French designer Philippe Starck has joined forces with hospitality giant The Hilton Group to create a surreal, 14-storey hotel in Metz, France. The property will be operated by Hilton's Curio Collection under a new brand, called Maison Heler. Envisioned as a monolithic and monochromatic tower, topped by an 18th-century style Alsace traditional house, Starck has described his plan to create “a habitable, surreal and poetic work of art that will

The Lux Grand Gaube in Mauritius has reopened after a US$32m renovation by London-based designer Kelly Hoppen and Mauritius designer Jean-Francois Adam, who have reimagined the resort in a “simple-yet-refined” style. With over a hectare of land dedicated to wellness, the resort’s spa includes African-style huts and is designed to connect guests to nature. A new hydrotherapy pool, aromatic steamroom and sauna have been added, along with an Artis Technogym

The official groundbreaking has taken place for the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art – Star Wars creator George Lucas’ long-awaited cultural venture in Los Angeles’ Exposition Park. The 300,000sq ft (27,800sq m) museum will celebrate the art of visual storytelling – from comic art, paintings and illustrations to photography, filmmaking and drawings – with collection galleries, exhibition spaces and two theatres displaying original works of art, digital technologies and daily

The latest design proposals for David Chipperfield’s 1,000-capacity concert hall in Edinburgh – the city’s first in 100 years – have been publicly revealed for the first time. The venue, situated behind the historic Dundas House at 36 St Andrew Square, will be the permanent home of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra (SCO) – with a “world class” auditorium and recital and recording space “to rival the best in Europe.” In

The Athens Olympic Park could get a new lease of life, if plans by Greek businessman Dimitris Giannakopoulos are given the green light. Giannokopoulos, a pharmaceutical entrepreneur who currently owns the Panathinaikos basketball club, has tabled a bid to buy the Panathinaikos football club – which is currently owned by Panathinaiki Alliance, a fan group which took over the club in 2012. What makes the deal significant is that, according

Richard Meier has taken a six-month leave of absence from the architecture firm he founded, after allegations of sexual harassment were made against him by five women, including four former employees, in the New York Times. In response to the newspaper’s detailed accounts, a statement was posted on the website of Richard Meier & Partners, in which the Pritzker-winning architect said: “I am deeply troubled and embarrassed by the accounts

The public perception of architects is skewed by a media that portrays a one-dimensional view of the profession, the architect Alison Brooks has said. In an exclusive interview with CLAD, Brooks argued that the media should talk less about the image of a building and “more about how a project is so much bigger than what you see at the end." “It’s a hard story to tell, the complexity around

Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) have revealed their competition-winning design for the National Theatre of Albania, a 3-in-1 cultural venue shaped like a bow tie. Designed in collaboration with British consultancy Theatre Projects, the 9,300sq m (100,000sq ft) venue has been commissioned to host local and touring theatre companies in the Albanian capital, Tirana. Situated adjacent to the historic Skanderbeg Square, the National Opera and the National Art Gallery, the project

Architects, urban planners and landscape designers have been invited to submit proposals for the UK’s first Garden City of the 21st Century: a “truly modern and healthy” community of 15,000 new homes, seven parks, numerous leisure amenities and 30,000 new jobs. Ebbsfleet in Kent will be the site of the Garden City, which is the largest project of the 10 Healthy New Town initiative launched by the National Health Service

Architect Claudio Carbone will oversee a complete renovation of Switzerland’s Grand Hotel Quellenhof in Bad Ragaz as part of an extensive investment programme of around 40m Swiss Francs (US$42m, €34m, £30m). Part of the Grand Resort Bad Ragaz, the five-star wellbeing and medical health resort first opened in 1869, and includes 106 suites, which have hosted film stars, statesmen and royalty. CEO Patrick Vogler said the forthcoming renovations will “complete

English Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur has revealed new images of its forthcoming home at White Hart Lane, which it has billed as “the most unique sports and entertainment destination in Europe”. In a move to promote its launch of season ticket sales, of which 42,000 are available, the club has today (12 March) released visualisations of the stadium’s seating bowl, walkways and hospitality facilities. The renderings give a glimpse

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has issued a license for the establishment of the country’s first ever Museum of History of Science and Technology in Islam. Issued by the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage (SCTH), the license will see the museum established at the Imam Muhammad bin Saud Islamic University in Riyadh. The project, said a release, will be developed in collaboration with the Institute of Arab and

The Luxury Collection Hotels & Resorts will open its first hotel in Baja California Sur in June of this year, complete with a 10,000sq ft (929sq m) spa. Solaz Resort will be operated by Qunta del Golfo de Cortez, and will include 128 hotel bedrooms and 21 residences on 34 acres overlooking the Sea of Cortez in Mexico. The Ojo de Liebre Spa will offer 10 private treatment rooms and

