Articles

It is best to remember a diverse Lima, rather than the centralized capital. To remember that this very centrality has turned it into a meeting ground for Peru's diverse cities. Everyone comes to the capital, yes, but in this city, the three regions (coast, highlands, and jungle) blend while preserving their essence like nowhere else. "Todas las sangres" (All Bloods) is the title of the most ambitious novel (1964) by Peruvian writer José María Arguedas—an attempt to portray the whole of life through the representation of geographical and social settings from across the country. This expression, which remains relevant today, points to the racial, regional, and cultural variety of our society. Speaking of "all bloods" unites and blends us: it contains and integrates our diversity. Speaking of "all colors" evokes this colorful and intercultural nature. 

There are few things that fascinate us more than the sea. Its contemplation arouses a sense of peace, while its colors, textures, movements and amplitude provide a scientifically proven effect of relaxation in our nervous system. Above all, it makes us realize how small we are in the universe. It is not by chance that a house facing the sea is a dream of consumption for many, let alone with a pool right in front of it. Infinity pools play with this feeling of infinite sea and sky. Through a well-elaborated set of levels and plans, they create an optical illusion that leaves everyone speechless, making pool water appear as if merged with the horizon, overflowing at one or more edges. But before you plan your photo on Instagram with a glass of sparkling wine in your hand, let's take a look at how these pools are built.

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Back in 2008, ArchDaily embarked on a challenging mission: to provide inspiration, knowledge, and tools to the architects tasked with designing cities. In an effort to further align our strategy with these challenges, we recently introduced monthly themes in order to dig deeper into topics we find relevant in today’s architectural discourse. From architects who don't design to reframing climate change as a global issue, we are celebrating our 11th birthday by asking 11 editors and curators to choose ArchDaily's most inspiring articles.

Occupying rooftops is an ancient practice; however, it was only with the Modern Movement and Le Corbusier's five points of architecture that the "fifth facade" began to be explored to its full potential. Pilotis, a free plan, ribbon windows, and a free facade combined with the rooftop garden to establish the guidelines for this new architecture. While Modernism as a universal language collapsed, many of its principles endure in contemporary architecture.

As part of the RIBA annual Regional Awards programme, 23 architectural works and one masterplan have been shortlisted for the RIBA East awards. These projects cover a range of types, from homes to schools to follies, and represent some of the finest work produced in Britain in the last year.

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Sometimes, architecture presents itself as an object of responsibility—an exercise in recognizing authorship, aiming to define and delimit it. We feel an urgent need to know who its author was, to credit whoever was capable of such inventions. Just as often, however, architecture does not claim any author; hence the terms anonymous architecture or "architecture without architects"—that is, a merely vernacular architecture. In the case of Carme Pinós, what is built inevitably speaks of who built it. Her architecture offers a glimpse of the energy that emanates from her persona: a vibrant, direct, tense architecture, swept by a continuous, dominating agitation. Within it, elements are in constant motion in a completely ungrounded way, rather than by their own virtue.

If you are looking for something different for your architectural presentations, virtual reality can be a compelling option (and a challenge if it is your first time working with it). Do you know which headsets are the most suitable, or what the ideal file size of a 360-degree render or 3D model is for VR viewing?

We hope the following answers to frequently asked questions are helpful!

After spending countless hours in front of AutoCAD working on a project, you’re bound to have your own set of favorite commands to standardize a few steps. We also bet that you don’t have them all memorized or often forget them. To help you remember, we've made a list of 50 commands that can help you speed up your work game, discover new shortcuts, or come in use as a handy tool for when you forget what the command you need is called.

The following listing was developed and corroborated by our team for the 2013, 2014 and 2015 versions of AutoCAD in English. We also prepared a series of GIFs to visualize some of the trickier ones.

When you’ve finished reading, we would love to know what your favorite commands are (including those that we didn’t include). We will use your input to help us update the article!

Although more than 1.35 million people lose their lives in traffic crashes every year, these fatalities do not receive the same attention from politicians and the media as airplane, train, or ship disasters. Some believe that deaths from vehicle crashes are simply a part of daily life or inevitable—but they do not have to be.

11 years ago, ArchDaily set out on a mission: to provide inspiration, knowledge, and tools to the architects tasked with designing for the 3 billion people that will move into cities in the next 40 years. A bold vision for a rapidly changing world.

Since then, the way we consume architecture has changed. Projects on the other side of the world no longer feel quite so far away, and inspiration can come from any project, at any scale, anywhere. The mission we set out with so many years ago has captured the passion of architects and architecture lovers worldwide: nearly half a million people visiting our sites daily in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Chinese. 

