The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has called on practices around the globe to submit their projects for consideration for its 2018 International Prize, which aims to celebrate the world’s best new building. The prestigious accolade is open to any registered architect in the world and is awarded to a building of any size, type or budget completed within the past two years. According to RIBA, “the winning building

US National Football League (NFL) franchise the Atlanta Falcons has released a new video showing the final stages of construction work on their US$1.5bn (€1.3bn, £1.1bn) stadium. The Mercedes-Benz Stadium, designed by sports architects HOK, is scheduled to officially open on 26 August for a Falcons preseason game against the Arizona Cardinals. The video, filmed in May, shows construction workers adding the finishing touches to the structure’s unique eight-petal plastic

Six Senses Hotels Resorts Spas has announced plans to open its first resort in Switzerland. Upon completion, the 47–bedroom Six Senses Crans-Montana will operate under a long-term management agreement with 1875 Finance. The resort located in the prominent ski areas of Valais, two hours from Geneva. Wellness offerings at the resort include a 22,000 square foot (2,000 square meter) spa specialising in alpine treatments, gym and fitness studio, pool and

London practice Twelve Architects have been granted unanimous approval by the local government of Russia’s fourth-largest city to “reinvent the retail mall” with a new 120,000sq m (1.3 million sq ft) leisure destination. The Cosmonavtov Mall will anchor the regeneration of Ekaterinburg's former industrial centre, which is being transformed with new commercial and retail buildings for the city's 1.5 million population. Twelve Architects’ scheme replaces the simple, single-entrance boxes that

The Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group has signed a management contract for a new signature hotel and branded residences being built in the mixed-use Melbourne tower designed by Zaha Hadid Architects. Mandarin Oriental, Melbourne will feature 196 guestrooms and suites “designed to reflect local culture, together with features inspired by the company’s heritage.” The group will also manage 148 residences, located on the tower’s upper floors. Leisure amenities will include an

Fairmont Hotels & Resorts has began work on a new spa resort at Sunset Bay on the southwest coast of Saint Lucia in the Lesser Antilles. The 120-bedroom Fairmont Saint Lucia – expected to open in late 2019 – will be spread across 25 acres and feature a 1,870ft private beach. As well as the 120 hotel rooms, there will be 40 private residential villas, all designed by architects WATG

The first design images have been released showing Tadao Ando’s plans to convert Paris’ historic Bourse de la Commerce building into a new contemporary art museum for the collection of billionaire businessman François Pinault. The Bourse, built in the 19th-century by architect François-Joseph Bélanger, is a circular structure topped with a high glass dome located close to the recently revamped Les Halles culture centre. Ando plans to install a 9m

After 15 months of renovation and an investment of €6m (US$6.8m, £5.3m), The Relais Bernard Loiseau in Saulieu, France has opened its 1,500sq m (16,146sq ft) four-storey wellness centre. Designed by the Claude Correia architecture agency, the facility includes a ground floor garden level with two ‘worlds’ designed to provide an intense and varied stimulation of the five senses. The ‘multisensorial zone' includes a phlebology area, effervescent beach, massage alcoves,

The Westin Los Cabos Resort & Spa on the Baja California Sur peninsula in Mexico has reopened following a radical redevelopment which has seen all 243 guest rooms being converted into 147 beach-facing “villas.” Designed by architect Javier Sordo Madaleno, the resort will now offer accommodation across a selection of studio and two-bedroom spaces – described as villas. As a result, the resort has been repositioned to accommodate extended stays,

Architecture and design firms Woods Bagot, Seventh Wave, UN Studio and Jouin Manku are designing an AUS$800m (US$612m, €538m, £472.5m) mixed-use tower complex in Melbourne. Australian development firm QICGRE is leading the 80 Collins scheme, and has pledged to create “a once-in-a-generation transformation that cements the position of Melbourne’s famed Collins Street as one of the world’s premier boulevards for luxury retail and commerce.” Scheduled for completion in 2020, the

Danish architecture studio Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects (SHL) have unveiled their “transformative design” for one of Scandinavia's largest retail destinations: the Fisketorvet - Copenhagen Mall. The firm have been appointed to update the 17-year old shopping centre into “a welcoming urban locality fitting for one of the world's most livable cities.” Their development plans include creating 15,000sq m (161,400sq ft) of space for retail, restaurants and leisure, as well as

Work has started on a new green public corridor in Tainan that will replace a derelict shopping mall with a man-made lagoon. The city’s mayor, William Lai, launched the ground breaking on the Tainan Axis, which has been designed by international architects MVRDV and local firms The Urbanist Collaborative and LLJ Architects. The development is centred around the abandoned China-Town Mall – described by the architects as “the rotten tooth

Music fans can now get a taste of what it would be like to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, with a new US$14m (€12.3m, £10.8m) visitor experience at the iconic Cleveland, Ohio, attraction set to launch on Saturday (1 July). The I.M Pei-designed Hall of Fame is currently undergoing a multi-year transformation led by BRC Imagination Arts. In addition to its new Power of Rock

Major League Soccer (MLS) franchise DC United has secured a US$25m (£19.3m, €22m) funding package to make its soon-to-be-built new stadium more energy efficient. The package has been agreed with the mayor of Washington DC Muriel Bowser and the Department of Energy and Environment (DOEE). Funding will go towards the installation of energy efficient equipment at the 20,000-capacity Audi Field venue, such as 884kw solar panels and stormwater retention system.

