A design team led by French architects Agence Ter has won an international competition to revitalise the Pershing Square public park in downtown Los Angeles. The contest, called Pershing Square Renew, was organised by a consortium of government, community and business leaders seeking to create a world-class public space for those who “live in, work in, visit and love” the heart of LA. Agence Ter and project partners SALT Landscape

Construction has been completed on a meandering ’Sky Walk’ and observation deck towering 55m (180ft) above a forest valley in the Czech Republic. Local studio Franek Architects created the dramatic timber and steel structure for a ski and wellness resort in the mountains near Dolni Morava. The Sky Walk provides a constantly shifting view as you ascend to an altitude of 1,116 meters above sea level. A number of ways

Six Senses is opening a resort on Fiji’s Malolo Island in 2017 with a planned Six Senses Spa as well as the Six Senses Integrated Wellness programme. Designed by New Zealand-based architect Richard Priest, Six Senses Fiji will include 24 pool villas and 66 residential villas located along a private sandy beach. Sustainability will be reflected throughout the resort, through active management of energy, water, waste, biodiversity, purchasing and chemical

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio has allocated US$170m (€149m, £118m) of the city’s budget for 2017 on climate resiliency projects, including construction of Bjarke Ingels Group's leisure-oriented storm barrier The Dryline. The money will be used to create the stormwater management infrastructure required for the Lower Manhattan project – a 12 km-long high-water barrier incorporating public space with parks, seating, bicycle shelters, sports facilities and skateboard ramps. Elevated embankments,

Tottenham Hotspur FC is floating the idea of incorporating youth seating areas and creches within its new stadium to appeal to a younger fan base. The Premier League club had planning permission approved for its £400m (US$579.6m, €508.4m), 61,000-capacity stadium approved in February this year. Talking at the Telegraph Business of Sport Conference 2016 Tottenham’s head of technology solutions Sanjeev Katwa and Christopher Lee of Populous said the stadium would

FaulknerBrowns Architects partner Michael Hall has described how the studio’s planned indoor waterpark project in Coventry, UK, uses elegant and community-focused design to create a “high octane” and “holistic” type of health and fitness facility. The practice has this week submitted its plans for the £36.7m (US$51.8m, €46.4m) Coventry Water Park – which will include a wave pool, six flume rides, a lazy river toddlers’ splash area, a 25m pool,

US real estate developer iStar has detailed its ambitions to reinvigorate the struggling New Jersey town of Asbury Park, the economic plight of which has been documented in song by Bruce Springsteen. The firm has announced “a multi-billion dollar redevelopment plan” to transform a 1.25-mile stretch of the park’s waterfront with new public realm, hotels, cultural facilities and residencies. The town was once a popular beach resort, but has fallen

Venetian glassmaking association Fondazione Berengo is to host a retrospective of the work of Zaha Hadid, following the architect's death in March at the age of 65. The exhibition will take place Venice’s neo-Gothic Palazzo Franchetti, close to the Grand Canal, during the city’s architecture Biennale from 28 May to 27 November. Hadid’s accomplishments, including recently-completed structures and projects currently under construction, will be represented in the 500sq m (5,400sq

French conceptual artist Daniel Buren has brought vibrant colour to the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris, by temporarily adding colourful patterned filters to Frank Gehry’s glass-covered building. Gehry’s building, which opened in 2014, features 12 glass sails formed by 3,600 pieces of glass. In his work, titled Observation of Light, Buren has added staggered filters to each sail, punctuating them with alternating white and empty bands placed an equal distance

Hyperloop One, the Los Angeles firm racing to build the world’s first Hyperloop high-speed transport system, has partnered with Arup, AECOM and Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) to realise its ambitions. The announcement was made today (11 May) as the company, formerly known as Hyperloop Technologies, attempts to prove its futuristic goals have a solid basis in reality and can revolutionise the worlds of transport, business and leisure. In addition to

The Palestinian Museum Hub – the flagship for a planned network of museums – opens on 18 May in the West Bank north of Jerusalem. The US$60m, (€55m, £40m) project 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 stalled multiple times due to political tensions in the region. Heneghan Peng were appointed

A public park in Denmark, a Chinese arts centre, a three-storey pedestrian bridge in Iran and a library in Spain are among the leisure projects nominated for the 2016 Aga Khan Award for Architecture. The prize awards projects “from slum upgrading to high rise green buildings – that not only exhibit architectural excellence but also improve the overall quality of life.” Since its establishment in 1977, more than 110 projects

The world’s first fully air conditioned stadium has been given the go ahead by the ruler of Dubai, with architecture studio Perkins + Will working on the design of the project. Dubai Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum has approved the initial design of the 60,000 capacity Mohammed bin Rashid Stadium after reviewing the project last week. The ground will cost AED3bn (US$817m €717m, £565m) to construct and

The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has announced a star-studded shortlist in its bid to celebrate the best building in the world. Zaha Hadid, Bjarke Ingels, Shigeru Ban and David Chipperfield are among the architects in contention to win the first RIBA International Prize. Thirty projects from 50 countries have made the shortlist and will be visited by the RIBA Awards Committee in the coming months. In its inaugural

