Australian developer Sterling Global has submitted plans for a Jean Nouvel-designed mixed-use tower in Melbourne, which will have different designs on all four sides. If approved, the AUS$700m (US$501m, €448m, £345) project will be constructed on the city’s La Trobe Street to house restaurants, bars, penthouses, apartments and a luxury hotel and skybar. The design of the 242m (794ft) tower stands out for its four distinct sides. Three form a

The extension of a luxury London hotel by Richard Rogers is nearing completion. The renowned architect, and his practice Rogers Stirk Harbour & Partners, have designed a fresh architectural appearance to the front façade of the Berkeley hotel in Knightsbridge, adding “a touch of contemporary theatre” to the 1970s building. The hotel’s entrance is being extended outwards and fitted with glass, steel and carbon fibre beams to create what the

Health and wellness hotel specialist Henri Chenot is opening a five-star retreat in Azerbaijan near Gabala lake, marking the brand’s first venture outside the Italian border. Based on the holistic detox and revitalisation Chenot methods, the Chenot Palace Health Wellness Hotel Gabala will be both a medical spa and a medical clinic dedicated to improving the health, wellbeing and natural appearance of guests. It is set to open in November

Construction has begun on Aykon City; a four-tower mega-project in Dubai which will bring new leisure space to the city’s skies. Designed by Handel Architects for developer DAMAC, the towers will house hotels, offices and residences. They will be supported by a podium featuring leisure amenities for the public – including a beach club with swimming pools and green spaces, a children’s playground, an Aykon Spa, restaurants, high-end shops, cafes,

The first images of the long-awaited extension to the Tate Modern art gallery in London have been released ahead of its official public opening on 17 June 2016. The Tate Modern was created in 2000 by Herzog and de Meuron, who transformed the derelict Bankside Power Station on the River Thames into a home for the UK’s collection of international modern and contemporary art. The architects reunited eight years ago

German architecture studio von Gerkan, Marg and Partners (GMP) have won an international competition to design an Urban Concert Hall in the Chinese city of Chengdu. The firm’s vision for the project was chosen by city officials ahead of competing entries from Jean Nouvel, Zaha Hadid Architects, Nikken Sekkei and Aedas. They will now set to work completing a final design for the building, which will have opera and concert

The completed first phase of redevelopment at Chicago’s Navy Pier will be officially unveiled on 27 May, kicking off a year-long programme of celebrations. Landscape architecture and design firm James Corner Field Operations have been revamping the pier since winning an international design competition for the US$278m (€255.9m, £197.6m) project in 2012. Phase one includes new arts and cultural programming, restaurants and landscape design across nine acres. It has been

DGT Architects have been awarded the Grand Prize 2016 by the French Architects Overseas Organisation (AFEX) for their work on Estonia's new national museum. The studio will collect the award on 26 May in Venice to coincide with the opening of the city’s 15th architecture biennale. DGT won an international competition to design the new home for the Estonian National Museum in Tartu by challenging the competition brief. Instead of

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) and the Architects Foundation have partnered with architecture firm HOK to research how better design practices can improve public health. Under the terms of a memorandum of understanding, the trio will identify and develop opportunities to translate research on healthy architecture into practice. HOK will leverage its global network of architects and clients to accumulate existing research and identify how to move this knowledge

Hilton Worldwide has launched a new lifestyle hotel brand and plans to open the first property in Reykjavik, Iceland next month. Canopy by Hilton – a joint venture between Hilton and real estate firms The Buccini/Pollin Group and Federal Realty – will lend its name to a series of hotels opening across Europe and the US in the next two years. Canopy hotels will provide “unique and local experiences” by

This week was a big one for leisure architects, designers and developers in the exciting world of museum design. In Hungary, local architects Napur overcame strong competition to win the contract for the city’s Museum of Ethnography building; new video footage emerged of David Adjaye’s National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington D.C; the Heneghan Peng-designed Palestine Museum opened without any exhibits; and French architects Studio KO

English football club Forest Green Rovers has revealed nine stadium designs in the running to provide the blueprint for its new home ground. Almost 50 entries were received from architecture studios of various sizes around the world after an international architecture competition was launched in April. The competition brief called for a fan-focused and sustainable design in line with the club’s strong environmental principles. The nine shortlisted architects are: •

A garden pavilion fabricated by robots has opened to the public in the grounds of the Victoria & Albert Museum (V&A) in London. The Elytra Filament Pavilion is formed of tightly-woven carbon fibre cells, inspired by shells of flying Elytra beetles. The pavilion has been created by experimental architects Achim Menges and Moritz Dörstelmann in collaboration with engineers Jan Knippers and Thomas Auer and researchers from the University of Stuttgart.

