New York’s American Museum of Natural History has unveiled new details for its US$340m (€319m, £277m) Gilder Center – a massive development intended to expand the institution’s role for scientific research and education. Adding a 21st century facelift to the 150-year-old museum, the development is being designed by Studio Gang Architects under the leadership of Jeanne Gang, with exhibit design by Ralph Appelbaum Associates and a new design for a

Factory, the flagship arts building for the north of England designed by Rem Koolhaas’ Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA), has been granted planning approval by Manchester City Council. Construction will begin in Q1 2017 on the large-scale venue, which has been designed to reflect the “extraordinary creative vision and breadth of Manchester’s cultural life”. Ellen van Loon and OMA founder Rem Koolhaas are leading the project. The £110m (US$137.2m, €129.6m)

Premier League football club Chelsea has seen its application to build a new £500m (US$614.6m, €585.3m) stadium approved by the local council. The London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham have give the green light to the structure, which will be built on the site of the club’s current Stamford Bridge ground. Herzog & de Meuron – the architect behind the innovative Nouveau Stade de Bordeaux, which was used for Euro

Soeters Van Eldonk will oversee a “large-scale renovation project” of the Amsterdam ArenA, which will innovate with energy by using repurposed car batteries as a back-up system. The home to Ajax – the most famous and successful Dutch football team – will undergo its most ambitious revamp since it opened in 1996 as part of its Project ArenA 2020 strategy. Project ArenA 2020 will occur in three stages. The first

George Lucas’s long-held dream to build a museum celebrating the art of storytelling may finally come to fruition, with the Hollywood director closing in on an agreement to construct the complex in Los Angeles’ Exposition Park. The long-running saga – which has seen the project beset by legal battles and location changes – took a surprising twist last month when Lucas unveiled alternative designs for the museum in LA and

Dubai developer Nakheel and leading Thai hotel group Centara Hotels have signed a joint venture agreement to create a AED500m (US$136m, €129m, £112m) beachfront resort at Deira Islands in Dubai. The two companies will develop an upscale resort on a prime stretch of beach on Deira Islands – a new, 15.3sq km (5.9sq mile), world-class tourism, leisure, retail and entertainment hub that will include a spa and fitness centre. Nakheel’s

One of Europe’s most significant new cultural buildings will open to the public today (11 January), with a special concert for 1,000 lucky ticket winners. The Hamburg Elbphilharmonie, by Swiss architecture studio Herzog & de Meuron, is formed of a shimmering glass covered volume – consisting of 1,100 individual panes – sat atop the original brick structure of an industrial warehouse on the city’s harbour-side. The structure is home to

Museo Atlántico – Europe’s first underwater museum – has been inaugurated as British underwater sculptor Jason deCaires Taylor’s creation of more than 300 works opens 12m (39ft) below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean. Located just off the coast of Lanzarote, Taylor’s sculptures are made from specialised marine cement that is 20 times more durable than normal construction cement and impervious to saltwater. Installed between February and December 2016, a

The windswept beaches of Toronto, Canada are set to once again host a seasonal design spectacle, with the eight winners of the third annual Winter Stations Design Competition revealed today (10 January). Entrants were tasked with designing “playful” temporary installations – based around the beaches’ lifeguard stations – that can draw people to brave the chilly outdoors and interact with the icy environment. The theme of the contest this time

A new museum dedicated to the founding fathers of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) opened in Dubai on Saturday (7 January). Located on the waterfront of the emirate, the wavy design of the Etihad (Union) Museum is inspired by the shape of a manuscript, with its seven tapering columns emulating the seven pens used to sign the 1971 Union agreement that created the UAE. The project design team, led by

Artist Nayan Kulkarni has installed a 75m-long (250ft) rotor blade in the centre of Hull – the first in a series of temporary installations marking its year as UK City of Culture. Commissioned in partnership with Siemens and with the support of Green Port Hull, “Blade” is part of Look Up – a year-long programme for Hull 2017 that will feature a number of artists creating works designed to look

The architecture firm behind Minnesota Vikings’ US$1.1bn (£905.9m, €1bn) US Bank Stadium has been appointed by Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise the Texas Rangers to design a new ballpark. HKS will develop a design for the venue to include a retractable roof for climate control. It will also have a capacity of 42,000, down from the 50,000 spectators Texas Rangers’ can accommodate at its current Globe Life stadium, with fans

Global luxury brand JW Marriott Hotels & Resorts has debuted its Marco Island Beach Resort in southwest Florida, USA, following a $320 million (€303m, £260m) renovation and conversion project. Two phases of a three-part makeover have been completed at the 726-room Balinese-styled resort, which features two championship golf courses, indoor and outdoor dining and a spa. In autumn this year, the hotel will open an adults-only tower offering a rooftop

The Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group have commissioned interior designer Joyce Wang to lead a multi-million-pound restoration of its European flagship, the Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, London. Wang – who previously oversaw the recent renovation of The Landmark Mandarin Oriental, Hong Kong – will create the overall design concept for the Edwardian hotel’s 181 rooms, suites and public areas. She has taken her inspiration from the building’s park-side location, the glamorous

The Muscat National Development Company (ASAAS) is planning to develop a mixed-use waterfront project in Oman with multiple attractions as the country’s government continues on its plans to invest in its tourism sector. Situated in Barka, the cluster of attractions will include the theme park, in addition to a waterpark, wildlife park, equestrian centre and an Interactive science and technology edutainment centre. In addition to new attractions, the 1.5 million

Molecules 10,000 times narrower than the width of a human hair could hold the key to building towering wooden skyscrapers in the future, new research has found. A father and son team at the Universities of Warwick and Cambridge in England have unlocked the mystery of how key sugars in cells bind to form strong, indigestible materials – a finding they believe could lead to the creation of super-strong skyscraper-supporting

The iconic Swiss hotel Waldhaus Flims Alpine Grand Hotel & Spa has reopened after a four-month renovation, which has seen both bedrooms and suites redeveloped, along with a new 2,800sq m (30,139sq ft) spa. The new spa is part of a CHF40m (US$40m, €36m, £28m) revamp by Hong Kong-based interior design firm Peter Silling & Associates, which aims to maintain the property’s Belle Epoque heritage while enhancing the resort to

A big tent festooned with neckerchiefs will be the centrepiece of a new museum dedicated to the international Scouting movement. Architecture studio Tate Harmer have won a competition to design the £6m (US$7.3m, €7m) project, which will be located at Gilwell Park in Chingford, east London – the “spiritual home” of the UK branch of the Scouting Association, and the place where first Scout leaders were trained in 1919. The

Leisure amenities and mixed-use building are the future of private developments, according to one of the founding principals of New York studio SHoP Architects. Coren Sharples, whose practice have designed New York’s forthcoming American Copper Towers – a residential project boasting a three-storey skybridge, spa, fitness centre and public realm – told CLAD the addition of leisure spaces, often publicly accessible, to offices and private residences is “now actually seen

The plan to demolish Chelsea FC’s Stamford Bridge ground and replace it with a 60,000-capacity stadium has received a recommendation by planning officers. A 300-plus page document delivering the recommendation said the stadium would be a “high quality development, which would make a positive contribution to the character and appearance of the local area”. Architects Herzog & de Meuron were credited with developing a “high quality piece of design” and

Before looking ahead at some of the most exciting projects and exhibitions of 2017 we thought we’d take a moment to reflect on some of the CLAD stories that particularly caught the imagination of our readers 2016. Our brief – to cover all aspects of leisure architecture, design, investment and development, from sport to spa, hospitality to museums and urban regeneration to health and fitness – were mirrored in the

Everton FC’s quest to build a modern new stadium is making “solid progress on many fronts”, supporters were told by the club’s executive board. During Everton’s annual general meeting (AGM), chief executive Robert Elstone revealed that design work, viability studies for transport and planning, and an “evidence-based” business plan had all been completed. Elstone said that while there were “significant remaining issues” to resolve, everyone was “optimistic about the new

Hotel giant Hilton has acquired New York’s historic Renwick Hotel and opened it as part of its Curio Collection. The property is a literary landmark once frequented by the likes of John Steinbeck, Thomas Mann and other American writers and intellectuals. The renovation and re-design by architecture and interior design firm Stonehill & Taylor evokes this cultural heritage and references the design flourishes of Manhattan in the 1920s, when the

Two Barcelona architecture studios will design “one of the leading art museums in the Nordic region” after winning an international competition to create a new home for the Sørlandets Kunstmuseum in Kristiansand, Norway. Mestres Wage Arquitectes and MX_SI Architectural Studio from Barcelona will transform a former 1930s wharf-side grain silo into an elegant complex anchoring the city’s new cultural quarter. The design – which was selected over 100 other anonymous

Fairhurst Design Group, the architect behind Salford’s MediaCityUK and Manchester United’s training ground, has been appointed to design Grimsby Town FC’s ambitious new stadium development. The Manchester-based studio has overseen the design of the 14,000-capacity stadium and surrounding development, which includes an ice rink, leisure facilities and housing. Extreme Leisure, the sports brand founded by entrepreneur Alistair Gosling, is partnering with the League Two football club on the £55m (US$67.6m,

UPDATE: British architect David Adjaye has been knighted by the Duke of Cambridge during an Investiture ceremony held today (12 May) at Buckingham Palace, London. Adjaye declared himself “truly honoured and humbled” after receiving the accolade in the 2017 New Year's Honours List for his services to architecture. Sir David – whose leisure projects include The Nobel Peace Center in Oslo, the Sugar Hill mixed-use complex in New York and