Miami architects Arquitectonica have collaborated with Los Angeles design group Studio Collective and New York’s Clodagh Design for a the first Swire Hotels property in the US. After three years of planning and construction, the hotel – named EAST, Miami – will open in the Florida on 31 May. Located in Miami’s Brickell district, the hotel is an anchor for a 5.4m sq ft (502,000sq m) mixed-used development being bankrolled

Six Senses is opening a resort on Fiji’s Malolo Island in 2017 with a planned Six Senses Spa as well as the Six Senses Integrated Wellness programme. Designed by New Zealand-based architect Richard Priest, Six Senses Fiji will include 24 pool villas and 66 residential villas located along a private sandy beach. Sustainability will be reflected throughout the resort, through active management of energy, water, waste, biodiversity, purchasing and chemical

FaulknerBrowns Architects partner Michael Hall has described how the studio’s planned indoor waterpark project in Coventry, UK, uses elegant and community-focused design to create a “high octane” and “holistic” type of health and fitness facility. The practice has this week submitted its plans for the £36.7m (US$51.8m, €46.4m) Coventry Water Park – which will include a wave pool, six flume rides, a lazy river toddlers’ splash area, a 25m pool,

Guests staying at a luxury boutique hotel in London can enjoy a cocktail in the cramped courthouse cells which once held the Kray twins, two of the most notorious gangsters in the city’s history. The newly-opened Courthouse Hotel in Shoreditch is located in a Grade II-listed building which once housed the Great Marlborough Street Magistrates Court. The themes of crime, punishment and justice are embedded into the hotel’s design, particularly

Latvian wellness consultancy Inbalans Group is working together with Moscow-based international development company Griffin Partners and Jurmula City Council to develop a substantial wellness community in Latvia's Kemeri National Park. The wellness community, located just west of the capital of Riga, will include a five-star hotel with a 1,500sq m (16,146sq ft) spa, due to open in 2018, as well as a wellness clinic comprised of multiple historic buildings with

German designers Toni Egger and Felix Tarantik are creating mobile saunas inside the aluminium shells of Swiss ski lift gondolas. The four-person Saunagondel can withstand extreme weather conditions and, with a footprint of two by two metres, is small and lightweight enough to transport from place to place. The sauna is fitted with custom-made silver fir wood interiors and a 4.5 kW electric heater that can reach temperatures of 100

The global foresight manager at international architecture and engineering firm Arup has told CLAD that closer collaboration between architects, designers, developers and investors is essential if the buildings of the future are to successfully boost our health and wellbeing. Josef Hargrave said the increasingly sophisticated demands we make of our buildings necessitate a more holistic approach in how they are designed and developed. “We’re moving from a world where building

Velas Resorts is opening a new location on Mexico’s Baja Peninsula in November that will include a 20-room, 19,375sq ft (1,800sq m) spa and hydrotherapy facility. The US$150m (€130m, £103m) Grand Velas Los Cabos is the fifth property for the family-owned and operated company, and will include 306 suites with private terraces and personal plunge pools as well as five restaurants and a 16,370sq ft convention centre. The two-level spa

Hospitality specialists WATG Architects are designing a 160-bedroom Bellagio Shanghai, set to open in early 2017. With a “hip and cool” urban setting, the hotel’s architecture aims to capture the essence of the old and new Shanghai with a modern, tempered interpretation of Art Deco. The hotel will include a five-treatment-room Zen spa with separate male and female wet rooms with sauna and steam, relaxation lounge, indoor pool with tepidarium,

Four Seasons has opened a hotel in Bogota, Colombia that takes its design inspiration from the surrounding mountains. The 64-bedroom Four Seasons Hotel Bogota includes a spa with five treatment rooms, including an oversized couple’s suite, as well as relaxation lounges, steamrooms and a spa shop. Houston, Texas-based Rottet Studio created the design aesthetic, drawing inspiration from the mountains surrounding the city. Pattern, texture and craftsmanship combine in the lobby,

London studio RPW Design have unveiled details of their extensive refurbishment of the five-star Fairmont St Andrews, which will include a 60m (197ft) long ceiling sculpture in the atrium. Situated on a 520-acre estate on the east coast of Scotland, the luxury resort offers panoramic cliff-top views of the North Sea. It is famous for its two championship golf courses, The Torrance and The Kittocks, and for hosting important political

Located on a scenic hillside location on the island of Bintan, the Alila Villas Bintan – a 14.4-hectare gated development with a combination of residences, boutique hotel, and a village with a museum, gallery, retail shops, restaurants and a spa – is set to open in mid-2017. The spa at the Alila Villas Bintan is designed to be one of Alila’s most comprehensive, according to Steve Jeisman, group director of

Sentierre, a new US-based hotel brand with a focus on wellbeing, will include a full-service spa created by Sylvia Sepielli in its first resort, Sentierre Padre Canyon in Utah, US. CEO and founder of Sentierre Stan Castleton said he created Sentierre as a new kind of five-star resort experience. “Sentierre transcends traditional terms such as hotel by offering guests an experience that can be introspective, interactive and invigorating,” said Castleton.

