The director of the 2016 Venice Architecture Biennale, Alejandro Aravena, has revealed that challenges facing the built environment will be the focus of this year’s festival. Aravena, who is the winner of this year's Pritzker Prize, has pledged to curate a show that demonstrates “there is not only a need, but also room for action” in improving the environments where people live, work, interact and relax. “There are several battles

Five landscape design teams and architects have been named the winners of the prestigious 2016 International Garden Festival. The successful studios – who hail from Canada, the United States, France and Switzerland – will display their verdant creations at the Redford Gardens in Quebec, Canada, along with 22 other gardens designed by more than 80 landscape architects, architects and designers. Over 203 entries from 31 countries were submitted to the

Renderings have been released for a private Los Angeles arts club on Sunset Boulevard reportedly being developed by Gwyneth Paltrow. According to several media outlets in Hollywood, the Oscar-winning actor and lifestyle coach is backing the project with her business partner Gary Landesberg. The facility, which is being developed on the site of erotic boutique Hustler, will be an extension of The Arts Club in London – where Paltrow is

Populous – the architects behind the London 2012 Olympic Stadium – are consulting on the design of a new football stadium in Pune as Indian soccer attempts to scale up. During the presentation of his report, titled Development of Football in India, Libero Sport business director Neel Shah revealed that the studio was working with large Indian firm DSK Group on the design as the latter seeks to build a

Architecture studio EFFEKT have completed their transformation of an abandoned train depot in the Danish seaport Esbjerg into a new facility for street sport, skateboarding and showcasing urban culture. The complex, called GAME Streetmekka, has been created through the restoration of the depot’s existing buildings and the addition of durable new low-tech halls, which surround a central turntable and integrate with the site’s industrial aesthetic. Streetmekka is organised into five

A conference exploring the relationship between neuroscience and architecture will take place at the London headquarters of engineering firm Arup next week. Taking place on 1 March, the one-day Conscious Cities event has been organised by London’s Museum of Architecture and THECUBE – a collective of scientists, engineers, designers, technologists, artists, futurists and anthropologists. Among the topics under discussion will be how our built environments affect behaviour and cognition, how

London-based architecture firm Fox Fernley Landscape Office have designed a three-person, translucent sauna as part of a winning design in the Winter Stations Design competition in Toronto. The Winter Stations design competition had a theme of Freeze / Thaw this year, and asked designers and artists to respond to the changing conditions and transitions of the Toronto winter. “Most of the artists took this to be something about the natural

Dutch design studio Mecanoo have won the architecture competition to design the new Tainan Public Library in Taiwan. The firm – known for their innovative library designs, including the Stirling Prize-nominated Library of Birmingham and the forthcoming New York Public Library renovation – have proposed a 35,000sq m (376,700sq ft) building featuring a transparent stepped facade and below-grade courtyards. The library will feature a 200-seat auditorium, reading rooms, study spaces,

Several high-profile Japanese architects have told CLAD how Japan’s traditional country inns are inspiring contemporary designs for lodgings as diverse as urban hostels and five-star resorts. In a special CLADmag feature on ryokans – the name for roadside accommodations where guests can take a relaxing break from travelling – architect Yukio Hashimoto revealed that a “modern Japanese interpretation” of traditional architectural practices is becoming prevalent in the country. Last year

Hong Kong-based Langham Hotels & Resorts is expanding its US presence with three new hotels in Texas, California and New Mexico. Langham Place, Wade Park will be located in Frisco, Texas and will open in early 2018 and is part of a US$1.6bn (€1.4bn, £1.1bn), 175-acre development created by Thomas Land & Development. Designed by Dallas-based 5G Studio Collaborative, the 35-storey hotel will have a sleek, modern feel and will

More than 8,000 artefacts of Inuit origin will soon go on display at the Winnipeg Art Gallery in Canada as part of a CA$60m (US$43.7m, €39.4m, £30.5m) project to create an Inuit Art Centre. With more than 13,000 pieces, including 7,400 sculptures, 4,000 prints, 1,800 drawings and hundreds of artefacts, The Winnipeg Art Gallery’s Inuit collection is the largest in the world and represents half of its overall collection. The

Interior designers and brand developers Ignacio Cadena and Michel Rojkind have created a cycling gym in Mexico City, which has been designed vibrant space for enhancing “physical and emotional fitness.” Described as “a 100 per cent Mexican concept”, Síclo is a 420sq m (4,500sq ft) glass-fronted gym formed around a huge white concrete stairway. The steps of the monolith – which are covered with multicoloured poly-chromatic cushions and a small

The owner of a US$40m (€36m, £28m) luxury house, famous for its role in 1998 comedy The Big Lebowski, is to donate the property to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) with the intention of turning it into a museum and example of creativity within architecture. James Goldstein, who owns the Sheats Goldstein residence in the Hollywood hills, has pledged the building to LACMA, along with its gardens,

A team of Brazilian architects, urbanists and engineers have designed for a university sports campus with a football field and running track on its roof. OSPA settled on the striking design when faced with the challenge of building a fully-equipped sports facility for a Brazilian university in a relatively small area. “Although the lot is small, we planned a campus with constant activity and public and fluid space,” said the

