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Facebook: The Latest Architecture and News

Embed Your 3D Sketchfab Models on Facebook

Already one of the simplest ways to share 3-D models around the web, Sketchfab has recently announced a new development that will make it even easier for architecture firms to share their latest work with their fans and students to spread their ideas among their friends: Facebook embed functionality. Simply by pasting the link to your Sketchfab work in a Facebook post, your model is instantly accessible to your friends and fans, and easy to share.

ArchDaily's Top 10 Facebook Posts

Over the past 14 months our Facebook fans have grown from 1 million to 1.5 million (), and as always our mission continues to be to post the best, latest and most relevant architecture news and projects. But, we couldn’t do it without your help (#thankyou). By liking, commenting and sharing our posts you’ve helped create a vibrant online community, spanning the globe. From the US to India, Brazil and Thailand, you (our fans) are constantly providing unique perspectives and cultural insight. When Frank Gehry lifted his finger and declared that 98% of everything that is built is pure shit, over 9,000 of you shared the post, more than 1,000 commented and as a result the post reached close to 3 million people worldwide.

To celebrate our new milestone on Facebook, we’ve rounded up the #Top10 Facebook Posts from the past 14 months, based on the number of people reached (as calculated by Facebook). From World Cup-related architecture to undulating staircases see the Top 10 Posts after the break.

New Images of the Frank Gehry Facebook Campus Released

After Facebook assumed the former Sun Microsystems complex in Palo Alto in 2011, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg set out to find an architect capable of handling a grand design for its main main headquarters building. Zuckerberg chose world famous architect Frank Gehry for the job (amid major concessions to the city of Palo Alto).

If he was looking for impact, Zuckerberg could have made no better choice. Gehry's past designs have become renowned tourist attractions, like the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain. They are considered some of the most important works of contemporary architecture on the planet.

Photos of the Gehry model that will become Facebook's new HQ have been floating around for a couple of years. But with the building slated for completion next year, Facebook provided these new, exclusive images to Business Insider of what the world can expect from Gehry's latest design:

Could Facebook Help Us Understand Urban Migration?

According to this article on Quartz, Facebook is now so widely-used (providing readily available information about the hometowns of millions - or even billions - of people) that it can help researchers analyze migration patterns and trends. Find out more here.

If Skyscrapers Predict Crises, What Do "Donuts" Tell Us?

In a recent article for the Financial Times, Edwin Heathcote explores the 'Skyscraper Index', an informal term that suggests a correlation between the construction of a big company's ambitious headquarters and subsequent financial crisis: "Think of the Empire State Building opening into the Wall Street crash of 1929, the Twin Towers being completed as New York City was flirting with bankruptcy or the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur taking the mantle of the world’s tallest building and presaging the Asian financial crisis." Heathcote goes on to describe the latest generation of headquarters being constructed for our current, tech-oriented goliaths - like Apple's monolithic "donut", by Foster + Partners, and Facebook's Gehry-designed Menlo Park campus - and wonders: "if skyscrapers can tell us something about the temperature of an overheating economy, what do these groundscraping new HQs say?" Read the full article here.

Gehry to Design New York Office for Facebook

Shortly after winning approval on their Frank Gehry-designed, Menlo Park headquarters in California, Facebook has announced plans to once again commission the Los Angeles-based starchitect to design a new office for their New York City team. By early 2014, Gehry is expected to refurbish an existing 100,000 square-foot, two-story office space - nearly twice the size of their current home at 335 Madison Ave - on 770 Broadway.

Frank Gehry’s Facebook HQ Wins Approval

A new phone isn’t the only Facebook news making headlines, as the social media giant has received the green light from the Menlo Park City Council to move forward with their headquarter’s expansion on the outskirts of San Francisco Bay, California. The approved plans are a slightly toned down version of architect Frank Gehry’s original proposal, as the flamboyant butterfly-like wings which flared from each end of the 433,555-square-foot building have been removed.

“They felt some of those things were too flashy and not in keeping with the kind of the culture of Facebook, so they asked us to make it more anonymous,” stated Craig Webb, Gehry’s creative partner. "Frank (Gehry) was quite willing to tone down some of the expression of architecture in the building."

After a 4-0 vote secured approval, Mayor Peter Ohtaki asked: “Where’s the ‘Like’ button?”

More after the break...

Readers! Do employers put a lot of weight on what university you attended or on your portfolio?

Readers! Do employers put a lot of weight on what university you attended or on your portfolio? - Featured Image
ArchDaily Facebook Poll

A few weeks back, we at ArchDaily conducted a poll on Facebook to get a feel for what our readers think about their architectural educations. The question we asked: "Do employers put a lot of weight on what university you attended, or is it mostly about your portfolio?" had some promising results. There is a lot of cynisicm ciruclating in the professional world about what a degree from a particular university means. There are circles were some universities or some degrees are valued over others. Really though, we hope that it comes down to what each candidate can bring to a potential employer.

Follow us after the break for more.

The Next Silicon Valley(s)

The Next Silicon Valley(s) - Image 5 of 4
AOL Offices in Palo Alto © Jasper Sanidad

HP, Apple, Google – they all found their success amongst the peach groves and Suburban houses of California. But why? What is it about Silicon Valley that makes it the site of technological innovation the world over?

