Google’s proposed £1bn London HQ at King’s Cross, designed by the studios of Bjarke Ingels and Thomas Heatherwick, looks set to be recommended for approval by the local council. According to Construction News, the tech giant’s proposal has convinced planning officers at Camden Council ahead of a formal committee decision next week. Leisure lies at the heart of the dramatic ‘landscraper’ proposal, revealed in June. It features a vast rooftop

Thunderous sound effects, dramatic strobe lighting and enormous and exuberant video projections are welcoming players to the field at the new stadium of Russian football club FC Krasnodar, which has installed a 4,700sq m media screen along the top tier of the bowl. International architects Gerkan, Marg & Partners (gmp) and Russian design firm Maxim Rymar Architectural Studio designed the 33,979 capacity ground, which is raised on a plinth slightly

An international design team led by US architects wHY have won the international competition to design the £25m Ross Pavilion and West Princes Street Gardens project in Edinburgh. The Ross Development Trust together with the City of Edinburgh Council are replacing a bandstand on the site, which has fallen into disrepair, with a new visitor centre, café and flexible platform for cultural programming. The surrounding landscape is also being improved.

Singapore-based Alila Hotels & Resorts will open its first North American resort property in California’s fabled Big Sur region in autumn 2017. Transformed from the Ventana Inn into 'Ventana Big Sur, an Alila Resort', the multi-million-dollar revitalisation is being led by San Francisco-based interiors firm BraytonHughes Design Studios and architecture firm Parks & Associates of Carmel, California. Included in the development will be 59 revamped guest rooms, suites and villas;

Milanese studio CTRLZAK Art & Design have created a restaurant in the trees for a secluded Greek beach resort. The Treehouse, which can cater for ten diners per evening, was built using local materials sustainably sourced from Greece's Halkidiki beach region. The flooring has been rendered from pine wooden planks and naturally rusted iron was used for the railings and supporting structure. The restaurant is cocooned by a Inox fabric

Marty Sklar – the legendary Disney Imagineer and IAAPA Hall of Famer who played a part in the creation of almost every Disney theme park – has died aged 83. A 54-year career in which he started out in 1955 as a writer of The Disneyland News for the then newly-opened Disneyland, Sklar went on to work closely with Walt Disney and was referred to as the “keeper of the

Northumberland’s long-awaited Landscape Discovery Centre and Youth Hostel at Hadrian’s Wall – known as “The Sill” – will open to the public this weekend (29 July) after more than three years of development for the British heritage attraction. Designed by Newcastle-based architects Jane Darbyshire and David Kendall (JDDK), the £14.8m (US$19.4m, €16.6m) project was given the go-ahead in October 2014, with the public opening to take place during National Parks’

The International Union of Architects (UIA) has awarded its top honour to the Japanese architect Toyo Ito in celebration of his lifetime achievements in the sector. The UIA Bureau meets every three years to decide the winners of its prestigious UIA Prizes, which were founded in 1961 to honour professionals “whose qualities, talents, and actions have had an international impact on the diverse sectors of architectural practice.” Ito was nominated

The International Garden Festival has begun in Quebec’s Redford Gardens, with six award-winning garden installations open to the public for the first time. The projects – which were chosen ahead of 156 rival submissions in a special competition to be included in the 18th edition of the festival – are displayed alongside a number of other commissioned gardens created by more than 70 architects and landscape designers from various disciplines.

Global tour operator Virgin Holidays has announced plans to build an airport departure lounge with a difference: it will be located on a beach in Barbados. From summer 2018, flyers leaving the Caribbean country will be able to be transferred straight from their hotel to The Departure Beach, located on Brownes Beach in Carlisle Bay, where they will drop off their luggage and receive their boarding pass. Until it is

There is a “danger” that architects are being swayed to work on signature buildings at the expense of the coherent development of cities, according to David Chipperfield. In an exclusive interview, published in the new issue of CLADmag, the British architect said that, particularly in the UK, planning was “being overtaken by investment”. “In London I think there is planning permission for a further 200 towers right now, and more

A luxurious new home designed to emulate a stylish and intimate leisure resort has been completed in Nevada, overlooking the Las Vegas Valley. The custom-made property, designed by US practice SB Architects, is the first architectural "inspiration home” to be added to Ascaya – a new community of 313 luxury estate homesites being built in the McCullough mountain range, 1,000 ft (305m) above the valley floor, by billionaire Hong Kong

Danish architects Arcgency have designed an unorthodox multi-sensory spa and private retreat, located inside a former coal crane on Copenhagen’ harbourfront. Described by the studio as “an aesthetic oasis amidst an industrial landscape”, the project, called THEKRANE, is located on the edge of Nordhavn, one of the last harbours under renovation in the Danish capital. The multi-tiered structure comprises a reception area on the ground floor, a meeting room called

Cornwall’s iconic Eden Project is set to be replicated in China, Australia and New Zealand, with further developments being planned in the Middle East, North America and the UK. The British attraction has launched a new company to drive the establishment of Eden botanical parks around the world. Eden Project International Ltd (EPIL) is the new entity, formed to partner with like-minded organisations and conservation groups across the globe and

