A shortlist has been announced consisting of five top architectural firms to design the Bristol Arena, a £90m (US$150m, €112m) venue on an old oil depot site near Temple Meads Station. Following the announcement of a design competition from the RIBA and Bristol City Council in August 2014, a shortlist has been released. The following multi-disciplinary design teams have been shortlisted: - A consortium of; Grimshaw, MANICA Architecture, Thornton Tomasetti,

A proposed masterplan for the Smithsonian Museum in Washington D.C, was unveiled this week by the Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), re-imagining the South Mall campus and the area around the Smithsonian’s iconic ‘Castle’. Founded in 1846, the Smithsonian Institution is one of the world’s largest museum and research complexes, boasting the National Zoological Park and several research facilities, as well as 19 museums and galleries. It is expected that the

London’s controversial Garden Bridge, designed by Thomas Heatherwick and Dan Pearson, has been given the green light by Lambeth Council. Lord Mervyn Davies, chair of the Garden Bridge Trust, said: “This is a great day for the Garden Bridge. The decision by Lambeth council has helped further drive the momentum behind this iconic project, taking us ever closer to reaching our goal.” The £175m (US$294m, €216m) bridge, which will cross

Several high profile architects have been asked to compete in a newly launched competition to design the New National Gallery and Ludwig Museum in Budapest, Hungary. A previous open competition for the project was recently abandoned, as the jury had "not found any entry suitable for implementation based on the assessment criteria". The studios invited to compete consist of a star-studded line up, with Jean Nouvel, David Chipperfield, Mecanoo, Nieto

London’s Gherkin skyscraper has been bought by Brazilian billionaire Joseph Safra for a fee of £700m. The Foster & Parners-designed building, first opened in 2004 and standing 180m (590ft) high, was acquired by the Safra Group, owned by Safra, “While only 10 years old, this building is already a London icon that is distinguished from others in the market, with excellent value growth potential,” said a statement from the Safra

The sustainable community called Serenbe outside Georgia's capital Atlanta, US, is developing a new ‘hamlet’ focused on wellness and healthy living, with special assisted-living services for older adults. With its organic farm and land-use plan that encourages conservation of agricultural land, Serenbe is a real estate development that preserves and invests in agricultural land use. Owned by Serenbe – and founded by Steve and Marie Nygren – the first house

London-based Marks Barfield Architects has won an international design competition for a eco-heritage project based on the Aldabra Atoll in the Seychelles. The firm is working with exhibition designers Real Studios and environmental engineer Ritchie Daffin to build a visitor centre on nearby Mahe, providing an experience for one of the most unique coral reef ecosystems anywhere in the world. The reef was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in

One of the largest spas in the Four Seasons portfolio is set to open in early 2015 at the Four Seasons Hotel Bahrain Bay in the centre of the Kingdom’s capital city, Manama. Scheduled to launch on 1 March 2015, the 273-bedroom hotel – designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill – rises 68 stories above the Bahrain Bay on its own 12-acre oval-shaped man-made island. Restaurants, meeting spaces, terraces, gardens

Real Madrid FC is pressing ahead with plans for a full redevelopment of the iconic Santiago Bernabeu stadium, complete with a skin of LEDs around the stadium, museum and nearby theme park development. Expected to take six years to complete, Real Madrid’s home stadium, redesigned by architectural firm GMP-Architekten, will be wrapped in LEDs – which will effectively operate as a huge TV screen to air the club’s greatest moments

The mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, has launched an unprecedented city-wide competition for urban regeneration in the French capital. Under the ‘Call for Innovative Urban Projects’ banner, 23 city-owned sites across the capital have been designated for development; the mayor is asking for teams of startups, associations, investors, companies, collectives, artists, architects and designers to ‘prefigure what the Paris of tomorrow might be.’ Elected in May, the mayor has laid

Lamu Island on the north coast of Kenya is about to undergo a drastic transformation with a KES2.3tn (US$25bn, €19.9bn, £15.6bn) mixed-use development planned to include the largest container port on the East African seaboard, complete with a “Las Vegas-style city” and an international airport. The development – the largest infrastructure project in the history of East Africa – will include roads, railways, and oil pipelines from Lamu across northern

Following AHR’s July 2014 global launch, the architecture and design practice has been given planning permission for the first phase of the ‘Green Block’, the 2017 Expo Village in Astana, Kazakhstan. Green Block Astana is a 100,000sq m (1,076,391sq ft) site that has been masterplanned by AHR. Drawing inspiration from nature and the cellular structure of a leaf, the plan aims to address the nuances of the local climate. Containing

Emaar Properties and Dubai Holdings have announced plans to build “the tallest twin towers in the world” as part of a 2.3sq m (6sq km) mega development in the Dubai Creek Harbour district, UAE. The development will encompass the two towers – which will have to stand higher than 88 storeys to beat Kuala Lumpur’s current record – and six other luxury residential towers, each 40 storeys tall. As well

