Danish architecture firm 3XN has revealed renderings of its designs for the new Olympic Headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland. 3XN was chosen to design the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC’s) new base in April 2014 following an international competition. The practice fought off eleven other high-profile outfits to win the competition. These included London-based Amanda Levete Architects, New Yorkers OMA, Diller Scofidio and Renfro, to name a few. Called ‘Olympic Unity House’,

Swiss-based architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron is working on plans to increase the capacity of Chelsea Football Club’s Stamford Bridge ground in west London in partnership with London-based practice Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands. The club wants to expand from the current 41,837 seats, to a 60,000 seat capacity, following the recommendations of a feasibility study undertaken in June 2014. At the time, the club said: “The study will assess the

Damian Rogers Architecture, in partnership with Arup, has unveiled a concept for a beach and surf park for Melbourne’s Central Pier, Australia. The development would be based on a floating wave pool, with filtered water from Victoria Harbour, and a sandy beachfront. Offering surfers a chance to catch waves between 1-1.8m (3-6ft) high, the heated wave pool would be one of several attractions in the 16,000sq m (172,222sq ft) development.

Brazilian football club SE Palmeiras has taken delivery of its new 43,600-capacity Allianz Parque stadium in Sao Paolo. Designed by Brazilian architects Edo Rocha Arquiteturas, the venue has been described as “Latin America’s most modern multi-purpose event complex”. With 43,600 covered seats – in addition to the 178 corporate boxes with seating for more than 3,000 people during football games – the venue is also equipped to host concerts, mega

The District of Columbia Council has approved plans to build a new home for US-based Major League Soccer (MLS) club D.C. United. To be located in Buzzard Point, Washington D.C., the stadium will have a capacity between 20,000 and 25,000 and will become the 17th “soccer-specific stadium” in MLS. Designed by sports architects Populous, the District of Columbia Soccer Stadium is expected to open in 2017 and provide a major

A High Court judge has ruled that Northern Ireland’s environment minister Mark H Durkan acted “unlawfully” when he approved plans for a new 38,000-seat GAA stadium in the heart of Belfast. Mr Justice Horner said there had been failures in the environmental impact assessment of the £77m stadium and that the decision to grant planning permission was “irretrievably flawed”. The High Court ruling comes after a Belfast residents' group issued

Construction work has begun on the 60,000-capacity Perth Stadium in West Australia. Designed by a team consisting of Cox Architecture, design studio Hassell and architects HKS Sports and Entertainment Group, the multi-purpose stadium will form the centrepiece of a new sporting precinct at Perth’s Burswood district, located on the banks of the Swan River. The AU$820m (US$770m, €570m, £450m) venue – funded and owned by the Government of Western Australia

Major League Baseball (MLB) team Atlanta Braves has released new renderings of its planned SunTrust Park stadium in Cobb County, north of Atlanta, showing the mixed-use elements surrounding the venue. The new plans shed light on the number of restaurants, bars and retail outlets to be built on the site, while also show a hotel and office building towering beyond the 41,500-capacity venue. The properties will form an important revenue

Designs for a new MX$863m (US$60m, €48.5m, £38.3m) 13,000-seat baseball stadium to be home to the Los Diablos Rojos in Mexico City have been revealed by Chicago-based JAHN and Santa Fe-based ADG architects. The 70,000sq m (753,000sq ft) stadium, which resembles the team’s trident logo, has a roof composed of lightweight steel wrapped in PTFE textile material. According to JAHN, the roof will “become an iconic symbol for the great

An expansion of Liverpool Football Club’s Anfield Stadium is set to start this week after construction firm Carillion signed a £75m contract to carry out work on the main stand. The two parties yesterday (8 December) finalised the deal that will see designs by architecture practice KSS brought to fruition, increasing the capacity of the stadium to 54,000. Work to add 8,500 seats to the Main Stand – part of

Manchester City Football Club has today (8 December) opened the doors to the club’s new City Football Academy (CFA) – reported to have cost £200m (US$312m, €255m) – following a four-year project. The new facility in East Manchester – a stone’s throw from the club’s Etihad Stadium – forms a key part of plans to regenerate the former industrial wasteland. The two-year building phase was led by BAM Construction working

