Perhaps the most enduring appeal of Star Wars for its fans is not simply its compelling storyline or its dramatic space battles - it is instead that this universe is, in fact, a universe, with all the complexity and depth that entails. One of the best ways to reveal that depth is through architecture, which offers the most visually striking combination of history, culture and technology available. As a result, the Star Wars universe is littered with a huge variety of fascinating architecture, from ancient temples to futuristic floating cities.

Today is the most holy day in the Star Wars fanatic’s calendar, and thanks to pages like Star Wars Architecture on Facebook and Wookieepedia, we’re celebrating the event with seven of the most interesting, astonishing and iconic architectural structures from the franchise. Enjoy, and May the 4th be with you.

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Zaha Hadid’s prolific, admired, and influential body of work led to hundreds of invitations to lecture around the world. Through her contemporaries’ heartfelt introductions, we can appreciate her groundbreaking architectural approach in a world which often appeared to be one step behind her ideas and enthusiasm.

The search to connect with nature has been of great value to architecture, not only in terms of respecting and enhancing the natural conditions of a place, but also in creating a holistic relationship between the user and the space.

For the March Project of the Month, we recognize a residential project located in a unique landscape: the Tepozteco area in Mexico. In this project, the architecture connects with nature through a building that blends with the surroundings, while at the same time engaging with the setting in a unique way.

We provided our readers with a blank canvas, a single white egg. From this common starting point, we asked architects to let their innovation and creativity shine by putting an architectural twist on the average pastel Easter egg. From gifs to famous architects as eggs, we received over 450 submissions to our sites in English, Spanish, Chinese and Portuguese. It was particularly difficult to narrow down our favorites, and our selection really only scratches the surface of the many creative Easter eggs that we received from our incredibly talented readers.

Volume is an "agenda-setting" quarterly magazine, published by the Archis Foundation (The Netherlands). Founded in 2005 as a research mechanism by Ole Bouman (Archis), Rem Koolhaas (OMA*AMO), and Mark Wigley (Columbia University Laboratory for Architecture/C-Lab), the project "reaches out for global views on designing environments, advocates broader attitudes to social structures, and reclaims the cultural and political significance of architecture."

Over the next six weeks Volume will share a curated selection of essays from The System* on ArchDaily. This represents the start of a new partnership between two platforms with global agendas: in the case of ArchDaily to provide inspiration, knowledge and tools to architects across the world and, in the case of Volume, "to voice architecture any way, anywhere, anytime [by] represent[ing] the expansion of architectural territories and the new mandate for design."

The latest edition of Section D, Monocle 24's weekly review of design, architecture and craft, examines the architectural competition: "a critically important but less visible facet of the architectural world." Monocle's Henry Rees-Sheridan talks to Jacob van Rijs, co-founder of MVRDV, about how the practice incorporates unbuilt plans and competition entries into its business model; Malcolm Reading, head of "the leading independent organiser of architectural competitions in the UK," about what goes into creating a successful architecture competition; and ArchDaily Editor James Taylor-Foster about how the unbuilt world affects the built.

From the use of animal skins to create the envelope of a tent, to building structures from bones, and using dried mud for masonry, humans have long turned to the earth for inspiration and to provide us with the materials to build.

For ArchDaily’s second Project of the Month we want to highlight the versatile ways that architects can embrace ancient traditions. Kengo Kuma’s China Academy of Arts’ Folk Art Museum combines traditional techniques with recycled materials to create a subtle yet powerful structure.

Yesterday, ArchDaily celebrated 8 years online. And, while every birthday is a special occasion, this year feels to us to be particularly special: in the past year we've achieved many milestones, including the launch of both ArchDaily China and ArchDaily Perú, a move to a new platform and a new design and so many other steps forward; at the same time, in the Pritzker Prize, the Venice Biennale, and other organizations around the world, we're seeing the acceptance of a type of architecture that has always been a key part of our mission statement.

With those things in mind, now seems like a very good time to look back at how we got here - in particular, to look at some of the most notable architectural projects that have defined our time so far on the web. Our selection of 50 projects includes buildings by Pritzker Prize winners (and a number of architects who are sure to be future Pritzker Prize winners), it includes Building of the Year award winners and runners-up, and of course it includes projects that have inspired architects around the world.

This collection of projects also demonstrates the power of ArchDaily's database - an immense library of over 21,000 projects which we are adding to every day, but one which we are also working hard to give you the tools you need to make use of. With our My ArchDaily platform and our faceted search, these and many, many other projects are always at your fingertips for your inspiration, education and enjoyment.