Madrid city council (Ayuntamiento de Madrid) has set out plans to develop a number of sports facilities in the surrounding areas of the existing Wanda Metropolitano stadium. The "sports city" project, in the eastern San Blas-Canillejas district, is led by the council and is set to transform a site which was originally earmarked for an Olympic park during the city's failed bids for the 2016 and 2020 Olympic Games. Facilities

Austrian developer Josef Kleindienst’s US$5bn mega-resort project, The Heart of Europe, in Dubai is on track to complete phase one of construction, despite COVID-19. The Heart of Europe is claimed to feature the world’s first floating underwater spa as well as 15 unique hotels and resorts spread across six islands designed to showcase European culture, heritage and lifestyle experiences through architecture, events and new technology, such as the world’s first

The Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) has named the Springdale Library and Komagata Maru Park – designed by RDH Architects (RDHA) – among the winners of its bi-annual Governor General’s Medals. The biennial awards recognise and celebrate excellence in recently built and designed projects by Canadian architects. First opened in 2019, the 26,000sq ft Springdale Library, contemplative garden, neighbourhood park and splash pad was created for the City of

Plans have been revealed to redevelop the Van Donge & De Roo Stadium in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, into a mixed-use complex dominated by four towers rising from the stands. Designed by architects Moederscheim Moonen, the proposals include expanding the capacity at the stadium from 4,300 to 6,500 to seats, while creating a number of other services – from housing and retail to offices and leisure. The Van Donge & De

Architecture practice Johannes Torpe Studios has unveiled the first glimpses of the Buda Resort; a luxury spa resort located in the Visegrad Hills of Hungary and inspired by the spiritual symbolism of its setting. Situated 50km north of Budapest in a hilly landscape surrounded by forests and the Danube River; the vision for the 210-room resort is to offer a holistic retreat which fosters a greater sense of unity between

A project involving hand-crafted islands on the Danish capital Copenhagen's waterfront is set to create a completely new genre of public parks. Described as a "parkipelago", the Copenhagen Islands project will involve a number of islands being distributed to suitable locations around the city's inner harbour, with the aim of providing people moveable, floating, public spaces which will be free to explore and conquer. During summer, the islands will be

The historic San Siro football stadium in Milan could be demolished to make way for a brand new stadium, following a decision by Italian heritage authorities. According to the Superintendency of Cultural Heritage of Lombardy (SCHL), San Siro has "no cultural interest" and there is no heritage-based objection for it to be razed to the ground. The venue is the home for Milan's two Serie A giants – Internazionale and

Tech giant, Apple, has received approval from City of Austin planners in Texas, for a six-storey, 192-bed, 76,000sq ft hotel, as part of a new US$1bn campus being built to the north-west of the city. The original outline plans for the development, submitted in December 2018, did not include a hotel and it's thought the facility has been added to COVID-proof Apple exec's travel exposure. The development started on site

Having seen COVID-19 disrupt the very functioning of cities worldwide, what would we do differently if we built new cities from scratch? This is the topic of a webinar conference in The Big Rethink series from NewCities, happening today (26 May 2020), at 12.00noon EDT. Speakers include Greg Clark, global head of future cities and new industries at HSBC; Satish Kamat, president of Sri City near Chennai, India; and Carlo

London’s Westminster City Council has approved developer Reef Group’s plans to invest over £150m (US$185.3m, €171.4m) in Cavendish Square, transforming the space into a subterranean mixed-use destination, with a focus on healthcare and wellbeing. Claimed to be London’s first subterranean health and wellbeing destination, the 280,000sq ft (26,000sq m) destination will deliver specialist facilities for London’s private healthcare sector. Currently an underground park, the existing structure will be reused and

The world’s first energy-positive hotel, called Svart, is due to open early in 2022. Designed by Snøhetta, the circular 99-room hotel will be situated on the Holandsfjorden fjord at the foot of the Svartisen glacier in Norway, raised up above the fjord on a wooden support structure. Developed by Miris, the hotel is located north of the Arctic Circle and is expected to use around 85 per cent less energy

Swiss luxury watchmaker Audemars Piguet will open a museum celebrating the company history next month (June 2020). Located next to the company HQ in the village of Le Brassus in the Vallée de Joux in Switzerland, the museum has been designed by Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) and will immerse visitors in the manufacturer’s "cultural universe past, present and future". BIG won an architectural competition to design the Musée Atelier Audemars

Hirsch Bedner Associates (HBA) are one of the foremost names in hotel and hospitality design, but as partner David T'Kint told CLAD's Stu Robarts, the COVID-19 pandemic has forced them to reassess what the future of design looks like. T'Kint moved to Dubai with his family in 2014 to develop HBA's small office there into a fully-fledged design office.  With 50 designers and five of the 10 HBA brands now

