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Telegraph
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Inside the Zurich grande dame hotel where the Lionesses will stay for Euro 2025
The UEFA Women's Euros will be held in Switzerland this year and England's champions are in for a treat as they defend their title. The Lionesses' den for the tournament will be the five-star grande dame of Zurich, the Dolder Grand. This turreted fairytale castle of a hotel, which opened in 1899 and has hosted iconic figures from Sophia Loren to Nelson Mandela, is all about luxury. The squad will find Lamborghinis and Bentleys in the car park rather than Fiats or Vauxhalls, while hallways are lined with valuable artworks. Guests will be wearing Hermès or Chanel and carrying the results of a day's shopping in Zurich's gilded streets. Two Norman Foster-designed wings made of steel and glass flank the hotel's belle époque old building, tastefully blending contemporary design with the likes of sweeping staircases and opulent chandeliers. All 175 rooms are large for Zurich and made for lounging. Most have south-facing balconies and offer views of the lake or forest, while even entry-level rooms have bathtubs. The players may well be hoping for a suite, as these come with their own saunas and whirlpool bathtubs, as well as butler service. This time, in short, England has stepped its hotel game up a gear. The four-star, more corporate Lensbury in Teddington was the Lionesses' base back in 2022, when England hosted the tournament. This certainly wasn't slumming it, but with off-season prices there starting at around £130 it isn't fair to compare it to the Dolder, whose comparative rate is £648. For the 2023 World Cup, business hotel brand the Crowne Plaza was chosen, in Terrigal, Australia. These clearly served as excellent bases, as the team reached the World Cup final in 2023 and beat Germany 2-1 in the Euros final in 2022. Perhaps it was these successes, and the subsequent surge in support, that has led to the decision to book a hotel befitting of this century's most successful England team. A group from the FA went to 23 different base-camp options before deciding the Dolder was the one. Manager Sarina Wiegman described finding the right 'home from home' as 'one of the most important elements for tournament football'. It's certainly a much more characterful choice than the utility-focused hotels often chosen as the accommodation for sports teams. And so, some 55 people, including players and staff, will be heading to the Dolder, deep in the forest on the Adlisberg mountain. Sitting high above Lake Zurich, many rooms have breathtaking views over the water towards the Glarner Alps, but as remote as this may sound, the players will only have a 20-minute drive to their training ground at Sportanlage Au. Plus, the squad can get into the city in around 10 minutes, if they have time for some sightseeing (I would suggest the Fifa Museum might be of interest). The hotel's gym and spa is the perfect place to recuperate after a tough game. Captain Leah Williamson and her teammates can choose between doing laps in the 25-metre indoor pool, or relaxing those muscles in the sauna or outdoor hot tub while enjoying views over the lake. Fellow guests may see them relaxing on one of the loungers on the terrace, or testing their mettle in the cold plunge pool. The hotel also offers forest bathing sessions and guided meditation (ideal for getting in the zone), as well as yoga, Pilates and even ballet lessons. If I can insist upon anything, though, it would be that the players treat themselves to a massage, which starts at £190 for 60 minutes. I came out feeling like I had just discovered what a massage should really feel like. The squad will be travelling with two chefs and a nutritionist, who will work with the hotel's catering team to create the breakfasts, lunches and dinners of champions. A pity not to be able to enjoy two-Michelin starred The Restaurant, while even the more casual Saltz may prove difficult to resist, with its hearty central European dishes such as Wiener schnitzel and potato gratin. Perhaps after the final. The choice of venue will also help meet UEFA's sustainability recommendations, which encourage squads to use low-emission transport rather than fly to the games. England's opening fixture against France on Saturday July 5 and the next one against the Netherlands on Wednesday July 9 will both be at Zurich's Stadion Letzigrund, while the last group stage match against Wales will be in neighbouring St Gallen, 50 miles away. The players could even use Switzerland's famously efficient train system if they make it to the final in Basel. The men's team failed on this count in 2024, when its choice of the beautiful but remote GolfResort Weimarer Land in central Germany meant they had to fly to many of their matches. The Dolder's manager described hosting the Lionesses as an 'honour' for the hotel, so they are sure to receive the warmest of welcomes and, as in the most recent World Cup, will have an area decorated in the colours of England. Let's hope the team does as well in this tournament as it did last time – if only to stay in the lap of luxury a little longer.
