An abandoned Brazilian palace designed by iconic late architect Oscar Niemeyer is to finally see the light of day, with hotel group Oetker Collection opening the building as their first property in the Americas. Palácio Tangará will open in São Paulo in June 2017. The building was first constructed in the 1940s as Tangará Ranch, when wealthy Brazilian businessman Francisco ‘Baby’ Pignatari commissioned it as a gift to his fiance.

International design studio KCAP Architects & Planners have won an international competition to redevelop Seoul’s Sewoon District 4. The scheme, which has been approved by the city’s government, will transform the 280,000sq m (3 million sq ft) area into a mixed-use zone featuring offices, shops, hotels, entertainment facilities and schools. According to the practice, they will develop a “people-oriented urban design that preserves the site’s historic and cultural values, and

Alberto Rolla, one of the architects behind the recently-constructed Juventus Stadium, has designed a 40,000-capacity venue for Serie A rival Fiorentina. The ground will be located in Florence and cost around €420m (£367.2m, US$448m) to build. Stadium seating will be tight, with fans in the front row seven metres from the pitch. The surrounding 48 hectare area will be developed to include a hotel, a shopping mall, public realm, 700

Asia’s best designed hotels have been celebrated at an awards ceremony held in Singapore. Winning design practices at the inaugural AHEAD Asia awards include Blu Water Studio, LTW Designworks and Tony Chi. Entries were assessed on aesthetics, guest experience and commercial viability by a panel of industry and design leaders. AHEAD – which stands for The Awards for Hospitality Experience and Design – is a new platform that has consolidated

Here are some of the stories that appeared on CLAD this week, from two Frank Gehry projects to the prestigious Women in Architecture Awards. Monday • Gabriela Carrillo has been named as Woman Architect of the Year 2017 at the Women in Architecture awards, with Rozana Montiel winning the Moira Gemmill Prize for Emerging Architecture. Read here. • The Delta Development Group has signed an initial agreement to drive forward

Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) have formed their own specialised BIG Engineering unit, which will be dedicated to “ensuring the structural, mechanical integrity and resilience of BIG buildings globally.” Duncan Horswill, the former chief operating officer of Copenhagen company Søren Jensen Engineers, has been hired to lead the new team. Studio founder Bjarke Ingels said the move would allow the practice to “stretch the boundaries of the physical, financial, regulatory and

A new museum celebrating French art, aesthetics and urbanity is set to be built in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, with a design by Pritzker-winning architect Frank Gehry. The building, described as “a major new cultural institution with international influence”, will be part-funded by the luxury goods billionaire Bernard Arnault, CEO of LVMH, who launched the project at a press conference on Wednesday (8 March) alongside Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo

Italian Serie A football team Cagliari Calcio has inched closer to realising its ambition to build a new stadium after receiving a loan for its construction. The club has been provided the money by the local government and Sardinian financial institution Sfirs to build the 21,000-capacity stadium, which is being designed by Polish architect JSK Architekci. A Memorandum of Understanding was signed by Cagliari Calcio president Tommaso Giulini, the city’s

Located on the beachfront, the five star Nikki Beach Resort & Spa in Dubai has opened its doors, with the 1,650sq m (17,760sq ft) Nikki Spa opening in April 2017. Offering "the best of wellbeing" in a contemporary setting for guests and visitors, facilities will include seven separate spa suites for men and women, one couples suite, a hammam chamber, sauna, steam, ice fountain, mixed vitality pool and indoor and

Acclaimed Irish architect Niall McLaughlin has claimed that award wins and nominations can be a poisoned chalice, as practices become pigeonholed as designers of a certain type of building. Speaking at the 2017 Ecobuild conference in London, McLaughlin said the influence of award shortlists and the “conservative stance in architectural procurement” means that “everybody wants something like you’ve done before.” The practice he leads, Niall McLaughlin Architects, have twice been

The historic Lloyds Bank building in Bristol is one of two former banks that have been merged together to form the newly-opened Bristol Harbour Hotel & Spa. The building, designed by William Bruce Gingell in the early 20th century, has been carefully merged with the Midland Bank site next door, and converted by DO Design Studio to house a hotel with 42 restaurants, a restaurant and cocktail bar. The underground

The team behind Miami’s upcoming US$430m (€407m, £354m) SkyRise entertainment complex has released new plans for the building’s main attraction – rotating observation pods at the tower’s 1,000ft (304m) peak. Dubbed “Skyway”, cabins will be similar to Merlin’s ‘Eye’ giant wheel attractions, with the 20 pods revolving around a track starting at the 18th floor and ascending to the top of the tower’s north face. According to the planning application,

Montage International is developing two hotels at the SilverRock Resort in La Quinta, California, set to open in late 2019. Developed in partnership with The Robert Green Company, the resort will include Montage La Quinta with branded Montage Residences; Pendry La Quinta with branded Pendry Residences, and a Spa Montage. This is the first project that incorporates both of Montage’s hotel brands, Montage and Pendry. Architecture and design firm Gensler

