Acclaimed artist Marina Abramovic has presented Lord Norman Foster with a golden replica of his brain. The British architect received the unusual sculpture – derived from a 3D scan of his brain – as part of an awards ceremony at Campus Biotech in Geneva. Foster is one of the 2016 recipients of the Scopus Award – the highest honour conferred by the Friends of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem –

Dutch construction firm Bright Buildings is creating a transparent swimming facility with a retractable roof and walls that will produce "an attractive transition from indoor to outdoor activities.” The company, which specialises in building “daylight structures”, is building the new 1,000sq m (10,000sq ft) health and swimming complex for Dutch holiday park Eiland van Maurik. The park’s operators want to encourage more guests to use its pool facility, and to

King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands has officially opened the Voorlinden Museum – a modern, minimalist new home for the art collection of industrialist Joop van Caldenborgh. Situated in the southern town Wassenaar and designed by Dutch practice Kraaijvanger Architects with Arup, the museum has parallel symmetrical walls that allow the interior to open to the environment. The simple exterior includes a white colonnade to support the roof and a façade

Plans are underway to recreate William Shakespeare’s iconic Globe Theatre around the world using nothing but scaffolding and re-purposed shipping containers. The original Globe was built by Shakespeare in 1599 in the London borough of Southwark as a theatre in the round, which allowed huge crowds get as close as possible to the onstage action. The theatre was destroyed in 1644, but a replica was created in 1997 using the

Stadiums and arenas built for events such as the FIFA World Cup and Olympic Games should all be temporary, according to South African architect Ruben Reddy. Talking at the Soccerex Global Convention in Manchester, Reddy told delegates that the structures should be designed so that they can be deconstructed and the materials used to create other civic buildings such as hospitals and school. He used his native South Africa as

Jiangnan Global Harbor, one of the world’s largest leisure-led retail schemes, has officially opened near Shanghai. The 500,000sq m (5.3 million sq ft), five-level project is located in the city of Changzhou, within the prosperous Jiangsu province. Designed by architects Chapman Taylor, the scheme has a vast Art Deco-inspired atrium with giant LED screens and musical fountains; 60,000sq m (645,800sq ft) of space dedicated to bars, restaurants and cafés; and

The new California home of US National Basketball Association franchise the Sacramento Kings has become the first indoor sports venue to achieve LEED Platinum certification. The US$507m (£336m, €476m) Golden 1 Center, which will host its first preseason fixture on 10 October, is the highest-scoring stadium ever certified by the US Green Building Council – the body that oversees the LEED system. It is also among the top three per

This year’s World Architecture Day will be used by the industry to promote the role of good design in “ensuring a better future for all people.” The International Union of Architects (UIA), which represents the world’s 1.3 million architects, has announced that the 3 October milestone will have the theme ‘Design a Better World.’ The association has called on architecture organisations around the globe to use the day to highlight

Chinese interior designer Ronger Kane has designed a minimalist hotel to showcase his “less is more” approach to creating spaces where people can feel truly at ease. The White Sail Hotel at the Seven-Star Bay Yacht Club, located in the Chinese city Shenzhen, is a restrained, white-clad building dedicated to sports and leisure. “Leisure resides in physical and mental relaxation and pleasure,” said Kane. “Our designs focus on how to

Here are some of the stories that appeared on CLAD this week, from Francis Ford Coppola’s private island retreat to a new energy-producing paving slab. Monday • Renowned street artist Phlegm has created an eight-storey mural in Toronto, bringing art to the city’s busiest intersections. Read here. • Legendary Hollywood director Francis Ford Coppola has opened a private Caribbean island to create a “Robinson Crusoe experience”. Read here. Tuesday •

Wang Jianlin’s public feud with Disney continues to heat up with the Wanda chair’s latest multi-billion Wanda City to open its doors tomorrow (23 September). Located 500km (311m) west of the recently opened Shanghai Disney Resort, the US$5.2bn (€4.64bn, £4bn) Hefei Wanda City has been described as the “first Huizhou culture theme park in the world.” A tribute to the culture of the Anhui province, which dates back more than

Mandara Spa will operate a spa at the Lotte Hotel in Saint Petersburg, Russia, set to open in mid-2017. The five-star property is situated near Saint Isaac’s Square, and constructed on the historically significant location of Yakunchikova’s mansion, built in 1849. The original building design was drawn up by the French architect Adrian Robin and has reportedly housed famous historical figures such as John Quincy Adams, the first US ambassador

New York’s American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) has been granted first approval for its US$325m (€288.8m, £248.6m) expansion intended to expand the institution’s role for scientific research and education. AMNH was given the approval when a joint committee composed of members from the Community Board 7 committees on preservation and parks and environment voted in favour of the Gilder Center plans, which will create a new six-storey addition to

