A new Indian restaurant and cocktail bar has opened in London with a design that pays tribute to the scientists and botanists of the Victorian era and their explorations in the jungles of India. Flora Indica, which opened at the weekend, is the latest dining and entertainment concept from designer Henry Chebaane and Blue Sky Hospitality, who recently opened London’s sci-fi tinged Asian restaurant Kojawan. Walls and shelves of the

Architect David Adjaye has told CLAD that the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington is “one of the defining projects” of his career to date. The landmark museum – which has been developed over a decade – is due to be opened by US President Barack Obama on the 24 September 2016. Adjaye’s practice Adjaye Associates worked with architecture studios Freelon Group and David Brody Bond

Planning approval for a “game-changing” £37m (US$49m, €43.7m) water park has been granted by Coventry City Council. The FaulknerBrowns-designed facility – which is located in the city’s town centre, and was funded by both private and public investment – is expected to open its doors in 2018. As well as flume rides the water park contains toddler areas, leisure water and lane swimming. Most of the water features and high

Architecture studio Alison Brooks have created a banana-like structure for this September’s London Design Festival, due to sit in the grounds of the Chelsea College of Arts during the event. Aptly named ‘The Smile’, the curving urban structure is being built from cross-laminated tulipwood and has been created as a means to demonstrate the structural and spatial potential of that material, in addition to its artistic purpose. The American Hardwood

The developers of a luxury island resort opening this year the Maldives have claimed it will be one of the most eco-conscious ever created in South Asia – with thousands of solar panels used as a design feature. Developer Crown & Champa Resorts claims that the Hurawalhi Island Resort will “put as much back into its surroundings as it takes out.” New York architect Yuji Yamazaki has created a futuristic,

Architects Hassell + OMA have unveiled their design for Perth’s AUS$428m (US$325m, €290.8m, £245.7m) Western Australian Museum building, with global contractor Brookfield Multiplex chosen to lead the landmark development. The design by the two international design practices combines a mix of heritage and contemporary architecture, with a modern roof and new buildings intersected by refurbished heritage buildings on the museum campus. The building, which will house the state’s scientific and

AECOM has taken on the project of renovating Los Angeles’ Memorial Coliseum as part of the city’s bid to host the 2024 Olympic Games. The US$270m (£205.1m, €241.7m) revamp will be funded by the University of Southern California, which used the stadium as the home ground for its Trojans American football team. Sports, training and media facilities will be upgraded, while the track surface which will be used for the

New renderings have been revealed for the upcoming 10,000sq ft (929sq m) spa at the Auberge Beach Residences & Spa Fort Lauderdale. The Florida spa, which will open in 2018 to residents and guests alike, is designed by spa consultant Tracy Lee of TLee Spas, and inspired by the sea, sound, salt and sand, said Lee. “This inspiration came from numerous sources,” Lee told CLAD. “The experience of one of

The four summer houses created to surround Bjarke Ingels’ “unzipped” Serpentine Pavilion have been put up for sale. Specialist architectural estate agency Modern House has listed the quartet on its website. Berlin studio Barkow Leibinger’s looping wooden structure is priced at £125,000 (US$164,700, €145,500), while the mini pavilions designed by Kunlé Adeyemi, Asif Khan and Yona Friedman each cost £95,000 (US$125,200, €113,000.) The sales will be completed when the Serpentine

Luxury fitness chain Equinox will theme its first hotel/health club hybrids around movement, nutrition and regeneration in an appeal to regular travellers who want to keep fit. In an exclusive interview, the company’s vice-president Aaron Richter told CLAD that Equinox Hotels – which will open its first branch in New York’s Hudson Yards in 2018 – will implement the core philosophies of its well established fitness clubs to “the art

Here are some of the most popular stories that appeared on CLAD this week, from a hip hop museum to rainforest built on a tower in Dubai. • Studio MMK will design Seoul’s music-led ‘Dream Island’ complex after winning an international architecture competition. Read here. • Dubai’s planned safari park will feature misting machines, cool-water pools and air conditioned rocks to keep the animals cool. Read here. • Designs have

US President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama have reportedly chosen Chicago's historic Jackson Park as the site for their Obama Presidential Center. Media reports in the city claim the historic park has been chosen ahead of fellow South Side location Washington Park. Official confirmation is expected next week. Once the announcement is made, preparation work will begin ahead of the start of construction next year. Earlier this month,

A 200-bed five star hotel and 30,000sq ft (2,800sq m) of leisure space will dominate the latest architectural project being developed by former Manchester United stars Ryan Giggs and Gary Neville. Restaurants, bars, shops and three anchoring public squares will feature at the St. Michael’s scheme in Manchester, which Neville has vowed will be “the biggest statement in architecture and development that the city has seen in modern times”. Architecture

The Welsh Government is funding a masterplan for a multi-million pound wellness village in South Wales. The Llanelli Wellness and Life Science Village is just one of a number of projects being delivered through ARCH (A Regional Collaboration for Health), a partnership between three local university health boards. Located on the Carmarthenshire coast, the Llanelli Wellness Village will include a wellness hotel, sports and wellbeing centre, wellness spa, primary care

