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.

Tadao Ando Architect & Associates revealed the design for He Art Museum (HEM), the first art museum dedicated to southern China’s regional Lingnan culture. Scheduled for opening on the 21^st of March 2020, with an inaugural exhibition curated by Feng Boyi, entitled From The Mundane World, the Tadao Ando-designed museum will become a gateway for the arts.

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Indoor gardens can contribute important benefits to home living, ranging from aesthetic beauty to improved health and productivity. Research has shown that indoor plants help eliminate indoor air pollutants called Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) that emanate from adhesives, furnishings, clothing, and solvents, and are known to cause illnesses. They also increase subjective perceptions of concentration and satisfaction, as well as objective measures of productivity. Indoor gardens may even reduce energy use and costs because of the reduced need for air circulation. These benefits complement the obvious aesthetic advantages of a well-designed garden, making the indoor garden an attractive residential feature on several fronts.

Bjarke Ingels is one of the most well-known architects of our time. During a conversation in Copenhagen between Ingels and Sky-Frame, he discussed his point of view, creating reality, immense courage and the secret behind his unwavering pragmatism.

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The Wikimedia Foundation selected multidisciplinary firm Snøhetta to develop the new brand identity for Wikipedia, its free open platform. Aiming to create visuals that push forward Wikimedia’s international commitment to “setting knowledge free”, the process will be entirely documented.

Stoss Landscape Urbanism is leading a 13-firm team creating the new Chouteau Greenway Framework Plan for St. Louis. The framework plan consists of a series of geographic, equity, economic, architectural, programming, art and design guidelines that will serve as the master plan for projects. As winners of the competition, the team is exploring how to incorporate connection, inclusion, and joy along the Greenway.

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Alexey Kozhenkov is a freelance photographer currently based in Russia, with a strong interest in urbanism, architecture and man-made structures. Kozhenkov was born in 1993 in Riga, Latvia and became a self-taught photographer after graduating from university.

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What happens when the sensor-imbued city acquires the ability to see – almost as if it had eyes? Ahead of the 2019 Shenzhen Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture (UABB), titled "Urban Interactions," ArchDaily is working with the curators of the "Eyes of the City" section at the Biennial to stimulate a discussion on how new technologies – and Artificial Intelligence in particular – might impact architecture and urban life. Here you can read the “Eyes of the City” curatorial statement by Carlo Ratti, the Politecnico di Torino and SCUT.

Technologies of the virtual realm present an opportunity to rethink the experience of space, society, and culture. They give us the possibility to engage with the city of the future, shaping the built environment of the 21st century. 

The principal architect of LA firm Morphosis, Thom Mayne (born January 19, 1944) was the recipient of the 2005 Pritzker Prize and the 2013 AIA Gold Medal, and is known for his experimental architectural forms, often applying them to significant institutional buildings such as the New York's Cooper Union building, the Emerson College in Los Angeles and the Caltrans District 7 Headquarters.

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Mies van der Rohe Foundation together with Side Gallery presented "No Fear of Glass", an artistic intervention in the Mies van der Rohe Pavilion in Barcelona, Spain, developed by designer Sabine Marcelis.

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Habitare Arquitectura e Ingeniería, in collaboration with Studio 17, were the winning Peruvian entry for the upcoming Expo Dubái 2020. The concept, to evoke the transition that the country has gone through during its history, fed by the many influences that give shape to its identity.

Check out what the exhibit's creators had to say below.

Amelia Tavella and Rudy Ricciotti have won the bid for the Henri Tomasi Conservatory of Music, Dance and Performing Arts. Selected by the city of Ajaccio, the designers proposed an integrated building into the Corsican slope.

Designed by CRA- Carlo Ratti Associati and MIC-Mobility in Chain, the proposed plan for the Swiss city Lugano creates a network of public spaces, that connects the town to the lake. The project puts in place a floating garden and a reconfigurable waterfront.

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The Future Architecture Platform has announced the final list of Fellows for 2020. With 433 ideas from 53 countries, over 800 applicants in individual and group applications participated. Fellows will be invited to the 2020 Creative Exchange in MAO Ljubljana, exchanging ideas and networking to find avenues toward international recognition.

Architects and designers are constantly looking to the latest design and façade trends to create attractive buildings for their clients. The challenge they face is delivering a creative look that meets building code compliance and testing standards. With high-rise buildings in particular, it is critical that the materials used for the building's construction perform effectively to prevent a disaster if a fire occurs.

The Midnight Charette is an explicit podcast about design, architecture, and the everyday. Hosted by architectural designers David Lee and Marina Bourderonnet, it features a variety of creative professionals in unscripted conversations that allow for thoughtful takes and personal discussions. A wide array of subjects are covered with honesty and humor: some episodes provide useful tips for designers, while others are project reviews, interviews, or explorations of everyday life and design. The Midnight Charette is also available on iTunes, Spotify, and YouTube.

This week David and Marina answer a call in from a listener asking if they should enroll in IPAL (NCARB’s Integrated Path To Architectural Licensure) in undergraduate school to become a licensed architect in the United States and if IPAL should be a factor when choosing their school. The two also discuss the pros and cons of becoming a licensed architect during school.

Architecture practice TERROIR has designed a new visitor center for Victoria’s Puffing Billy Railway in Australia. The $20 million project is sited within the Dandenong Ranges, 40 kilometres east of Melbourne. TERROIR were shortlisted from an open tender as one of five firms to compete in a design competition. The studio's strategy was to focus on creating a visitor experience anchored within the authentic sights, smells and sounds of the railway.

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The Nancy and Rich Kinder Building for modern and contemporary art, part of the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston is scheduled to open for the public on November 1^st 2020. The intervention was conceived for the “display of the important and rapidly growing MFAH collections of 20th- and 21st-century art”.

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For its 2021 edition, the Venice Biennale appointed the chief curator of the High Line’s art program in New York, Cecilia Alemani as artistic director. Alemani will become the first Italian woman to organize the festival, running in Italy starting May of next year.

A facade must meet steep requirements as both the first skin that protects a building, its interiors, and its materials, and as the first thing a person sees. In addition to weather resistance and durability, its appearance is extremely vital for any architectural project. Prefabricated facade panels provide a clean, precise, and sophisticated finish to buildings and sport high versatility through different patterns and shapes.

Bjarke Ingels, founding partner of BIG, visited representatives of the Brazilian Federal Government this Tuesday. The meeting brought together a delegation from the Be-Nômade group, which plans to invest in sustainable tourism in Brazil, the Minister of Tourism, Marcelo Álvaro Antônio, and the President of the Republic, Jair Bolsonaro.

The globally acclaimed Design Indaba Conference and Festival, first established in 1995, is a multidisciplinary platform guided by the principle of “a Better World Through Creativity”. Running at the Artscape Theatre Centre in Cape Town from 26-28 February 2020, and via simulcast in Cape Town, Johannesburg, Durban and Potchefstroom, the acclaimed event celebrates 25 years of cultural invention.

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The Start-Up exhibition and conference center, the first building within Chengdu's Unicorn Island project, is nearing completion. Conceived by Zaha Hadid Architects, the 67-hectare mixed-use master plan will generate living and working environments for Chinese and international companies.

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