Architect Bill Bensley has announced plans for a luxury sustainable 'human zoo' hotel and spa project. Bensley’s concept will involve guests staying like caged animals within a luxury hotel and looking out onto an expansive wildlife sanctuary park full of rescued endangered animals. Bensley design studio’s vast 2084-key project named World Wild is comprised of seven hotels spread throughout Asia, Africa and Australia covering a total 654,867sq m. The concept's

Andrew Frontini, principal and design director of Perkins and Will in Toronto, and his colleague Paul Kulig, principal for urban design and transit, told CLAD how the Covid-19 pandemic will change how we live and move around cities. There has been a significant trend towards designing health and wellness into the built environment over the last decade, perhaps best illustrated by the launch of the International WELL Building Institute and

Italian architecture studio Studio Apostoli is designing a luxury wellness centre in a restored twentieth-century Milanese palazzo, scheduled to open in 2021. The three-layer 1,000sq m facility will part of a boutique-hotel complex at the five-star Palazzo Bernasconi hotel, a project developed and owned by Italian hotel group Cipriani, and shall be named ‘Palazzo del Sarto’. Architect Alberto Apostoli has been commissioned by the client to develop the interior design

The International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) is one of the foremost bodies when it comes to recognising how effectively the places we live ensure our health and wellbeing. CLAD spoke to president Rachel Gutter about how this priority has taken centre stage. IWBI was set up in 2014 with the aim of doing for people what LEED had done for sustainability, via its WELL Building Standard – the human-centric, wellness

Ekies All Senses Resort, Halkidiki, Greece, has undergone a redesign and expansion project inspired by an ascetic vibe and its proximity to Mount Athos – home to 20 monasteries under the direct jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople. Resort owner, Alexandra Efstathiadou, worked in collaboration with Athens-based Agarch + Architects and Fytron Landscape Design, to create ten brand new suites and renovate five existing rooms. The team drew on

A luxury spa which overlooks an archaeological excavation spanning 13 civilizations, has recently been unveiled at The Museum Hotel Antakya, Turkey. Turkish design firm Emre Arolat Architecture led the multi-layered project’s design which centres around rare mosaics and is stacked with contemporary steel frames supporting sheltering rooms linked by walkways and glass-panelled bridges. The hotel’s decor has been completed with copper accents, warm wooden floors and views onto the surrounding

Plans have been revealed for a five-star Maldivian spa island designed by Yuji Yamazaki – the architect behind the world’s first underwater villa. The development is scheduled to open in September 2020. Located in the Maldives’ North Male Atoll, Kagi Maldives Spa Island will feature Baani Spa Wellness Centre, a 1,500sq m purpose-built spa designed to provide personalised outcome-focused wellness experiences which help guests ‘release, restore and regain’. The spa

After seven years and a £300m investment, super-boutique hotel, The Londoner, is taking shape in the heart of the UK’s capital city. Originally scheduled for June 2020, the opening has been shifted to late 2020 due to disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Located in Leicester Square, the 16-storey hotel will cover 32,000sq m and feature an urban spa, 350 guest rooms including 35 suites and a tower penthouse, each

Cox Architecture 's Sydney Coliseum Theatre combines a flowing form with a restrained palette of materials to create a beautiful and dramatic new cultural hub. Located in the Rooty Hill area of Western Sydney, the design for the facility was based on the concept of transcendence, with the aim of creating a journey from the outside world into the "the magic of performance". The 8000sq m (86,000sq ft) multi-mode venue

Since being established in 2003, COOKFOX Architects have gained a reputation for being proponents of architecture at the intersection of sustainability and wellness, which co-founder Rick Cook says is more pressing now than ever. "Our current studio is LEED Platinum, but it's also the first WELL Gold certified project in New York," he explained to CLAD in an interview by way of example. "Which has much more of a focus

HNNA have unveiled designs for the London Design District, which was conceived by developer Knight Dragon to be a purpose-built neighbourhood for the creative industries. The vision for the Design District is to provide "a permanent hub for makers and thinkers driving forward the fields of design, art, tech, food, fashion, craft and music." Covering a 1ha (2.5ac) plot on Greenwich Peninsula, the masterplan comprises a cluster of 16 new

Merlin Entertainments has announced that its upcoming Legoland resort in New York, US, will now open in 2021. The delayed opening of the theme park and hotel, which was originally set for a 4 July opening, is a response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. "Nothing is more important to us than the health, safety and security of our team, the partners we work with, and the communities we serve," said

Expo 2020 Dubai has announced that it will likely be postponed by a year as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak. Representatives of the event have been working in consultation with key UAE and international stakeholders, as well as the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE), the governing body for World Expos, to ascertain the impact of the coronavirus and determine whether or not to go ahead as planned. A proposal

WGNB recently completed a clothes store interior in South Korea that was modelled on an art gallery, displaying products as artworks in themselves. The renovation of Boon the Shop in Centum City's Shinsegae department store was based on the recognition that fashion is, in itself, an artform of sorts and so asked the question: "Can a clothing store be a gallery?" Baek Jonghwan, chief designer of WGNB, explained: "For some