A US Army base in the centre of Seoul will be repurposed as a vast public park by Dutch landscape architects West 8. After four years of development, the studio have publicly presented their masterplan for Yongsan Park at a forum held at the National Museum in the South Korean capital The current Yongsan Park site is a walled, prohibited area completely cut off from the surrounding city. The US

Plans for the much-debated Guggenheim Museum in Helsinki have fallen through after city councillors rejected a proposal to provide state aid for the project’s development. During recent budget talks, the co-ruling nationalist Finns party objected to the €40m (US$42.4m, £33.5m) support costs offered by the government, especially during a time when Finland’s economy is struggling while the government pushes through a multi-billion Euro austerity measure to try and curb public

Faena Forum, the new cultural core of the Faena District in Miami Beach, has opened to the public in time for the Design Miami global forum. A procession down the city’s Collins Avenue congregated in the Forum's new canopy plaza and witnessed the official opening of the complex’s three buildings, which have all been designed by architecture studio OMA. To celebrate, a dance performance with scenography by the building’s lead

South Korean architect Moon Hoon has designed an unusually-formed museum dedicated to the folk story of Pinocchio. The client, an avid collector of Pinocchio dolls, wanted a museum and gallery on the outskirts of Seoul where her collection could be experienced and explained. The museum complex, called Pino Familia, is formed of three buildings in close proximity, which surround a grassed inner court containing a sky-train, a pond and a

A masterplan a new leisure district for Dutch football club Feyenoord, which includes a sculptural new stadium, has been approved by the mayor of Rotterdam. The Feyenoord City Masterplan, developed by architects OMA, can now be implemented at a site on the Maas river in the south of the city. The new intricately clad 63,000 seat stadium, located at the waterfront, is to be the landmark of Feyenoord City and

Parisian gym-goers could soon be powering scenic boat trips along the River Seine on a fitness vessel that harnesses energy from passengers’ workouts. The Paris Navigating Gym is the latest innovation from architects and researchers Carlo Ratti Associati. They have partnered with non-profit design group Terreform ONE, urban regeneration institute URBEM and fitness firm Technogym to develop the project. The boat – which has been designed in response to a

British architect and academic Sir Peter Cook has blasted the “conspiracy of boring” he believes is preventing the creation of interesting and risk-taking contemporary buildings. In a passionate address delivered at the World Architecture Festival in Berlin earlier this month, the founder of avant-garde collective Archigram bemoaned the “lack of imagination” stifling the industry. “I believe there are some architects, even in this room, who really prefer it if buildings

Patrik Schumacher’s position at Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA) is not under threat despite the practice issuing a frank statement distancing itself from his controversial comments about social housing and the privatisation of public space. “Patrik’s position is certainly not under any threat; he remains our principal,” a ZHA spokesperson told CLAD. “Patrik is currently in Asia, along with other senior members of the practice, for a topping out ceremony.” Schumacher

The director of Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA), Patrik Schumacher, has come under mounting pressure for his recent controversial comments about social housing, with his own practice distancing themselves from his public pronouncements. In a strongly-worded statement, ZHA said: “Patrik Schumacher’s ‘urban policy manifesto’ does not reflect Zaha Hadid Architects’ past – and will not be our future. Zaha Hadid did not write manifestos. She built them.” The growing furore followed

A new resort with a nature-inspired spa has opened adjacent to an environmentally protected 208-acre state park along Florida’s Gulf Coast. Located in Destin, Florida, The Henderson features 170 bedrooms and architecture “reminiscent of a grand seaside manor of yesteryear.” Atlanta-based architect Cooper Carry used traditional coastal architecture, including steep gabled rooflines, shingles and a design that references Florida’s nautical history. The Salamander Spa has 11 treatment rooms as well

Boca Juniors FC – one of the best-supported football clubs in Argentina – has released plans for a new stadium, which would be the largest in the country. The Super Bombonera, which would sit on the site of the current Bombonera stadium, would have a capacity of 77,495 – almost 30,000 seats more than Boca’s current home. Local architect Manteola - Sanchez Gomez - Santos - Solsona - Sallaberry -

The City of London’s planning committee has green lit architect Eric Parry’s design for the district’s tallest tower. With a gross estimated area of 30,000sq m (323,000sq ft) and a height of 309.94m (1,016ft) above ordnance datum, the tower, called 1 Undershaft, will overtake Rogers Stirk Harbour & Partners’ Leadenhall Building as the tallest building in the City. A new public square and 2,000sq m (21,500sq ft) retail court will

The Universidad de Ingeniería y Tecnología (UTEC) in Lima, designed by Grafton Architects, has won the first ever RIBA International Prize. Six projects were shortlisted for the award – which recognises the best building in the world – four of which were leisure buildings. The eventual winner however was the educational complex in Peru – although it does have a leisure component with the inclusion of a theatre and cinema

