When the City of Gothenburg wanted to revitalise its battered harbour front, as part of its wider scheme to regenerate the Jubilee Park and Frihamnen areas, the architects in charge – Raumlabor – turned to the country's rich sauna bathing tradition for inspiration. They planned to create a project called Bathing Culture, with a first phase being the building of a beach and the incredible Sauna in Frihamnen. The 20-seater

Architecture firm Mohsin Cooper are working with a prominent Indian landowner to create an organic farm and resort in an expansive plantation near Bangalore, Southern India. The company’s design for the 9,450 sq m (101,700sq ft) Banyan Eco Resort – which is located 28km (17 miles) from the city – comprises a cluster of low rise entrance pavilion buildings surrounding an ancient Banyan tree. The buildings will contain a hotel,

Art collector and luxury retailer Tony Salamé has opened his own private museum – the Aishti Foundation – in a new mall on the Mediterranean, twenty minutes from downtown Beirut. The dramatic terracotta-red building, by British architect David Adjaye, cost an eye-watering US$100m (€90.7m, £64.8m) and contains a spa, restaurants, cafes, luxury boutiques, a curated bookshop and a rooftop bar with panoramic views of the Lebanese capital. It covers 40,000sq

Center Parcs has today (30 October) submitted a formal planning application for a new £167m (US$257m, €233m) Village in Ireland – the leisure resort operator’s first venture outside the UK. Having been bought earlier this year by Canadian property giant Brookfield, Center Parcs is eager to maintain the momentum from the successful launch of its Woburn Forest in June 2014. The Ireland resort – to be named Center Parcs Longford

The 72,000sq ft (6,689sq m) Governors Island European-style hydrotherapy spa planned for New York has gained approval from the Landmarks Preservation Commission to proceed, bringing it one step closer to construction. The Governors Island project, located a short ferry-ride away from Manhattan and Brooklyn, includes three landmark buildings designed by architecture firm Rogers & Poor. The buildings, which were once used as officers’ quarters, date from the early 1900s, and

Miami Beach’s legendary Saxony Hotel, originally designed by Art Deco architect Roy F. France in 1948, has been transformed by (and named for) Argentine real estate developer Alan Faena, and is set to open next month. With what promises to be stunning interiors designed by filmmaker Baz Luhrmann and his wife, Academy Award-winning costume designer Catherine Martin, The Faena Hotel Miami Beach will also include a 22,000sq ft (2,044sq m)

The Galgorm Resort & Spa in Ballymena, Northern Ireland, has opened a new Thermal Spa Village, which means the resort now boasts 75,000sq ft (6,968sq m) of picturesque riverside spa facilities. The Thermal Spa Village was launched at the same time as the resort added another 48 guestrooms, designed by architect Douglas Wallace, bringing the total offering to 122. Spa consultant Jennifer Gorman helped create the Thermal Spa Village, which

Hilton Worldwide has secured a deal to open a new five-star hotel and apartment complex in Dubai, which will feature an artificial beach and rainforest for guests to enjoy. The Rosemont Hotel and Residences will be owned by Royal International and managed by Hilton Worldwide under the Curio - A Collection by Hilton brand; their first property in the UAE. It will open for business in 2018. The Canadian firm

Dutch firm Neutelings Riedijk Architects have been commissioned to design a new high-rise residential and leisure complex on the site of an old Russian car factory. The 39,000sq m (419,000sq ft), 75m (246ft) high ZIL Tower will be located beside the Moskva River, 5km (3 miles) from the centre of Moscow. The site was once the home of an automobile plant owned by the Russian company ZIL, which manufactured trucks,

The JW Marriott will open a location in Los Cabos, Mexico next month, with a 21,000sq ft (1,951sq m) Jasha Spa with 12 treatment rooms. Designed by architect Jim Olson in collaboration with Mexico City-based design firm IDEA Asociados, the 299-room JW Marriott Los Cabos is situated in the Puerto Los Cabos community, amid the desert dunes of Baja California Sur, Mexico. The spa will include an outdoor garden and

A 1940s mansion in the Mexican city of Guadalajara has been transformed into the city's first design-led hotel, Casa Fayette. Casa Fayette sits in Guadalajara’s booming Lafayette district. It comprises of a new nine-floor modernist tower – which houses a rooftop spa and the hotel's 37 rooms and suites – and the original mansion's Art Deco structure. The latter contains a retro-inspired bar and restaurant. The hotel was designed by

The Mandarin Oriental Marrakech, set amid 20 hectares of landscaped gardens and 100,000 roses, is now open. The hotel features 54 private villas inspired by Berber and Moorish influences, all with secluded walled gardens, swimming pools and hot tubs, as well as nine suites – seven with their own rooftop plunge pool. The 1,800sq m (19,375sq ft) Spa at the Mandarin Oriental Marrakech was designed by French duo Gilles &

The Ritz-Carlton Fort Lauderdale has unveiled a new spa perched seven floors above the Atlantic Ocean. Part of a US$8m (€7m, £5.2m) renovation, the spa now features an expanded and updated look, courtesy of New York-based Dash Design. The firm was charged with bringing to life under-utilised space in the former spa, allowing for more guest services. The upgrade spa compliments the aesthetics of the oceanfront with tones of aqua

Canyon Ranch will build its first international resort, the Canyon Ranch Wellness Resort at Kaplankaya, which is set to open in July 2016 on the Turkish Riviera near Bodrum. A 107,500sq ft (10,000sq m) Canyon Ranch Spa, Fitness and Wellness Center will include 40 treatment rooms. It will showcase treatments combining traditional and Eastern medicine practices, for the integrative wellness experience the brand is known for. Designed by Barcelona-based architectural