Stanton Williams and Asif Khan have triumphed over a number of architectural heavyweights, winning a competition to design the Museum of London’s new home at Smithfield. The architectural duo overcame competition from firms including Bjarke Ingels, Caruso St John Architects and Studio Milou with their winning proposal, which will lift the dome on the market area to create a landmark light-filled entrance to the museum. Malcolm Reading Consultants handled the

England’s Boringdon Hall in the Devon countryside is set to open its 1,800sq m (19,375sq ft) wellness spa on Monday, 1 August. Gaia Spa – named for and inspired by Mother Nature – includes 12 treatment rooms, an infinity pool, hydrotherapy pool, Finnish sauna, crystal salt steam room, aromatherapy steam room, herbal sauna, shower experiences, relaxation room, gym, beauty salon with champagne service, and outdoor area for relaxation and meditation.

A host of eco-friendly leisure projects have been recognised in the 2016 Green Good Design Awards, handed out by Chicago’s Museum of Architecture and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design. The awards – founded by Eero Saarinen, Edgar Kaufmann Jr and Charles and Ray Eames in 1950 – celebrate the best new projects around the world that have responded to the needs for energy conservation, reducing toxic waste and

A 75,000sq ft (7,000sq m) rainforest will be situated halfway up a tower in the Hilton Worldwide hotel in Dubai as part of a "never before seen" entertainment experience created by ZAS Architects. In an exclusive interview with CLAD, principal DJ Armin said the firm is using innovative digital technology, advanced architectural practices and biophilic design to create an indoor/outdoor leisure experience that “can work successfully through all four seasons

Images released today (27 July) have given a first proper look at how the cultural attractions planned for London’s Stratford Waterfront are set to look. Architecture studios Allies and Morrison, O’Donnell + Tuomey and Arquitecturia are designing a series of new facilities for the waterfront in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park as part of the Olympicopolis cultural and educational development. The new renderings reveal how the following three venues are

The iconic interiors of the Four Seasons restaurant in New York have been dismantled forever after a controversial auction took place in the building yesterday (26 July). Over 950 lots – including furniture, silverware and pots and pans – were sold for prices that soared above pre-sale estimates. The award-winning modernist restaurant – designed by architect Philip Johnson inside Mies van der Rohe’s Seagram building – opened in 1959 and

A social club founded by Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood for London’s high society has been redesigned by the HKS Hospitality Group as a family-friendly centre focused around health and wellness. Wood’s Harringdon Club – once a popular haunt for celebrities, young royals and fashionistas – was purchased by Sicilian hospitality entrepreneur Luca Del Bono, who has transformed the interiors of the listed Georgian-era music hall into the Mediterranean-themed South Kensington

An Elemis spa will be a central part of the new Domes Noruz Chania lifestyle hotel on the Greek island of Crete, set to open this month. The 350sq m (3,767sq ft) features traditional artwork motifs and natural materials, and employs various shades of blue in its design. Natural light and diffused, indirect lighting are used to sustain a sense of relaxation, and the wall tiles reference the patterns found

The first venue within Hong Kong’s emerging West Kowloon Cultural District (WKCD) has been completed on time and on budget. The M+ Pavilion is a flexible small-scale arts space created by a trio of young local designers. The site is designed as an accompaniment to Herzog and de Meuron’s forthcoming M+ building – a new home for Hong Kong’s museum for visual culture, art, design and architecture. The new pavilion

Philippe Starck has revealed a new leisure concept centred around wellness and healthy living. 'Villa M' is a restaurant, hotel and training space exclusive to medical professionals, caregivers, patients, students and innovators working in the world of health and fitness. The building is being developed by health insurance company Groupe Pasteur Mutualité in the centre of Paris. The French designer’s concept is to allow visitors to learn about and medical

A safari park opening later this year in Dubai will feature misting machines, cool-water pools and rocks fitted with air conditioning to keep temperatures down. Design and construction firm Cape Reed are creating the 120 hectare (296.5 acre) site for the Dubai Municipality, and have had to think innovatively in order to ensure the park’s thousands of animals are kept in cool enough conditions in the desert climate. The park

Interior designer Reinhard Strasser has created a new Alpine retreat in the Austrian mountains, featuring a high-altitude hypoxic chamber which can be used by professional athletes. The hotel, called Blumen Haus Lech, will launch in the village of Lech in December 2016. It is being funded by British businessman Andrew Flowers, who wants to “raise the bar for boutique hotels in Austria” and offer a luxury stopover for skiers in

Long-running plans to build a permanent home for the Universal Hip-Hop Museum (UHHM) in the US have moved a step closer to reality, after architects BrandNu Design unveiled renderings showing what the project could look like. A disused courthouse in The Bronx, New York, has been proposed as the site of the museum – the first time a specific building has been suggested. BrandNu’s proposal for the 38,000sq ft (3,500sq