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Revealed: Top stories on CLADglobal.com - first anniversary

By Liz Terry    06 Jan 2016
The Arup Skypool caught the imagination of CLAD readers / Ballymore

CLADglobal.com launched at the beginning of 2015 and as we celebrate our first anniversary, we thought you’d be interested to discover which stories have been the most popular on a month by month basis through our first year.

CLAD’s brief – to cover all aspects of leisure architecture, design, investment and development, from sport to spa, hospitality to museums and urban regeneration to health and fitness – have been mirrored in the range of stories which have caught your eye.

Our geographical reach has stretch around the world. In its first year, CLADglobal.com was visited by people from over 7,300 cities, in 217 countries and from all six continents and 23 sub continents.

CLADmag, the quarterly magazine from CLAD was also launched and you can read our back issues here:

Top stories January 2015 - January 2016

January - Herzog & de Meuron 'working on expansion' for Chelsea FC stadium

In January 2015 CLADglobal.com’s best read story concerned Herzog & de Meuron’s possible involvement with a redevelopment of Chelsea Football Club’s Stanford bridge ground in west London.

The story developed through 2015, with drawings for the new stadium being leaked in the summer and finally released officially in December.

February - Leisure dominates in ‘Designs of the year 2015’ shortlist

In February 2015 we reported on the shortlist for the Design of the Year awards, which had a high proportion of leading global leisure projects in every category.

Leisure projects which made the shortlist included Herzog & de Meuron’s Arena de Morro in north-east Brazil; Frank Gehry and Gehry Partners' Foundation Louis Vuitton in Paris; Atelier Deshaus' design for the Long Museum West Bund, in Shanghai; MVRDV’s Markthal in Rotterdam, the Netherlands; One Central Park in Sydney, designed by Ateliers Jean Nouvel and; Philharmonic Hall in Szczecin in Poland, by Barozzi/ Veiga.

Unfortunately for the field of leisure architecture, the final award – when it came in May – went to the UC Innovation Center in Santiago by Elemental, although the fabulous Philharmonic Hall in Szczecin went on to win the Mies van der Rohe Award 2015 in May.

March – Could BIG's Dryline be New York's next High Line?

In March, the Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) announced one of many new schemes for 2015 – the Dryline for New York City.

The new scheme will combine flood defences for lower Manhatten with leisure and greenspace to create a new amenity for the city and was a refinement of a previous scheme by BIG called the BIG U.

April – Leonardo DiCaprio unveils Belize eco-resort plans, designed by Jason McLennan

Our top story in April had a celebrity angle as actor Leonardo DiCaprio revealed plans to put his eco warrior credentials on the line through the development of a luxury resort in Belize.

The combination of star investor, exotic location and groundbreaking concept made this one of the biggest stories of the year.

May – Guy Holloway reveals architectural first with multi-level skate hub and sports facility

Guy Holloway caught CLAD reader’s imaginations with his innovative multi-level skate hub concept and highlighted the trend towards urban and adventure sports and the contribution they make to urban regeneration.

June – World’s first underwater nightclub redesigned by Poole Associates as “creative playground”

CLAD’s readers were drawn to this scheme, which saw an existing nightclub reimagined during an extensive reinvestment as an underwater playground.

The underwater theme drew large levels of reads from our interior design readership.

July – Wanda announces Richard Meier-designed luxury hotel and spa in Beverly Hills

Chinese property giant Wanda is continuing its aggressive international expansion across all areas of the leisure industry, with everything from theme park to hotel and resort development announced in 2015. This US scheme for Beverly Hills drew the most interest from CLAD readers.

Wanda plans to take on Disney in the theme park arena, and in resorts and hotels, is purchasing or building high end properties.

Founded in 1988, the Wanda Group owns 71 luxury hotels, mostly in China, with plans to open a Chicago hotel around the same time as the One Beverly Hills. The company also owns AMC Movie Theaters, as well as various operations in commercial property, theme parks, entertainment and tourism, department stores, and e-commerce. In 2014, its annual income reached US$38.8 billion.

August – Arup’s glass sky pool will be suspended ten storeys up

London continued to build its reputation for world-leading, innovative architecture with the announcement by developer Ballymore of the Sky Pool - a glass bottomed pool suspended 10 stories up and spanning two high end apartment blocks.

CLADmag to find out more interviewed Ballymore CEO Sean Mulryan, and in December, a similar scheme was proposed for Paris as part of an ideas competition

September – Zaha Hadid pulls out of Tokyo stadium competition citing inability to secure construction partner

The continued saga of the Tokyo Olympic Stadium reached one if its many climaxes in September as Zaha Hadid Associates announced it was pulling out of the race.

October - MVRDV completes striking Amsterdam tennis clubhouse

This exciting building

had all tennis players wishing their local clubhouse could be as stylish and the story beat many of CLAD's news scoops which featured far grander projects.

November – Old Oak - a cultural 'city within a city' that will change the face of London

In November, CLADglobal.com broke the news about the Old Oak scheme which will become a cultural city within a city, regenerating large swathes of urban decay with leisure and culture.

December – Santiago Calatrava's Museum of Tomorrow opens in Rio

Santiago Calatrava is known for his dramatic buildings and his eagerly awaited Museum of Tomorrow in Brazil was one of the most exciting openings of the year, being a hit with CLADglobal readers and our top story to round out our first year.

January – CLAD's top leisure buildings to look out for in 2016

As we head into 2016, we’ve done a roundup of some of the most exciting leisure buildings which will be opening this year and this story is already romping away in the rankings. If you have suggestions for additional openings to add to our list, we’d love to hear from you.

You can email [email protected]

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