The Oberoi Group is opening three hotels in 2016 in Morocco, India and United Arab Emirates. Located 30 minutes from Dubai’s airport, The Oberoi, Al Zorah will be a luxury eco-destination nestled within 247 acres of forest, with a long beachfront, lagoons and mangroves. The hotel – designed by Italian architects Lissoni Associati – will include an ultra-modern layout with 113 villas, suites and penthouses. The spa at Al Zorah

Hotel and leisure group Principal Hayley have vowed to create a luxury landmark hotel inside the historic Liverpool bank building used to hide most of Britain’s gold reserves during the Second World War. The developers will spend £50m (US$71.5m, €64.5m) to transform the interiors of the Grade II listed neoclassical Martins Bank building into a five-star 227-room hotel, spa, bar and fine dining destination. Full planning and listing has already

A medical-themed restaurant designed by Damien Hirst will open at London’s Newport Street Gallery next week (23 February). Hirst has collaborated with chef and restaurateur Mark Hix to open Pharmacy 2, which will serve British and European dishes to visitors at the Vauxhall gallery – which was designed by architects Caruso St John and opened in October 2015 to house Hirst’s personal art collection. The restaurant features Hirst’s own artistic

A trio of high-profile architects have called on the design and construction industries to embrace advancements in glass technology which are transforming the ways in which buildings can be created. Millennium Dome architect Mike Davies, Marks Barfield managing director David Marks and OMA associate Alex de Jong told CLAD that boundaries are being pushed in the development of glass, making the material cheaper, more sustainable and much higher performing. “Glass

An ambitious AS$30m (£14.9m, US$21.5m, €19.3m) netball facility is being designed in Queensland, Australia, which is expected to benefit thousands of elite, grassroots and school players in the region. Curtis Pitt, Queensland’s minister for sport, revealed that local architects BVN will design the State Netball Centre based in Brisbane, Queensland’s capital city. The eight-court facility will also come with a training centre and administration offices for Netball Queensland, the regional

Architecture and urbanism collective Studio Gang have completed a performing arts centre in Glencoe, Chicago, which is designed as a new cultural landmark for the city. Built for the Writers Theatre group, which produces inventive interpretations of classic plays, the theatre features an elevated glass box lobby which glows in the dark at night to beckon people in. The theatre is spread across a village-like cluster of distinct volumes around

Norway’s famous network of architecture tourist routes is set to get a new viewpoint attraction in June – a concrete triangle slab balanced on a dramatic mountainside. Designed by Norwegian architects Code, the Utsikten (the View) is being built on the Gaularfjell National Tourist Route (NTR). The NTR project began in 1994, combining the 18 most spectacular roads in Norway with modern architecture attractions designed to complement the scenery, such

A simple yet radical scheme to introduce low-cost housing to dense cities could have major implications for placemaking in our urban environments. French studio Stéphane Malka Architecture have been creating prefabricated living spaces which lean on and extend from existing buildings in Paris, cantilevering over streets at unusual angles. The concept – nicknamed ‘parasitic architecture’ – is an environmentally-friendly and economical solution to creating living space in urban areas short

A masterplan drawn up by Dutch landscape architects West 8 to create a 120 acre botanic garden in Houston, Texas has received approval from the city’s mayor. Plans to create a vast public green space showcasing Houston's native plants, preserving various wildlife habitats and hosting community events have been in development since 2002, but received a major boost last year after US$5m (€4.4m, £3.5m) was successfully fundraised to move the

The University of Louisville Athletics department has launched a fundraising campaign to expand its American football stadium and training complex. The US$55m (€49.3m, £38.4m) project will add 10,000 seats to the 50,000-capacity Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium, bringing the crowd much closer to the on-field action and providing a new open-air covered concourse. The UoL Athletics department, whose teams are collectively called the Louisville Cardinals, competes in several sports ranging from

A new luxury Anantara hotel and spa complex will open later this year in Dhofar, Oman, with a design inspired by the region’s coastal fortresses. The Anantara Salalah Al Baleed Resort is a joint venture between Omran – the state-owned company currently investing huge sums of money into the country’s hospitality sector – and property developer Musstir. The resort will be located in the Salalah, the capital of Dhofar province,

Third Space has jump-started its quest to become London’s premium health club operator with the £3.5m relaunch of its Tower Bridge gym. The 28,000sq ft (2,601sq m) club – which was formerly 37 Degrees before being taken over by Third Space owner Encore Capital in 2014 – has been given a comprehensive makeover. Specialist spa, fitness and wellness designers Sparcstudio led the redesign of the Tower Bridge site and is

Work is nearing completion on the Chongwenmen M-Cube; MVRDV’s latest high-profile leisure building. Located in Beijing, the the 44,000sq m (473,600sq ft) M-Cube is due to be completed by Q3 this year. Once open, it will be a cultural hub for the Chinese capital – with leisure, retail, dining and nightclub facilities housed beneath a rooftop garden overlooking many of the city’s landmarks. The building's most striking feature will be