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.

Designers at this year's Milan Design Week drew inspiration from everything and anything around them. Many were inspired by the serenity of nature, some by picturesque vintage pieces, and others by tokens from their youth. Although inspiration often comes unannounced in the most unexpected places, the inspiration behind Sancal’s pavilion at this year’s Salone del Mobile, was encouraged by one simple, very common mistake.

During the 2017 Milan Design Week, the Spanish brand’s eccentric duo Esther and Elena made a wrong turn on Milan's metro station, ending up at the Turati station. That is when the light-bulb illuminated, and the duo found the backdrop for their upcoming collection, emerging from none other than the depths of Milan's underground systems.

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Few architects have had a greater influence on civic design and the public realm than Carol Ross Barney. Advocating that excellent design is a right, not a privilege, Carol's career is marked by her sensitivity. Born in Chicago, Illinois on April 12, 1949, her work is characterized by a desire to bring dignity to the needs of users and the public alike. With a career that spans over 40 years, Carol founded her firm Ross Barney Architects in 1981. She is known for shaping the built environment, the profession, and architectural education. As an architect, urbanist, mentor, and educator, her work upholds a deep commitment to people and place.

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Reacting to the influx of gargantuan, iconic museum buildings produced by China’s recent “museum boom,” MORE Architecture aimed to create an intricate, experiential space with their design for Ginkgo Gallery. The gallery, construction on which has now begun, was conceived as a humble merging of art and nature, part of a network of private museums in the Yangtze River Delta. Ginkgo Gallery also houses an auditorium and workshop space in an effort to make art a part of public life and educate children in contemporary art.

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Peter Zumthor has gained approval for a paired-back design for the LACMA expansion in Los Angeles. The proposal for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art was part of a final environmental impact report submitted for the $650-million project. Undergoing a series of changes over previous years, the latest design will still branch over Wilshire Boulevard with amorphous, sand-colored concrete galleries. The new expansion plan reduces both the expansion's size and footprint.

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MAD Architects have revealed a new vision for New York City skyscrapers with a sinuous slender tower near the Empire State Building. Dubbed ‘East 34th’, the project was designed with a dark-colored glass facade that was made to fade into the atmosphere. Located adjacent to one of New York's most iconic structures, the project rethinks the city's rectilinear towers and sharp edges to create a new form for the Manhattan high-rise.

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LEGO has revealed the newest addition to its Architecture set. The "Trafalgar Square" set will feature London landmarks such as the National Gallery, Nelson’s Column, and accessories such as micro-lion statues, fountains, and the city’s famous red double-decker buses.

As Milan Design Week continues to set avant-garde design trends for the upcoming years, the 2019 Salone del Mobile’s lighting biennale, Euroluce, saw a nod to classic designs mixed with contemporary craftsmanship.

Two dominant trends at this year’s Euroluce are ‘rediscovering the past’ and a ‘reference to nature’. Vintage lighting pieces were rediscovered, not only to serve as valuable tokens of the past, but as foundation for new research. The reference to nature is evidently the most dominant design trend at this year’s lighting biennale, as designers found inspiration from natural, organic forms, and produced their pieces with eco-friendly material.

However, some of the most unique pieces at this year’s Euroluce were developed in collaboration with heavyweights in the world of design. Profound architects found their way into the 2019 Euroluce, bringing together their design skills with the engineering solutions of design companies.

The Council on Tall Building and Urban Habitat have announced the winners of the 17th edition of the CTBUH Tall Building Awards. From 65 finalists, winners were chosen from several height ranges including Best Tall Building under 100 meters, Best Tall Building 100-199 meters, Best Tall Building 200-299 meters, and Best Tall Building over 400 meters. From these finalists, the CTBUH has also awarded the Best Tall Building award to Salesforce Tower (San Francisco) by Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects.

What can you learn from enterprising firms who push tech to new limits? It is time to be inspired to experiment with innovative technology that supports BIM. The software that opens projects up to unlimited possibilities is the one that helps you benefit from ground-breaking techniques. For firms, using ARCHICAD, 3D modeling photorealism and VR experiences are more than gimmicks. These technologies are part of a powerful toolset that opens the door to unlimited possibilities. Hear from the firms who have unlocked that power in By Design: The Next Frontier.

Foster + Partners' new Samson Health Pavilion celebrated its opening with a dedication ceremony in Cleveland, Ohio. Designed as part of the Health Education Campus at Case Western Reserve University, the project features an overhead canopy that leads to a grand internal courtyard. The pavilion was made as an investment in the future of health education for Case Western Reserve University and Cleveland Clinic.

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INSPIRELI AWARDS is proud to announce the first three projects entering into the contest finale. This global student contest enables new talents to tell their stories and raise awareness about their own world view before they get their chance to build it.

The following three projects were selected through the international semifinal jury based on originality and subsequently approved by the chairman of INSPIRELI AWARDS jury. All three projects will compete in the final for having his or her name engraved on the original “Wings to the Future” created by world-renowned designer Bořek Šípek.