Straits Times
2 days ago
- General
- Straits Times
UK chooses statues and glass bridge design for Queen Elizabeth memorial
A digital illustration shows a new bridge design, inspired by Queen Elizabeth II's wedding tiara, by Foster + Partners led by British architect Lord Norman Foster, which has been selected as one of the winning entries for the national memorial in St James's Park in London, Britain, in this undated handout picture. Foster + Partners/Handout via REUTERS THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES A digital illustration shows a statue of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II on horseback, by Foster + Partners led by British architect Lord Norman Foster, which has been selected as one of the winning entries for the national memorial in St James's Park in London, Britain, in this undated handout picture. Foster + Partners/Handout via REUTERS THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES. A digital illustration shows a new bridge design, inspired by Queen Elizabeth II's wedding tiara, by Foster + Partners led by British architect Lord Norman Foster, which has been selected as one of the winning entries for the national memorial in St James's Park in London, Britain, in this undated handout picture. Foster + Partners/Handout via REUTERS A digital illustration shows a statue of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II on horseback, by Foster + Partners led by British architect Lord Norman Foster, which has been selected as one of the winning entries for the national memorial in St James's Park in London, Britain, in this undated handout picture. Foster + Partners/Handout via REUTERS A digital illustration shows a statue of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, by Foster + Partners led by British architect Lord Norman Foster, which has been selected as one of the winning entries for the national memorial in St James's Park in London, Britain, in this undated handout picture. Foster + Partners/Handout via REUTERS LONDON - A memorial to honour Queen Elizabeth in London's St James's Park will feature a statue of Britain's longest-reigning monarch on horseback, another of her arm-in-arm with her husband Prince Philip and a glass bridge, the project committee said. Elizabeth II died at her Scottish castle on September 8, 2022, after more than seven decades on the throne. She was 96. Her death provoked days of mourning and tributes from across the country and the world. St James's Park, which is located opposite Buckingham Palace, was chosen as the best site to pay tribute to her reign, and under the plan announced on Tuesday the park will be reshaped, with two new areas of gardens and two new gates. The committee chose the plans drawn up by Foster + Partners, a firm headed by Norman Foster, one of Britain's most influential architects, who is known for the Gherkin building in London's financial district and the Reichstag dome in Berlin. Foster, 90, knew Elizabeth personally after she appointed him to the Order of Merit for services to architecture in 1997, and he said his idea was to use the site to narrate her legacy and the extraordinary story of her life. The new glass bridge is inspired by the tiara she wore at her wedding while the two gates and two gardens reflect the way Elizabeth balanced tradition and modernity, public duty and private faith, and Britain and the Commonwealth, Foster said. "It's really creating something which is timeless, and reaches across all ages and interests and conveys the values of Her Majesty, which were a mixture of the formal informality," he told BBC Radio. The design will be finalised by April 2026 and the memorial could be completed one to two years after that, Foster said. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Forbes
2 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
London To Get Spectacular New Queen Elizabeth II Memorial
The UK capital is set to get a stunning new landmark to commemorate the life and reign of Queen Elizabeth II. To be created by Foster + Partners, whose winning design was unveiled this week, the new national memorial will be located in St. James's Park and visible from Buckingham Palace. Foster + Partners' design concept features figurative sculptures. Foster + Partners '[The] winning design concept celebrates Queen Elizabeth's life through a time of great change, balancing tradition and modernity, public duty and private faith, the United Kingdom and a global Commonwealth,' explained Foster + Partners. The memorial will see a section of St. James's Park relandscaped to incorporate two new gates and two new gardens, connected by a bridge and 'unifying pathway.' At its heart, the translucent bridge will feature a balustrade made of cast glass inspired by the late Queen's tiara. The Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Philip, is also incorporated into the gardens alongside a statue of the Queen, likely mounted on horseback overlooking The Mall—although the final designs will be decided by the sculptor. A new bridge, replacing the existing Blue Bridge, will feature a cast-glass balustrade that recalls Queen Elizabeth's wedding tiara. Foster + Partners Norman Foster, Founder and Executive Chairman of Foster + Partners, said: 'It is an honour and a privilege for our team to be awarded this project. Her Majesty loved history and tradition, so this is reflected in the inspiration of the original design of St James's Park by Sir John Nash. Some of his principles have survived, whilst others have been lost and will be restored, creating a family of gardens joined by gently meandering paths… 'We have discreetly stretched the boundaries of art and technology with a deliberately gentle intervention. Our design will have the minimum impact on the nature and biodiversity of the park and it will be phased to ensure that the precious route across it will never be closed. At the heart of our masterplan is a translucent bridge symbolic of Her Majesty as a unifying force, bringing together nations, countries, the Commonwealth, charities and the armed forces.' Artistic installations will celebrate the nation's diversity and create a place for coming together and quiet reflection. Foster + Partners St. James's Park is an historic and constitutionally significant part of London, long renowned as an area of tranquility and place for calm reflection amid the mayhem of the capital city. It also has a long association with Queen Elizabeth II, overlooked by Buckingham Palace, reflected in the designs with an area of the park adjacent to The Mall at Marlborough Gate and an area adjacent to Bird Cage Walk connected by the new bridge. The park will house figurative statues including one of the late Queen with Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Foster + Partners Although the final designs won't be announced until April 2026 to coincide with what would have been the late Queen's 100th birthday, the base designs are set and multi-faceted. They include separate statues of the Queen and the Queen with Prince Philip, gardens connected by meandering paths 'to create spaces for reflection and coming together', artistic installations celebrating Britain's diversity, two gates including a Prince Philip gate, and the main monument to the Queen herself. While the final designs are yet to be announced, the Queen was synonymous with horses so a traditional mounted statue is likely. Foster + Partners Don't book your tickets to London quite yet though. With the final designs set to be announced next year, there's as yet no set date for the memorial to be completed and no budget yet in place. Previous estimates have put the budget between £23 million and £46 million (around $32 million to $63 million) with no word on how it will be funded, though anti-monarchy group Republic have called for the Royal family to pay rather than the taxpayer.
