Heatherwick Studio has designed a vast mountain-inspired mixed-use development to be located next to Shanghai’s arts district. The British firm – led by designer Thomas Heatherwick – is creating a verdant 300,000sq m (3.2 sq ft) complex of buildings, with approximately 1,000 structural columns supporting plants and trees. “The design has been conceived not as a building but as a piece of topography, taking the form of two tree-covered mountains,”

Commune Hotels & Resorts will open a heritage hotel in India in 2016. The Alila Fort Bishangarh, will open in Q4, following the restoration of a 230-year-old Rajasthan Fort. Positioned on a granite hill in the Arvalli Mountain Range, with spectacular 360-degree views, the fort is thought to be the only one of its kind to be converted into a hotel. The building is an example of the Jaipur Gharana

Work has begun on the Los Angeles development being earmarked for the relocation of American football franchise the St Louis Rams, just days after the local council put together a deal to keep the team in Missouri. According to the Los Angeles Times, the National Football League (NFL) team’s billionaire owner Stan Kroenke is pressing ahead with the plans to build a US$1.86bn (£1.3bn, €1.69bn) mixed-use development – which includes

A group of Canadian designers have collaborated on a huge illuminated playground in Montreal where members of the public can ride 30 glowing, musical see-saws. Located in the city’s downtown, each see-saw is fitted with LEDs and speakers and emits waves of light and sound which change in intensity depending on movement. The subsequent music and visuals merge together to create an ever-changing composition. The dreamlike effect is enhanced by

South Australian winemaker d’Arenberg is hoping to create a new national landmark by building a twisting new visitor centre mimicking a Rubik’s Cube. Nic Salivati from ADS Architects has designed the five-storey d’Arenberg Cube, which is currently under construction in McLaren Vale, a wine region in the Fleurieu Peninsula. The centre – which will contain a wine tasting room, several bars, a restaurant and a viewing gallery when it opens

Parisian fashion brand Pigalle and architecture firm Ill-Studio have collaborated to create a vivid multicoloured basketball court squeezed between two apartment buildings in the French capital’s 9th arrondissement. Pigalle founder and basketball aficionado Stéphane Ashpool had previously renovated the Rue Duperré court – where he himself plays and offers coaching to local youths – in 2009 with the help of sports brand Nike and basketball icon LeBron James. The colourful

Japanese architects Kengo Kuma have been selected to design the 80,000 capacity stadium which will be the centrepiece of the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. The design was selected by the Japanese government after it was put forward by the Japanese Sports Council as one of two shortlisted proposals last week. Kuma’s design will cost ¥149bn (£806m, US$1.2bn, €1.1bn) and is due to be completed by November 2019. It will be

Intricate geometric patterns of insects cover lurid pink walls inside the recently renovated Renwick Gallery in Washington DC, as part of an exhibition exploring the concept of wonder. American artist Jennifer Angus – who is acclaimed for her artistic installations using insects – is behind the work, titled In the Midnight Garden. To complete the piece, she selected 5,000 preserved insects from a variety of brightly-coloured Southeast Asian species and

David Adjaye, Renzo Piano and Snøhetta are among the big names in contention to design the Barack Obama Presidential Center on Chicago’s South Side. The centre is the US President’s legacy project, and will feature a museum preserving and making available papers, records, collections and other historical materials from his presidency. Barack and Michelle Obama will make the final decision on the architect, after receiving the foundation’s recommendation. After receiving

A unique new attraction is set to open in the Turkish city of Antakya by the end of 2016: a museum/hotel hybrid where guests can walk around archaeological ruins dating back more than 2,000 years. In 2010, international design studio Emre Arolat Architecture had been developing a five-star hotel development on the site, located close to St. Pierre Church – an early centre of Christianity and an important pilgrimage site.

The famous Trans World Airlines (TWA) Flight Center at New York’s JFK International Airport is set to be converted into a luxury hotel themed around the airport’s golden jet age. New York state governor Andrew M. Cuomo has formally approved a $265m (€244.3m, £177.6m) project to renovate the centre and create two new six-storey hotel towers. According to plans, the hotel will feature 505 guestrooms, a new aviation museum, several

A busy overpass next to Seoul's central train station has been closed as construction work begins on a new city skygarden designed by Dutch architects MVRDV. The 45-year old overpass is being stabilised in readiness for its transformation into Seoul Skygarden; a 938m long (3,077ft) public park, featuring cafés, flower shops, street markets, libraries and greenhouses. MVRDV won a Seoul metropolitan government competition to design the project earlier this year.