Edinburgh architecture practice Reiach and Hall have won the top prize at the UK’s Architect of the Year Awards, which took place at London’s ExCeL Centre yesterday evening (8 March). The studio – whose leisure work includes the National Centre Inverclyde and Aberdeen Sports Village – received the top Schueco Gold Award for a portfolio of recent work that “shows both creativity and flexibility”. Their 2016 projects include the Oriam

The early consequences of Britain voting to leave the European Union has increased the cost of Tottenham Hotspur’s new stadium, according to the club’s director. In an email to a supporter published online, Donna Cullen said that Brexit had seen the final cost rocket to £800m (US$972.1m, €920.7m) – more than the cost of building the new Wembley Stadium. When the plans were originally revealed, the 61,000-capacity stadium was expected

Fitness giant McFit has launched a new Cyberobics ‘concept store’ in Berlin, showcasing the company’s plans to roll out health clubs where “the real and virtual world melt through complete immersion.” Called World of Cyberonics, the €10m (US$10.6m, £8.7m) venue is a showcase for McFit’s line of international virtual-only studios, which it is introducing across Europe. The company’s in-house design team have visualised the space, which combines contemporary architecture with

Groundbreaking concepts showing how city buildings could be raised upwards through wooden extensions have been released online. Wood manufacturer Metsä Wood has created the database, which showcases the 172 entries to its ‘City above the City competition.’ The company said that the world’s growing urban population and the rising demand of housing and interior spaces mean cities must start developing strategically and environmentally – which means looking to the skies.

A giant observation wheel is coming to Moscow, Russia, with the mammoth structure set to overtake the London Eye in terms of size and stature, becoming the largest in Europe. The Giant Wheel visitor attraction is engineered and manufactured by Intamin, the company that created the same landmark for Orlando, Florida. A Russian news service reported that the investment company, Regiony, is aiming to make the wheel one of Moscow’s

Singaporean Hospitality design firm LTW have completed a design-led Pullman hotel in Kaifeng, China that references the architecture of it’s neighbour – an ancient imperial palace. The city was the capital of ancient China during the Northern Song dynasty, and as such is steeped in history and culture. LTW were commissioned to reflect this in their design for the Pullman Kaifeng Jianye, which subsequently features an expansive layout, sloping roofs

Danish architecture practice Dissing+Weitling have designed a 7.6km (4.7 miles) elevated bicycle route – billed as “the longest in the world” – in the heart of the Chinese city Xiamen. The ‘cycling skyway’ has been built in order to decrease traffic congestion and promote greener and more sustainable forms of transportation, as well as more active and healthy lifestyles. It was designed and completed in only six months. The route

Torontonians have flocked to the city’s beach in record numbers to experience the unveiling of eight brand new Winter Stations installations along the shoreline of Lake Ontario. The creators of the attractions, who were chosen in a design competition, were tasked with designing “playful” structures – based around the beaches’ lifeguard stations – capable of drawing people into the chilly outdoors to interact with the icy environment. The installations include

Frank Gehry, the classical music-loving architect behind the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles has completed his latest concert hall: the intimate oval Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin. The single-room facility, which took four years to build and opened on 4 March, is housed within a four-storey building designed by architect Richard Paulick in the 1950s to store sets for the Berlin State Opera. Designed as a modular 360-degree

Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, has given Chelsea FC the green light to build a new £500m (US$612.9m, €579.1m) stadium on the site of Stamford Bridge. Khan said he was satisfied with the 60,000-capacity stadium’s “high-quality and spectacular design”, which was approved by Hammersmith and Fulham Council in January. As part of Chelsea’s submission, the Premier League club has committed to investing £12m in community activities, such as employment

Gabriela Carrillo has been named as Woman Architect of the Year 2017 at the Women in Architecture awards, with Rozana Montiel winning the Moira Gemmill Prize for Emerging Architecture. Both architects were praised by the judges for having “demonstrated excellence in design and a commitment to working both sustainably and democratically with local communities”. Carrillo, the co-founder of Mexican practice TALLER Mauricio Rocha + Gabriela Carrillo, has worked on a

FC Barcelona is aiming to capitalise on the growing thirst for football in China by developing a training academy in the mould of its legendary La Masia in Haikou. The Spanish football giant has formed a partnership with Mission Hills Group, which builds golf resorts, to develop its 26th overseas academy. With seven pitches, the facility will be able to accommodate 1,000 boys and girls aged six to 18-years-old. For

The Delta Development Group has signed an initial agreement to drive forward plans for a Dutch-inspired theme park and leisure destination near Amsterdam in the Netherlands. The scope of the project has also widened to include plans for on-site hotels providing up to 4,000 rooms. Delta signed the deal with the City of Haarlemmermeer, a large suburb south of Amsterdam and the municipality where Schiphol Airport is located. Concept drawings

Here are some of the stories that appeared on CLAD this week, from Apple’s leisure-filled new HQ to the winners of the 2017 Pritzker Prize. Monday • Bill Bensley has taken inspiration from an unlikely combination of themes for a new JW Marriott resort in Vietnam. Read here. • Too many visual renderings of future architectural projects “do not correspond at all to the real world” because of a lack