Foundation work is ongoing and steel work is due to commence at FC Cincinnati ’s West End Stadium, for which new designs were released by Populous this summer. The club briefed Populous, who are working with engineers BuroHappold, to deliver “an iconic and groundbreaking design for the city while prioritising and amplifying the fan experience.” With that in mind, the firm included a vertical façade of 513 fins lit by

Sports stadium and events venue experts Populous have unveiled designs for the largest video gaming and esports complex in the Southern Hemisphere. Covering 2,700sq m (29,100sq ft), spread across two floors and with a capacity for over 1,000 people, Fortress Melbourne will house a purpose-built arena with a retractable 200-seat grandstand, a professional boot camp room and training facilities, dedicated areas for LAN, RPG and tabletop gaming, two bars and

Pozzoni Architecture has added a 60-person fitness suite and converted the original fitness suite into a ‘state-of-the-art’ multipurpose studio at Formby Pool in Sefton. The new studio can be fully blacked out and features a music and LED lighting system that can be used to create tailored immersive experiences. As part of the project, which was valued at £1m, an overspill car park was also added to the site. To

Major League Soccer (MLS) team Columbus Crew SC has revealed HNTB designs for a new 20,000-seat stadium aimed at helping to amplify crowd noise and generate atmosphere. The stadium will feature a steep seating bowl that will keep fans and the noise they generate close to the on-pitch action. A wrap-around roof will help to contain the crowd noise, reflecting it back through the crowd and on to the pitch.

A radical ring-shaped aquatic centre with wellness facilities and outdoor green space – designed by Andrew Burges Architects, Grimshaw Architects and McGregor Coxall – is to be built in Parramatta, Australia. The centre, which will be nestled into parkland surroundings and cover a total area of approximately 18,000sq ft (1,670sq m), will feature a 10-lane, 50m outdoor pool, a 25m indoor pool and facilities for individuals learning to swim, as

Austrian artist Klaus Littmann has transformed the Wörthersee Stadion in Klagenfurt, Austria, into a forest as part of an art installation looking to change people's perception of nature. The 32,000-capacity stadium, home of SK Austria Klagenfurt football club, has been fitted with a mini-forest of 300 trees what is set to become Austria’s largest public art installation. Overseen by Enea Landscape Architecture, the “For Forest: the unending attraction of nature"

Construction work has begun on a £53m sports facility at the University of Portsmouth in the UK. Designed by FaulknerBrowns Architects, the building will set new standards for sustainability for a sports building and is on target to be the first of this type in the UK to be BREEAM rated ‘Outstanding’. The building’s spaces provide opportunities to exploit natural light and ventilation, while top lighting of the sports hall

Architects A+DPA have designed a 15-acre (60,700sq m, 653,400sq ft) wave park with a 5.4-acre (21,900sq m, 235,200sq ft) surf lagoon is to be built in the UK town of Coleshill near Birmingham, more than 100 miles from the closest surfable ocean. The £25m Emerge Surf Birmingham will also feature an outdoor heated swimming pool, a perimeter track for Onewheel self-balancing electric skateboards and a 1,600sq m (17,200sq ft) hub

Liverpool Football Club will undertake an "ambitious expansion" of its iconic Anfield stadium in the northern UK city. The English Premier League club has revealed plans to redevelop its Anfield Road stand and to increase the venue's capacity from its current 54,000 to around 60,000. The move is an escalation of Liverpool's existing plans for the Anfield Road stand. The club had already secured planning permission for a redevelopment which

Enhanced designs have been submitted for a £42m waterpark and aquatic complex in Derby, UK. Original plans for the Moorways complex – designed by architects FaulknerBrowns – were approved in early 2018, but the current administration which took control of Derby City Council (DCC) in May 2018 ordered a review of the project. The original plans have now been extended to include more waterleisure space, including a waterpark featuring two

Plans have been approved for a 19,000-seat, multi-use indoor arena in Belmont Park on Long Island, New York. The US£1.3bn venue is set to become the new home of National Hockey League (NHL) franchise New York Islanders. As well as the indoor arena, the project includes a 350,000sq ft entertainment complex and a 250-bedroom hotel. The plans were approved by the Empire State Development Board – the New York state

Ambitious plans to create a large sports and entertainment district in Calgary, Canada have been given the green light after a public funding package was agreed for the development. The City of Calgary has agreed to provide half of the funding for the CA$550m (US$416m, €371m, £344m), project, which is driven by Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corporation (CSEC) and the Calgary Exhibition and Stampede Limited (Stampede). The masterplan for the

The All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) has appointed Willmott Dixon to construct a new members’ centre adjacent to the iconic Wimbledon Championship complex. The £70m facility, located on Somerset Road, will include 12 new tennis courts (six indoor and six outdoor), new club house facilities, an enhanced arrivals experience for competitors at The Championships and upgraded Centre Court chiller plant. There will also be a single-storey underground car park

