horizontal

A Gothenburg warehouse will be transformed into a 16,500sq m (177,600sq ft) mixed-use hub, with Dutch architects MVRDV on design duties. Working in collaboration with BSK Arkitekter, the practice will convert the multi-storey industrial structure into Magasin 113 – “a lively cultural development with both private and public functions.” The project is located in the heart of Frihamnen RiverCity – the largest urban development project in Sweden, and indeed Scandinavia

The Arctic Bath, a unique luxury hotel and spa floating on the Lule river in Swedish Lapland is scheduled to open in 2018. Reminiscent of a bird’s nest or natural dam, the exteriors of the circular spa buildings will be covered with piled logs, providing added insulation to guests during the winter months. The spa buildings, with saunas, treatment and relaxation rooms, a restaurant and lounge bar, will encircle an

The Garden Bridge Trust, the charity established to build and run the proposed Garden Bridge in central London, has today (14 August) announced that it will be finally winding up the project. The decision, which brings an end to one of the city’s most protracted development sagas, has been made with the Trust unable to find alternative funding for the scheme, following the decision by London mayor Sadiq Khan in

New York architects SO – IL and French firm Laisne Roussel have won an international design competition to integrate new buildings and public spaces into Paris’ historic but underused Place Mazas. Their flexible urban strategy, called ‘L’ Atelier de l’ Arsenal’, will retain the historic fabric of the 60,000sq ft (5,590sq m) site, located between Canal Saint Martin and the Seine River, while adding three new public squares and a