Virgin Galactic believes it has the necessary financial muscle to achieve commercialisation of its space tourism flights, after merging with investment partnership Social Capital Hedosophia (SCH). The transaction, which is due to complete during the second half of 2019, will deliver US$1.3bn (€1.16bn, £1.04bn) of equity to Virgin Galactic, made up of US$1bn (€890m, £800m) in common stock of the combined company (at US$10 per share) and up to US$300m

Architects MnM Studio, Maria Brightei and Marcello D'Orsi were named as joint winners of the Celia Thomas Prize at this year's Bespoke Access Awards. Now in its second year, the Bespoke Access Awards is an international design competition run in association with the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). The Celia Thomas Prize, named for Baroness Celia Thomas, is designed to champion accessible hospitality design to make the hotel experience

Global tour operator Virgin Holidays has announced plans to build an airport departure lounge with a difference: it will be located on a beach in Barbados. From summer 2018, flyers leaving the Caribbean country will be able to be transferred straight from their hotel to The Departure Beach, located on Brownes Beach in Carlisle Bay, where they will drop off their luggage and receive their boarding pass. Until it is

Hospitality group Alila has opened a second location in China, converting a historic sugar mill into a 117-bedroom “modern retro” resort in Guilin, overlooking the Li River. Designed by Dong Gong of Vector Architects with interiors by Ju Bin of Horizontal Space Design, the vision of the Alila Yangshuo resort is to integrate the new with the old, and the designers have incorporated elements of the 1960s sugar mill architecture

Over 75 million people in 44 cities across Europe could one day be connected by a high-speed Hyperloop network spanning 5,000 kilometres – with nine prospective routes being considered by for the continent. Executives from Hyperloop One – one of the companies attempting to make Canadian-American entrepreneur Elon Musk’s ambition for superfast travel a reality – have met dignitaries and policymakers at its Vision for Europe summit in Amsterdam to

Young architects from around the world will have an opportunity to travel to China to undertake a research project under the guidance of Ma Yansong, the founder of MAD Architects. The studio has launched the 2017 MAD Travel Fellowship, which will be fund five international undergraduate or graduate architecture students to travel to China, and five Chinese architecture students to travel abroad. The fellowship was initiated by Ma in 2009

Plans are underway to create a vintage-themed recreational complex as an ode to the golden days of automobile travel, at a disused gas station on one of France’s most iconic routes. The Bel Air service station on the former N6 route (now renamed the D973) was once a popular – and necessary – stop on the journey from Paris to the French Riviera. However, when the A6 connecting Paris and

Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Science Center has detailed plans for its US$21m (€18.7m, £16.1m) Science Pavilion to include 14,000sq ft (1,300sq m) of new exhibition space. Designed by Indovina Associates Architects, the three-storey building will be built around the existing Omnimax Theater with the pavilion facing out over the Ohio River. In addition to temporary exhibition space, the extension will feature nine STEM learning labs and a top-floor space capable of hosting

A new Indian restaurant and cocktail bar has opened in London with a design that pays tribute to the scientists and botanists of the Victorian era and their explorations in the jungles of India. Flora Indica, which opened at the weekend, is the latest dining and entertainment concept from designer Henry Chebaane and Blue Sky Hospitality, who recently opened London’s sci-fi tinged Asian restaurant Kojawan. Walls and shelves of the

Uber is quite literally propelling itself into new transportation markets with the advent of its new helicopter service, UberChopper. Eager to expand into forms of transport beyond its usual car service, Uber has been experimenting with helicopters, boats and even rickshaws in recent years. UberChopper has been offered at several high-profile leisure events in the last six months, including the Cannes Film Festival and the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival,

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