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.

GoArchitects has launched a Kickstarter campaign for the development of a collection of notebooks inspired by the greatest architects of all time. The A5, hardcover-bound notebooks are designed to be “durable, perfectly sized, and foster a curious and creative confidence.” The six unique notebooks are adorned with the quotes and graphic styles of some of the most famous architects from eras past, such as Frank Lloyd Wright, Mies van der Rohe, and Philip Johnson.

The notebooks have been made to help “unlock creativity, problem-solving, innovation, and critical thinking.” Containing 200 pages of uncoated off-white paper, with a dotted grid pattern, the notebooks also features a ruler page in imperial and metric scales.

As part of Tripoli’s economic revival plan, the International Union of Architects (UIA), in collaboration with the Lebanese Federation of Engineers and Architects (on behalf of the Tripoli Special Economic Zone / TSEZ), the Union of Mediterranean Architects (UMAR), and the Lebanese Government, have launched an international architecture competition to create a Knowledge and Innovation Center in the northern city of Lebanon.

The proposed site is situated on an empty lot within Oscar Niemeyer’s abandoned Rachid Karami International Fair, a modernist exhibition complex that has yet to see the light of restoration. The objective of the competition is to create a technology and business hub which will foster and promote start-up businesses and entrepreneurs, attracting students, young graduates, local and international companies to Tripoli and the neighboring region.

+ 7

IKEA’s research and design laboratory SPACE10 has unveiled their latest project, SolarVille, to showcase new ways to democratize access to clean, renewable energy. Based in Copenhagen, the team partnered with blockchain experts BLOC, Blocktech, WeMoveIdeas India and architecture practice SachsNottveit. The project explores how combining new technologies with solar power can make clean energy more affordable. The vision centers on cooperative micro-grids where homeowners can become makers and traders of clean energy.

+ 6

This article is an updated version of its original post on March 15th, 2016.
"In the ongoing debate about women in the architecture profession, you rarely hear an argument for why equal representation is important; it's generally assumed to be an unquestionable moral imperative. However, in this article originally published on the Huffington Post as "Why Women's Leadership Is Essential for Architects," Lance Hosey argues that, regardless of your position on equality as a moral imperative, better representation of women in architecture could benefit everyone in the profession—in very tangible ways.

Today, on International Women's Day (March 8) we want to share again the American Institute of Architects (AIA) publication "Diversity in the Profession of Architecture," its first diversity report in a decade. The release follows the creation in December 2015 of the AIA's "Equity in Architecture Commission," a panel of twenty architects, educators, and diversity experts to investigate diversity and inclusion in the profession. The new report documents a survey of over 7,300 professional architects and students, including men and women, 79% of them whites and 21% people of color.

When applying for an architecture job, you need to make sure you have the perfect portfolio. While a clever and attractive business card might help you initially get a firm's attention, and a well-considered résumé or CV might help you prove your value, in most cases it will be your portfolio that makes or breaks your application. It's your portfolio that practices will use to measure your design sensibilities against the office's own style and to judge whether you match up to the talents claimed in your résumé.

After launching a call for our readers to send us their own portfolios so that we could share the best design ideas with the ArchDaily community, this selection below shows the best of the nearly 200 submissions we received, which were judged not on the quality of the architectural design they showed (though much of it was excellent) but instead the design quality of the portfolio itself. In making the selection, we were looking for attractive graphics, a clear presentation of the work itself, the formulation of a visual identity which permeated both the architectural designs and the portfolio design, and of course that elusive and much-prized attribute: "creativity."

Since its founding in 1851, The New York Times has published thousands of obituaries listing the lives and legacies of some of the world’s most influential people. However, by their own admission, the listings have historically been dominated by white men. In order to address this, The Times launched its “Overlooked” series in 2018, telling the stories of women such as Sylvia Plath and Emma Gatewood.

In advance of International Women’s Day, The Times has published an obituary by Alexandra Lange detailing the life and legacy of Julia Morgan, the first woman to earn an architect’s license in California, and “a prolific designer of hundreds of buildings, namely the Hearst Castle at San Simeon."

+ 1

Since our mission is directly related to the architecture of the future—in inspiring and educating the global community of architects who will design the urban fabric of the future—the trust placed in us by our readers to reflect architectural trends from regions around the whole world creates challenges that we are eager to rise to. The democratically-voted, user-centered Building of the Year Awards is one of the key pillars of our response to these challenges, aiming to tear down established hierarchies and geographical barriers.