International spa and wellness consultancy and management company GOCO Hospitality is in the process of creating a GOCO Retreat across 750 acres (304 hectares) in the West Virginia countryside, not far from Washington DC. GOCO Retreat Dawson Lake will focus heavily on the area’s natural mineral springs, and will include both a 70-bedroom wellness hotel and 150 residences – all houses. Each of the 150 houses will be located on

The developer of a new branch of the Pompidou Centre art museum in the centre of Brussels, Belgium, has revealed the seven-strong shortlist of architects in contention to win the prestigious commission. Diller Scofidio + Renfro, OMA and 51N4E are among the studios who will now develop a project outline by 23 December 2017. An international panel, led by architect Roger Diener, will choose a winner in Q1 2018. The

An exclusive hotel anchoring a new sports and leisure district in Green Bay, Wisconsin, opened on Wednesday (19 July). Lodge Kohler is one component of Titletown, the 34 acre district being developed by US National Football League (NFL) franchise the Green Bay Packers. Designed by developer Kohler Co’s in-house design team, the hotel has 134 bedrooms, 10 suites and views of the Packers' 81,400-capacity Lambeau Field. It is also the

Victory Ranch, a private gated community in Utah, US, has announced plans to add a luxury wellness centre and boutique spa to its residential and guest offerings. Due to open later this year, the 20,000sq ft (1,900sq m) The Barn will feature a spa with two treatment rooms, hand and foot therapy area, private steamrooms, a boutique retail space and relaxation areas. Outdoor facilities include a 75ft swimming pool with

Seattle Aquarium has unveiled plans to expand its premises, with a new US$100 million (€858m, £770m) Ocean Pavilion coming to the US aquarium in 2023. Situated next to the existing aquarium building on Piers 59 and 60, preliminary designs by Seattle-based architecture firm LMN include a 350,000-gallon (1.6m litre) warm-water tank as the central focus of a 50,000 sq ft (4,645sq m) pavilion building. This tank, three times larger than

Hospitality group Alila has opened a second location in China, converting a historic sugar mill into a 117-bedroom “modern retro” resort in Guilin, overlooking the Li River. Designed by Dong Gong of Vector Architects with interiors by Ju Bin of Horizontal Space Design, the vision of the Alila Yangshuo resort is to integrate the new with the old, and the designers have incorporated elements of the 1960s sugar mill architecture

US architecture firm Gensler has designed a stadium for Major League Soccer (MLS) hopeful North Carolina Football Club – one of a number of football-specific projects the studio is working on. The football club has earmarked downtown Raleigh as the location for the stadium. The development will include a conference space, office, hospitality and retail space, housing and public parking. “This is an important step in our pursuit of a

Construction has begun on North America's largest ski village development: a vast new leisure community in the shadow of the Rocky Mountains. Over 200 stakeholders gathered at the base village of the Snowmass Ski Area near Aspen, Colorado, on Tuesday (18 July) to celebrate the start of work on the new mountain resort development – a US$600m (€520m, £463m) collaboration between Colorado-based hospitality operators East West Partners (EWP), Aspen Skiing

New York architects SO – IL and French firm Laisne Roussel have won an international design competition to integrate new buildings and public spaces into Paris’ historic but underused Place Mazas. Their flexible urban strategy, called ‘L’ Atelier de l’ Arsenal’, will retain the historic fabric of the 60,000sq ft (5,590sq m) site, located between Canal Saint Martin and the Seine River, while adding three new public squares and a

The Prosper Independent School District (IDS) just north of Dallas has unveiled plans for a US$48m (€41.5m, £37m) 12,000 capacity stadium and attached natatorium, set to open in 2019. According to the project's architect, Huckabee, the stadium will feature split level seating for the home-side; a two-storey press box; press, scouting and community rooms; and restaurant facilities. The turf is suitable for both competitive American football and soccer, with paved

Luxury hotel operator The Ritz-Carlton has opened a location in Astana, the capital city of Kazakhstan. Owned by Verny Capital Group, the 157-bedroom Ritz-Carlton Astana is located within the Talan Towers, designed by US architects Skidmore, Owings & Merrill as a natural extension of the square around the nearby Bayterek Tower – a monument and symbol of modern Astana. A wide range of wellness facilities, including a spa and 320sq

Architecture and urban designers Studio Gang have revealed a “transformational” concept for the future of Memphis’ waterfront, which would see new leisure amenities introduced across six miles and five distinct zones along the Mississippi river. A cultural pavilion, a live music stage, an adventure playground, several trails and an elevated walkway across the city’s native wetlands are all proposed for the site over the short, medium, and long-term. Investment ideas

A trio of leisure projects have made the shortlist for the prestigious 2017 Stirling Prize for the UK’s best new building, which was announced today (20 July). The British Museum World Conservation and Exhibitions Centre in London by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, Hastings Pier by dRMM Architects, and the Command of the Oceans museum in Kent by Baynes and Mitchell Architects are among the six projects in the running