A new hotel complex will be built at the "Republic Square" subway station in Yerevan. The construction is planned for 2011-2014. The government allowed Yerevan city mayor to provide an area of 5850 square meters for new hotel construction site. According to a data provided by the city hall, the hotel will contain conference room, sports and game rooms, beauty salon, restaurant and a cafe. Responsible authorities announced that the hotel will be built based on a number of existing features of the historic city center, which will ensure the integrity of the neighborhood. Hotel will be developed by "Tashir Group" with which the city administration has already signed an agreement. The proposal to build this hotel was made last year, but official discussion started on July 21 at the Yerevan Urban Council meeting. As a result of voting, at a ratio of 24 "for" and 3 "abstained"Counsil approved new hotel development project. It should be noted, that many architects are protesting the project, as they believe that by doing so the city is losing its architectural and historical heritage. But let's don't make premature conclusions and try to see the positive aspects of this project. Such projects are very much important for Armenian investment-hungry economy, they create new jobs, and finally, create new earthquake-resistant buildings. Recall that almost all old historic center buildings of Yerevan must sooner or later be reconstructed because of their poor earthquake resistance. Of course, it's strategically much more correct that the future development of Yerevan and especially its center to be done without further increasing the density of the building and plan new developments on the sites of an old and the most earthquake-dangerous buildings, and as a result gradually gain more and more earthquake-secure capital.

As reported by worldconstructionnetwork.com, construction work is set to begin on a US$ 500 million semi-submerged resort named Amphibious 1000, on the Qatar coast. Designed by Italy-based company Giancarlo Zema Design Group, the resort will be situated in the centre of a marine reserve and will extend for one kilometre in a horizontal position. Divided into two sections of land and sea, the project includes residential buildings, offices, a central marine park, floating walkways and underwater marina galleries that all form a semi circle around the central tower, which hosts a panoramic restaurant. Sea part will house 4 giant hotels comprising underwater rooms replicating the look of super-yachts. The resort's land portion will be equipped with a museum, exhibitions and aquariums. Other features of the facility include floating walkways as well as a restaurant allowing glimpses of the surrounding landscape. The facility will also incorporate 80 self-contained floating suites known as Jellyfish. Every suite will encompass four stories while featuring an underwater aquarium lounge. The hotels will surround a central public welcome area comprising an interactive museum on water life, water exhibition galleries as well as a glass tunnel leading to the underwater observatory in the marine park's centre. The welcome area is linked via long arm-like structures to fitness centres, gardens and a special outdoor theatre adorned with a moving stage which opens out to the sea. The transportation of guests across the resort will be facilitated by hydrogen-powered aluminium yachts called Trilobis measuring 20 metres. The vessels will sport a steel hull complemented by a superstructure in aluminium and will possess underwater observatory zones.

Barcelona, one of the most beautiful cities in the world where lived and worked a great Catalonian architect Gaudi, won another prize for building's architecture. Prestigious architectural award Emporis Skyscraper Award 2010 won the Hotel Porta Fira in Barcelona. The building is a creative concept of two architecture companies, the Japanese Toyo Ito & Associates and b720 Fermin Vazquez Arquitectos, conceptualised the surreal structure. The second award went to the highest building in the world Burj Khalifa in Dubai and the third presented to the Tower Tour CMA CGM in the south of France, in Marseille. The jury, which includes experts from around the world, valued the building's aesthetics and integration into its urban environment over humankind's fascination with building the tallest structure. The winner was chosen from over 300 competing skyscrapers around the world. A committee annually presents this award to an exceptional building at least 100 meters tall completed within the award year. Five star Porta Fira Hotel contorts to a height of 113 meters, with 26 floors, on the outskirts of Barcelona in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat. The facade of red aluminium tubes form continuous lines enclosing the complex geometry of the building, which twists and increases in size as it rises. By results of another 2010 award conducted by the CTBUH (Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat) the first prize for 2010 best skyscraper was awarded to Broadcasting Place, Leeds, or as it is called "Rusty High rise", and the Dubai's giant Burj Khalifa won another prize from the CTBUH-2010 Global Icon Award.