Seven buildings have been shortlisted for RIBA North East (Royal Institute of British Architects) 2019 Awards; the winners will be announced at an Awards evening at Tyneside Cinema on Thursday 16 May. 

Indian design firm Morphogenesis has now become one of the world's first architecture practices to report a gender pay gap in favor of its female employees. Recruitment and promotion policies were created to make a level playing field for all candidates, irrespective of gender, with merit being the sole review criterion. The report reflects the firm's efforts to support long-term career progression for women in a country where they earn just 62 percent of what men earn.

+ 2

The search has begun for the world’s best building, as the World Architecture Festival launches its annual global awards programme. The 12th edition of the festival will take place in Amsterdam from the 4th to 6th December, where more than 550 architectural and design practices from over 68 countries are expected to compete for category and overall prizes.

Alongside the World Architecture Festival sits its sister festival; INSIDE - World Festival of Interiors. INSIDE is a feast of creativity, inspiration and knowledge for the interiors industry and is now open for awards entries. Comprising the most original and exciting interiors from the last 12 months, projects can be entered across nine diverse categories.

Arata Isozaki, the Japanese architect and winner of the Pitzker Prize 2019, is not only renowned for his fruitful portfolio of works built all over the world (more than a hundred) but also for his continuous input to the theory of urbanism, including texts and proposals. 

It is precisely in the field of urbanism, that he developed one of his most interesting non-built projects: the futurist master plan, known as City in the Air, in the Shinjuku neighborhood in Tokyo, Japan.

Videos

Dutch design practice Mecanoo has won the competition to design the new Frankfurt Grand Central Tower in Germany. Sited in the country's fifth largest city, the residential tower will rise within walking distance of Central Station where a former post office once stood. Developed by Phoenix and Gross & Partner, the skyscraper hopes to meet the city's increased housing demand across all market segments. The glass and copper-colored metal tower was inspired by the surrounding industrial context.

+ 4

"Hórama Rama" by Pedro & Juana (Ana Paula Ruiz Galindo & Mecky Reuss) has been named the winner of The Museum of Modern Art and MoMA PS1’s 20th annual Young Architects Program. Opening in June 2019, this year’s architectural installation is an immersive junglescape set within a large-scale cyclorama that sits atop MoMA PS1’s courtyard walls. Selected from among five finalists, Hórama Rama will be on view through the summer, serving as a temporary built environment for MoMA PS1’s pioneering outdoor music series Warm Up.

For 20 years, the Young Architects Program at The Museum of Modern Art and MoMA PS1 has offered emerging architectural talent the opportunity to design and present innovative projects, challenging each year’s winners to develop creative designs for a temporary and sustainable outdoor installation that provides shade, seating, and water. The architects must also work within environmentally sensitive guidelines.

OMA, led by the firm’s partner Jason Long, has designed two towers at Greenpoint Landing in Brooklyn, New York. The towers, in conjunction with a lower seven-story building, will offer 745 housing units (30% of which are affordable) and over an acre of new public space for the neighborhood. As OMA New York’s first ground-up building in Brooklyn, the scheme will serve as “a catalyst in the transformation of the waterfront from a post-industrial edge to an accessible and dynamic part of the neighborhood.

The two towers, extending Eagle Street and Dupont Street, expand the existing waterfront esplanade, incorporating 2.5 acres of public open space along the shoreline, and 8,600 square feet of ground-floor retail. Manifesting as two dancers, the towers simultaneously lean into and away from each other. While the taller tower widens towards the east as it rises, its partner steps back from the waterfront to create a series of large terraces.

+ 3

In May 1985, an old theater and concert hall opened its doors to the public for the opening of a brand new nightclub in New York City. Located on 126 East 14th Street, the project was commissioned by entrepreneurs Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager, owners of the also famous club Studio 54, and was conceived as a vibrant and luminous independent structure arranged inside a rather classic shell, which appears as a beautiful backdrop behind the clean geometry of Isozaki.

As The New York Times pointed out in its May 20, 1985 edition: 'Arata Isozaki is at once a great eminence of Japanese architecture and a source of some of its freshest thinking. And all sides of Mr. Isozaki are visible in the Palladium'.