Six Senses has opened a 33,000sq ft (3,066sq m) spa at Al Bustan Palace, a Ritz-Carlton Hotel, in Muscat, Oman. Al Bustan Palace is a beachfront retreat that is tucked away between the rugged Al Hajar Mountain range and the Sea of Oman, and includes 250 guest rooms and suites. A five-minute walk from Al Bustan Palace, the spa is built into the surrounding landscape of towering stone and rock

The Atlantis by Giardino in Zurich – a 95-room urban retreat that has hosted the likes of Steve McQueen, Freddie Mercury, Shirley MacLaine and Muhammad Ali – will open on 1 December, following an extensive renovation programme which has been overseen by Gallery HBA. Originally designed by architects Hans and Annemarie Hubacher and Peter Issler in the late 1960s, the Y-shaped building with three wings is an important example of

Montreal, Canada’s famous floating spa, Bota Bota, has added a 5,000sq ft (465sq m) spa garden with a pool, hot tub, cold bath, steam bath, solarium, rest areas, outdoor fireplace and yoga platform. Designed by Montreal-based MU Architecture, the Bota Bota Gardens is “an oasis of relaxation” between the boat-spa, the Saint-Lawrence River, and the elevated railway. “The idea was to double the capacity and to expand the experience outdoors,”

Spa consultant and designer Sylvia Sepielli is leading the US$8 m (€7.1, £5.2) renovation of the spa at Henry Flagler’s historic hotel in Palm Beach, Florida, The Breakers. Sepielli, who has just finished work on Bath, England’s Gainsborough Bath Spa, is working in conjunction with Peacock + Lewis architects and landscape architect Gregory Lombardi Design on the indoor/outdoor spa, which will include 17 treatment rooms and a private courtyard and

New York-based Robert D. Henry Architects are working on Ivanka Trump’s flagship spa in development at The Old Post Office in Washington, D.C., and part of the property’s US US$200m (€144.4m, £119m) redevelopment. The spa will be a prototype introducing Ivanka Trump’s “unique positioning within spa and wellness,” said Henry, and will be rolled out in the Trump collection of existing hotels, as well as future properties. “Ivanka has mandated

Massage and body treatment practice Wonder Woman Wellness has launched a pop-up office at the pioneering Washington, D.C. tiny house community Micro Showcase. Founded by Brian Levy, Micro Showcase has a growing display of micro structures – all under 350sq ft (32.5sq m) – and showcases micro tech (sustainable technologies), micro furnishings (space saving solutions) and micro grow (an orchard, garden and apiary). It also includes Levy’s Minim House, designed

The 397-bedroom Shangri-La Bengaluru has opened in Bangalore, India, with traditional Indian motifs and interiors. Designed by Adarsh Design Studio in Bangalore and with interior design by Singapore-based Wilson Associates, the 19-storey Shangri-La Hotel, Bangalore features an impressive 9m (30ft) high lobby with nine cylindrical chandeliers – each weighing nearly half a ton – as well as imposing marble columns with intricate Indian motifs. The interiors reference Bangalore (known as

Resort and real estate developer The Hartling Group is opening The Shore Club next year, a 110-suite resort in the Turks & Caicos that will include a luxury spa. The Hartling Group also developed and manages the Turks & Caicos property The Palms, which includes a 25,000sq ft (2,323sq m) spa. Building on the success of The Palms, the Spa at The Shore Club will offer the same quality experience,

Trump Hotels is partnering with Indonesian investment firm MNC Group to develop resorts in Bali and West Java, Indonesia. The six-star Lido, West Java location will include a “wellness destination spa” along with an 18-hole Ernie Els championship golf course, a Lifestyle Country Club, and high-end residential villas and condominiums. Details of the spa are not yet available. Trump Hotels is also developing an “opulent resort and residential development in

One of the entries for the Chicago Architecture Biennial Lakefront Kiosk Competition featured an idea for a 2,000sq ft (186sq m) urban Urban Therme spa created by designers Kyle Bigart, Andrew Sommerville and Alex Paulette. The Chicago Architecture Biennial is a new event that the City of Chicago is putting on this year to open up a dialogue with the public about architecture and design. Hosted by the Biennial, the

Dusit International will open a new dusitD2 in Muscat, Sultanate of Oman. It will be located within the mixed-use Palm Mall development, which will also include Oman’s first snow village and a large aquarium. The dusitD2, scheduled for completion in 2017, will include 150 guestrooms and 100 suites, some of which will offer views of the aquarium and snow village. Leisure facilities will include a spa, pool and gym. The

The Federated Indians of the Graton Rancheria are expanding California’s Graton Resort & Casino, adding 200 guestrooms, a luxury spa, plus a meeting and convention space in a US$175 m (€155m, £113m) project. The 342,000sq ft (31,773sq m) addition will expand the amenities at the existing US$800m (€710m, £517m) casino and entertainment facility that opened in November 2013. Located just north of San Fransico, the Graton Resort & Casino is

The new Four Seasons Casablanca is set to open in Q4 2015, including a 700sq m (7,535 sq ft) Le Spa with 10 treatment rooms and an array of luxury treatments. The hotel was designed by architects Foster + Partners. Four Seasons says "Modern Moroccan elegance characterises the design, textures and colour palette of the 157 bedrooms and 29 suites". A highlight is a 329sq m (4,220sq ft), three-bedroom Royal