British football club Everton is working with US design firm Meis Architects to create a vision for a proposed new stadium. Meis Architects founder Dan Meis told CLAD that the studio was working with the Premier League club, but couldn't comment further on the plans at this early stage of the project. The Liverpool-based club has long made clear its wish to relocate from its current home at Goodison Park

Italian architect and spa designer Alberto Apostoli has created a wellness centre in the south of France that evokes a medieval crypt. Atrium - Spa & Beauté has been built on one of the mazy streets of Mâcon, the historic gateway town to Burgundy. The client wanted a spa and sauna complex that reflects the history and religious background of the town – typified by the adjacent Church of Saint

Golf course architect Tom Doak has designed “North America’s first reversible course” for the Forest Dunes resort in Michigan. Called The Loop, Doak’s design features two distinct layouts that use the same 18 greens and fairways. Players move clockwise on one day, and counterclockwise the next. The course – developed on a relatively flat, sand-based stretch of land to the west of the resort’s pre-existing course – is due to

London mayor Sadiq Khan has ordered a review into Thomas Heatherwick’s proposed £185m Garden Bridge project, which will investigate whether taxpayers have had value for money for their contribution. Dame Margaret Hodge MP, the former chair of the UK’s Public Accounts Committee, will conduct the review. She will focus on the procurement process around the project, and analyse whether the required standards have been met around transparency and openness. According

Disney chair and CEO Bob Iger has said that the operator’s new Shanghai venture has “ample expansion possibilities” following a strong opening three months. Disneyland Shanghai, which opened on 17 June this year, has enjoyed a strong start to life as a visitor attraction, with the company reporting 95 per cent occupancy rates and visitors staying two hours longer on average than expected. “We've had a fantastic opening for Shanghai

The long-awaited opening of the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington D.C. will take place this Saturday (24 September), with US president Barack Obama in attendance. A three-day festival of music, literature, dance and film will accompany the opening of the museum, which is dedicated to exploring the story of America through the lens of the African American experience. Obama will lead the museum’s dedication ceremony

Plans are in the works to develop a multi-million pound aquarium project in Southampton, combining undersea creatures with a showcase of the region’s strengths and its links to the high seas. Combining an aquarium setting with a maritime center exploring Southampton’s position at the centre of a global story, the development promotes itself as championing “Storylines of Science, Technology and Life: Voyages of Discovery.” The site will also include a

A group of Japanese architects, including Fumihiko Maki and Kengo Kuma, are petitioning UNESCO to recognise the gymnasium building designed by Kenzo Tange for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics on its World Cultural Heritage list. The high-profile team today (21 September) launched a campaign to have the Yoyogi National Gymnasium listed before the Olympics return to Tokyo in 2020. The facility – which hosted swimming, diving and basketball events at the

Australian architects Crone Partners and Japanese studio Kengo Kuma & Associates will build a luxury hotel for Wanda in Sydey’s Central Business District. The pair have won an international architecture competition to design the Wanda Sydney, whose Chinese developer wants it to become one of Australia's most luxurious hotels. Located in the city’s Circular Quay, the building will feature a pixelated facade of sandstone, cascading green walls and large windows

London architects Weston Williamson+Partners (WW+P) have won a contract worth £2.2bn (US$2.8bn, €2.5bn) to build a new “legacy” rail link across Dubai in time for the emirate to host the 2020 World Expo. The Dubai Metro 2020 will form a 15km route between Nakheel Harbour & Tower and the world fair site. The line will connect many of Dubai’s most popular mixed-use and leisure developments, including The Gardens, Discovery Gardens

James Pallotta, the American investor in charge of Italian football club AS Roma, has claimed construction work on a new stadium for the team could begin next March. Plans to build an 52,000 home ground inspired by the colosseum of ancient Rome have been in the pipeline for four years, with little sign of a breakthrough being made due to what club president Pallotta described as “some problems due to

The founders of Dutch architecture studio MVRDV believe their project for Rotterdam’s Museum Boijmans van Beuningen offers a new model for how museums can take full advantage of their vast cultural collections. Winy Maas, Nathalie de Vries and Jacob Van Rijs – who are transforming what was an art storage depot into an attraction in its own right – told CLAD that rethinking the art storage facility as something that

Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects have won an international architecture competition to design “a new public centre” for the city of Stavanger, Norway. Their successful proposal for Breiavatnet Lanterna envisions a large-scale urban redevelopment of the city’s park and the addition of a 101m (331ft) high rise of flexible space for restaurants, cafes, performing arts spaces, exhibitions, green terraces and offices. Multifunctional leisure facilities will be placed around a large amphitheatre

Pavegen, the British clean-tech company, has launched an innovative flooring system that creates energy from footsteps. The technology, called V3, was unveiled in New York today (19 September) by the company and London mayor Sadiq Khan, who is in the US on a trade mission. The multi-functional paving provides multiple options to integrate renewable energy production into urban spaces. According to Pavegen, the technology has implications across sectors, including sport,