+ 9

Woods Bagot has won an international competition for the design of Sydney’s first luxury hotel in 20 years. The hotel and office tower at 4-6 Bligh Street in central Sydney will be flanked by a mixture of commercial and hotel buildings, shops, restaurants, and cafes.

The unanimous choice of a six-person jury, the Woods Bagot scheme was praised for “a masterful architectural clarity and precision throughout the scheme,” forming an elegant and coherent anchor at the heart of the city.

+ 1

The functional distribution plays a fundamental role in the contemporary design of offices and places for work. The study of the architecture plan shows an interesting form of approach; not only allows for proper logistics and circulation but find efficient variations and innovations that will enable better workspaces that adapt to the current needs.

We have selected more than 50 plans of projects that will inspire you, recognizing the different ways in which architects have faced the challenge to design offices, in all different scale ranges.

French architect Yona Friedman has unveiled his first public project in the United States with The Institute of Contemporary Art and the Miami Design District. Dubbed Space-Chain Phantasy-Miami 2019, the work is sited inside of the Miami Design District's Paradise Plaza. Drawing from a lifetime of developing ideas that empower users and generate democratic cities, Friedman's new prototype is inspired by Miami. The work reflects on Friedman's perspective that architecture should be flexible, mobile, and adjust to the needs of its inhabitants.

+ 9

+ 54

During the professional life of an architect, the task of designing a residence can be a frequent occurrence. As the project develops, representing a vision in a determined space through a set of drawings is certainly one of the primary tasks of the design process. While the architect has a certain level of visual literacy, sometimes the client won't necessarily understand all the drawings. Going beyond the two-dimensionality of the plans, sections and elevations, axonometric perspectives are presented as an efficient instrument in the spatial representation of the project. When adding the notion of third dimension—and even though it’s presented by on a 2D sheet of paper—it gives a better understanding to those unfamiliar with technical drawings.

Dutch design practice Mecanoo has created a masterplan for the world's largest man-made nature park at Nieuw Land in the Netherlands. Last month, the Provincial Government approved the plan with an overwhelming majority. The National Park is located near the metropolitan region of Amsterdam and covers over 29,000 hectares. The new masterplan integrates four nature reserves to secure and protect the future of the National Park.

+ 4

New London Architecture has published the results of their annual Tall Building Survey. Now in its sixth year, the report declares 2019 as “The Year of the Tall Building” with a record number of 76 tall buildings set to be completed in the UK capital in 2019.

Among the key findings from the report, it was revealed that the completion of tall buildings is set to be three times higher than in 2018. There are currently 541 tall buildings in the pipeline for the capital, with 22 out of London’s 33 boroughs containing tall buildings under construction. These tall buildings will offer more than 110,000 new homes for a city with chronic housing shortages.

+ 1

MVRDV has broken ground on a wholesale market for fruit and vegetables in Tainan, Taiwan. Defined by a terraced, accessible green roof, the open-air market will serve as both an important hub in Taiwan’s supply chain, and a destination for meeting, socializing, and taking in views of the surrounding landscape.

Named the “Tainan Xinhua Fruit and Vegetable Market,” the MVRDV scheme transforms an often-prosaic aspect of the food industry into a public experience of food and nature. Located in a strategic position between the city and mountains, with good public transport links, the scheme sits at a convenient node for traders, buyers, and visitors.

Perhaps the most renowned 'skylight' ever built is the Pantheon of Rome commissioned by Marco Vipsanius Agrippa during the reign of Emperor Augustus (27 BC-14 AD) and rebuilt by Hadrian (117-118) around 126 AD. At the highest point of its dome (in this case, the oculus) the sunlight shines, casting its beams over the various statues of planetary deities that occupy the niches on the walls. The light that enters the space symbolizes a cosmic, sacred dimension. In projects around the world, natural light continues to fulfill this scenic role, especially in religious projects.

It is characterized as zenithal illumination as that which comes from above, from the sky (zenith). Very useful for large spaces that can not be adequately lit by windows, skylights are a widely used device for providing a pleasant, diffuse light. Generally, care is taken to prevent direct entry of sunlight; the openings must be well designed so that they do not overheat the space of allow water infiltration. Below is a collection of projects that make good use of this technique.

+ 39