Sydney’s former Olympic Stadium is set for a AU$350m (US$292.8m, €237.8m, £186.7m) redevelopment, with plans including a full roof and pitch-side seating. As part of the proposals, the ANZ stadium’s capacity will remain above 80,000, though for smaller matches a high-tech lighting system will create a more intimate atmosphere. The designs also include a retractable roof, allowing the stadium to become weatherproof for certain sporting and entertainment events. Another aspect

Paris-based AWP architecture firm has won a competition, launched in June 2014, to design a new public space and hub along the River Tyne in Newcastle, UK. Malmo Quay, situated in the Ouseburn Valley in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, will be a landmark and cycle hub. The site will provide new space for outdoor sports with a community hall, restaurants and cafés, community spaces, working areas, and an open air cinema – which

The cause of a fire that gutted a business involved in a bitter dispute with English Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur FC remains unclear. The fire at the Archway Sheet Metal factory – in north London, UK – was detected in the early hours of Tuesday 25 November. The blaze destroyed most of the building before it was brought under control. Located just yards from Tottenham’s White Hart Lane stadium,

Architecture practice EFFEKT has won a competition to create an innovative new street sports and cultural facility in an old train depot in Esbjerg, Denmark. The project will transform a disused train engine depot in Esbjerg into a new destination for street sports, cultural creativity and the community. Realdania, a non-profit organisation, have set itself the task of creating three new cultural hubs filling some of the void left by

Geraint John, an established senior advisor at Populous, is today (28 November) being awarded the Pierre de Coubertin medal for outstanding services to the Olympic Movement. Populous is a global sports design and architecture practice and has worked on several Olympic projects including Sydney 2000, London 2012 and Sochi 2014. John is the first architect, and indeed Briton, to ever receive the Pierre de Coubertin medal. Named in honour of

Designs have been revealed for the third out of five stadiums being built for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Multinational consultancy Dar Al-Handasah is behind the designs, which will see a complete revamp of Doha’s existing Khalifa International Stadium. Dar Al-Handasah, run by the Dar Group, operates as an international consultancy with five different design centres across the world. The group intends to transform the dated Khalifa International Stadium, originally

The owner and chair of Queens Park Rangers Football Club (QPR), Tony Fernandes, has said the club must move away from its Loftus Road home if it is to exist as a top flight club. Fernandes’ comments come as QPR is in the midst of a drawn-out legal planning process over a possible new site for a 40,000-capacity stadium at Old Oak Common in West London – three miles away

Global architecture firm Grimshaw and Australian firm Andrew Burges have won an international competition to design and build a AUS$51m (US$44m, €35m, £28m) park and leisure centre in Sydney. Over 140 teams submitted entries for the competition, run by the City of Sydney. Chosen from a shortlist of five finalists, Grimshaw and Andrew Burges winning design will be a leisure and fitness complex with ‘something for everyone’.

AFC Wimbledon has submitted a planning application to Merton Council for a new stadium at Plough Lane in South London. The League Two football club is planning to build a 11,000-capacity stadium on the site of Wimbledon Greyhound Stadium – a location the club calls its “spiritual home”. The application has been submitted in partnership with residential builder Galliard Homes and seeks permission to build 600 residential units along with

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 ‘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

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

Boris Johnson, mayor of London, has begun a consultation process with GT Architects over the proposed plans for a sports centre at Crystal Palace, south London. Launched on 6 October, the mayor, CSM Strategic, with FMG Consulting and GT Architects have proposed several development concepts for the sports centre. These are being pitched to the public through a series of talks and exhibitions, as well as a survey, running throughout

Consultancy and engineering firm Arup has won the contract to advise on venues and infrastructure for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The London-based firm says it has been appointed lead adviser to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and the Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, with its duties covering venue and infrastructure development. Arup will masterplan the Games, as well as advising on transport, security, sustainability

When it comes to how best to cater for cyclists in the UK’s capital, more ideas are being "floated" than ever before. The latest is the Thames Deckway, a 7-mile (11km) stretch of cycle path that would float alongside the banks of London’s famed river. Thames Deckway is a concept proposed by River Cycleway Consortium, which is led by architect David Nixon and environmental entrepreneur Anna Hill, in conjunction with

Oakland, California-based National Basketball Association (NBA) franchise Golden State Warriors has revealed the first conceptual plans of its new home in San Francisco, California. Plans to build a 18,000-capacity, multi-use arena in the Mission Bay area will see the Warriors travel across the San Francisco Bay and return to the city of San Francisco for the first time since 1971, when the team moved to its current Oracle Arena home