The Scandinavia's largest hotel opened recently in Copenhagen, Denmark. It symbolizes not only the identity of the modern Orested area of Copenhagen, but also marks the Capital's increasing importance on the international convention and congress scene. Its location also ensures direct access to the international conference and exhibition venue, Bella Center, Copenhagen Airport and the historical Copenhagen city center. Project's customer is Bella Center, and 3XN architectural company has designed The Bella Sky Hotel. Ramboll Cosnculting engineering Group participated in the project as consulting engineer on structures, sewers and earthworks and the senior project manager is Kaare K.B. Dahl. "One of our biggest challenges was to grasp and handle the very complex geometry and to do this TEKLA has proved invaluable" Kaare K.B. Dahl explains. All calculations and drawings used by Ramboll on the project were extracted from a 3D model. The calculation program ROBOT worked together with the design program TEKLA. This 3D structural building information modeling (BIM) system provides you with the ability to create all types of complex structures. The combination of these two programs made it possible to calculate things such as: How will the earth deform when the building settles? How far will the top of the building move sideways in the present conditions? Every detail was entered into the model which incorporated all changes into the 2D drawings generated directly from the 3D model. The Bella Sky Hotel Consists of two towers. The two towers lean 15 degrees to each side. Two towers leaning in opposite directions at an almost four times that of the leaning tower of Pisa. The geometrical dare continues as the top nine floors of tower one and the bottom nine floors of tower two both twist an additional 19 degrees horizontally. They are 76.5 meters tall with a total of 814 rooms and a building area of 44,173 thousand square meters. Accommodating 814 rooms, 32 conference rooms, 3 restaurants, lounge, a sky bar and a 850 square meter wellness centre the hotel will meet the wishes of a much needed extension to the Bella Centre Conference facilities and prepare Copenhagen to host large international events in the future. Kim Herforth Nielsen, Principal and Founder of 3XN said "Most international convention hotels have a formal and impersonal style. We wanted to address this by doing the opposite. We designed the interior of Bella Sky in a style reminiscent of a tasteful Scandinavian home with warmth, light and connection to nature."

Fashion TV signs agreement with the Al Habtoor Group to build in Dubai the world's first Fashion Hotel. Fashion TV, this week at the Cannes Film Festival, announced plans, in collaboration with the Al Habtoor Group, to launch the world's first ever Fashion Hotel, in Dubai. The hotel, to be located in the heart of Dubai, will be owned and operated by the Al Habtoor Group. No specific details on location or opening dates were given. It will be 30-storey high and the exterior will display a projection using a 100 meter LED screen, broadcasting the latest Fashion TV highlights, around the clock. Its 200 rooms will be equipped with the latest lighting and audio-video technologies and will make extensive use of the latest 3D equipment. They will also have access to Fashion TV's 30 channels, as well as the biggest Fashion DVD library in the world, offering 50,000 DVDs on the history of fashion. The hotel will also have a wide variety of restaurants, bars, lounges, nightclubs, spas and cinemas, as well as fashion-themed rooms. Mohammed Al Habtoor said, "It's an exceptional project and one which is likely to have a massive impact on Dubai, making it the future fashion capital of the world. The city will certainly never be the same again." This won't be the only Fashion Hotel. Al Habtoor Group and Fashion TV said in an interview that plans are to open other Fashion Hotels in high-style locations around the world. We have our bets on Paris, Shanghai, New York, and Milan. The Al Habtoor Group has grown with the UAE, and while best known for construction, it is globally recognised through its involvement in the hotel, automotive, real estate, education, insurance and publishing sectors. It constructed Dubai International Airport, Dubai Hospital. Al Habtoor Group also built 321 meter high 7 star hotel Burj Al Arab and 600 room, 26 storey high Jumeirah Beach hotel.