Here are some of the stories that appeared on CLAD this week, from Nike’s sci-fi gym pop-up in Shanghai to an announcement about the 2017 Pritzker Prize. Monday • The rise of modernism and motorism has created “technocratic, soulless cities which make cars and developers happy, but have no concern for people living in and using them,” according to Danish architect and urban designer Jan Gehl. Read here. • David

After a long and protracted design and planning process, US Major League Soccer (MLS) franchise D.C. United has finally been given the green light to build a new stadium at Buzzard Point in Washington. Team officials have swayed the D.C. Zoning Commission, which voted to approve the plans following design revisions to made by the club to address environmental concerns and offer clarity on its plans for parking, transportation and

The new and improved medical spa and hotel, Lanserhof Lans in the Austrian province of Lans is now open. Having undergone considerable renovations and an extension to its existing building, the reinvented spa has been created by Christoph Ingenhoven, the architect behind Lanserhof Tegernsee. As well as the building design, Dusseldorf-based Ingenhoven Architects were also responsible for the overall interior design. The redesign, which comes just two years after the

A Polar Ocean World for Shanghai along with a ski park and planetarium have been identified as part of a larger masterplan to redevelop the city’s Pudong area, drawing up to 10 million visitors annually. The development, which also includes two universities and college campuses will feature the 300,000sq m (3.2 million sq ft) Shanghai Polar Ocean World, housing four interactive animal exhibits, three theatres and 15 further entertainment facilities.

Chinese architecture and design studio Coordination Asia have completed a series of sci-fi tinged pop-up running hubs for sports giant Nike at Shanghai’s Times Square. Created for the Nike+ Run Club – a community which brings people together to explore their cities through running – the hexagonal structures house treadmills in pod-like sections, intended to create a kaleidoscopic interior. LED strips of light on the floor and ceiling build up

Health and wellbeing specialist Victoria Lockhart has announced she is leaving her role at global design, engineering and consultancy firm Arup to take up a position at the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI). Lockhart is a leading researcher in the field of wellness design, specialising in the role technology plays in accurately establishing how the new generation of sustainable buildings will affect the people who use them. IWBI administers the

The concepts of “old world design and the glory of British craftsmanship” have inspired the designers of a 73-bedroom hotel that will open in London this summer. The Pilgrm has been conceived as reinterpretation of the traditional hotel. Despite being located in a historic Victorian building in Norfolk Square, Paddington – with many of the original exterior and interior features retained by design studio 93ft – any items or services

Architects and designers from across the world are arriving in New Delhi today (16 February) for India Design ID – the country’s largest design event. The annual four-day showcase described by organisers “as a collective quest of making design more accessible to the masses,” provides a platform for brands and product designers to display their latest creations and for architects and designers to discuss the issues facing the industry, including

International design and innovation office Carlo Ratti Associati, in collaboration with Dubai’s Museum of the Future, have developed a digitally-operated reflecting canopy to provide shading, climate adaptation and green energy generation in cities. The first working prototype, called ‘Sun&Shade,’ was unveiled this week in Dubai as part of the museum’s ‘Reimagining Climate Change’ exhibit. The canopy is based on an array of mirrors that automatically track the sun. According to

International architects Snøhetta have “blended extroversion and introversion” in their design for the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture in Saudi Arabia; the very first project of its kind in the kingdom. Project manager Tae-Young Yoon told CLAD that the studio’s biggest challenge was creating both a landmark and a building that “speaks to each individual person” who visits it. “The extrovert part derives from what people want and expect

Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) will design a new factory and visitor experience for mineral water company San Pellegrino, after finishing top of an international competition for the project. The studio revealed their sinuous design for the 17,500sq m (188,000sq ft) complex, which will “guide visitors through the 30-year journey of the natural mineral water,” is inspired by “the serpentine run of the Brembo river and the sloping Alpine mountainsides.” San

The reinstallation of the Victoria and Albert Museum’s (V&A) Aston Webb Screen – previously a solid stone wall hiding the building’s Victorian boilers – has been completed, breaking down the separation between the street and the museum. The last stone has now been placed in the modified, newly-open structure; signalling a major milestone in the V&A’s Exhibition Road renovations designed by architects AL_A. According to the design team, “the screen

Failing to consider the context in which they're working is "the biggest mistake" made by architects today, argues Richard Meier in an exclusive interview with CLAD. The renowned Pritzker Prize winner states that “just because you can build 100 stories high, doesn’t mean you should,” and bemoans the number of new city buildings that are out of place in their environment. The full feature interview – in which Meier also

Researchers at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) have discovered a way of producing graphene using soybean oil. The team of scientists have developed a technique, known as GraphAir, that heats soybean oil in a tube furnace until the oil decomposes into carbon ‘building blocks.’ The carbon is then rapidly cooled on nickel foil, where it diffuses into a one nanometre thick rectangular film of graphene. The team

