The New York office of international architecture studio OMA has unveiled two masterplan concepts to renew a vast sports and cultural complex in Washington D.C. The 190-acre RFK Stadium-Armory Campus would be located in the Southeast corridor of the District of Columbia, on a site which currently houses the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium. Events DC, the official convention and sports authority for the District of Columbia, is overseeing the

Bangkok-based interior designer Bill Bensley, UK hospitality designers G.A. Design and international architects Gensler are among the creators of the latest property opened by hotel brand St Regis: a luxury resort in Malaysia’s UNESCO-protected archipelago Langkawi. The St. Regis Langkawi Resort, which opens today (6 April), is the first new high-end resort in the 99-island chain in a decade. It is owned by Indonesia’s Rajawali Property Group. The concept of

Alejando Aravena, who was awarded the 2016 Pritker Prize in New York City on 4 April, has released open-source drawings for his practice's successful social housing designs. Aravena used his appearance at the Pritzker Conversation at the UN on 5 April to announce the drawings from four projects he deems to have been successful are now available to download from the website of his studio, Elemental. Aravena wants the documents

A combination of Scandinavian design and “socially conscious hyperlocalism” has been used for an art-filled new hotel in New York, created by Anda Andrei Design and Danish studio Space Copenhagen. Located in New York’s artistic SoHo district, the hotel, called 11 Howard, is owned by art collector Aby Rosen and features works from prominent US artists including Jeff Koons and Dan Attoe. The design team gutted a “characterless” 1960s structure

The Park, a brand new entertainment district in Nevada, offers visitors a new way to soak up the famous Las Vegas Strip, according to developer MGM Resorts International. The Park, which opened on 4 April and cost US$100m (€88m, £71m), is a dining and entertainment zone located in landscaped gardens beside the 20,000-seat T-Mobile arena. The pedestrianised area offers a sanctuary from the hustle and bustle of the busy Strip.

Public consultation is imminent for a new David Chipperfield-designed luxury hotel and spa on the famous site of the US Embassy in Grosvenor Square, London. The embassy will soon relocate from the Mayfair location to a new site at Nine Elms, and real estate developer Qatari Diar has commissioned Chipperfield’s studio to breathe new life into the building it leaves behind: a mid-20th century listed structure designed by iconic Finnish

US space agency NASA is preparing to explore the feasibility of expandable habitats, or inflatable ‘space houses’, in a new mission that launches this Friday (8 April). A spacecraft supplying the International Space Station (ISS) will take off at 4.43pm ET from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, loaded with research, hardware, supplies and a Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM), which will be thoroughly tested over the coming years.

For their latest project – a 20,000-capacity indoor multipurpose arena – global architects Populous had to “out-Vegas Las Vegas.” That’s the view of studio principal Kurt Amundsen, who has talked in detail about the creation of the high-profile T-Mobile Arena, which opens to the public in the US city on Wednesday (6 April). The US$375m (€329.5m, £263m) venue will become the region's largest indoor sports and entertainment venue and has

Tributes from the world of architecture and beyond have continued to flood in for Dame Zaha Hadid, who passed away yesterday (31 March) at the age of 65. Hadid, one of the leading architects of her generation, suffered a heart attack in hospital in Miami while being treated for bronchitis. The loss has shocked the profession, and architects from around the world have been quick to pay their respects to

US architect Chad Oppenheim has called for a greater ‘wow factor’ in design, arguing that creating striking and memorable forms is every bit as important as making buildings functional. In an exclusive interview in the latest issue of CLADmag, the founder of Miami-based studio Oppenheim Architecture + Design, said: “We have a unique ability to balance the poetry and the proficiency of buildings, the fantasy as well as the functionality.

The Museum of London has announced today (4 April) the six architectural teams shortlisted to design its new museum in a Victorian market hall complex. The museum, which has a construction budget of around £150m (US$214, €188m), will be located in a 25,000sq m (269,000sq ft) collection of buildings in West Smithfield, providing much-needed extra space for its enormous archaeological archive and thousands of exhibits exploring the history of London.

The UK’s Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) has revealed new details of its biggest ever international collaboration: a design museum in Shenzhen, China, created by Japanese architecture studio Maki & Associates. The new museum, called Design Society, is scheduled to open in early 2017 within a larger cultural complex called the Sea World Culture and Arts Centre. The V&A has now announced it will curate a special gallery devoted to

The Bavarian American Hotel – a landmark Cold War building which once housed judges and prosecutors at the Nuremberg trials of Nazi war criminals – is set to reopen as a renaissance-inspired Park Plaza hotel. British architects Scott Brownrigg have drawn on the lives of local cultural icons, including painter Albrecht Dürer and explorer and globe-maker Martin Behaim, to “bring a fresh energy” to the Bavarian city. The hotel, which

Architects are being invited to submit “sustainable” stadium plans in a competition to design a new ground for non-league English football club Forest Green Rovers. The new stadium will be part of a £100m (US$142m, €124.9m) development – called Eco Park – which is a 100-acre sports and green technology business park which is being proposed for a site in Gloucestershire. Forest Green Rovers owner and chair Dales Vince, who