We are especially proud of our global reach. With more than 40,000 new articles and 4300 projects added to our site in the last year alone, we are committed to providing the most relevant resources to our readers to better their knowledge and appreciation for the field we all love. We are proud and excited to reach readers in every corner of the world, and we savor the opportunity to continue sharing the inspiration, knowledge, and tools needed to design a positive urbanizing world.

Nowadays, new technologies for the treatment of glass provide new ways to use this material in architecture. Applied indoors, specifically in retail stores, glass in its different textures, colors, finishes and levels of transparency can allow the unobstructed view of certain products, hide more private areas without blocking the passage of light, and attract the attention of customers as focal points, among many other uses.

Review below a selection of applications in commercial projects.

This article was originally published on CommonEdge as "Rob Walker on the Mistakes of Brad Pitt's Make it Right."

I will start with a confession: I was part of the fawning media swarm that lauded and applauded the accomplishments of Make It Right, Brad Pitt’s bold attempt to rebuild a portion of the Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans. The project was, it seemed once, one of the few post-Katrina success stories coming out of that flood-ravaged community.

ArchDaily turns 11! To commemorate the occasion, we want to share with you the 11 projects most visited by our readers during this incredible journey. From the indisputable and timeless classics from of designers like Le Corbusier and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, to the pioneering works of architects such as Zaha Hadid and OMA, passing through the delicate work of Gabinete de Arquitectura, these 11 examples teach us valuable lessons about architecture, most importantly: how to design for specific requirements without losing the creativity and beauty of architectural design.

On behalf of ArchDaily, we want to thank you for sharing with us the best architecture in the world, helping us to inspire professionals from all over the world to build better cities.

To showcase the valuable output of Argentine universities, for the third consecutive year we launched an open call inviting our Argentine readers to submit their final thesis projects, sharing the work that launched their careers as newly minted architects.

After receiving more than 60 submissions from various Argentine architecture schools and cities, our editorial team selected nine projects, focusing on those that demonstrated critical thinking toward contemporary issues, formal resolution, and representation. The selection not only recognizes those projects that delivered the best possible architecture through simple design suited to their context, program, and users, but also highlights those showing a strong commitment to human scale, mediation, transition, and new ways of approaching urban architecture. This edition's jury was composed of Fabian Dejtiar, Managing Editor of ArchDaily en Español; Mónica Arellano, Editor of ArchDaily México; and Delia Bayona, Editor of ArchDaily Perú.

Read on to explore the selected projects in detail.

Sir Terry Farrell to speak about his long and varied career in architecture. Farrell, who is known for his exuberantly postmodern works in Britain, tells of how he became interested in architecture, the role architects will play in our rapidly urbanizing world, and speaking openly about our cities. 

YACademy launches the second edition of Architecture for Landscape, a high-level training course offering 8 scholarships and internships in internationally-renowned architectural firms.

101 hours of lessons, a 32-hour workshop and internships/lectures held by internationally-renowned architectural firms like Stefano Boeri Architetti, Snøhetta, Hhf Architects, Rodrigo Duque Motta, Jean Nouvel Design, Rintala Eggerston, and Jensen & Skodvin.

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* Original Author: Xie Xiaofan, Vice President of the China National Academy of Painting. Xie collaborated with Arata Isozaki to build the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA) Art Museum and has curated a series of large-scale exhibitions. Xie is the author of "Exhibiting the Art Museum" and "Discerning Forms: Walking Between Art and Construction", led the drafting of the state-issued "National Standards for Art Museum Construction," and previously oversaw the construction of the new National Art Museum of China.
*This article is published with the authorization of Xie Xiaofan.

At 23:30 on March 5, upon receiving the first news of Arata Isozaki winning the prize, I immediately sent the following message to Hu Qian: "It would be incredibly badass if Old Iso immediately declined the Pritzker. Tell him my thoughts right away. The Pritzker is about celebrity and fashion; Old Iso is a literati avant-garde." As the person who turned Isozaki’s ideas and drawings into physical architecture, and as someone who has bickered and fought alongside Hu Qian, this was my immediate, gut-reaction response.

Recently, HASSELL was invited to participate in the master planning and landscape design competition for this site, reimagining it as Hefei Central Park while preserving the memories of its past. Ultimately, HASSELL's proposal was selected as one of the two winning designs. The jury commented: "HASSELL’s proposal features a well-structured urban design framework, and the treatment of the interface between the park and the city is particularly striking. The skeletal road network is highly feasible, and the internal circulation system is thoroughly designed. While the runway is preserved intact, its potential for future adaptation is enhanced. Additionally, the 'Green Ribbon' concept at the intercity transit node is highly distinctive."