Rachel Haugh, the co-founder of British architects SimpsonHaugh and Partners, has told CLAD about her studio’s work on Phase One of London’s Battersea Power Station development, which is nearing completion. The huge project to build Circus West – a circa 1m sq ft (93,000sq m) development including new homes, workspaces, shops, restaurants, fitness facilities, cafés and cultural venues by the River Thames adjacent to Battersea’s four iconic chimneys – is

The move to bring a second Major League Soccer (MLS) franchise to Los Angeles has made significant progress after the city council green lit plans for a US$250m (£173.1m, €219.6m) stadium complex for Los Angeles FC. LA City Council “unanimously approved” a final Environmental Impact Report for the development, which will include a 22,000-capacity stadium, restaurants, office space, a conference centre and a football museum. The local office of architectural

Pritzker Prize-winning architect Shigeru Ban has told CLAD about the responsibility he feels as an architect to combine “monumental” public buildings with disaster relief projects around the world. In an exclusive interview, Ban said his post-disaster work with his Voluntary Architects’ Network in countries such as Japan and Ecuador is important to him, because “compared to doctors or lawyers and other professionals who work for people with problems, our job

A vase-inspired mixed-use tower designed by Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA) in Melbourne will be referred to Victoria’s planning minister for approval due to the size of the scheme and a conflict of interest among members of the city’s planning advisory committee. The 54-storey tower, which would be located at 582-606 Collins Street, has been designed as a series of four stacked vase-inspired volumes, with a sculptural, mesh-like façade. It will

Pandas are on the agenda for design firm Dan Pearlman, with the Berlin-based practice creating the new panda enclosure for Berlin Zoo, while also debuting a new indoor and outdoor environment for pandas at Everland Resort in Yongin, South Korea. A pair of giant pandas, which can generate millions in revenue every year as visitors travel far and wide to get a glimpse of the endangered species, made their South

Stella McCartney, Thomas Heatherwick, David Adjaye and Antony Gormley are among the designers, artists and architects whose time or work has been auctioned to fund the creation of a new home for one of the world's biggest design museums. The sale, hosted by auction house Phillips, raised over £1.1m (US$1.6m, €1.4m) towards the renovation costs of the Design Museum’s forthcoming building in Kensington, London. A total of 55 pieces were

Guests staying at a luxury boutique hotel in London can enjoy a cocktail in the cramped courthouse cells which once held the Kray twins, two of the most notorious gangsters in the city’s history. The newly-opened Courthouse Hotel in Shoreditch is located in a Grade II-listed building which once housed the Great Marlborough Street Magistrates Court. The themes of crime, punishment and justice are embedded into the hotel’s design, particularly

The world-famous Whistler Blackcomb ski resort is expanding its offering beyond the slopes, announcing a US$345m (€300m, £238m) plan to revitalise and invest in its mountain facilities. To be rolled out in three stages, the ‘Renaissance’ expansion plan will focus first on a US$100m (€87m, £69m) plan to create weather independent, year-round attractions. Ecosign Mountain Resort Planners – who also prepared the first masterplan for Whistler Mountain and Blackcomb Mountain

This week culture and the performing arts came into focus on CLADglobal.com, as we learnt about several exciting developing projects. Dutch architects MVRDV revealed they have received the go ahead for a novel cultural complex in Zaanstad – which will see silhouettes of traditional buildings carved into the exterior – while on the other side of the world, design renderings were released for a Texas concert hall inspired and named

Brazilian architect Paulo Mendes da Rocha has been announced as the recipient of the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement prize at the 2016 Venice Biennale. Da Rocha – whose landmark leisure buildings in his homeland include the Serra Dourada football stadium in Goiania, and the Clube Atlético Paulistano gymnasium and Brazilian Sculpture Museum in Sao Paolo – was nominated for the award by the biennale's curator, Alejandro Aravena. In a

Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA) have unveiled the first detailed designs for a new mixed-use district set to bring life to a brownfield urban site in Prague. The lot, located next to Masaryk Railway Station, has stood derelict for several decades. City planners organised a design competition, won by ZHA in 2014, to return the area to active use with a new business and cultural zone. The project will create a

Marks Barfield Architects, the creators of the London Eye, have been tasked with designing a cable car across Chicago that will become an “iconic attraction” for the city. Chicago-based theatre impresario Lou Raizin and real estate investor Laurence S. Geller are behind the ambitious scheme, called The Chicago SkyLine, which has been designed in collaboration with US architects Davis Brody Bond. Speaking at a city event, Raizin and Geller outlined

Latvian wellness consultancy Inbalans Group is working together with Moscow-based international development company Griffin Partners and Jurmula City Council to develop a substantial wellness community in Latvia's Kemeri National Park. The wellness community, located just west of the capital of Riga, will include a five-star hotel with a 1,500sq m (16,146sq ft) spa, due to open in 2018, as well as a wellness clinic comprised of multiple historic buildings with