Former England football captain David Beckham’s plans to establish a new football franchise in Miami, Florida, are a step closer after Major League Soccer (MLS) approved stadium plans for the project. The Beckham-led consortium of investors – called Miami Beckham United – is in the process of acquiring land in the city's Overtown neighbourhood and is planning to build a 25,000-capacity stadium at the site. The choosing of the Overton

The stadium being built for Spanish football club Atletico Madrid appears to be on track after doubts were cast over its viability by local councillors. The stadium, which is located in the east of Madrid, was designed by Cruz y Ortiz Arquitectos. Atletico posted a photograph of the semi-constructed stadium to its 1.1m Instagram followers last week (3 December). The picture, titled ‘New stadium’, shows the hollowed-out part of the

Conceptual plans for a new £26m, "super-efficient" swimming pool complex in Exeter, Devon have gone on public view for the first time. The proposals for the Exeter Active centre – designed by Gale & Snowden Architects and driven by Exeter City Council (ECC) – show a 25-metre competition standard, eight-lane pool alongside a four-lane training and recreation pool. Both pools will have moveable floors to provide flexibility for a range

Californian football club Sacramento Republic has revealed the first images of a new stadium – which it hopes will pave the way for it to gain a place in the Major Soccer League (MLS). The Republic, which currently plays in the United Soccer League – the third tier of North American professional football – has appointed architects HNTB to design the 25,000-capacity venue. The exterior appearance and building structure is

Chelsea Football Club’s (CFC) proposal to build a stadium comparable to those of its top-tier Premier League rivals has been submitted to the council. The application, which was registered by the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham on 19 November, comprises the demolition of the existing 41,600-capacity ground and its surrounding buildings, and replacing it with a 60,000-capacity stadium. Designed by Swiss architects, Herzog & de Meuron, the development will

A sprawling lifestyle resort in the shadow of the Great Smoky Mountains is due to bring hotels, restaurants, retail, sports and other elements of leisure to the North Carolina wilderness. Former Disney executive Jerry Pospisil is overseeing the development of the US$14bn (€13.2bn, £9.3bn) complex, which will stretch 4,500 acres in the picturesque Jonathan Valley. “The resort will combine wilderness experiences, upscale amenities, family entertainment, casual and fine dining, retail

Future US Major League Soccer (MLS) franchise Minnesota United FC has announced Populous as the lead architects for its US$120m (£80m, €114m) stadium. Earmarked for the Snelling and I-94 site, known as Midway, between Minneapolis and St. Paul, the project will be due for completion in early 2018. Kansas City based-Populous will design the 20,000-capacity stadium, which becomes the latest MLS partnership for the sports architecture firm. It also designed

The expansion of North America’s largest convention centre – Chicago’s McCormick Place – has taken another step forward after ground was broken on a new sports and entertainment arena. Connecticut architecture studio Pelli Clarke Pelli have designed the 10,600-capacity McCormick Place Event Center, which will host concerts, trade shows and sports games involving the DePaul Blue Demons basketball and athletics teams when it opens in 2017. The arena’s design features

Liz Terry, CEO of Leisure Media and editor of CLAD, was invited to identify two architectural trends for the wellness industry in a Trends Jam brainstorming session at the Global Wellness Summit in Mexico City last week. Terry's first trend was Living Buildings. She said that in the future, buildings that are alive will be able to sense our every need: "One day, we'll live and work in structures which

National Basketball Association (NBA) franchise the Sacramento Kings has lifted the lid on plans for its US$507m (£336m, €476m) Golden 1 Center arena. Sports architect AECOM – creators of the London 2012 and Rio 2016 olympic parks – are designing the centre, while ICON Venue Group and Turner Construction are serving as project manager and lead builder respectively. Renderings of the design show the Golden 1 Center will feature outward-facing

Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) have unveiled their masterplan for an urban neighbourhood in Pittsburgh on the site of a demolished hockey stadium. National Hockey League side the Pittsburgh Penguins left their Civic Arena home in 2012 and relocated to the Populous-designed Consol Energy Center. Their old ground was razed, but the franchise gained the rights to re-develop the site from the Sports and Exhibition Authority of Allegheny County (SEA). The

The chief executive of the Walt Disney Company has given his backing to the National Football League’s (NFL) Oakland Raiders and San Diego Chargers as they attempt to build a stadium in Los Angeles. Bob Iger has been appointed non-executive director of Carson Holdings – named after the district of LA where the mooted arena will be built – the development company set up by the two franchises. Manica Architecture

Replacing the beloved 100-year old stadium of Atletico Bilbao – known in Spain as the “cathedral of football” – was quite a challenge for architect César Azcarate and engineering firm ACXT-IDOM. Their effort has been rewarded, however, after the 53,000-capacity San Mames arena was judged the world's best new sports building at the World Architecture Festival in Singapore. “One of our biggest challenges was maintaining the intense and magical football

