A host of eco-friendly leisure projects have been recognised in the 2016 Green Good Design Awards, handed out by Chicago’s Museum of Architecture and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design. The awards – founded by Eero Saarinen, Edgar Kaufmann Jr and Charles and Ray Eames in 1950 – celebrate the best new projects around the world that have responded to the needs for energy conservation, reducing toxic waste and

A 75,000sq ft (7,000sq m) rainforest will be situated halfway up a tower in the Hilton Worldwide hotel in Dubai as part of a "never before seen" entertainment experience created by ZAS Architects. In an exclusive interview with CLAD, principal DJ Armin said the firm is using innovative digital technology, advanced architectural practices and biophilic design to create an indoor/outdoor leisure experience that “can work successfully through all four seasons

Images released today (27 July) have given a first proper look at how the cultural attractions planned for London’s Stratford Waterfront are set to look. Architecture studios Allies and Morrison, O’Donnell + Tuomey and Arquitecturia are designing a series of new facilities for the waterfront in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park as part of the Olympicopolis cultural and educational development. The new renderings reveal how the following three venues are

The first venue within Hong Kong’s emerging West Kowloon Cultural District (WKCD) has been completed on time and on budget. The M+ Pavilion is a flexible small-scale arts space created by a trio of young local designers. The site is designed as an accompaniment to Herzog and de Meuron’s forthcoming M+ building – a new home for Hong Kong’s museum for visual culture, art, design and architecture. The new pavilion

Interior designer Reinhard Strasser has created a new Alpine retreat in the Austrian mountains, featuring a high-altitude hypoxic chamber which can be used by professional athletes. The hotel, called Blumen Haus Lech, will launch in the village of Lech in December 2016. It is being funded by British businessman Andrew Flowers, who wants to “raise the bar for boutique hotels in Austria” and offer a luxury stopover for skiers in

Long-running plans to build a permanent home for the Universal Hip-Hop Museum (UHHM) in the US have moved a step closer to reality, after architects BrandNu Design unveiled renderings showing what the project could look like. A disused courthouse in The Bronx, New York, has been proposed as the site of the museum – the first time a specific building has been suggested. BrandNu’s proposal for the 38,000sq ft (3,500sq

Studio MMK, who have offices in the US and South Korea, will design a music-led cultural complex on an island in Seoul after winning an international architecture competition for the project. ‘Nodeul Dream Island’ will be one of the firm’s first built projects. Located on the Han River, the island will host concerts, festivals, exhibitions and other cultural events. The Seoul Metropolitan Government had invited architects, landscape architects and urban

Tourism officials have launched an art installation on the hills of Snowdonia, with giant mirrored letters spelling out the word ‘EPIC’ as part of a campaign to promote Wales as the home of great adventures. Designed by Cardiff-based design firm Wild Creations, the four-metre-tall (13.1 foot) lettering has appeared in Pen y Gwryd in North West Wales and was commissioned by VisitWales as part of its Year of Adventure Campaign.

The 2016 Archikids Festival begins in London this weekend with a host of free activities planned to engage children with architecture, engineering and design. Children aged 5-11 and their families are invited to tour some of the capital's iconic buildings, including the Gherkin by Norman Foster, and take part in a series of architecture challenges between 10am-5pm BST on both days. Tasks include experimenting with different materials and shapes to

Dramatic new drone footage has been released to showcase the architectural features of Herzog and de Meuron’s hotly-awaited Elbe Philharmonic building in Hamburg, Germany. The shimmering complex will house three concert halls, a Starwood Westin hotel and spa, 45 private apartments and an indoor public plaza when it officially opens on 11 January 2017. To whet appetites for the curtain-raising, a new website has been set up taking viewers on

The rebuilding of a disused ice rink in Schierke, Germany has officially started, with architecture studio GRAFT transforming the site into a multi-use sports arena with a unique roof structure. The Nature Rink, located at the foot of the snow-topped Harz Mountains, is one of the country’s oldest natural ice stadiums. It is being renovated at a cost of more than €7m (US$7.7m, £5.8m) enabling it to host ice sports

Unesco has included a new addition to its World Heritage list for 2016, adding 17 sites across three continents, to recognise the work of Swiss architect Le Corbusier. Of the 21 new additions to Unesco’s list of more than 1,000, The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier, an Outstanding Contribution to the Modern Movement is perhaps the most unique as it covers seven countries – Argentina, Belgium, France, Germany, India, Japan

The transformation of Governors Island in New York into a landscaped tourist destination is complete, with ten acres of new public realm by Dutch architects West 8 opening today (19 July). The studio have created four hills, rising high above the island to offer a 360-degree panoramic experience of the city’s harbour. Formerly a military base located a short ferry ride from Manhattan and Brooklyn, the site is now an

Two international architecture competitions have been launched to design a pair of major arts facilities for one of the biggest districts in the Chinese city of Shenzhen. The district government of Bao’an has fired the starting gun on the contests to create both a Public Culture and Arts Center and a new library and concert hall. The former is a new build project which will house a museum, art gallery

