New research published by the University of Warwick in England suggests that urban architecture may have a far greater impact on our wellbeing than previously thought. While many studies have linked an abundance of green space with physical and mental wellbeing, new evidence suggests that the cohesion of architecture and design in our every day environments plays an equally important role in health and happiness. Using Scenic-Or-Not – a website

The world of architecture will hold its collective breath at 10am Eastern Standard Time on Wednesday 13 January, as the 2016 winner of the Pritzker Architecture Prize is announced. The prize – widely regarded as architecture's highest accolade – honours a living architect or architects “whose built work demonstrates a combination of talent, vision, and commitment, and who has produced consistent and significant contributions to humanity and the built environment.”

A Canadian beer brand has assembled a custom-built ice rink on the rooftop of a 32-storey building in downtown Toronto. Molson Canadian – a subsidiary of the Molson Coors Brewing Company – has created the unique venue to celebrate ice hockey; Canada’s national winter sport. As part of the brand’s longstanding #anythingforhockey media campaign and competition, hockey fans were asked in December to share stories, images and videos over social

Marriott International is preparing to open a luxury hotel in Minsk, Belarus within a wider sports and leisure complex developed by the investment fund of Qatar's Ministry of Defence. The five-star Minsk Marriott Hotel will be located alongside a 4,500 capacity sports arena and a health club featuring a gym, wellness centre and spa. The complex, called the Falcon Club, has been designed by Belarusian studio Varabyeu Partners – who

In an exclusive interview with CLAD, one of the architects behind the hotly-anticipated Shanghai Planetarium has revealed new details about the project’s futuristic design. When it is completed in 2018, the 38,000sq m (409,000sq ft) development – a part of the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum in the city’s new Linglang district – will explore the mysteries of space, celebrate the history of Chinese astronomy and reflect the future ambitions

Californian architecture practice Nardi Associates have unveiled renderings for a mixed-use tower in downtown Los Angeles designed as “a giant urban tree”. Situated on the corner of Olympic Boulevard and Figueroa Street in the district of South Park, the Olympic Tower is visualised as a 60-storey structure featuring an open-air atrium and vertical gardens created by a combination of real vegetation and digitised landscape images projected by LED displays. According

AFL Architects have been appointed to design an education-focused football training centre in Shanghai – potentially one of several facilities being lined up for development in South China. The Manchester-based architects have teamed up with the Shanghai-based Kehua Football Training & Development to complete the project, which will include an academy, technologically-advanced pitches and community facilities. Talking exclusively to CLAD, AFL director Phil Osborne said the firm was moving from

Greece’s Miraggio Thermal Spa Resort is set to open in May of this year in Halkidiki, with a 3,000sq m (32,291sq ft) Myrthia Thermal Spa, and plans for a medical wellness section to be added in 2017. Owned by Med Sea Health, the resort is designed by Greek architecture firm DLP, owned by Michel De Landtsheer and Eleni Pletsa, and will feature 300 bedrooms and suites, 48 with private pools.

The high-profile development of Panama’s Amador Causeway has taken another step forward, with construction underway on a sweeping 32 acre leisure complex designed like a bird. The Harpy Eagle – the country’s national symbol – is the inspiration for the wing-like structure of the Panama Center for Events and Performing Arts, which will contain a 240,000sq ft (22,000sq m) interior banqueting hall reflecting the rainforest canopies that are the bird’s

The developers of a Californian museum dedicated to Armenian American culture have selected a local architecture firm to oversee the project. Alajajian Marcoosi Architects have unveiled their concept for the 1.7 acre complex in the city of Glendale, which will include an outdoor plaza and peace garden. The proposals show the museum – envisioned as a cultural campus to educate the public on the Armenian American story and cultural diversity

Hotel brand Renaissance will open New York City’s “first digitally enhanced hotel” in Manhattan’s famous garment district in Q1 2016. Designed by local studio Jeffrey Beers International, the 348-room Renaissance New York Midtown Hotel will feature several large-scale digital attractions created to celebrate the history and glamour of the location, which is a centre of clothes manufacturing and home to many of New York’s fashion designers. A digital tapestry the

The Dallas Cowboys NFL franchise is set to open its new mixed-use event centre and global HQ in Frisco, Texas in August 2016. Described as the first of its kind for a professional sports team, the US$350m (€323m, £240m) Ford Center at The Star will include a multipurpose 12,000-capacity indoor stadium, new headquarters for all Cowboys operations, practice fields and pitches, a sports science and medicine centre, a 300-room luxury

After years of waiting, the people of Torun, Poland finally have a high-quality cultural venue in their city, which is a UNESCO world heritage site. First announced in 2008, work has finally been completed on the CKK Jordanki concert hall – designed by Spanish architects Fernando Menis Arquitectos – and the venue is hosting its first shows following a high-profile inauguration ceremony broadcast live on television. The building – located

