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In response to one of their most frequent user requests, browser-based 3D model platform Sketchfab has now partnered with Hubs, the world's largest 3D printer network, to introduce a 3D print ordering feature that works directly from its viewing window. With a globally-distributed network of 15,000 print hubs in their network (250 of which support full-color printing), Sketchfab CEO Alban Denoyel says that 3D Hubs is the "closest to achieving this vision" of locally-based manufacture that bypasses transport costs - which he believes is "one of the most important promises of 3D printing."

In conjunction with the release of the results of their "Design Competition Survey", the Van Alen Institute have put forward 10 propositions for the improvement of design competitions. Accompanied by a series of vibrant graphics, the propositions can be read after the break.

The London branch of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) have unveiled a series of events themed along the lines of 'Work In Progress' for the 2015 London Festival of Architecture. The festival, which is a month-long celebration of architectural experimentation, thinking and practice taking place at venues across the capital, will open in next month. The RIBA London's chosen theme "will explore the changing nature of work, and workspace, as well as its impact on, and role in, the continued evolution of London."

A new sculpture has risen in the desert of Qatar: “East-West/West-East,” Richard Serra's second public commission by the Gulf nation. Sited in a barren landscape that was suggested by Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, the former Emir, the installation is comprised of four steel plates incrementally placed and standing perpendicular to the ground.

Much like Serra's first Qatari sculpture - "7" in Doha - the German rolled steel structure will oxidize, changing from gray to orange and eventually a dark amber, much like the Seagram Building in midtown, said Serra in an interview with The New Yorker. The artist hopes it will become a landmark within the country.

A selection of images from architecture photographer Nelson Garrido, after the break.

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Videos

180 Creative Camp is back! The 5th edition of the event will take place from July 5-12 in the Portuguese city of Abrantes. One of the leading creative gatherings worldwide, 180 Creative Camp unites some of the world's most inspiring creators from different areas of artistic expression for a week of creative intersections. Developed by Canal180, the camp combines video, music, photography, design, architecture and urban art. For a second consecutive year, and in partnership with the Municipality of Abrantes, 180 Creative Camp is seeking proposals for an Urban Intervention Project to be displayed in Abrantes' historic center, as well as 15 “Stores Art Attack" project interventions. Proposals need to be submitted by May 31. Learn more after the break.

LAMP Lighting has revealed its top picks for this year’s Lamp Lighting Solutions Awards. Now in their 6^th year, the awards recognize projects that effectively explore the intersections of architecture, interior design, and landscaping with original, innovative, and sustainable lighting. With record internationalization, this year’s awards received 598 submitted projects from 54 countries worldwide.

The Lamp Lighting Solutions Awards span the categories of Architectural Outdoor Lighting, Indoor Lighting, Urban and Landscape Lighting, and Students Proposals. Winners will be announced at a ceremony in Barcelona in June, and will receive monetary prizes between € 2,000 and € 8,000. Additionally, one professional will receive the “Life of Light” award for committing his or her career to lighting.

See all the finalists after the break.

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Safdie Architects’ 2015 Research Fellowship will center on the theme of “dense urbanism,” and the ways in which the field of architecture can rethink its approach to vital issues such as materiality, construction, environmental conditions, and the demographic realities of rapidly growing populations. This year, Moshe Safdie and his team invite exceptional individuals to attack the challenges of the contemporary urban landscape head-on by proposing new tools and solutions to create a better functioning and humane city. Accepted candidates will spend one year in residence at Safdie Architects’ Boston office, during which they will receive support from the practice and have access to the firm’s resources and consultants.

QS has released its annual World University Rankings for 2015, covering 36 individual subjects and sorting based on "academic reputation, employer reputation and research impact." The company, which claims to explore the top 800 universities in the world, began publishing academic rankings in 2011. Read on to see the list of top universities for architecture, and be sure to see the full, sortable list at QS's site.

Eleven buildings have been announced as winners of Docomomo US' 2015 Modernism in America Awards (#ModernismAwards), of which includes the Frederick Dunn-designed Lewis and Clark Branch Library that is currently scheduled to be demolished. Each awarded project is "emblematic of the work going on all over the country and represent buildings and building typologies of postwar society in the United States." It is hoped that these awards will shed light on the importance of preserving modern architecture. Take a look at the winners, after the break.

A new report from the Wall Street Journal suggests that BIG may replace Foster + Partners to realize the World Trade Center 2 (WTC2) tower - the final tower planned to be built on Ground Zero. The 79-story tower, originally designed in 2006, was stalled due to the economic crash of 2008.

According to the report, 21st Century Fox and News Corp have "tipped" BIG to redesign the tower should they strike an agreement with project backers Silverstein Properties and The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to move into the tower. If the deal goes through, the two companies would occupy nearly half of the building - enough to kickstart development.