The Guardian
4 days ago
- General
- The Guardian
‘Excessively wasteful and giving off Swarovski vibes': our critic on the ‘tiara bridge' for the late queen
Is a £46m glass tiara the right way to remember the UK's late queen? The Elizabeth II memorial selection committee certainly think so, in their choice of a glitzy glass bridge designed by Norman Foster for her permanent memorial in St James's Park, announced on Tuesday. As architects go, the 90-year-old Foster is perhaps the closest we have to a national treasure, so he might seem like a fitting choice – an establishment figure and safe pair of hands, who knew the queen personally. It could be an apt final project for the architect lord, although he shows no signs of slowing down. His personal connection might have clinched the deal. Lord Foster of Thames Bank, who quit his seat in the House of Lords in 2010 in order to retain his non-dom tax status, says he met the queen on both formal and informal occasions, and it was this dual acquaintance that informed his design. 'She was wonderfully formal when the occasion demanded,' he recalls, 'and warmly informal when she engaged with people and individuals.' His project attempts to 'combine the formal and the informal', riffing off a similar duality found in the landscape design of St James's Park, laid out by John Nash in the 1820s. In reaching for a suitably regal metaphor to embody the late monarch, Foster landed on her wedding tiara. He has accordingly conjured an ethereal vision of a bridge with a cast glass balustrade, shimmering above the lake. This translucent glass crossing, he says, will be 'symbolic of Her Majesty as a unifying force, bringing together nations, countries, the Commonwealth, charities and the armed forces'. So far, the images give off the vibes of a temporary Swarovski-sponsored installation, and it's hard to imagine how the Royal Parks' maintenance team will keep it looking quite so sparkly. The vision recalls Foster's 'blade of light' idea for the Millennium Bridge, which ended up being a good deal more chunky (and wobbly) than the dashing sketch promised. Foster might have done well to take a closer look at the history of the tiara in question. It was originally designed in 1919 for Queen Mary, Elizabeth's grandmother, a great lover of jewels, who had the headpiece made in the fashionable Russian kokoshnik style, using diamonds from an old necklace gifted to her by her mother-in-law, Queen Victoria. It was a model of recycling, which has been passed down the generations ever since – used by the Queen Mother, Elizabeth, Princess Anne, and most recently Princess Beatrice. Not so Foster's bridge. His project, which also includes a series of gardens, will see a perfectly good crossing needlessly destroyed. The existing Blue Bridge was built in 1957, to the designs of the Ministry of Works' youngest ever chief architect, Eric Bedford, who went on to design the startlingly futuristic Post Office Tower (now BT Tower) in Fitzrovia. As it happens, Bedford also played a key role in Queen Elizabeth II's coronation, designing a series of interlocking steel arches on the Mall, topped with lions and adorned with metalwork crowns and fan motifs, that were illuminated by night. In our age of rapid global heating, when the carbon emissions of construction are closely counted by the kilo and architects strive to reuse as much existing fabric as possible, this wasteful act of demolition seems like a strange way to memorialise anyone. In selecting blocks of solid cast glass for his new bridge, Foster has chosen one of the most carbon-intensive materials available, given the furnaces must be heated to over 1,000C. Memorialising more than just the queen, this costly tiara will be an apt bookend to an age of excessive consumption.