Rotterdam-based design initiative Collective Paper Aesthetics (CPA) have created a new activity for the DASA Working World Exhibition in Dortmund, using a molecular modular system to create a buildable cardboard structure. Designed for family participation at DASA’s first Maker Faire Ruhr, German company city2science invited CPA to create an installation that would offer a participatory low-tech experience. Using specially designed, easy to construct, interlocking cardboard shapes, the CPA installation took

Ever wanted to sleep surrounded by sharks? Airbnb and French design agency Ubi Bene believe that at least some people might, and have designed a special underwater bedroom in the shark tank at Paris aquarium. For three nights in April 2016, the winners of a one-off competition will be given the chance to experience life underwater, surrounded by 35 live sharks. The only thing separating guests with their toothy neighbours

The philosophy of feng shui has inspired an Issy les Moulineaux-based swimming pool, sports and wellbeing centre designed by French architecture practice Mikou Studio. The centre, located in the southern suburbs of Paris and known as Piscine du Fort, is clad in an wave-like double skin, with open and accessible façades that use rounded windows and skylights to filter in daylight. Design features are carefully positioned to create a sense

The residents of a luxury apartment building in London will be able to enjoy their very own exclusive David Bailey art gallery, as the worlds of leisure, fashion and high-end property collide. Development company Frogmore & Galliard Homes have said the permanent gallery – located at The Chilterns development in the inner-city Marylebone area – is the first in the city to be located within a private luxury apartment building.

Moody Nolan – experts in collegiate sport architecture – have been chosen to lead the design for a mixed-use on-campus football stadium for Temple University in Philadelphia. The stadio which was founded by president and chief executive Curtis J Moody has worked on more than 100 university projects, including sports facilities for DePaul, Indiana, Ohio State, Penn State, the University of Chicago and Vanderbilt. Working in collaboration with AECOM, Moody

The consortium lead by Anbang Insurance Group has withdrawn its proposal to acquire Starwood, paving the way for the Marriott/Starwood merger to move ahead. Anbang dropped its offer “as a result of market considerations” and does not intend to make another proposal, Starwood said in a statement. The statement also said that Starwood’s board of directors continues to unanimously support the existing merger with Marriott. A special meeting of Starwood

The 436-bedroom Grand Hyatt Rio de Janeiro has opened in Brazil, complete with a 1,150sq m (12,379sq ft) Atiaia Spa, named after the indigenous tupi-guarani word for luminosity. Created by interior designer Yabu Pushelberg with local assistance from Brazilian design firm Anastassiadis Arquitetos, the hotel aims to have a relaxed, care-free coastal living experience, with large balconies and floor-to-ceiling windows, along with stones and fabrics authentic to Brazil. The hotel

Dame Zaha Hadid, the world-renowned British architect, has died aged 65. Her practice, Zaha Hadid Architects, has confirmed that she died of a heart attack on Thursday (31 March) in a Miami hospital, where she was being treated for bronchitis. Hadid, who was one of the most acclaimed figures in world architecture, became the first woman to be awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2004. She was also awarded the

A monumental turreted armoury in New York borough the Bronx could be transformed into the world's largest indoor ice rink complex, if funding can be raised for the project. According to US publication Politico New York, the city’s Economic Development Corporation (EDC), which owns the site, has given a consortium led by Canadian ice hockey legend Mark Messier a month to produce US$138m (€121m, £96m) for the project’s first phase.

The 2016 Pritzker Prize Laureate Alejandro Aravena will next week join several other past winners of architecture’s most prestigious accolade to discuss the challenges facing the built environment. Renzo Piano, Richard Rogers and Richard Meier are among the other big names who will participate in the discussion – called Pritzker Laureates' Conversation: Challenges Ahead for the Built Environment – at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on 5 April.

Indian architects Studio Ardete have attempted to “define a new language for exercise and training centres” with a "whimsical" gym, spa and indoor cycling studio called Moksha. The practice were commissioned to extend an existing gym in the Indian district Panchkula by creating the new facilities in the building’s 2,000sq ft (186sq m) basement. The limited space and a restricted budget forced the architects to look beyond traditional gyms for

Mecanoo co-founder Francine Houben has told CLAD about the studio’s plans for their US$300m (€264m, £208m) renovation of New York’s iconic public library. In an exclusive interview featured in the latest issue of CLADmag, Houben revealed how the Dutch multidisciplinary practice are approaching the project – the latest in a string of high-profile libraries they have worked on. “We will approach the New York Public Library project the same way

Coventry Council has unveiled the first images of the city’s new £36.7m (US$51.8m, €46.4m) waterpark – designed by a team including British architects Faulkner Browns – which will replace the existing Grade II-listed 1966 central swimming pool when it opens in 2019. The new building will house a waterpark, 25-metre swimming pool, gym, climbing wall, squash courts, dance studio and day spa. The circular building’s ribbon-like exterior, designed to reflect