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Global wellbeing organisation, Therme Group, has confirmed its 28-acre wellbeing project in the UK is on track to begin construction. Set to open in 2023, the £250m (US$308.6m, €274.4m) waterpark and spa project will combine hundreds of water-based activities with wellbeing treatments, art, nature and technology to create a unique destination. Therme Manchester will feature a dedicated adults’ area with warm-water lagoons hidden among botanical gardens, therapeutic mineral pools, swim-up [more...]

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 [more...]

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 [more...]

Espa has announced three new changes to enhance its commitment to being a natural and environmentally-friendly skincare brand. First, Espa has released details of the steps it has taken to increase sustainability throughout its packaging and operations. The company has removed excess plastic from its packaging, tubes are now made from post-consumer resin plastic material and product caps, cardboard boxing, paper wrap packaging and glass components are 100 per cent [more...]

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 [more...]

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 [more...]

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 [more...]

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 [more...]

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 [more...]

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 [more...]

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 [more...]

British designer, Tom Dixon, and Austrian architectural lighting specialists, Prolicht, have collaborated to unveil a new lighting range. Called CODE, the range was inspired by a common ambition to rethink track lighting. The product consists of an LED track system which combines Prolicht’s expertise in technical lighting engineering with the Tom Dixon design and aesthetic. CODE utilises bare LEDs on circuit boards that can be used to create thin strips, [more...]

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 [more...]

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 [more...]

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 [more...]

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 [more...]

Adidas believes that creators, just like athletes, need an environment that inspires their employees to perform and believe that through sport, we have the power to change lives. In August 2019, Adidas celebrated its 70th anniversary company and the opening of the new Arena building at the “World of Sports” complex in Herzogenaurach, Germany. Working in collaboration with the Adidas team, EXOS and architects, a brief was developed to create [more...]

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 [more...]

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 [more...]