University of Mississippi – known as “Ole Miss” – will officially open its new 9,500-capacity indoor arena today (7 January) when its Rebels basketball team faces off against Alabama in an NCAA Division 1 game. Designed by global architects AECOM, the US$97m (€89m, £67m) Pavilion at Ole Miss in Oxford, Mississippi, will become the region’s premiere multi-purpose venue – capable of hosting a range of sports as well as concerts,

CLADglobal.com launched at the beginning of 2015 and as we celebrate our first anniversary, we thought you’d be interested to discover which stories have been the most popular on a month by month basis through our first year. CLAD’s brief – to cover all aspects of leisure architecture, design, investment and development, from sport to spa, hospitality to museums and urban regeneration to health and fitness – have been mirrored

Turkish studio EAA-Emre Arolat Architecture have created a striking new home for some of Turkey's most important art works: a renovated warehouse which has been stripped of its floors and walls. The studio’s design team have stripped an abandoned dockland building so that only the concrete structure remains. This stark 24,000 sq m (258,000sq ft) structural grid will support large overhanging red containers, within which 15,000 art works dating as

Belgian architect Vincent Callebaut has unveiled his vision for a future where the citizens of the world live underwater in vast self-sufficient ‘oceanscrapers’ made from recycled waste. The futuristic concept – named Aequorea after a bioluminescent jellyfish capable of emitting light – imagines communities living in twisting 250-floor structures that drop to depths of 1,000m (3,300ft). Each of these underwater villages would accommodate 20,000 people and would feature houses, hotels,

An abandoned, bomb-damaged dockland warehouse in the Dutch city Den Helder has been transformed into a concert hall, art centre and restaurant by architects Van Dongen-Koschuch. The Kampanje, located in the city’s old Willemsoord naval yard, had sat empty for more than 70 years since being partially destroyed during the Second World War. Now it has been carefully restored and renovated by the studio to create a new cultural landmark

French architecture studio Dominique Coulon & Associates have added colour to their new building for the Conservatoire of Music, Dance and Dramatic Arts in Belfort, France by covering the outer walls with Jackson Pollock-inspired splatters of paint. The 3,895sq m (41,900sq ft) building – which houses two auditoriums, a theatre, a large dance room, a media library, over 30 classrooms and several studios tailored to specific instruments – has been

A glowing pink cube in the heart of Moscow is providing passers by an immersive spot to take stock and look out at the city. The P-Cube, designed by Spanish-Icelandic artist Marcos Zotes and his studio UNSTABLE, is a temporary installation commissioned by the city’s Polytechnic Museum to stand in VDNKh Park. The skin of the 9m (29ft) high structure is clad in a semi-transparent layer of fabric covered with

Some of the world’s best-known interior and furniture designers will embrace their creative side when displaying their latest creations at this year’s IMM Cologne; one of Europe’s largest trade fairs for furnishing, living and lifestyle products. Kaleidoscopic furniture, a birdcage-shaped table, and a swinging chair suspended above a circus ring will be among the more unusual displays at the event, which will take place from 18-24 January in the German

The protracted development of Budapest’s museum quarter has taken a surprise twist, with organisers launching a second design competition for the new Museum of Ethnography building. Last year, French studio Vallet de Martinis DIID Architects won a competition to design a new home for the museum – which has a collection of more than 200,000 ethnographic artefacts and 400,000 historical documents. However, a government decision to relocate the planned building

The city of San Diego has put forward plans for a US$1.1bn (£749.6m, €1bn) “Super Bowl-ready” stadium in a bid to keep the National Football League (NFL) franchise the Chargers in the city. Billed as a “sports entertainment complex” in the Mission Valley district of San Diego, the Populous-designed stadium would have a seating capacity of 67,500, extended to 73,000 for Super Bowl and special events. The 1.8m sq ft

Architecture competition organisers Arch Out Loud has launched an ideas contest for a new aquarium and public waterfront park in New York. The group has called on architecture teams to propose an "iconic new destination" – located along the East River within the borough of Queens – capable of revitalising the area and attracting tourists. “Many New York sites with access to the waterfront are being absorbed by private developers,

The year ahead promises much excitement in the world of leisure architecture and design. New designs will be unveiled, ongoing projects will take shape and we will have our first look at completed buildings from the likes of Snøhetta, Thomas Heatherwick, Renzo Piano, Bjarke Ingels Group and David Adjaye. To celebrate the New Year, we have compiled a list of 12 projects scheduled for completion in 2016 that we are

Two Dutch architecture studios and a Russian firm have won an international design competition to transform St Petersburg’s Vasilyevsky Island into a new leisure destination and commercial centre. Rotterdam studios KCAP Architects & Planners and Orange Architects and local design company A-Len will collaborate on a 15 hectare urban plan for the island's western tip, which will act as an entrance point to the city from the water. Golden Russian

David Chipperfield Architects have revealed their masterplan for a public beer garden, boutique hotel and a host of other leisure facilities on the site of a Berlin brewery destroyed during the Second World War. The former Bötzow Brewery, located near Berlin’s Alexanderplatz, will be transformed by the studio’s German office into a 24,000sq m (258,300sq ft) public destination within the city. It will boast a new brewery, restaurants, shops, a