Work is nearing completion on a vast international sports complex in Hangzhou, China, created by international architects NBBJ Design. The Hangzhou Sports Park has been designed in collaboration with architects and engineering firm China Construction Design International (CCDI). It will host international sports fixtures and the 2022 Asian Games. Covering a project area of 400,000sq ft (37,000sq m), the park will be the largest of its kind to open in

International architects Snøhetta have designed a sanctuary for hikers seeking shelter in the remote and icy wilderness of southern Norway. Located in the the remote Tungestølen region, in the shadow of Jostedal – the largest glacier in continental Europe – the studio has created a series of angular wooden cabins after winning a design competition set by the Norwegian Trekking Association. The buildings – which have just opened – are

A mixed-use piazza designed by Heatherwick Studio for London’s King’s Cross has been given the green light. Camden Council have approved Heatherwick’s plans to transform two disused Victorian coal drop buildings at King’s Cross railway station into 100,000sq m (1m sq ft) of culture and leisure space. The historic structures, which stand apart, will be repaired and connected by a new upper level stitching their two roofs together. Inside, 65

Ten years after opening luxury boutique hotel le Sereno in St. Barths, Sereno Properties is set to open a new location, il Sereno Lago di Como, on the shores of Italy’s legendary Lake Como. Scheduled to open in Q2 2016, il Sereno will feature interiors by Milan-based designer Patricia Urquiola. Guests can arrive at il Sereno by boat, thanks to the hotel’s private docking facility. Boat maker Cantiere Riva is

A crumbling 100-year old church in Llanera, northern Spain, has been transformed by local skateboarding enthusiasts and a hotly-tipped artist into a spectacular indoor skate park. Almost every interior surface in the ‘Iglesia Skate’ church is painted with bright murals and geometric patterns, creating a kaleidoscope of colour. The collective behind the scheme – who call themselves the Church Brigade – describe it as “a temple of urban art.” “It’s

Plans to turn Edinburgh’s neoclassical Old Royal High School into a luxury hotel have been turned down at the first vote by the city council. Developers Duddingston House Properties and Urbanist Hotels had proposed a £75m (US$115m, €102m) project to restore and convert the listed 1820s property – which has stood vacant for almost 50 years on Edinburgh’s Calton Hill – into a 147-bedroom Rosewood hotel featuring two newly-constructed, landscaped

Hilton Worldwide has opened it latest addition – the Mecanoo-designed Hilton Amsterdam Airport Schiphol – which features a dramatic facade comprising a cubic, moulded structure with a distinctive pattern and a vast glass-roofed atrium. The hotel, designed by the Dutch architects, will certainly have a visual impact on passengers arriving and departing from the airport, with the 3,150sq m (33,900sq ft) complex having three main elements: a plinth, a rotated

Real Madrid’s plan to redevelop its Santiago Bernabeu stadium has encountered a new setback after the city council rejected it in the interest of the public. The €440m (US$477.9m, £320.7m) development proposal – which includes the installation of a retractable roof, increasing the capacity to 90,000 and building a hotel, shopping centre and underground car park – will only be accepted if the council believes the interest of local citizens

A community group in London has completed a design brief for an elevated linear park following one of the city’s disused railway lines. Named the Peckham Coal Line, the proposed green space would occupy a 900m (1km) stretch of a line once used to transport coal between two train stations in Peckham, south-east London. The planned park consists of pedestrian and cycle routes running through Victorian brick viaducts before dropping

Tottenham Hotspur has been granted planning permission by Haringey Council for its new stadium in north London. The council approved all three applications submitted by the Premier League club in a meeting that ran until the early hours of Thursday morning (17 December). Last month, the club announced it had appointed Mace to create the pre-construction plans for the stadium, which is expected to be completed by 2018, in time

A striking, sinuous opera house designed by Beijing studio MAD Architects has opened in the northern Chinese city of Harbin. Located within the wetlands surrounding the Songhua River, the Harbin Opera House has been designed as a response to the region’s untamed wilderness and chilly climate. The building’s smooth white aluminium walls twist and turn as if sculpted by the water and wind, blending into the surrounding environment and transfusing

The Italian design team behind the world’s deepest thermal pool have told CLAD that the concept could go global in the near future. Emanuele Boaretto made history last year when he opened a 40m pool, named Y-40, at his Hotel Millepini resort in Padova, north Italy. Equivalent in height to nine double decker buses, the pool incorporates four caves for technical underwater diving and a transparent viewing tunnel. Nicknamed The

The Hilton Bournemouth has opened in England, featuring interiors by Ted Baker fashion brand founder Ray Kelvin and one of the UK’s first eforea spas. Classic design and quirky innovation are central to the hotel’s aesthetic, with bespoke interiors and furnishings designed exclusively for Hilton Bournemouth by Kelvin throughout. The hotel was developed by privately owned property company THAT Group – whose chair is also Kelvin – and which owns

Rio de Janeiro’s hotly-anticipated Museau do Amanhã (Museum of Tomorrow) – designed by prize-winning Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava – will be officially opened tomorrow (17 December) by the city’s mayor. The contemporary science museum, which has taken five years to build, is located in the city centre’s Porto Maravilha district – the site of the largest urban development project in Brazil. The Museum of Tomorrow will allow the public to

Street artists and New York businesses have joined forces to beautify the city’s Lower East Side using one simple tool: spray paint. One hundred metal storefront security gates in the Manhattan neighbourhood have become city-sanctioned canvasses for a carefully selected group of graffiti artists, illustrators, graphic designers and abstract painters – including rising stars Shantell Martin, Faust and Mr Stash. The creators have each been partnered with a local business