Toronto Zoo is about to open its CA$18m (US$13.6m, €12.1m, £10.7m) Wildlife Health Centre – a brand new high-tech zoo hospital and laboratory with visitor facilities for the public. The zoo held an official opening ceremony for the 50,000sq ft (4,645sq m) centre on 26 June, with the facility opening to the public on Saturday (1 July). Once open, visitors will be able to access a public viewing area, which

The largest building project undertaken by London’s Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) in over 100 years opens to the public on Friday (30 June). Architect Amanda Levete and her firm AL_A have designed the new V&A Exhibition Road Quarter – comprising of a courtyard, a vast underground exhibition gallery and a new entrance to the museum. The project has redeveloped 2,200sq m of underused space, providing the V&A with 6,400sq

David Beckham’s plans to launch a glamorous new Major League Soccer (MLS) franchise in Miami have taken a major step forward, with the county’s board of commissioners agreeing to sell a 2.8 acre plot of land he needs to build a stadium. Miami Beckham United (MBU), the consortium representing the footballing icon, has paid over US$9m (€7.9m, £7m) for the land in Miami’s Overtown neighbourhood and said it is “looking

Berlin-based architecture photographer Laurian Ghinitoiu has captured the first images of an elegant new Shanghai theatre designed by the studios of Thomas Heatherwick and Norman Foster with a kinetic moving facade. The flexible arts and cultural venue is the focal point of the Bund Finance Centre; a new 420,000sq m (4.5 million sq ft) mixed-use destination Foster+Partners and Heatherwick Studio have designed for the city. According to the design team,

The renowned paleoanthropologist Richard Leakey is developing a museum dedicated to the history of human evolution on the banks of Lake Turkana in the Kenyan desert. Polish-American architect Daniel Libeskind is developing the project design for Leakey, and told CLADglobal the museum will “present our entire history through a spatial experience and the exhibits inside.” Leakey is best known for discovering Turkana Boy, the most complete skeleton of an early

The United Nation’s global strategy on sustainable development will be put under the spotlight at a forthcoming London conference, which will see some of the world's best-known architects discuss the biggest issues facing the built environment. A programme of events and keynote speeches will take place around the British capital between 3 and 7 July for the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) International Week, with the theme for the

The Italian architect and ‘vertical forest’ pioneer Stefano Boeri has overseen the start of construction on his vast masterplan for Liuzhou Forest City in China; a metropolis where every building – from houses and hotels to restaurants and the railway station – will be entirely covered by plants and trees. The green city, designed to fight pollution through design, is the first of its kind in the country. It will

HOK’s sport and recreation division has been recognised for its sustainability credentials, being nominated for a Sports Humanitarian of the Year award. The Kansas-based architecture practice finds itself in the Corporate Community Impact Award category of the third edition of the ceremony, which is organised by sports broadcaster ESPN. Among the achievements it is being recognised for is its design of the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, which is the first-ever

Three of AECOM’s leading engineers have told CLADglobal how they used advanced in digital technology to complete this year’s Serpentine Pavilion in London. Director Jon Leach, associate director Amy Koerbel and principal engineer Michael Orr explained how virtual and augmented reality software allowed architect Diébédo Francis Kéré to virtually walk around his full-scale structure in the earliest stages of the design process, helping his team and AECOM to translate his

Architecture competition organiser Malcolm Reading Consultants (MRC) has launched the one-stage race to find a designer for a new concert centre in Kaunas. Practices from across the world have been invited to produce concept designs for “an emblematic new building of national and international significance”; the first of its kind in the Lithuanian city. The Kaunas M.K. Ciurlionis Concert Centre – named in honour of an influential 20th century Lithuanian

International architecture firm UNStudio have completed a diamond-patterned destination for shopping, strolling and socialising in Shanghai. Lane 189, located in the Putuo district of the Chinese city, has been designed to “rearrange the typical mall into a vertical city centre.” It is a seven-storey leisure complex, with a combination of retail, restaurant and office spaces and public realm. UNStudio have incorporated elements of what they describe as "old Shanghai" through

A consortium including British architects FaulknerBrowns has been appointed as the preferred developer to regenerate Queen’s Parade in Bangor, Northern Ireland. Investment manager Cubic3 is leading the group, called Angelvale, which includes a number of international entertainment and leisure investors and operators. FaulknerBrowns are the team’s masterplanners. Queen’s Parade is best known as a traditional seaside holiday destination, and is surrounded by vibrant Edwardian and Victorian buildings and a popular

A historic fine art museum in Nantes, France, will re-open to the public tomorrow (23 June) following a major transformation by British architecture practice Stanton Williams. The firm have designed several extensions to the Musée d'arts de Nantes’ original 19th Century ‘Palais’ building and 17th Century Oratory Chapel – creating an additional 4,000sq m (430,000sq ft) of space for artworks to be exhibited. The €48.8m (US$545m, £430m) project was conceived