International architecture firm GroupGSA have been selected to design a sports-friendly city centre in Chongli, China in preparation for the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. Partially inspired by the hexagonal structures of snowflakes, the revitalised urban space will feature a communal plaza, ice and snow museum, park, exhibition centre, and a number of residences. Other amenities will include a ski-in track as well as a cable car station. Architects working

Everton FC has revealed that it will propose a capacity of 52,000 for its new stadium – with the potential to expand to 62,000 in the future – when it files a planning application for the project later this year. According to the club, the projected capacity takes into account several factors – such as current and future ticket demand, forecast revenues and costs and the design and orientation of the stadium

The Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) have released images of their final schematic designs for the new Feyenoord Stadium in Rotterdam. The 63,000-seat arena, which – once complete – will be home to top flight football club Feyenoord FC, will rise on the banks of the River Maas, replacing the 80-year-old De Kuip stadium.. The new site will apparently retain what OMA have called the "DNA" of De Kuip, maintaining

Plans for a large-scale athletes village, to be used during the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, have received the green light from Birmingham City Council (BCC). The £350m project will house around 6,500 athletes and officials during the Games and will be turned into a mixed-use housing development following the event, providing more than 1,100 homes in legacy mode. Designed by an architectural team led by local firms Glancy Nicholls Architects

Luxury fitness and lifestyle operator Equinox has opened "E Madison Avenue" – a private fitness club designed by Studio Munge. Located in Manhattan's Upper East Side, the member's only space, which was crafted to evoke what Studio Munge have called the "distinction" of the area’s townhouses and museums, features a Pilates studio, spa, kitchen, and lounge. In a statement, the design firm said that the facility's "interiors embody a residential

The State Farm Arena in downtown Atlanta has fully reopened, following a US$192.5m (€169m, £152m) renovation project which has transformed the 20-year-old indoor venue. Completed in phases, the redevelopment has been driven by Tony Ressler, owner of the Atlanta Hawks NBA franchise, which is the arena's primary tenant. Ressler acquired the Hawks in 2015 and made upgrading the venue, formerly called Philips Arena, a priority focus in his plans to

Qatar’s Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy (SC) has revealed the renderings for Lusail Stadium – one of the many multipurpose venues that will host the 2022 FIFA World Cup games. Designed by London-based architecture firm Foster + Partners, the 80,000-seat arena – the eighth World Cup structure to be unveiled by the SC – features a number of visual motifs derived from the Arabian Gulf's ancient artisanal cultures. The

Finnish ice hockey team Helsingin IFK (HIFK) are helming a development team to build what is projected to become one of Finland’s most popular leisure attractions: Garden Helsinki. The complex, major parts of which will be situated "almost entirely underground", will feature a number of sports, hospitality, and recreational facilities including an 11,000-seat indoor arena, 200-room hotel, ice rink, gym, hotel, and spa. On-site restaurants and residential apartments will also

Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise Oakland Athletics has revealed detailed designs for an ambitious waterfront stadium. Designed by Danish architect Bjarke Ingels and his BIG practice, the 34,000-capacity stadium is being planned for a site at Port of Oakland’s Howard Terminal. The expansive project includes two connecting elements. The site of the MLB team's current stadium, the Coliseum – where the club has played since 1968 – will be redeveloped

A major new indoor snow centre and leisure destination in Swindon, UK has been given the green light by the local council. Designed by sports and leisure specialists FaulknerBrowns Architects, the £270m (US$345m, €303m) project will include a 2,00sq m (21,500sq ft) snow centre featuring two real-snow slopes – measuring 75m and 170m in length. It will also house a 12-screen cinema with the largest IMAX screen in the UK;

Esports Stadium Arlington, the largest video gaming stadium in North America, has opened in Texas. Designed by international architecture firm Populous and built by Shawmut Design and Construction, the new 100,000 sq ft (929 sq m) facility features eight tea rooms, a player lounge, and a competition space amplified by surround sound. The venue, which will be able to accommodate up to 2,500 people, will also utilise broadcasting technology supplied

Emirati real estate developer Viva City Developments has announced that it will supervise the creation of a record-breaking sports complex in Dubai. Dubbed "The Sports Society", the 3-storey structure will occupy 3,717 sq m of space and a feature number of leisure attractions, such as an ice-skating rink, trampoline park, martial arts dojo, bowling alley, and cricket simulator, as well as multiple climbing walls and retail shops. Other amenities in

London-based architecture firm Grimshaw have unveiled renderings of Eden Project North (EPN), a marine-centred recreational complex and leisure attraction in Morecambe, UK. Conceptualised for environmental charity Eden Project International, the new destination will take the form of a series of mussel-shaped pavilions on the Morecambe seafront. EPN will also feature a number of amenities and facilities intended to enhance well-being, including lidos, performance halls, gardens, and observatories. The development is