Architecture practice Tsao & McKown are designing a 189,000sq m (2m sq ft) luxury wellness retreat along Yangcheng Lake outside of Suzhou, China, due to open in Q3 2016. The project is being built through Octave – a development company owned by studio co-founder Calvin Tsao that is dedicated to creating wellness communities. The retreat, called Sangha, will be comprised of residences, hotels and learning spaces. A 69-guestroom hotel offers

Construction is nearing completion on a pair of “dancing” copper towers in New York, which will be connected by a skybridge with a swimming pool 300ft above the ground. New York studio SHoP Architects have designed the towers, called the American Copper Buildings, by the city’s East River. The upper halves of both structures lean outward, creating a dynamic, musically-inspired interaction between the two which is emphasised by the bridge

Set on 70 oceanfront acres atop Bald Head Cliff on the southern coast of Maine, US, Cliff House Resort is undergoing a landmark transformation, and adding in a new 9,000sq ft (836sq m) spa concept, set to open this July. Created by Blu Spas, the seven-treatment-room spa will have an emphasis on the “wild and free” elements of coastal Maine, channeling the transformative interplay of water, stone, sky and sand.

Hotel and resort giant Starwood has agreed a deal to open a 125-room hotel and 220 St. Regis-branded residences in Serbia’s tallest mixed-use tower. The Kula Belgrade – a 550ft tall and twisting glass skyscraper designed by the Chicago office of architecture firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill Global – is scheduled to open in 2019, when it will form the centerpiece of a major new waterfront development in the capital

Conrad Hotels has made its debut in India with the opening of Conrad Pune, which features a 5,000sq ft (465sq m) Conrad Spa. Owned by Palm Grove Beach Hotels, a subsidiary of K. Raheja Construction Group, and managed by Hilton Worldwide, the 310-bedroom Conrad Pune features interior design by Hong Kong-based AB Concept. Expansive public spaces feature 40ft (12m) high ceilings, cascading water features, a collection of hand-picked artwork, bold

Destination Hotels is opening a 25,000sq ft (2,323sq m) indoor/outdoor spa sanctuary in June 2016 at its La Cantera Hill Country Resort, located on 550 acres just outside of San Antonio, Texas. Part of a multi-million-dollar transformation of the 498-guestroom resort, Loma de Vida Spa & Wellness will offer holistic, meditative and restorative treatments that blend indigenous Texas elements with European influences. Loma de Vida – or ‘Hill of Life’

Six Senses Zil Pasyon, located on the 652-acre Felicite Island in the Seychelles, is set to open in Q3 2016, and will incorporate into its design the small island’s dramatic granite boulders that fringe the shoreline. With 30 villas and 17 private residences, Six Senses Zil Pasyon will occupy just one-third of the picturesque island, with the rest of the island left in its natural state. The 7,000sq ft (650sq

Atmantan, a 65,000sq ft (6,039sq m), 106-room dedicated wellness resort near Pune, India, opened its doors this week, offering a results-oriented approach to wellness with eight signature retreats. The property is nestled in the Sahyradri mountains overlooking Mulshi Lake, and is managed by Thailand-based wellness specialist Destination Spa Management, whose directors cut their teeth as the former senior leadership of wellness destination Chiva-Som. Set amid 40 acres of garden and

Minor Hotel Group is adding two properties to its pipeline in United Arab Emirates, the Anantara Jebel Dhanna and the Avani Jebel Dhanna in Abu Dhabi, both of which are scheduled to open in 2018. Owned by Dhabi Contracting, the neighbouring properties are being developed along the under-developed coastal area of the Al Gharbia region in Abu Dhabi, with a royal palace bordering the new hotels. AECOM have been appointed

Architecture and development practice Swisatec have outlined plans for Africa’s “most environmentally friendly estate” – a car-free leisure village in Cape Town. Blue Rock Village will be a 40-hectare extension to an existing water ski resort, and has been envisioned as “a pioneer for an exciting new standard of living.” The project is worth an estimated R14bn (US$900m, €790.5m, £631m) and construction will begin in August this year. In addition

Spa, fitness and lifestyle consultancy WTS International (WTS) has debuted its latest venture, the newly-opened EOS Wellness facility in Kuala Lumpur's St Mary Residences. The project has been completed in conjunction with Eastern & Oriental Berhad (E&O), a Malaysian lifestyle property development group. E&O is introducing EOS Wellness as part of a broader strategy to nurture a wellness pillar to complement its core property development business. WTS was responsible for

The on-again off-again merger of Starwood Hotels & Resorts and Marriott International looks set to go ahead after shareholders of both companies voted en masse for the proposed deal. Marriott's cash-and-stock acquisition of Starwood, valued at US$12.41bn as of Thursday (7 April), will create the world’s largest hotel company. Holders of more than 97 per cent of Marriott shares and 95 per cent of Starwood shares voted in favour of

Bangkok-based interior designer Bill Bensley, UK hospitality designers G.A. Design and international architects Gensler are among the creators of the latest property opened by hotel brand St Regis: a luxury resort in Malaysia’s UNESCO-protected archipelago Langkawi. The St. Regis Langkawi Resort, which opens today (6 April), is the first new high-end resort in the 99-island chain in a decade. It is owned by Indonesia’s Rajawali Property Group. The concept of

A combination of Scandinavian design and “socially conscious hyperlocalism” has been used for an art-filled new hotel in New York, created by Anda Andrei Design and Danish studio Space Copenhagen. Located in New York’s artistic SoHo district, the hotel, called 11 Howard, is owned by art collector Aby Rosen and features works from prominent US artists including Jeff Koons and Dan Attoe. The design team gutted a “characterless” 1960s structure