Weta Workshop – the special effects and prop company behind such epics as The Lord of the Rings and Avatar – have thrown their weight behind a NZ$45m (US$32.5m, €27.5m, £25.3m) redevelopment of the Napier National Aquarium in New Zealand. Napier City Council (NCC) has announced the plans, which will see the aquarium on Marine Parade expanded from 3,400sq m (36,600sq ft) by almost three times to 11,100sq m (120,000sq

Global luxury hotel operator Aman has added a new two-storey, 767sq m (8,256sq ft) spa at Aman Le Mélézin in Courchevel, France, which is due to open in December for the Alpine skiing season. The hotel is celebrating its 25th anniversary, and has undergone two years’ of redevelopment, a process which began in 2016 with the refurbishment of all the rooms and suites. Construction work involved the entire building being

Construction is about to start on a close replica of William Shakespeare’s famous Globe Theatre, with only two key differences from the original: this version will be located in Detroit and it will be built entirely out of stacked shipping containers. The Container Globe is the brainchild of entrepreneur Angus Vail, who wants to build cost-effective venues around the world to host performances of the Bard and other live events.

A Japanese-inspired hotel spa in Germany, billed as the country’s first, has opened among Bavaria’s Alpine peaks. Located in the town of Rottach-Egern, which sits alongside Lake Tegernsee, the Mizu Onsen Spa is inspired by Japanese minimalism – with clean lines, a neutral colour palette and subtle lighting – allowing guests to fully connect with their senses. German practice rgp architekten and New York studio Design MW have used locally-sourced

A heritage listed city hall Scotland is about to undergo major works, after local authorities in Perth selected Dutch architects Mecanoo to transform the space into a new cultural venue for the city. Perth & Kinross Council have selected Mecanoo to renovate the listed Perth City Hall, which will feature exhibition galleries, learning suites, a café and shops. According to the council, the reinvigorated city hall will create "a new

Hirsch Bedner Associates (HBA), one of the world’s largest hospitality interior design firms, has launched its seventh subdivision, HBA Resorts, which will specialise in the creation of bespoke luxury resort properties. Headquartered in Bali, Indonesia, HBA Resorts provide tailored interior design, architecture and landscape services, with staff collaborating with artisans in Southeast Asia to create “indigenous and authentic design projects for the world’s most treasured resorts.” Explaining the decision to

New construction images have been revealed showing a typically sculptural Frank Gehry-designed tower rising in Arles, southern France. The twisting, mountain-like building will be the new home of LUMA Arles, an experimental contemporary art centre where artists, researchers, and creators collaborate on multidisciplinary exhibitions and projects. Facilities will include studios, workshops, galleries, a café and restaurant, and a large glass atrium open to the general public. When complete, the tower

Six Senses will open a hot springs resort in the Zhiben area of Taiwan, an area known for its natural hot springs, medicinal plants and herbs. Located in Taitung in southeastern Taiwan, Six Senses Zhiben Hot Springs will be situated at the base of Medicine Mountain, with views of the surrounding valley and mountains, and is set to open in 2020. Both the resort and spa are designed by Japanese

Rosewood Hotels & Resorts’ first resort in China has officially opened on Hainan Bay, set within 40 acres of landscaped gardens overlooking the South China Sea. Rosewood Sanya, which welcomed its first guests yesterday (21 August), features 246 guestrooms, 25 of which have balcony plunge pools; a Rosewood Sense spa; a health club; an indoor yoga studio and an outdoor yoga pavilion; five restaurants and lounges; and a 110m long

Hong Kong’s Landmark Mandarin Oriental hotel has opened its newest and largest suite, designed as the “ultimate retreat for socialising” by Joyce Wang and her studio. The 2,250sq ft (209,000sq m) Entertainment Suite has been conceived as “a welcome respite from Hong Kong’s hectic streets”, with a subtle, nature-inspired colour palette and soft custom-designed furnishings created by Wang – including hand-chiselled cabinet doors adorned with hand-painted art and a chandelier

British conservation charity the National Trust has announced a shortlist of six architects in the running to rebuild Surrey’s Clandon Park: a historic Palladian mansion that was gutted by a fire in 2015. An international design competition, organised by Malcolm Reading Consultants, was launched in March 2017 to find a multi-discipline team to restore the 18th century Grade I listed building. Sixty groups submitted designs for the re-imagined building, which

Details of the latest proposed stadium for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar have been officially revealed, with a design inspired by the traditional Arab ‘gahfiya’ headdress. The Al Thumama Stadium – conceived by Qatari architect Ibrahim M. Jaidah from Arab Engineering Bureau, Qatar’s oldest design firm – will seat 40,000 fans in 2022, with the capacity reduced to 20,000 in ‘legacy mode’ after the tournament. The gahfiya, as

The Arctic Bath, a unique luxury hotel and spa floating on the Lule river in Swedish Lapland is scheduled to open in 2018. Reminiscent of a bird’s nest or natural dam, the exteriors of the circular spa buildings will be covered with piled logs, providing added insulation to guests during the winter months. The spa buildings, with saunas, treatment and relaxation rooms, a restaurant and lounge bar, will encircle an