Plans to build “the world’s first underground park” in New York have taken a major step forward with the city’s Economic Development Corporation (NYEDC) approving the project. The US$60m (€53.6m, £44.8m) Lowline scheme, designed by James Ramsey of Raad Studio, will see the transformation of an abandoned underground trolley terminal in Manhattan's Lower East Side into a community-oriented public and cultural space. Solar technology will directly deliver sunlight underground, lighting

Two leisure projects have made the shortlist for the prestigious 2016 Stirling Prize for the UK’s best new building, which was announced today (14 July). Newport Street Gallery in Vauxhall by Caruso St John and Weston Library in Oxford by WilkinsonEyre are among six projects in the running for the UK’s highest accolade for architecture. The winner will be announced by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) on 6

Burgos & Garrido Arquitectos and Llama Urban Design have been declared winners of an international design competition to expand the Lima Art Museum in Peru. The studios will develop a new public plaza and extension to the museum, including new galleries for its permanent collection, a library for 40,000 books, classrooms, a café and workshop spaces. The competition jury received 387 entries from 56 countries, which was whittled down to

Game of Thrones creator George R R Martin has partnered with a design company and arts and entertainment production studio to create an explorable attraction in Santa Fe, US. The House of Eternal Return is a 20,000sq ft (1,800sq m) space filled with fantastical environments, technology and art. Billed as “a unique combination of children’s museum, art gallery, jungle gym, and fantasy novel”, visitors are invited to walk, climb and

Plans are at an advanced stage to create a new bourbon-themed leisure district in Lexington, Kentucky on the site of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. Every year, spirit lovers from across the US make the journey to the state to savour bourbons produced by different boutique distilleries. The recent completion of a deal to bring back a James E.Pepper bourbon distillery to Lexington – a city the brand last called home

Rome's Archaeological Heritage Department has completed the first phase of a major restoration of the historic Colosseum, aimed at returning the landmark to its former glory and possibly turning it into a regular entertainment venue. With funding support from Italian fashion brand Tod’s Group, the first phase of restoration has included the surface cleaning of the northern and southern façades, removing dirt and gunge created mainly by vehicle pollution, which

James Corner’s huge ice-themed installation for the National Building Museum in Washington D.C. has opened to the public. The immersive work, called ICEBERGS, occupies an area of 12,540sq ft (1,100sq m) in the museum’s Great Hall. It allows visitors to feel as though they are walking through an underwater world of ice fields. A host of newly-released images reveal the varied elements introduced by Corner and his studio Field Operations.

A unique museum dedicated to a single bronze statue of Apoxyomenos has opened its doors on the Croatian island of Lošinj. The CK25m (US$4m, €3.6m, £3m) Museum of Apoxyomenos, funded by the City of Mali Losinj and the Croatian Ministry of Culture, has been designed by architects Idis Turato and Saša Randic. Centred around Apoxyomenos – a bronze statue of a young athlete, discovered in 1996 in the area at

The international architecture competition to design a Museum of 20th Century Art in Berlin is entering its final stages, with 42 firms asked to submit their proposals before a decision is made by the end of the year. Sou Fujimoto, Zaha Hadid Architects, David Chipperfield, Herzog & de Meuron, REX Architecture, OMA, Snøhetta, SANAA and UNStudio are among those to have qualified from previous rounds, or who have been invited

Design studios should embrace temporary architecture projects as a means of experimenting with how buildings can shape our environments. That is the view of Roland Rom Colthoff, principal of Canadian firm RAW Design. The practice have organised several temporary events celebrating adaptive reuse of structures, including Winter Stations – an exhibition of art installations built around lifeguard points on Toronto’s wintry beaches – and a series of one-night “architectural stunts”

Investor and philanthropist Ronald Perelman has donated US$75m (€67m, £56m) towards the construction and operation of the planned Performing Arts Center (PAC) at the World Trade Center in New York. The 80,000sq ft (7,400sq m) mixed-use cultural venue – which will produce works of theatre, dance, music, opera and film – is currently being designed by New York studio REX Architecture, but questions had surrounded how the project would be

Eight architecture studios have reached the final stage of the international competition to create a new exhibition hall for the Museo del Prado in Madrid; Spain’s national art museum. The new gallery, which will showcase artworks that explore Spanish history, will be housed in the Hall of Realms. The building once formed part of the Royal Buen Retiro Palace and was formerly used as an Army Museum, before it was

Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) have created an inflatable beer pavilion for the Roskilde Music Festival which is part sculpture, part bouncy castle. The structure – called FOAM and is sponsored by beer brand Tuborg – is a giant “bubble-like cloud” which is illuminated by purple LED lights at night and can be inflated in seven minutes. BIG were tasked with creating a 120sq m (1,300sq ft) mobile pavilion which could