Jumeirah Group, the international luxury hotel chain, has announced the renowned architecture firms Foster + Partners, Zaha Hadid Architects and Denniston International as the designers of three luxury hotel developments the company will operate in China. Subsidiaries of Yuexiu Group, a Guangzhou-based property development company, own two of the properties, which are being built in the cities of Haikou and Wuhan. They reached a deal whereby Jumeirah will manage the

Renzo Piano’s dramatic new building for the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York’s Meatpacking District has entered the final phase of construction, with work set to be completed in time for its long-scheduled opening in Spring 2015. The museum - founded by American socialite Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney in 1931 - is moving from its old Madison Avenue property to the significantly larger new building in order to display

The first images for the legacy project of director George Lucas – the US$300m (€220m, £179m) Lucas Museum of Narrative Art (LMNA) in Chicago – have been revealed by architectural firm MAD Architects. To be built on prime lakefront land next to Soldier Field, the architectural concept for the LMNA “explores the relationship between nature and the urban environment”. Inspired by the work of Frank Lloyd Wright and Mies van

A stylish new science museum and business centre has opened in Japan’s industrial Komatsu city as part of a regional regeneration programme which will boost tourism and trade. Science Hills Komatsu is built on a 14,428sq m (155,300sq ft) site of a disused mining equipment factory once operated by the multinational manufacturing corporation Komatsu Limited and now owned by the city’s government. The design of the museum, by Mari Ito

The first Rosewood hotel in Asia has opened its doors in Beijing, China, in the central Chaoyang district opposite the iconic CCTV Tower. The 22-storey hotel, designed by Melbourne-based design firm BARstudio – in collaboration with Bangkok-based landscape architects PLandscape – has been inspired by traditional Chinese paintings. The 283-guestroom hotel is owned by New World Group and its business affiliates, while New World Development Company is the majority shareholder

The new wing of the Contemporary Art Museum Gösta Serlachius in Finland, designed by Spanish architectural firm MX_SI, has been opened after three years of planning and development. MX_SI won a competition back in 2011 to design and build the extension for the visitor attraction in Mänttä, which is now a fully functioning part of the museum, playing host to the new entrance, foyer, restaurant, conservation facilities and a shop.

The FJD85m (US$45m, €35m, £28m) Pearl South Pacific Resort’s three-phase development in Fiji’s Pacific Harbour is on track for completion and a grand opening ceremony in August 2015. The resort will offer an 18-berth marina, 400-seat conference centre, 250-seat fine dining restaurant, wedding chapel and numerous wellness facilities. Developers and owners, Papua New Guinea’s Mineral Resources Development Company (MRDC), took over operations in 2012, when the resort’s construction began. Pacific

The ‘Rom’ in Hornchurch, East London, has been given Grade II listed status by English Heritage and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. Opened in 1978, the Rom, named after a nearby river, is one of the finest surviving examples of early skatepark designs in the UK. The decision to protect the park follows the publication of a new book by sports historian Simon Inglis called Played in London

Alfredo Carvajal has been appointed president of International and Signature Programs for Delos, the US-based company behind the Well Building Standard® ( see Spa Business 14/1 p36 ). Previously Carvajal operated as COO of spa and leisure consultancy WTS International, which works in collaboration with Delos. As part of the alliance, WTS is integrating Delos’ evidence-based wellness features into the facilities it designs. In his new role – starting November

Hilton Worldwide has opened the Hilton Nay Pyi Taw in the capital city of Myanmar, Nay Pyi Taw, just in time for the upcoming East Asia Summit to be held in November at the neighbouring Ruby Hall – a meetings and conventions venue. The 202-key hotel, owned by Eden Group Company Limited, spans more than 100 acres and is situated in the developing Dekhina Thiri Township. Designed by Leo International

The Shanti Maurice Nira Resort in Mauritius has relaunched its 70,000sq ft (6,503sq m) spa, offering a brand new concept – A Journey Around the World Through Wellbeing. The concept includes new product ranges, treatments and packages based on oriental, Indian and ‘Natural-Bio’ themes. After feedback from clients, requesting more tailor-made spa and wellbeing packages to restore body, mind and soul in a short time, the new worldly concept was

The cost of converting the London Olympic Stadium into a 54,000-capacity multi-use stadium is set to rise from £154m to £190m due to complications in installing the new roof. Providing the support structures for the new roof have required significantly more strengthening work to the main roof truss than initially expected. The truss was originally designed to be taken down after the Games. As a result, the London Legacy Development

Guests of the Ritz-Carlton Bali, Indonesia, will be able to swim with dolphins in the Indian Ocean, go sailing and participate in night dives when the property opens in Q2 of 2015. Located in the developing Sawangan area, south of Nusa Dua, the 288-key property – including 90 suites and 14 villas – is owned by PT Bali Nusaintan and will feature a 25,000sq ft (2,323sq m) spa. The spa

The AU$450m (US$394.4m, £246m, €312.2m) revamp of the Sydney Modern art gallery in New South Wales, Australia has taken a step forward after its director announced 12 highly acclaimed architecture firms as potential designers for the project. In January the former Art Gallery of New South Wales will know which high-profile architect has been entrusted with its future when an expert panel will select five of the visions to take