The City of Miami has thrown its support behind Freedom Park and Soccer Village, David Beckham’s long-awaited stadium and training facility. The proposed complex, which has been a subject of media speculation since it was first announced in 2013, will be the home of Beckham’s Major League Soccer (MLS) team, Internacional Club de Fútbol Miami. Designed by Miami-based architecture firm Arquitectonica, the development will include a 25,000-seat stadium and a

Work has started on the what is expected to become Miami’s next "world-class trail". Designed by landscape architecture firm James Corner Field Operations, the 10-mile (16 km) Underline – Miami’s first integrated transport mobility corridor – will create new public realm beneath the city’s Metrorail guideway. Set to link Miamians to eight Metrorail stations and 250 miles of trails, the park – which has been likened to New York City’s

The University of Warwick has released an in-depth fly-through video of its soon-to-be-completed sports and wellness hub in Coventry, UK. Set to become one of the largest recreational and fitness facilities in Britain, the David Morley-designed complex will span 16,684 sq ft (1,550 sq m) and feature a 12-court sports hall and 230-station gym, as well as pools, indoor climbing walls, fitness suites, studio spaces, and outdoor sports pitches. The

The Elite Athlete Centre and Hotel (EAC) – the first sports-centric venue of its kind in the UK – has opened at Loughborough University. Designed by David Morley Architects and developed in partnership with UK Sport, Sport England, the English Institute of Sport, and Imago Venues, the 44-room, fitness-focused hotel also includes 20 'high-altitude rooms'. These unique chambers simulate the low oxygen atmospheric conditions of transalpine mountains and accelerate the

International architecture design firm Populous have released conceptual images of its Gaming House of the Future, a multilevel recreational hub for professional esports gamers. Designed to be both a customised home away from home and a training facility, the new two-tower complex is a kind of incubation venue for talent and features a wealth of amenities intended to both sharpen and increase players' video game skills and wellbeing. In the

Real Madrid president Florentino Perez has revealed that work on a €400m (US$429.5, £344.7m) redevelopment of its Santiago Bernabéu stadium will "begin soon". Designed by a team of architects – which includes L35, Ribas & Ribas and GMP Architekten – the renovation will increase the venue's capacity by more than 5,000, to around 90,000. There will also be improvements to fan experience, the technology infrastructure and broadcasting facilities, as well

Gateshead Council is moving forward with plans to expand the iconic Gateshead Quays, a leisure and entertainment-focused development in Tyne and Wear, UK. The £200m (US$255m, €225m) expansion, which is being spearheaded by Ask Real Estate and PATRIZIA UK, will see the riverside locale gain a number of hotels, bars, and restaurants, as well as a 12,500-seat arena and 10,000 sq m conference centre. Set to be designed by HOK

Fiserv Forum, the new home of the National Basketball Association (NBA) Milwaukee Bucks, has been named the world’s first bird-friendly stadium. The 714,000sq ft Populous-designed venue, which opened to the public on 19 October and was shortly thereafter awarded the Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program (LEED) Bird Collision Deterrence credit, features glass panels with balanced insulation and reflectivity. These elements greatly improve lighting conditions and

Cox Architecture have been selected to design a new stadium at Moore Park in Sydney, Australia. Set to replace the Allianz stadium, which was built in 1988 by the firm’s principal, Philip Cox, the arena is planned to be a 45,000-seat "civic infrastructure" that will provide extensive amenities and services to "multiple specialist and public groups". Cox’s design director, Pete Sullivan said the new building would "provide a superior platform

Arada has unveiled the final details on its Aljada Central Hub mega-development. The futuristic complex, to be designed by Zaha Hadid Architects, will span a vast 1.9 million sq ft (176,500sq m) and include 732,000 sq ft (68,000sq m) of green space. Highlights of the family-focused development will include a 1,500-seat multiplex, a waterplay area, multiple sports facilities, retailing and an "edutainment" attraction, featuring a virtual reality zone. The development,

Construction on Hjertet (“The Heart” in Danish), a multi-purpose leisure centre in the Jutlandic town of Ikast is now complete. The 3,600sq m (39,000sq ft) building, which has been described as a “melting pot” and a link between Ikast’s International School and the local community, recently opened to the public. Among other things, the venue includes a cafe, shop, gymnasiums, and multiple spaces for meditative and performative activities like yoga

Construction has commenced on the Quzhou Sports Campus, an ambitious project which is designed to resemble a craterous landscape not unlike the conical puys of France's Massif Central. Helmed by Beijing-based MAD Architects and based in China’s Zhejiang province, the sprawling, 700,000sq m (7.5 million sq ft) complex will function as a kind of mini-city and feature a 30,000-seat stadium, hotels, youth centres, retail shops, museums, a gym, and a

Major League Soccer (MLS) team FC Cincinnati has released the first stage of renderings depicting its soon-to-be-built sports arena. The up to 26,500-person capacity stadium is being designed by Meis Architects, who have been attached to the project since 2017. Among other things, the proposed multi-million-dollar structure will feature Ethylene Tetrafluoro-ethylene (ETFE) foil technology to illuminate the building’s roof facades, as well as expanded seating, club, and suite areas. The

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