The owners of Minnesota’s Mall of America are considering a US$200m (€162.5m, £144.7m) waterpark addition to the property, releasing a new rendering of the proposed project in the city of Bloomington. The plan has been submitted by Triple 5 – the company that owns the property – detailing a 225,000sq ft (21,000sq m) waterpark to the east of the existing mall. According to the submission, the city would finance and

The Eastern Caribbean island of St Kitts will be the newest destination for Six Senses Hotels Resorts Spas. The luxury resort brand has partnered with Range Developments, which specialises in developing luxury Caribbean resorts, to complete the Six Senses St Kitts resort over the next three years. Set on the site of a former sugar cane plantation fronting the Caribbean Sea, the resort will include 70 pool villas with sea

Datai Hotels and Resorts has unveiled images of the refurbished interiors and exteriors of The Datai Langkawi resort, following a US$60m (€48.7m, £43.4m) overhaul. The images give a first look at how the independelty-owned property will look once it reopens in July 2018, following a substantial 10-month renovation, which has included a remodelling of the interiors of the guestrooms, suites, villas and public areas. The project, situated next to a

With the imminent arrival of spring across Europe and temperatures tentatively rising, the ephemeral Icehotel in Jukkasjärvi, Sweden will soon return from whence it came, melting back into the Torne River. However, its creators are already preparing for the hotel’s return towards the end of the year, harvesting huge blocks of ice and snow and seeking design ideas for the future guestrooms – each of which is conceived as an

Real estate firm HFZ Capital Group has revealed the first official image of the large-scale condominium and hotel development it is building in New York with Bjarke Ingels Group. The Eleventh, located along the High Line at 76 11th Avenue in West Chelsea, will be formed of two twisting asymmetrical towers connected via a skybridge. Together, they will feature 236 residences and the first urban property for Six Senses Hotels

The James Beard Foundation (JBF) has announced today (7 March) that The American Restaurant in Kansas City, Missouri, has been awarded this year’s Design Icon Award. The accolade, which celebrates landmark examples of great restaurant design, will be given to the owners of the eatery, which was described by the prize’s jury as “equally known for its architectural and culinary artistry.” The American Restaurant opened on Valentine’s Day 1974 atop

Indian architect Professor Balkrishna Doshi has today (7 March) been selected as the winner of the 2018 Pritzker Architecture Prize. The award – widely regarded as architecture's highest accolade – honours a living architect or architects “whose built work demonstrates a combination of talent, vision, and commitment, and who has produced consistent and significant contributions to humanity and the built environment.” Doshi, aged 90, is the 45th winner the prize,

Following an international competition, Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA) have been appointed to design the Central Hub of the Aljada leisure masterplan in Sharjah, UAE. Development company ARADA is overseeing the enormous mixed-use project – one of the largest of its kind in the region – and organised the competition to find an architect for the 1.9 million sq ft (176,500sq m) Hub, billed as “a major destination for tourists and

Alison Brooks, Alejandro Aravena, Wang Shu, Bjarke Ingels, Elizabeth Diller, Rafael Moneo, Peter Zumthor and David Chipperfield and are among the big names participating in the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale, it has been announced. Curators Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara, founders of Grafton Architects, have revealed more details about their plans for the 16th iteration of the event, which will be open to the public from Saturday 26 May to

The architecture studio of Kengo Kuma have won another major cultural project, this time for an art museum in Busan, South Korea’s second-largest city. Planned for one of the small villages in Gijang county, the 3,500sq m (37,600sq ft) complex will, according to the practice, provide “a contrast between the extra-contemporary aspects of such a museum and the bucolic character of this site.” This approach – which will see the

DUO, a sculptural mixed-use complex integrating living, working and retail spaces with public gardens and cultural installations has been officially completed in Singapore. The project, designed by the practice of German architect Ole Scheeren, is significant from both an architectural and political perspective – as it represents a historic collaboration between the governments of Malaysia and Singapore through their respective state investment arms Khazanah and Temasek. Singapore was once a

One of Canada’s leading public art consultants has told CLADglobal how the integration of art and architecture on Toronto’s expanded subway system is invigorating one of the most mundane moments of the day – the commute to and from work. The long-awaited York Spadina 8.6km (5.3mi) subway extension, which opened in December 2017, has seen six new stations created, each incorporating a piece of permanent and playful public art. Interactive

International architecture studio GroupGSA's have designed a mixed-use commercial, residential and leisure building in the Chinese city of Shenzhen, with a dramatic twisting form inspired by a double helix. iCarbonX, a Chinese company researching the mapping and digitising of human health, organised an architecture competition to seek designs for its planned new headquarters – a building that must articulate its aim “to build an ecosystem of digital life based on

Cricket Ireland has confirmed plans to develop a new national cricket stadium west Dublin, just months after the country secured Test status on the international stage. The national governing body has chosen Dublin’s National Sports Campus as the location for the venue. The move is part of a strategy to meet the requirements of future international and domestic first-class cricket in Ireland. Ireland was given full membership of the International