It’s tempting to assume that the Valley’s success must be, at least in part, due to its design. But how does innovation prosper? What kind of environment does it require? In a recent interview with The Atlantic Cities, Jonah Lehrer, author of Imagine: How Creativity Works, suggests that creativity is sparked from casual exchanges, the mingling of diversity, the constant interaction with the strange and new. In short, and as a recent study corroborates, innovation flourishes in dense metropolises.

Seemingly then, Silicon Valley, a sprawl of highways and office parks, has become a hotspot of creativity in spite of its design. But let’s not write off design just yet.

As technology makes location more and more irrelevant, many are looking to distill the magic of Silicon Valley and transplant it elsewhere. The key will be to design environments that can recreate the Valley’s culture of collaboration. The future Valleys of the world will be microsystems of creativity that imitate and utilize the structure of the city.

Top Architecture Offices Facebook Fan Pages

Top Architecture Offices Facebook Fan Pages - Featured Image

Do you think maybe it’s people that respect and admire these architects, and it’s reflected on their fan pages?

AIA Facebook Young Designers Challenge

AIA Facebook Young Designers Challenge - Featured Image

The AIA is hosting its first ever design competition on Facebook—the AIA Facebook Young Designers Challenge. The competition is targeting emerging professionals, and is open to all AIAS members, all Assoc. AIA members, and all AIA young architect members. (The AIA defines young architects as being licensed 10 years or less.)

Best Architectural Animation Competition Winner

Best Architectural Animation Competition Winner - Featured Image

Couple of weeks ago we launched a competition through our Facebook Fan Page to find the best architectural animation video you could send us. After looking at 34 videos and receiving more than 2,500 votes, we have a winner!

Armir Shapllo, with his Space Camp Nou video (see it after the break), received more than 800 votes to win a brand new iPod Touch. Matej Štefanac came second and Alex Roman third. Congratulations to Armir, and to everyone who participated. And remember to follow us through Twitter and our Facebook Fan Page for more competitions!

Vote for the Best Architectural Animation at ArchDaily

Vote for the Best Architectural Animation at ArchDaily - Featured Image

As you may know, to celebrate 25,000 fans on our Facebook Fans (we are now over 29,000!), we launched a competition to look for the best architectural animation video. We received many submissions and now it’s time for you to decide the winner. You have till December 6 to cast your vote.

The good thing is you may vote once per day, so come back here and vote to support your favorite entry! Results will be published on December 7 and the winner will receive a brand new iPod Touch. See all the videos after the break and startvoting right now!

To see the videos in a larger size, just click on them to launch them on YouTube.

Best Architecture Video Animation Competition (update)

Best Architecture Video Animation Competition (update) - Featured Image

Our Facebook Fan Page has been growing a lot lately, and your feedback has been amazing. So to celebrate our 25,000 fans, we decided to launch a special competition, in which anybody can win. We are looking for the best architecture animation that you can show us! What makes this competition so special? Not only will the winners be featured in ArchDaily.com, but the best one will receive a brand new Ipod Touch. Who will win? That’s up to you to decide…

Facebook Fan Page: Top 10 websites of architecture offices

Facebook Fan Page: Top 10 websites of architecture offices - Image 2 of 4

A great part of our day is spent browsing architects websites looking for new works to share with our readers, and we have noticed that some are very good, while others were such a pain to navigate…  So we decided to go and ask our community about this.

Last week, we asked our Facebook Fans for the best architecture office website they knew. We checked them out and decided the top 10, with no particular order. We looked for the best ones in terms of looks, navigation (is is easy to navigate? Is it fast? Can you go back without reloading the menu? Can you link directly to a specific project?), presentation quality, does it look up to date?, projects (can you sort them by location? by year?).

Also, you will notice that no flash website made the list. That’s because we think flash websites have some dificulties. For example, you can’t link a specific project and Google can´t index most of the contents. So we decided to create a ‘honorable mention’ list with all the flash websites we thought deserve it.

Remember to keep participating through our Facebook Fan Page! The complete list, after the break.

Facebook Fan Page: Architecture offices around the world

Facebook Fan Page: Architecture offices around the world - Image 10 of 4

Last week, we asked all of you to send photos of your architecture office through our Facebook Fan Page. Your response was huge, as we received a lot of photos from all over the world. Selecting the best was not easy, but we decided to focus on diversity, creativity and image quality. Thanks to everyone who got to send their photos and we hope you keep participating through our Facebook Fan Page.

The picture above was submitted by Catherine Dilly and belongs to Jasmax Studio in Auckland, New Zealand. You can see all 14 offices after the break. And remember, you can also become a fan of ArchDaily in Facebook, just click here!

Send your office photo to ArchDaily's Facebook Fan Page

Send your office photo to ArchDaily's Facebook Fan Page - Featured Image

In case you didn’t know, a couple of weeks ago we started with our Facebook Fan Page (different from ArchDaily’s group on Facebook). The interaction that we have been experiencing with you has been awesome, so we decided to turn things upside down for a change.