The recently-completed Shanghai Tower, designed by Global architecture firm Gensler, has been officially recognised as the world’s second-tallest building. Located in Shanghai's Pudong business district, the 632m (2,000ft) spiralling structure – which contains a hotel, cultural facilities, a six-storey retail zone and an observation deck – has been designed to symbolise China’s global emergence and is now the tallest building in the country. According to the Council on Tall Buildings

Marriott International is preparing to open a luxury hotel in Minsk, Belarus within a wider sports and leisure complex developed by the investment fund of Qatar's Ministry of Defence. The five-star Minsk Marriott Hotel will be located alongside a 4,500 capacity sports arena and a health club featuring a gym, wellness centre and spa. The complex, called the Falcon Club, has been designed by Belarusian studio Varabyeu Partners – who

Greece’s Miraggio Thermal Spa Resort is set to open in May of this year in Halkidiki, with a 3,000sq m (32,291sq ft) Myrthia Thermal Spa, and plans for a medical wellness section to be added in 2017. Owned by Med Sea Health, the resort is designed by Greek architecture firm DLP, owned by Michel De Landtsheer and Eleni Pletsa, and will feature 300 bedrooms and suites, 48 with private pools.

Hotel brand Renaissance will open New York City’s “first digitally enhanced hotel” in Manhattan’s famous garment district in Q1 2016. Designed by local studio Jeffrey Beers International, the 348-room Renaissance New York Midtown Hotel will feature several large-scale digital attractions created to celebrate the history and glamour of the location, which is a centre of clothes manufacturing and home to many of New York’s fashion designers. A digital tapestry the

The year ahead promises much excitement in the world of leisure architecture and design. New designs will be unveiled, ongoing projects will take shape and we will have our first look at completed buildings from the likes of Snøhetta, Thomas Heatherwick, Renzo Piano, Bjarke Ingels Group and David Adjaye. To celebrate the New Year, we have compiled a list of 12 projects scheduled for completion in 2016 that we are

A 117-bedroom Nikki Beach Resort and Spa will open in Dubai in spring 2016. Developed in partnership with Meraas Holding, this will be the third property in the Nikki Beach Hotel and Resorts portfolio. The Dubai property will be located on the waterfront of Pearl Jumeira and will also include 15 villas and 61 lifestyle residences, with units ranging from one to four bedrooms. The resort will feature private pools,

Hard Rock International has revealed its plans to build a 372-room music-themed hotel in Berlin adjacent to Checkpoint Charlie and displaying a section of the Berlin Wall. According to project partner the Trockland Development Group, the hotel will form part of a 2.5 acre multi-use project commemorating the history and symbolism of the checkpoint; which was the best known crossing point between East and West Berlin during the Cold War.

Italian architect Antonio Citterio has reunited with luxury jewellery and fashion brand Bulgari to design a “one-of-a-kind” five-star resort on a private island off the coast of Dubai. The seahorse-shaped Bulgari Resort Dubai will comprise of 101 rooms and suites, 20 hotel villas and a full range of modern hotel facilities on Jumeira Bay Island. As with Bulgari’s four previous branded properties, all elements of the masterplan have been designed

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

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

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 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

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

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

Sweden’s famous Icehotel has reopened for its 26th winter and is brimming with hand-crafted, ice-sculpted art. Visitors to the hotel – located in Jukkasjärvi, Lapland – can choose to sleep in an art-themed suite, including one featuring a 3m (10ft) tall elephant carved out of snow. Nineteen of the Icehotel’s 50 rooms feature the unique pieces of ice art created by architects and designers from all over the world. You

Château St Pierre de Serjac – a wine estate in France’s Languedoc region – will reopen in February 2016 as an intimate hotel following a two-year, €25m (US$27.5m, £18m) renovation. The project is a collaboration between winemaker Laurent Bonfils and hoteliers Karl and Anita O’Hanlon, who also own the luxury property Chateau Les Carrasses in the area. Restored in 1886 by Baron Cyprien deCrozals and designed by pre-eminent architect Louis-Michel

Private equity management group Z Capital Partners has acquired the historic Waldhaus Flims Mountain Resort & Spa located in Flims, Switzerland. The undisclosed deal further enhances Z Capital’s health and wellness hotel platform, following its acquisition earlier this year of the Carillon Miami Beach. The company said it plans to maintain the property’s storied heritage while upgrading the resort to a five-star luxury hotel. Its strategy includes investing in the

Como Hotels & Resorts has recently opened Como The Treasury – its fifth city property – in Perth, Australia. The hotel occupies a group of late Victorian stone and brick buildings – known locally as the ‘State Buildings’ – that have played an important role in the city’s history for the past 140 years, serving variously as a post office, land titles office and treasury, and also once home to

Plans to build a new five-star Peninsula hotel overlooking the gardens of Buckingham Palace in London have been given the green light. Construction will now begin in Q2 2017 on the 190-room Peninsula London – located in the district of Belgravia – which will be the first UK property for the luxury Hong Kong hotel brand. Westminster City Council have approved the design from British studio Hopkins Architects, who envision

Paris-based AccorHotels will buy FRHI – the owner of Raffles, Fairmont and Swissotel – for approximately US$2.9bn (€2.6bn, £1.9bn) in cash and shares. Accor operates Sofitel, Pullman, Novotel and ibis brands, among others, and has around 3,800 properties – nearly 500 of which are luxury and upscale. “This is an outstanding opportunity to add three prestigious brands – Fairmont, Raffles and Swissotel – to our portfolio, and a great step

Luxury hotel brand Oetker Collection is expanding into the Americas with the launch of two hotels – one in Sao Paulo and one in New York – within the next three years. The New York location is slated to open in Q2 2018 in the former Sony Tower, originally designed by American architect Philip Johnson. The building is an iconic New York landmark, known for its ornamental ‘Chippendale’ roofline and

Chinese developer Dalian Wanda Group has opened a five-star mountainside hotel within its 5.3sq km (2sq mile) international resort in Yunnan province. Beijing architects Office for Architecture + Design (OAD) designed the hotel – the first operated under the Wanda Vista brand – drawing inspiration from the lush surrounding forests of Xishuangbanna prefecture and the traditional architecture of the region. Stone foundations, curving wooden roofs, peacock motifs, simple courtyards and

A luxury tented resort will join Nayara Hotels, the Costa Rican wellness brand set in the rainforests of Costa Rica’s Arenal Volcano National Park. Nayara Tented Resort will include 24 tented lodges, each 954sq ft (88sq m), with a master bedroom and en-suite bathroom, along with an adjoining tent that can be arranged as a second bedroom or lounge. Each tent will sit on its own platform, furnished with an

A Romanian aquaculture and tourism development company has revealed plans to build the Black Sea's largest holiday resort. AgriEuro Corp owns over 4,000 acres of land in the Danube Delta – a UNESCO World Heritage Site – and has earmarked the area as an ideal location for an “all-inclusive entertainment and accommodation resort with an exotic surrounding landscape, a mild climate and unique geographical features.” The company has hired Romanian