After suffering a number of delays, work on the AU$50m (US$39.6m, €33.7m, £30.7m) Cairns Aquarium is in the final stages, with 12 September being touted as the visitor attraction's official opening date. The three-storey, 10,000sq m (107,600sq ft) development will be home to more than 5,000 animals endemic to Australia’s Great Barrier Reef and Queensland's far north. This will be Australia's first new public aquarium to be built in 17

Construction is underway on two new live music venues and a leisure-filled “urban gallery” in central London, designed by British architects Orms. The St Giles Circus scheme, which is being overseen by real estate firm Consolidated Developments, will see two new buildings created and two other listed properties refurbished near the crossroads of Oxford Street, Tottenham Court Road, New Oxford Street and Charing Cross Road. The larger of the new

Yayoi Kusama – the Japanese artist famed for her use of repetitive patterns and bold colours – has announced the opening of her own art museum, in Tokyo, Japan. The five-storey museum building, designed by architecture firm Kume Sekkei, has already been erected in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo, but the purpose of the structure had been kept under wraps. Two of the storeys will be devoted to exhibiting Kusama’s

Thailand-based architecture and engineering practice Chiangmai Life Construction (CLC) have developed a net zero sports hall made entirely from bamboo, earth and stone. Panyaden International School in the city of Chiang Mai required a larger assembly space and an indoor sports facility protecting students from the elements in both the wet and dry seasons. CLC had previously designed the school’s other buildings, using rammed earth building methods and layered bamboo

Swiss artist Felice Varini and the Chilean architecture practice Pezo von Ellrichshausen have been commissioned to design an ambitious temporary outdoor structure in the historic heart of Hull, UK. The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and Hull UK City of Culture 2017 have commissioned the duo as part of the Hull 2017 'Look Up' programme of public art installations intended to bring new life to public spaces across the

American fitness operator Equinox has been announced as the first tenant at One Culver; a former movie studio HQ in California that is being comprehensively renovated by international architects Gensler. Culver City real estate firm Runyon Group today (17 August) confirmed that Equinox will open “an expansive space filled with cutting edge fitness equipment, world class personal training, and unparalleled amenities” in the revamped 1980s office block, well-known for its

The performing arts centre under construction at the heart of the World Trade Center campus in New York will be one of the most innovative of its kind ever built, the project’s lead architect has told CLADglobal. Speaking in an exclusive interview, Joshua Prince-Ramus said that the Ronald O. Perelman Performing Arts Center would become "a really extraordinary tool for the creation of new art,” adding that his firm Rex

Architecture practice Atelier Global have won an international design competition to design Shenzhen Book City; a vast mixed-use leisure district in the Chinese metropolis. Anchoring the Long Hua arts district, the six-storey building will feature a library, bars and restaurants, shops and rooftop sports facilities. Cultural spaces on all four sides will integrate with the building and flow into a large area of public realm in the atrium. Landscaped terraces

Stalled plans to develop America’s largest observation wheel have been given a lifeline after New York Wheel's developer announced negotiations with a new contractor to take over the beleaguered project. Originally scheduled for early 2017, the 630ft (192m) high development was pushed back to mid- and then late 2017, with the US$580m (€503m, £442m) wheel then delayed until April 2018 thanks to a “complicated engineering process”. The project was then

The Garden Bridge Trust, the charity established to build and run the proposed Garden Bridge in central London, has today (14 August) announced that it will be finally winding up the project. The decision, which brings an end to one of the city’s most protracted development sagas, has been made with the Trust unable to find alternative funding for the scheme, following the decision by London mayor Sadiq Khan in

London mayor Sadiq Khan wants the UK capital to become the world’s first “National Park City”, laying out £9m (US$11.6m, €9.9m) plans to boost the number of trees and green infrastructure within the city. Called the Greener City Fund, the mayor has said he will use planning regulations to protect the Green Belt and incorporate into new developments more green roofs, green walls, rain gardens and wildlife habitats. The fund

The independently-owned Le Grand Bellevue luxury hotel in Gstaad, Switzerland, has reopened its spa following a comprehensive redevelopment. Described as a “labyrinth of wellness”, the upgraded Le Grand Spa now houses a total of 17 different wellness and spa experience zones. Facilities include 11 treatment rooms, a Himalayan salt grotto, herbal sauna, laconium, hay sauna, an ice fountain, infrared sauna, and a Finnish sauna. There is also a speciali Alpine

Danish studio AART Architects have won an international design competition to create a new visitor centre for one of Norway's largest open-air museums. In the 1800's, Bergen was the largest wooden city in Europe, with timber houses forming the setting for vibrant streets and squares. This historic urban environment is celebrated at the Gamle Bergen Museum (the Old Bergen Museum), which organised the competition to identify a design for its

The colours of the changing seasons in Japan have inspired architect Sun Tianwen to design an eye-catchingly luminous restaurant in the city of Changchun, China. The concept for the 1,300sq m (14,000sq ft) restaurant, called Setsugekka, derives from the ancient Japanese art and design tradition of the same name, which celebrates the motifs of snow, moon and flowers and the passage of time throughout the year. Sun’s restaurant, therefore, features