The Kroenke Sports and Entertainment company has broken ground on the new HKS-designed Los Angeles Stadium at Hollywood Park in Inglewood, which will be the new home of National Football League (NFL) franchise the LA Rams. Sized at nearly 3 million sq ft (278,700sq m), multipurpose venue is set to be the largest in the NFL when it opens in 2019. It will include 70,000 fixed seats, with the flexibility

Madrid’s historic Hall of Realms will be refurbished and transformed into an important art exhibition space by architects Foster + Partners and Rubio Arquitectura, after the pair were named winners of an international competition for the project. The space will form an expansion to the city’s Museo del Prado campus; Spain’s main national art museum. The Hall of Realms building was part of the 17th century Royal Buen Retiro Palace

A new national stadium accommodating football and rugby is expected to be built and ready in Luxembourg by October 2019. The mayor of the eponymous capital city, Lydie Polfer, unveiled plans for the 9,385-capacity venue, which is expected to cost €60m (£51.2m, US$63.6m). Located on Boulevard de Kockelscheuer, the proposed stadium has been designed by the BENG architecture practice. Preparatory work on the site is expected to begin in May

Iconic Malaysian luxury resort The Datai Langkawi will embark on an extensive renovation from 4 September 2017, its most substantial enhancement since it opened 23 years ago. To ensure it retains its ‘Datai-DNA,’ the management has appointed interior designer Didier Lefort of DL2A. Australian architect Kerry Hill was responsible for the original designs in 1993, and had a vision to create a luxurious hideaway set amidst a 10-million-year-old rainforest backed

Wanda has announced two US$15bn (€14.2bn, £12bn) development projects in China, signalling chair Wang Jianlin’s continued efforts to make Wanda the world’s largest tourism entity by 2020. The two major projects were both announced in the space of a week, with agreements signed between both China’s Shaanxi provincial government and Changsha municipal government to build theme parks, commercial centres and sports developments in Xi’an and Hunan Province. In Hunan, a

London's Design Museum welcomes the public to its new home on Kensington High Street today (24 November) marking the culmination of one of the most innovative and unlikely architectural collaborations on a major leisure project in recent times. The museum is located inside the city’s former Commonwealth Institute Building, a Grade II* listed structure that had lain dormant for many years before architects OMA won a competition in 2008 to

Architecture studio HKS have unveiled their concept designs for Fairmont Taghazout Bay – a 615 hectare seaside resort on the coast of Morocco, which has been conceived to challenge traditional assumptions about holidaying in the country. Slated to open in the first quarter of 2019, the resort, 18 km north of Agadir, will feature 155 guestrooms and suites in addition to 52 Fairmont-branded luxury waterfront villas. Development company Sud Partners

Sports giant Nike has partnered with artist Kaws to cover two of New York’s community basketball courts with his signature murals. Located in Sara D. Roosevelt Park on Manhattan’s Stanton Street, the side-by-side full courts have been painted with swirling, brightly-coloured patterns and motifs. “My approach to the courts was very similar to how I would work on canvas,” said Brooklyn-based Kaws, whose real name is Brian Donnelly. “I wanted

Wolf Prix, the design principal and CEO of Austrian architecture studio Coop Himmelb(l)au has slammed design competitions, arguing they “diminish the value of our thinking.” In an entertaining and frank talk about the state of the industry and the challenges of tomorrow, made at the World Architecture Festival in Berlin last week, Prix claimed that “to make a competition is a very stupid thing.” “I repeat myself a thousand times,

The JW Marriott Resort & Spa in Venice, designed by Matteo Thun & Partners, has won the European Hotel Design of the Year prize. The announcement was made at the European Hotel Design Awards, which took place in a star-packed ceremony last night at the Park Plaza Westminster Bridge hotel in London. Matteo Thun and his team created a contemporary resort on the man-made Isola delle Rose island – located

Ennead Architects have broken ground on the Shanghai Planetarium for the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum (SSTM) in the city’s Lingang district. The international competition-winning design draws inspiration from astronomical principles, invoking the experience of orbital motion. Visitors will be guided through each of the building’s three principal forms – the Oculus, the Inverted Dome and the Sphere – that act as astronomical instruments, tracking the sun, moon and stars

Architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro and design studio Rockwell Group have unveiled their plans for an expandable cultural venue in New York’s burgeoning Hudson Yards district. The duo, who are both based in the city, have designed The Shed; a new centre for artistic invention set to open in early 2019. Currently under construction on the far west side of Manhattan, where the High Line meets Hudson Yards, the facility

The historic US embassy in London’s Grosvenor Square will be opened to the public as part of a £1bn hotel and retail development – with Westminster City Council granting planning permission for the David Chipperfield-designed project. Developers Qatari Diar will now transform the site, which has been home to US ambassadors to the UK since 1960, into a 137 bedroom hotel, spa and ball room for 900 guests. An operator

The National Museum and Dialogue Centre in Szczecin, Poland has been declared the World Building of the Year 2016. Polish architecture studio Robert Konieczny KWK Promes were awarded the prize by a jury led by British architect David Chipperfield. The result - which caps what has been a transformative year for leisure architecture - was revealed at a gala dinner in Berlin on the final day of this year’s World