One of the more niche trends in sustainable design of the past few years has been the re-use of shipping containers in order to create the structure of a building. Due to their convenient size, shipping containers are well-suited for use in houses and their appeal lies in their apparent simplicity: you get a room delivered in one piece, and you can stack them together to make multiple rooms or join them up to make larger rooms.

But of course, things are never so simple, and using shipping containers to make a house is still fraught with challenges - particularly as the idea is still relatively new, so there are few people with the expertise required to build one without a hitch. That's why the folks over at Container Home Plans reached out to 23 experts from around the world - designers and owners who have overcome the challenges to build their own container houses - to ask them what they wish they'd known before taking on this challenge. Check out their 11 top tips after the break.

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At ArchDaily, we work hard to give you the best overview we can of architecture around the world, publishing inspiring work and intriguing points of view from all seven continents (yes, even Antarctica). But of course, there are also hundreds of thousands of much-loved buildings in city centers, on residential streets and in rural communities that we can't cover.

That's why we need you, the ArchDaily community, to show us what inspiring architecture means to you - whether that's where you live or a place you have traveled to see. From the skyscrapers of well-known metropolises to the cottages of quaint villages, send us your Instagram and Twitter photos of the architecture that motivates you every day.

It’s easy to participate! On Instagram and/or Twitter, submit photos or videos of the architecture you encounter on a daily basis using the hashtag #YourArchDaily and mentioning @archdaily.

The Burj Khalifa might get all the headlines today, but for nearly half a century before it was built, some of the tallest structures in the world were actually in North Dakota, in the form of TV masts. In this post originally published by re:form on Medium, Casey Tolan investigates the threatened industry that once gave the world some of its most heroic structures.

Name the tallest structures in the world. Maybe flashy skyscrapers in China or the Gulf States come to mind. Or maybe you’re thinking of U.S. icons like One World Trade Center in New York or the Willis Tower in Chicago.

You’re almost certainly not thinking of TV towers. But dozens of nearly anonymous towers around the United States, most in small rural communities, dwarf all but the tallest man-made structures in the world.

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Singapore-based American architect Erik L’Heureux has been selected over two other finalists and 200 applicants to receive the Harvard University Graduate School of Design's (GSD) 2015 Wheelwright Prize. The $100,000 travel grant, now in its third year, was awarded to L’Heureux for his proposal Hot and Wet: The Equatorial City and the Architectures of Atmosphere, which focuses on the "architecture of five dense cities in the equatorial zone - Jakarta, Indonesia; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Pondicherry, India; Lagos, Nigeria; São Paulo, Brazil - where he will examine traditional and modern building strategies that mediate extreme climate conditions while addressing the mounting pressures of rapid urbanization and climate change."

Balfron Tower: a building archive, created by London-based PhD student David Roberts and graphic designer Duarte Carrilho da Graça, is an online archive that brings together public documents related to Erno Goldfinger's Balfron Tower. Shining a light on all of the research material which Roberts has gathered over the course of his studies, archival documents from during the tower's design phase to the most recent press articles are presented in the form of a timeline. You are also allowed the option of downloading these documents in full.

Yazdani Studio of Cannon Design, Alajajian Marcoosi Architects, Belzberg Architects Group and Frederick Fisher have been shortlisted to design an Armenian American Museum planned for Glendale, California. Announced on the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide this past Friday, the competition aims to "promote understanding and appreciation of America's ethnic and cultural diversity by sharing the Armenian experience" within a 30,000-square-foot museum that will be dedicated to research and education. Stay tuned for more information.

OMA has revealed plans for what will be the Netherlands' largest hotel. Part of the Nhow chain, 91 meter-tall "Nhow Hotel Rai" (or Nhow RAI) will bring 650 rooms within three stacked cubes to the Amsterdam skyline. As the NLTimes reports, OMA was chosen ahead of eleven practices to design the project, which will include a television studio, art gallery and sculpture garden, spa center, a "3D holographic meeting space," a multimedia presentation space, and 25th-floor lounge and bar area, in addition to the four-star hotel rooms.

Videos

The latest in his high-altitude "AIR" series, Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Vincent Laforet has captured the sprawling city of Los Angeles at night from a dizzying 10,000 feet. First starting this "dream project" in his hometown of New York then Las Vegas and San Francisco, AIR is taking Laforet worldwide with upcoming visits planned for London, Paris, Tokyo and more.

Preview a stunning selection of Laforet's Los Angeles series, after the break.

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A consortium of Tampa-based ASD, Rogers Partners Architects+Urban Designers, and Ken Smith Landscape Architect has been announced as winners of the second St. Petersburg Pier redesign competition. Chosen after the city failed to implement Michael Maltzen Architecture’s competition-winning proposal due to strong public opposition, the new winning scheme, "Pier Park" takes a more scaled down (and affordable) approach to redesigning the site's landmark 1970s pier by focusing on public experience rather than architectural intervention.

Read on after the break for more on the $46 million Pier Park proposal.