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.

Chinese architect Mingfei Sun has designed an environmentally oriented urban hub for Masdar City, Abu Dhabi. Titled SURGE, its natural aesthetics and technological forwardness are intended to communicate a J.M.W. Turner-esque awe for the power of nature, making it an oasis of high aesthetic and ecological value.

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In New York, activists and professionals have been working for many years to try to save 10 decommissioned tanks, from demolition by putting forward alternative usage of these structures. Partnering with STUDIO V, an architectural firm and landscape architects Ken Smith Workshop, they came up with an inventive proposal that reimagines these industrial relics as a 21st-century park, a novelty in the traditional definition and configuration of public spaces.

Architecture students at Portland State University have created a new stage fro Pickathon Music Festival from apple harvesting bins in Happy Valley, Oregon. The temporary performance venue was designed and built from reused materials with collaborators Howard S. Wright, Catena Engineers, and Pickathon. Dubbed the Treeline Stage, the venue features seven towers of varying heights to evoke an orchard of trees.

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The Lisbon Architecture Triennale announced the long-awaited list of finalists for the third edition of the Début Prize, which aims to recognize offices and collectives whose artistic consolidation is still developing and whose thinking and approach are relevant to contemporary architectural scene.

Sasaki has released details of their Wuhu Urban Renewal project in China, spanning 67 hectares on the banks of the Yangtze River. The scheme centers on distinctive colonial buildings scattered throughout the city’s urban fabric, such as the Customs House, British Consulate, and St. Joseph’s Cathedral.

Architect and photographer Kris Provoost recently captured new photos of OPEN Architecture's Tsinghua Ocean Center in China. Designed as a laboratory and office building for the newly established deep-ocean research base of Tsinghua University, the project is located at the eastern end of Tsinghua graduate school campus in Shenzhen Xili University Town next to the main campus entrance. Provoost's images reveal details throughout the construction and showcase the project in its larger context.

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The Van Alen Institute and the City of North Miami have announced Department Design Office as the winner of the KEEPING CURRENT competition. The team has been awarded $80,000 to transform a flood-prone lot in North Miami into a community space and storm water management site. The competition aims to reduce the cost of flood insurance, reinvigorate underused communal areas, and promote climate consciousness.

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The Robinson Tower, a 24 000 m² boutique retail and office tower, was inaugurated in Singapore. Designed by the international firm KPF or Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates, and executed in collaboration with Associate Architect A61, the building addresses the cultural and social aspects of the city, creating a singular and refined experience. The tower stands out from its context showcasing novelty in form and function, changing the city’s skyline.

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Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center is relocating to a new building in the downtown area, designed by Rand Elliott Architects, a native firm of the city. This exhibition and educational center, originally a community-oriented arts center founded in 1989, will be open to everyone and free of charge, in order to facilitate the public access for art and education.

Architekten von Gerkan, Marg und Partner (gmp) has unveiled its design for the China Telling Communications Building, recognized as the winning entry for an international competition. The two high-rise buildings are linked by a shared podium landscape, forming the concept of two floating cubes to symbolize different business sections of China Telling Corp.

West 8 has won the competition to revitalize the Middle Branch Waterfront in Baltimore, Maryland. The design competition managed and developed by the Parks & People Foundation on behalf of the City of Baltimore and facilitated in coordination with community-based organizations. Working with local partners Mahan Rykiel and Moffatt & Nichol, the team aims to recreate and redefine the blue green heart of Baltimore.

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Fentress Architects announced the winners of the 2019 Fentress Global Challenge, the international annual student competition. For this 7th edition, under the theme of envisioning the airport of the future in the year 2075, students from more than 50 countries participated in the contest, and more than 500 applications were registered.

Yesterday, July 30, 2019, Cristiano Toraldo di Francia died at 78 years of age —56 years ago the architect founded - together with Adolfo Natalini - one of the most important offices of radical post-war architecture in Italy, Superstudio, which, during the 60's and early 70's, focused on the form of a strong critique of the production methods of design and architecture. All this analysis was reflected in a very different way of representing architecture, collages, experiments, manifestos, furniture, stories, storyboards, etc. This approach has unleashed multiple discussions that remained valid to this day among the younger generations, which have resumed these modes of criticism to apply them to new ways of producing and thinking about architecture.

Monograph recently released a data-driven starchitect ranking to show how popular famous architects are. Created by digital product designer Moe Amaya and Monograph's data team, the project utilizes the STAR system ranking algorithm to determine the relative popularity and value of an architect's brand.

Since its invention in 1920, cellular concrete tackled the search for an industrial material that had similar characteristics to wood. It was lightweight, could be cut or perforated, and avoided some of its disadvantages; for instance, its water absorption and need for maintenance. Nowadays, Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (AAC) blocks are actively present in the marketplace by manufacturers like Hebel or Retak, which are building an easy to use and efficient constructive system. If you ever wondered about how to build with these masonry ingredients, it is pertinent to dig a bit deeper into the advantages of this material.

Architecture firm Gensler has unveiled a design for a temporary worship pavilion at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. Set to be located in Parvis Square, the temporary structure would be constructed primarily out of charred timber for added strength and durability. The proposal comes after the Notre Dame fire in April this year. The Pavillon Notre-Dame was designed to offer hope to Parisians and international visitors while the 850-year-old cathedral is being restored.

MK:U International Design Competition announced today that the International team led by London based Hopkins Architects was selected unanimously by the jurors, as the winner of their new model university competition launched in early 2019.

MK:U is one of many big projects planned for Milton Keynes’s near future, in order to develop the economy of the city, to reach new competitive heights. The university is a partnership between MKC and Cranfield University. Designed to meet the needs of the digital age, it basically equips students for the 21st-century workplace, and for future careers in emerging fields.

ArchDaily, Strelka Institute, and Strelka KB have selected a long list of 50 architectural projects from Armenia, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. The open call invited emerging architects to submit their built projects that emphasize sustainability, research-based and participatory design, and the innovative use of materials. Architects and architecture and design firms that started their practice no more than 10 years ago could apply with projects that were built in the past five years.

Until July 31, the readers of ArchDaily and Strelka Mag can vote for the projects that will make the shortlist.

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The Universidad de Lima, the most influential institution in Peru, is expanding its campus, in the heart of the capital, to offer a new learning experience, a never seen before novelty amongst the schools in Latin America.

The project’s main purpose is to create the whole college town, usually found abroad, in its central location in Lima. This innovative approach comes from the understanding of the importance of the concept of “university-cities” as a key economic driver. In fact, the master plan suggests making the campus as inclusive as possible, by putting in place all the facilities needed for students to actually linger.

Bee Breeders has announced the winners of the Teamakers Guest House competition, calling for design proposals for an eco-friendly, cost-effective accommodation to house visitors to the Ozolini teamakers retreat, situated in a forest 100 kilometers southeast of the Latvian capital of Riga.