Creating a model for rendering does have its own set of rules. To get you up and rendering as quickly as possible, here are SketchUp's top five tips for prepping your SketchUp model for rendering.

Creating a building that is adaptable, interactive, and accessible for everybody, Cosmos Architecture, an international architecture practice based in Milan, Madrid, and Shanghai, imagined the new congress center of Banja Luka, in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The project, an iconic lighthouse represents innovative architecture paradigms and urban identity, generating narratives within the city scheme.

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Focusing on research, education, and public engagement, the Trust for Governors Island unveiled plans to develop a climate solutions center, designed by WXY Architecture + Urban Design. Inspired by the unique environment of the island, the project will generate a public living laboratory, cementing NYC’s position as a leader in climate change action.

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Dutch landscape architecture and design firm West 8 has unveiled the first phase of Houston's first ever Botanic Garden in Texas. Designed to be a "museum of plants", the project features evolving collections to inform scientists, tourists and horticulturalists alike. Conceived over twenty years ago by locals, the project has been developed on an island in the city’s expansive Bayou system.

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Photographer Iwan Baan captured the construction process of the social housing Las Américas in León, imagined by the New York-based office, SO-IL who collaborated with the Municipal Housing Institute of León (IMUVI) in the design of the development.

Throughout the south of the United States, hundreds of mid-century “equalization schools”—public schools built in the 1950s following Brown vs. Board of Education in a desperate effort to maintain segregated “separate but equal” schools in southern states—sit empty, abandoned, and crumbling.

Set to be one of the tallest towers in Auckland at 178.65 meters, The Pacifica will complement the existing skyline of Auckland’s central business district. Designed by Plus Architecture, the tower “allows for a deep connection and interaction at every level”, and highlights a significant shift in Auckland’s housing approach.

The results of the International Competition for the Architectural Landscape Design Concept for the Tuchkov Buyan Park were just revealed. The proposal by Studio 44 in consortium with WEST 8 won the first place, JV Vogt in consortium with Herzog & de Meuron won the second place while AB CHVOYA in consortium with KARAVAN landskapsarkitekter took the third position.

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The Museum of Design Atlanta (MODA) has launched the new virtual series Architecture & Urbanism for Justice to foster more equitable approaches to architecture and urbanism. These free courses are presented by the museum and intended for teen and adult designers, non-designers, activists and organizers. Participants will get the chance to learn about the Design Justice movement, discussing case studies and exploring resources to help respond to injustices within their own communities.

Inoltre, a new project by Unipol Group, aims to revive Milan's suburbs with art and beauty. Three suburban areas, belonging to the municipalities number 5, 8, and 9 of Milan, will be the focus of the project. Unipol will conduct research, host events and interventions to begin the rehabilitation, in a context which can typically be complex and of difficult management. The project will have an international scope, with coordination by the University of Pavia and interventions led by YAC. These will include the realization of 3 micro-architectural and tactical urbanism interventions, intended to bring authorial architecture where it is not usually seen; quality where there are economically-led decisions; and beauty where it is not usually searched for.

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Diversifying the materials of an interior space can greatly improve its depth and visual interest. At the same time, adding partitions or other delineations of internal space can help organize flow, circulation, and visibility. Polycarbonate, a type of lightweight, durable thermoplastic, is an excellent medium for both functions.

In its raw form, polycarbonate is completely transparent, transmitting light with nearly the same efficacy as glass. However, it is also lighter and stronger than glass and tougher than other similar plastics such as acrylic, polystyrene, ABS, or nylon, making it a good choice for designers seeking durable, impact and fire resistant materials that still transmit light. Like glass, it is a natural UV filter and can be colored or tinted for translucency, yet it is also prized for its flexibility, allowing it to be shaped into any size or shape. Finally, it is easily recyclable because it liquefies rather than burning, making it at least more environmentally friendly than other thermoset plastics. For example, recycled polycarbonate can be chemically reacted with phenol in a recycling plant to produce monomers that can be turned back into plastic.

Gensler has unveiled 545wyn, “the first Class-A office tower in Miami in over a decade”. In collaboration with office developer Sterling Bay and local development partner Joe Furst of Place Projects, the project introduces a new generation of office space, aiming to attract a new type of innovative, forward-focused tenants. In fact, Gensler Miami will be the building’s first tenant of the 10-story tower.

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Snøhetta was selected as the winner of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library Competition. Selected from three shortlisted proposals in the last step of the contest, including Studio Gang and Henning Larsen, the winning project “is informed by the President’s personal reflections on the landscape, his commitment to environmental stewardship, and the periods of quiet introspection and civic engagement that marked his life”.

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Dubai Design Week has announced the winning design for the 2020 Abwab Pavilion. This year’s commission has been awarded to Iraqi designer Hozan Zangana for his proposal Fata Morgana which features a series of seating components and seven pillars that symbolize each of the Emirates. The Design Week theme centers on redefining and reimagining the way we live and interact with public spaces under new realities.

BIM and 3D modeling are essential in today’s architecture field. What they aren’t, however, is static or prescriptive. The way BIM is integrated varies not just by firm, but even by individual project. The size of the building, structure of the project team, or even government mandates can dictate how a firm utilizes their BIM capabilities. Belgian firm Osar Architects found that Vectorworks is the best match for the way they run their office. Specifically, Vectorworks Architect is well-matched for the type and extent of modeling they do because it's flexible to fit the needs of each project.

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When things change, we change the way we live.

Questioning where we live, even in an era of telecommuting, Zoom education and mass transit avoidance, is a complicated, high-risk endeavor. Houses are unique. Whether we rent or own, for most people where we live consumes the greatest amount of money we make.

Successful landscaping is more than just an innate desire to always be in touch with nature. Designing the landscape of public spaces, gardens, or even indoors is an ever-growing concern due to how the arrangement of elements in space can impact not only spatial but also psychological perceptions, contributing to improved comfort and quality for visitors.

Salon has created a new type of campus building, bringing together education and industry. Located between two buildings of the Yıldız Technical University in Istanbul, the textile academy and a teaching block, Ecotone includes learning, flexible co-working, and meeting spaces.

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Global design practice Skidmore, Owings & Merrill have created a modular pop-up classroom in response to COVID-19. Called School/House, it was inspired by its traditional single-room namesake and responds to the key challenges of density, air circulation, and flexibility in schools. The rapidly deployable classroom system addresses social distancing, health, and safety during the pandemic while also provides learning space during renovations or rapid growth.

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This article was originally published on Common Edge as "The Mental Disorders that Gave Us Modern Architecture".

How did modern architecture happen? How did we evolve so quickly from architecture that had ornament and detail, to buildings that were often blank and devoid of detail? Why did the look and feel of buildings shift so dramatically in the early 20th century? History holds that modernism was the idealistic impulse that emerged out of the physical, moral and spiritual wreckage of the First World War. While there were other factors at work as well, this explanation, though undoubtedly true, tells an incomplete picture.