French architecture firm Studio KO have teased the first design images of their forthcoming Yves Saint Laurent museum in Marrakech, Morocco. The renderings reveal a terracotta brick structure, formed of curved lines and straight edges. The building will span 4,000sq m (43,000sq ft) on a site next to the city’s Jardin Majorelle – a garden much loved by Saint Laurent, who was a regular visitor to Marrakech before his death

David Rockwell has collaborated with seven famous street artists to create VANDAL; a new street food restaurant in New York. Located on Bowery Street in Manhattan, the bi-level, 350-seat restaurant is a labyrinthine web of private rooms, secret catacombs, hidden gardens and surprising art installations. Rockell’s design team planned VANDAL’s interiors and British street artist Hush curated the wallscape. He created seven huge murals for the space and commissioned six

Investment firm Legal & General Property has committed more than £53m (US$78m, €69m) to acquire and fund the development of a new retail and leisure scheme in the heart of Dover, UK. The project has been in the works for over a decade, and forms part of the local council’s regeneration work to support the coastal town’s growing population. Called St James, Dover, the project will provide 157,000sq ft (1.7m

Lanserhof Lans, the world-famous Austrian destination spa, is undergoing a major renovation between May and December 2016. The existing facility will be extended and a new building by German-based architect Christoph Ingenhoven will also be added. Ingenhoven is one of many regular guests to the detox retreat in the alpine state Tirol. The new structure – an oval building with a wooden façade and a grassy roof – will have

New video footage has been released providing the first extensive look inside David Adjaye’s National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington. Builders are putting the final touches to the museum, which will be opened by US President Barack Obama on 24 September 2016. The video, released by The Washington Post, shows construction workers installing the display cases in readiness for the first exhibits – which will focus

Italian brewery Peroni will tomorrow (May 19) launch a six-week residency in London, transforming a café and restaurant into The House of Peroni – a “multi-sensory destination of Italian sights, smells and tastes.” The residency, named Amare l’Italia (For the love of Italy), will temporarily take over the Proud East restaurant in Haggerston. Designer Margherita Maccapani Missoni, heiress to high-end fashion house Missoni, is the residency’s “Master of Style.” She

Hollywood legend Robert De Niro is planning to build an 83-room luxury boutique hotel in London’s Covent Garden. The actor has partnered with development firm Capital & Counties Properties (Capco) and hospitality operator BD Hotels for the project, called The Wellington Hotel. A planning application has been submitted to Westminster City Council for consideration. The proposed hotel, designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox, would span six adjacent buildings within the Covent

Hungarian architects Napur have won the international design competition to design the new Museum of Ethnography building in Budapest. The firm – who worked in collaboration with architects and designers Rudolf Mihály, Orfi József, Bodonyi Csaba, Dávid Papp and Exon 2000 – overcame high-profile competition from 14 other design teams, including the likes of MVRDV, Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) and the Office for Metropolitan Architecture. The winning scheme is a

Upmarket London gym chain Third Space will debut its new boutique studio concept next week (23 May), targeted at “fitness-savvy, fashion-conscious Londoners.” Dubbed Another_Space, the spin-off is a 7,582sq ft (704sq m) site in Covent Garden’s Seven Dials area. Spearheaded by Colin Waggett, founder of boutique concept Psycle and CEO of Third Space, the Goldstein Ween-designed studio offers a range of class-based fitness training programmes. The studio is split over

The newly launched InterContinental London – The O2 hotel, has opened its 1,000sq m (10,764sq ft) spa, created by ESPA. The spa includes a 17m (56ft) indoor swimming pool, a relaxation pool fitted with cannon neck massage jets, sauna, steamroom and ice fountain, as well as eight treatment rooms and a relaxation lounge. Taking inspiration from the hotel’s location within the historic Royal Borough of Greenwich and the influences of

The Palestinian Museum, designed by Heneghan Peng, has opened its doors today (18 May) without any exhibits. The US$60m, (€55m, £40m) project, located in the West Bank north of Jerusalem, has the intention of creating an iconic building to act as a beacon of hope for the Palestinian people. It was first mooted in 1999, but has been stalled multiple times due to political tensions in the region. The building

Architecture studio Farrells have been honoured with an NEC Award for their delivery of a waterfront swimming pool in Hong Kong. The firm, led by Terry Farrell, won the NEC Award for Large Project Of The Year 2016 – which recognises excellence in project delivery and good practice. They were commissioned to build a new home for the Kennedy Town Swimming Pool, after its former facility was demolished to make

Australian hospitality operator The Star Entertainment Group has designed a masterplan for a multi-billion dollar “globally-competitive integrated resort” on the country’s Gold Coast. The group is working with the City of Gold Coast Council and Queensland State Government to significantly expand an existing hotel and casino property, called Jupiters, located on Broadbeach. At the heart of the proposal is a new 200m (656ft) tower, featuring luxury apartments and a 700-room

Architecture practice Close to the Bone have blurred the boundary between a stairway and an observation tower by building a gravity-defying monument in a Belgian forest. The studio were commissioned to build an observation point in the municipality of Tielt-Winge, after a popular wooden lookout tower was destroyed by arsonists. The brief called for a new landmark that could survive the elements and attack from vandals. Their solution was Vlooyberg