Scottish Sun
4 days ago
- Health
- Scottish Sun
Stunning English hospital with woodland gardens named one of the world's most beautiful buildings
HIDDEM GEM Stunning English hospital with woodland gardens named one of the world's most beautiful buildings Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) A STUNNING cancer centre has been named as one of the most beautiful buildings in the world and it is right here in the UK. Maggie's in Yorkshire is no ordinary hospital building - in fact, back in 2022 it won the RIBA Yorkshire Award and the RIBA Yorkshire Building of the Year Award. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 5 A stunning cancer centre has been named as one of the most beautiful buildings in the world and it is right here in the UK Credit: Hufton and Crow 5 Maggie's in Yorkshire is no ordinary hospital building - it is set in greenery and features light and bright interiors Credit: Hufton and Crow Commended for it's design, Maggie's is located in the middle of St James' University Hospital campus in Leeds and opened back in 2020. And now it has also just been named as the 19th most beautiful building in the world by Time Out (and the only one in the UK to make the list). Maggie's is a charity for cancer patients and the centre in Yorkshire was designed by Thomas Heatherwick, who is known for also designing the London 2012 Olympic cauldron and the revamp of Coal Drop's Yard in King's Cross, London. Time Out commented: "Hospitals tend to be uncomfortable places characterised by too-bright strip lighting and unnervingly squeaky surfaces, but not at this Maggie's Centre. "The charity has striven to build personal environments to support cancer sufferers and their families, and this space is comforting and stunning." The exterior of the building is made up of whitewashed timber and dark bronze elements, surrounded by greenery and shrubs. Unlike the clinical greys and whites of usual hospital buildings, Maggie's feels much warmer with pale wood colours throughout. As with all Maggie's Centres, the kitchen is in the middle of the building for both staff and patients along with family members can sit. The RIBA Journal remarked the building as: "Homely and peaceful, it is a building with real heart and soul." The building was the 26th Maggie's centre to open, but it isn't the only centre that is beautiful in design. UK train station right by the beach named one of the world's most beautiful Other centres have also been designed by notable architects include Norman Foster - the creator of London's iconic Gherkin - and Ab Rogers - known for designing the Wonderlab n London's Science Museum. According to Maggie's, every centre focuses on 'healing architecture' because "great design and architecture can help the people who come to us for support feel better – and help us to give the best possible cancer support". Each centre is unique and designed to be "a home from home [...] that feel[s] nothing like a hospital". The idea to create centre that are unique and homely came from the charity's co-founder Maggie, who understood that environment and design can have a positive impact on someone dealing with cancer. 5 And now it has also just been named as the 19th most beautiful building in the UK by Time Out Credit: Hufton and Crow 5 Gardens are equally as important as the design of the centres Credit: Hufton and Crow The charity's website states that "Maggie talked about the need for 'thoughtful lighting, a view out to trees, birds and sky' and the opportunity 'to relax and talk away from home cares'". And those ideas have influenced each and every Maggie's centre. Gardens are equally as important as the design of the centres. Maggie's works closely with designers to ensure there is a connection between the outside and inside space. Time Out's 24 most beautiful buildings in the world Taj Mahal, India Hallgrímskirkja, Iceland The Pyramids of Giza, Egypt Fallingwater, USA Ad-Dayr in Petra, Jordan Fondation Louis Vuitton, France Trinity College Library, Ireland Great Mosque of Djenne, Mali Nasir Ol Molk Mosque, Iran The Twist, Norway Sagrada Familia, Spain Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban, Bangladesh Pantheon, Italy Palmenhaus at Schonbrunn Palace, Austria Bát Tràng Ceramic Community House, Vietnam Museum at Eldridge Street, USA Santuario de Las Lajas, Colombia Museum of Old and New Art, Australia Maggie's Centre, St James's Hospital, UK Baháʼí Temple of South America, Chile Futuna Chapel, New Zealand Komera Leadership Centre, Rwanda National Holocaust Monument, Canada Enryaku-ji, Japan Anyone can visit Maggie's Yorkshire and you don't need an appointment. However, it is worth noting that it is still an active cancer centre and therefore, it is important to remain respectful. Other buildings that featured on Time Out's list include popular tourist destinations such as the Taj Mahal in India and The Pyramids of Giza in Egypt. One of the UK's most beautiful landmarks also recently announced it will get a £191million upgrade. The Sun's Kara Godfrey has also stayed in one of the world's best hotels with chocolate rooms and helipads.