Spanish football giant Real Madrid has selected a modern and minimalist design for its new corporate headquarters in the Spanish capital. Architects Rafael de La-Hoz have visualised a glass-fronted structure formed of two parallel cuboid volumes slid across each other. The studio says the structure, which resembles a pair of Tetris blocks, will create fluid interiors flooded with light. Views of the surrounding city and the club’s training grounds will

US-based National Basketball Association (NBA) franchise the Milwaukee Bucks has released the first interior renderings of its proposed new home; a 17,000-seat indoor arena in the city’s downtown. The images reveal an intimate venue that places the majority of fans in the lower seating tier closer to the on-court action, while members of the team’s fan club have their own exclusive elevated viewing area. Replays will appear on a large

Tennis star Venus Williams has claimed her latest high-profile trophy at a tournament in China, just weeks after construction was completed on the host stadium. Builders raced against the clock to complete the Zhuhai Hengqin International Tennis Centre – designed by global sports architects Populous – and succeeded in finishing the work in time for the venue to host the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) Elite Trophy in the first week

Plans are afoot to transform a swathe of industrial West London wasteland into a huge new cultural city where “people will aspire to live, work and play.” Exciting details have emerged about the 30-year development scheme for Old Oak and Park Royal Common; conceived as the UK’s largest regeneration project with around 1.35sq km (0.52sq miles) of available space. CLAD understands that museums, theatre companies, sports and leisure firms will

The industry’s most prestigious awards have been handed out at the World Architecture Festival, held at the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore, with OMA and Buro Ole Scheeren's Interlace housing development in Singapore scooping the top prize of Building of the Year. More than 2,000 architects from more than 60 countries attended the three-day event, which draws to a close today (Friday). Seminars and presentations by some of the world’s

A recreation club for senior police officials in Hong Kong has been demolished to make way for a new facility designed by TFP Farrells. The scheme is part of a wider multi billion-dollar infrastructure project linking Hong Kong Island and the mainland via the Shatin to Central Link rail network. The police club will sit atop newly-installed cross-harbour tunnels. Construction work can now begin on the new Hong Kong Police

Malaysian Resources Corporation (MRC) has been appointed to redevelop the existing Bukit Jalil National Sports Complex – the venue for the 1998 Commonwealth Games – and transform it into a new, iconic Kuala Lumpur Sports City. The RM1.6bn (US$375m, €344m, £243m) KL Sports City will create a vibrant sports hub capable of hosting elite sports events as well as cater to the local community and recreational users. Designed by global

Brazil’s minister for tourism has said that the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro will act as a springboard for the country’s cultural attractions, cementing the Games’ legacy through improved infrastructure and tourist links in the years to come. Following its selection as Games host in 2009, Brazil has come under scrutiny in its preparations for the games, amid slashed budgets cleanliness issues and slow development. Despite

Australian architects MJA Studio have proposed a novel way of saving a much-loved sports stadium facing demolition: by turning it into an enormous outdoor wave pool. The future of the 43,500 capacity Oval stadium in the Perth suburb of Subiaco is unclear, as it is due to be replaced as the region’s main Australian Football League (AFL) venue by 2018. The local council has called for suggestions from the community

The architecture firm aLLDesign, led by Will Alsop, have revealed plans for a mixed-use development in the west London town of Brentford. The practice hope to transform a rundown 84 hectare site on Capital Interchange Way, near the M4 motorway, into a transport and community hub that will “make life better” for all who visit. The development – which is located next to Brentford Football Club’s proposed Community Stadium –

Detailed plans have been revealed for the Moncton Downtown Centre, a 9,000-seat multi-purpose arena and entertainment complex designed by a team of architects lead by Populous and Stantec. Located in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada, designs for the CA$104.2m (US$79m, €72m, £52m) arena will feature a large civic plaza, aimed at connecting the building to the surrounding city and providing a gathering space for special events and concerts. The civic plaza

Sports architects Frieder Roskam, Bill Stonor and Geraint John are among the first inductees to the newly established IAKS Hall of Fame for leisure architects. Launched to mark the 50th anniversary of IAKS (International Association for Sports and Leisure Facilities), the Hall of Fame honours architects, designers and those working in leisure for their services to architecture and facility development. In total, 12 people – most of them architects – were named

Planning permission has been granted for the largest phase of the £200m (US$305m, €278m) redevelopment of the iconic Lord’s cricket ground in London. Work can now begin on the South-Western Project – the second phase of a wider masterplan raising the ground's overall capacity to more than 30,000. The existing Tavern and Allen stands will be demolished and rebuilt as a single 5,200 capacity structure designed by sports architects Populous.

Consett Leisure Centre, a new £44m (US$68 E61) complex which combines educational establishment, Consett Academy, with a new leisure centre – to be shared by students and the public – has opened in County Durham in the UK. Financed by local government body Durham County Council, the two venues occupy a new single building – designed by Seymour Harris Architecture – and located in the heart of Consett on the