Dale Vince, chair of UK soccer team, Forest Green Rovers, has resubmitted a planning application for a new 5,000-capacity stadium development dubbed the "greenest football venue in the world". Designed by Zaha Hadid Architects, the main stadium would be built almost entirely out of wood, making it the first of its kind in the world. The stadium would be the centrepiece of the £100m Eco Park development – a 100-acre

The owners of NBA team LA Clippers have revealed detailed plans for a US$1bn indoor arena, to be built in the Inglewood district in Los Angeles, California. Designed by a team including AECOM, Anderson Barker Architects, the City Design Studio of Los Angeles and Hood Studios, the development will include a "fan-focused" NBA arena for the Clippers, team basketball and business operations headquarters and a first-of-its-kind training centre tailored specifically

Details have been revealed for a brick and steel construction which will make the new Everton Football Club stadium appear "as though it has risen from the dock". US architect Dan Meis has unveiled his much-anticipated plans for the £500m venue in Liverpool, UK, which will be built at the semi-derelict Bramley Dock and is estimated to deliver a £1bn boost to the city’s economy. Meis' concepts show a brick,

A new €6m (US$6.7m, £5.4m) community sports centre is being built in the Hauts-de-Bry in the commune of Bry-sur-Marne on the eastern suburbs of Paris. The centre – designed by Atelier Ferret Architectures – will provide 3,200sq m of space for a number of indoor sports, with facilities including a large, multi-use sports hall, a table tennis area and a large climbing wall. It will be able to host regional

FaulkerBrowns Architects and LDA Design have unveiled designs for a new ice rink and urban park in east London. Featuring an Olympic-size, twin-rink ice centre, the £30m project is being driven by client, the Lee Valley Regional Park Authority, which wants the new complex to replace the ageing Lee Valley Ice Centre. The existing, 34-year-old ice centre attracts around 279,000 visits a year, but the venue is reaching the end

Solent University, UK, has officially opened its new £28m sports and fitness centre. The centre houses two sports halls, three gyms and an indoor cycling studio. There are also two exercise studios, a physiotherapy treatment room and a dedicated basketball centre – one of only two of its kind in the UK. The university worked with Pulse Fitness on the design of the new facility, which is part of an

Milan-Cortina, which has been selected to host the 2026 Winter Olympics and Paralympics Games, has revealed the events will aim for a low carbon footprint, with the majority of facilities used being existing. Milan-Cortina's bid received 47 out of a total of 82 votes cast by IOC members, with rival bid Stockholm-Åre receiving 34 votes, with one abstention. The bids from Milan and Stockholm were the first to be produced

London-based architecture practice Foster + Partners have revealed plans to create a community-centred boathouse and rowing facility in Washington Heights, New York. Commissioned by competitive rowing charity Row New York, the proposed timber-roofed building will comprise an array of classrooms, event spaces, and outdoor leisure areas – all of which be used for rowing-focused educational programmes. Using the sport as a facilitator for self-empowerment, the centre will also help its

Piscina & Wellness Barcelona (PWB) has launched an international contest for architecture students to conceptualise a new aquatic centre. According to the company, the future leisure facility will be designed for public bathing and will occupy a tract of land on Barcelona’s waterfront, between “Drassanes Quay and the Rambla del Mar of the Port Vell”. “The space includes a large area of water, thus providing the possibility of even imagining

Plans to redevelop the home stadium of soccer team Nottingham Forest in the UK have moved a step closer, after the Football League club was granted a new 250-year lease for the stadium site. The redevelopment forms part of the wider Nottingham Southside regeneration with £2bn of developments happening across a 0.5 square mile area. The changes represent are expected to bring thousands of jobs, millions of visitors and economic

Spanish firm Cruz y Ortiz Arquitectos have revealed the first concept images of their latest project – a 260,000 sq m football complex in Dalian, China. The expansive campus will comprise 23 regulation-size pitches, a hotel, gardens, and a select number of short-stay residential units. The US$297m (€264.7m, £235.8m) facility will also function as a training ground and academy for professional teams and youth clubs, including Dalian Yifang FC. Cruz

A focus on enabling customers to create Instagram moments has defined the design of the hotly anticipated Funan Mall by Singaporean property and investment group Capitaland, which will reopen to the public on 28 June. Situated in Singapore's Civic District, the revamped retail complex, which was restored by Capitaland for an estimated £320m (US$406.3m, €361.6m), features an array of leisure facilities, including a 200-metre indoor cycling path (a first for

The Coca-Cola Arena – a 17,000-capacity sports venue designed by global architecture practice Populous – has opened its doors in Dubai. Boasting an adaptable structure with an LED-clad façade, retractable seating, and a modular stage, the new facility also features over 35 dining outlets and 42 corporate suites. The building – said to be the Middle East's largest multi-purpose arena – is Populous' first project to be completed in the

HOK and Snow Kreilich Architects have unveiled their design for MLS4TheLou – the Major League Soccer (MLS) stadium proposed for St Louis, Missouri. The stadium will serve as the home of the as-yet-unnamed St Louis MLS soccer club. The new facility will feature a translucent ETFE canopy which will provide cover for fans and allow for well-lit spaces below. Light will pass through directly onto the field, helping game-day visibility