Plans have been unveiled in Nashville, Tennessee, for a US$500m (€471m £401m) development set to feature an 829-bedroom hotel and a host of new attractions. To be located in downtown Nashville, the World One Hotel would become the city’s largest, with architects Earl Swensson Associates (ESa) drawing up plans on behalf of the Big T Building Company (BTB). According to BTB, a four-storey video wall would be wrapped around three

The winner of the 2017 Pritzker Prize for architecture will be revealed on Wednesday 1 March, it has been announced. The much-anticipated news will be revealed at 10am Eastern Standard Time. The Pritzker is the architecture industry's highest honour, and is awarded annually to “a living architect whose built work demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent, vision and commitment, which has produced consistent and significant contributions to humanity

Danish architectural practice 3XN have won the competition to design a new, largely wooden, aquatic centre in the Swedish city of Linkoping, which is designed to “become a hybrid between the city and the lake.” Named Vågen, meaning ‘The Wave’ in English, the 24,000sq m (2,200sq ft) facility will be located between Linkoping and Tinnerbäck Lake. The architecture is inspired by the vision of waves washing ashore, with the building

Hotel giant MGM Resorts International has opened its latest luxury resort in America; the US$1.4bn (€1.7bn, £1.4bn) MGM National Harbor in Prince George’s County, Maryland. Located on a site overlooking the Potomac River, the 1.7 million sq ft (158,000sq m) mixed-use development took three years to build and is conceived by MGM as “an entertainment destination offering an unrivalled collection of attractions.” Architectural firm HKS Hospitality Group oversaw the project,

The growing popularity of football in the Malaysian state Kedah has prompted the local government to plan a new 60,000-capacity stadium. According to the Malaysian National News Agency, several design and construction proposals for the project have been received by the Kedah government, which will now choose a scheme to proceed with. The new stadium will be located outside the state’s main city, Alor Setar. It will replace the 30,000-seat

Visitors to China’s capital can experience the Beijing National Stadium from a dramatic new perspective following the the opening of a corridor along the structure’s roof. According to the China Daily newspaper, visitors can now ascend to the very top of the landmark ground, which was designed by architecture studio Herzog and de Meuron and artist Ai Weiwei for the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics. A 200m (656ft) section originally built

The rise of modernism and motorism has created “technocratic, soulless cities which make cars and developers happy, but have no concern for people living in and using them,” according to Danish architect and urban designer Jan Gehl. In an exclusive interview with CLAD, Gehl and Helle Søholt, a founding partner at Gehl Architects, explained how city planners must be more “pro-people” when making important decisions on urban infrastructure and public

David Rockwell has designed Starwood’s first Luxury Collection hotel in Tokyo – an “ethereal dream-like environment” that has now opened in the historic heart of the Japanese capital. The designer’s vision for The Prince Gallery Tokyo Kioicho was inspired by “the sprawling sky and kaleidoscopic colours of the surrounding city,” which the hotel overlooks from its position across the top seven floors of the new 36-storey Tokyo Garden Terrace tower

Here are some of the stories that appeared on CLAD this week, from Bjarke Ingels' Greenland stadium plans to the latest on David Chipperfield's Nobel Center in Stockholm. Monday • Creating buildings that inspire love is about more than just arranging and inventing forms, argues Peter Zumthor in an exclusive interview with CLAD. Read here. • W Hotels Worldwide has announced it is planning to open a property in Melbourne's

Swiss luxury hotel operator Kempinski will open a five-star hotel located within the historic Manzana de Gomez building in Cuba in Q2 of this year. The 246-bedroom hotel is located within a UNESCO World Heritage Site and will be known as the Gran Hotel Manzana Kempinski La Habana. Markus Semer, chair of the management board and CEO of Kempinski Hotels, said that the hotel’s location within a famous historic building

Plans to build a landmark new home for the Nobel Center in Stockholm’s historic inner city have taken a major step forward, with the county administrative board approving a detailed local plan for the project and rejecting appeals against it. The project, designed by David Chipperfield Architects, has been narrowly supported by the city council in the past. However, it has faced continued opposition and legal challenges from local campaigners

One of the largest indoor waterparks in the world is coming to Copenhagen after Høje-Taastup Municipality revealed plans for a 360,000sq m (3.9m sq ft) mega-leisure development in the Danish city. Dubbed “Nordic Water Universe”, the development – which is four times the size of Copenhagen’s Tivoli Gardens – will be split into two parts, the first comprising a 11,700sq m (126,000sq ft) waterpark and amusement area, and the second

Companies can inspire productivity, profit and improved health and wellbeing among their staff by introducing biophilic amenities such as green fitness centres into their workplaces. That is the view of Despina Katsikakis, a leading workplace design consultant, who claims that the cost of such changes is “negligible when compared the benefits it brings for the organisation, its staff and the economy.” She made the comments during a panel discussion recently