From short supply and high demand to a lack of affordable options, housing in Los Angeles is a complex and prominent issue that deserves the attention of local universities. As the crisis continues to evolve, architecture and architectural education are vital parts of the discussion surrounding housing equity.

Architecture practice Broadway Malyan has designed a new campus for the Westminster School in Chengdu, China. Providing a new learning environment for one of the UK's leading independent schools, the project will be the first of six new schools built in China. Made to embrace the latest pedagogical thinking, the design also includes references to the famous Westminster Abbey as well as traditional British school vernacular of Victorian red brick with gable ends.

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Skidmore Owings and Merrill have unveiled their vision for the "Moon Village", the first permanent human settlement on the Lunar surface. Developed in collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the multidisciplinary project will be masterplanned, designed, and engineered by SOM.

Opening ‪on December 15th, 2019 in Shenzhen, China, "Urban Interactions" is the 8th edition of the Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture (UABB). The exhibition consists of two sections, namely “Eyes of the City” and “Ascending City”, which will explore the evolving relationship between urban space and technological innovation from different perspectives. The “Eyes of the City" section features MIT professor and architect Carlo Ratti as Chief Curator and Politecnico di Torino-South China University of Technology as Academic Curator. The "Ascending City" section features Chinese academician Meng Jianmin and Italian art critic Fabio Cavallucci as Chief Curators.

ArchDaily is working with the "Eyes of the City" curatorial team, to publish a series of articles by international architects, designers, writers and thinkers who will discuss the ways in which new technologies - and Artificial Intelligence in particular - might impact architecture and urban life. The open call for proposals for the “Eyes of the City” will run from April 1st to May 31st: www.eyesofthecity.net

The winners of the ein&zwanzig newcomers’ awards have been announced on April 8th during Milan Design Week. Out of 824 entries from 73 countries, the German Design Council honored 21 innovative projects created and developed by young upcoming international designers, and granted one project with the “Best of the Best” award, the ultimate prize for the most unique and inventive amongst all proposals.

Simon Frambach took home the Best of the Best award this year for his ‘Dynamic Folding Chair’ (DFC), the world’s first folding chair that responds to the user’s movements and comfort, produced with cheap disposable material.

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The University of Illinois at Chicago has announced the shortlist to design a new $95 million Center of the Arts for the College of Architecture, Design and the Arts. Chosen from 36 teams, the shortlist includes OMA with KOO Architects, Johnston Marklee with UrbanWorks, and Morphosis with STL Architects. The new center will include a 500-seat concert hall, a 270-seat reconfigurable theater, an exhibition hall, rehearsal spaces, and a combination cafe and jazz club. The 88,000-square-foot building will be primarily used by the UIC’s School of Theatre & Music as the new public face of UIC’s East Campus.

Although the sun is almost 150 million kilometers away, this star has had the most impact on our planet. But while some are busy chasing the sun for sun-kissed skin, architects are all about creating sun-kissed spaces.

By definition, “passive solar energy is the collection and distribution of energy obtained by the sun using natural means”. The simple concept and process of implementing passive solar energy systems have provided buildings with heat, lighting, mechanical power, and electricity in the most environmentally-conscious way possible.

In this article, we will provide you with a complete guide of implementing passive solar systems in your designs.

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Architectural photographer Marc Goodwin recently visited Panama City to continue on his journey documenting the world's architecture offices. He's already featured an impressive list, including the Netherlands, Dubai London, Paris, Beijing, Shanghai, Seoul, the Nordic countries, Barcelona, and Los Angeles. In Panama, Marc photographed a range of work spaces across eight offices, from a studio of five people all the way up to 200. Looking outside and in, he captured both the spaces where designers work and glimpses into the city itself.

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Carlo Ratti Associati, working in collaboration with energy company Eni, has developed an architectural structure made of mushrooms, unveiled at Milan Design Week. “The Circular Garden” was grown from soil made over the past six weeks, and will be returned to the soil at the end of the month. The structure is composed of a series of arches adding up to a 1-kilometer-long mycelium, experimenting with sustainable structures that can grow organically.

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As part of Milan’s Salone del Mobile, Knoll has presented an exhibition celebrating the centenary of the Bauhaus, curated and designed by OMA / Ippolito Pestellini Laparelli with Domitilla Dardi. The story, presented at Knoll’s showroom at Piazza Bertarlelli, is told by means of four clusters that encourage people to participate.

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Let's suppose you need a bookcase. Years ago, you would probably search the furniture stores or antique shops in your town. Today you are more likely to open dozens of tabs on your web browser to compare prices and models. But there is another option that is becoming increasingly popular: open source furniture.

It's simple; you download the design of a piece of furniture and send it to a CNC machine (a mill that cuts wood from a digital file). It’s more or less like sending a PDF to print. With the pieces cut, you just assemble it. We used a bookcase for example, but it could be a chair, a table, a cupboard, a bench. Opendesk, one of the current open source furniture platforms, brings together about 30 pieces of furniture available for download. There the user can download a project and cut the furniture in a FabLab or personal workshop, or use the site to connect with a joiner who makes the cuts.

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