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Stoves, Sinks, and Refrigerators: Downloadable CAD Blocks for Kitchen Designs

In order to support the design work of our readers, the company Teka has shared with us a series of .DWG files of its various kitchen products. The files include both 2D and 3D drawings and can be downloaded directly from this article.

Download the objects below, which have been separated into the following categories: drop-in sinks, built-in sinks, undermount sinks, built-in ovens, faucets, stoves, extractor hoods, and refrigerators.

These Photographs Capture the Opulent Beauty of Empty Moscow Metro Stations

Known as one of the world’s grandest subway systems, the Moscow Metro is filled with materials more commonly associated with palaces or museums – marble and granite walls, bronze columns, and lavish chandeliers are just a few of the opulent textures you’ll find beneath the streets of Russia’s largest city.

Despite their renown, the Moscow government almost never allows professional photographers to capture the beauty of the stations. But in 2014, photographer David Burdney was finally given that opportunity. Visiting the system late at night after the metro had closed, Burdney was able to capture each station in its best light, and completely devoid of people.

20 Things Your Non-Architect Friends Secretly Think About You

Maybe it's a result of long studio hours, the fact that architectural thinking tends to seep into every aspect of life, or a combination of other factors—but it's certain that architects have a culture all their own. Weird obsessions feel so commonplace in our closed social circles that it's easy to forget how bizarre some of our little quirks can appear to people on the outside. If you're an architect with a friend whose architectural knowledge pretty much stops at the Franks (Gehry and Lloyd Wright), here are some secret thoughts about you that they might be harboring.

This Rope Reinforcement System is an Innovation in the Structure of Adobe Buildings

In the city of Belén, Chile, as a part of the second phase of a Training Program for the Restoration of Facades in Belén, two historically important structures were recently completely restored. The project was financed by the Regional Government of Arica and Parinacota and SUBDERE (Undersecretariat of Regional and Administrative Development), in partnership with the Altiplano Foundation.

In both houses, the foundations and, where necessary, the walls were reinforced, and the traditional Andean roof and existing carpentry was restored. Notably, the structural reinforcement of the adobe walls used a rope mesh system, which was first seen in Chile in 2014 as part of the restoration of a church in San Pedro de Atacama.

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Sinks, Toilets, Shower Heads and Faucets: Downloadable Bathroom CAD Blocks

In order to support the design work of our readers, the company Porcelanosa Grupo has shared with us a series of .DWG files of its various bathroom products. The files include both 2D and 3D drawings and can be downloaded directly from this article.

Download the objects below, which have been separated into the following categories: Shower Heads, Toilets, Sinks, Faucets and Tubs.

15 Metal Fittings for Connecting Laminated Wooden Structures

When designing wooden structures, it’s very important to consider joints and reinforcements that will allow them to stay together and upright. These connectors not only allow for adhering wood to wood but also let you anchor wood elements to brick and concrete walls. 

With such a variety of pieces needing to be connected together (beam-beam / beam-pillar / beam-strut / beam-wall / base-frames), working with hardware requires the advice of a calculating engineer or a professional with knowledge and experience. To guide you in this process, we have selected 15 metal fittings specially designed by Arauco to connect wood pieces.

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Free Resume Templates for Architects

What's a better way to follow up on one of our most popular posts (of all time) than by providing a key design tool: the mighty template. Many of you enjoyed seeing the examples of CVs and resumes submitted by ArchDaily readers, but you also asked for a simple, fast way to jump start inspiration for your own creations.

Here are five hand-picked, well-organized, easy-to-use templates that have been downloaded and tested by our team of editors. 

Modular Units Create a Raised Garden Screen in this Structure in Spain

This project, by Spanish architects Longo + Roldán, turned out to be a great solution for an unused space that was unexpectedly getting a lot of attention in the interior of a quarry.

Instead of building new buildings or remodeling existing cabins they designed an intricate metal lattice structure that forms a web of planters of different depths, containing various species of plants. This solution not only revitalizes the space but also protects existing buildings from the sun, improving their thermal conditions.

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14 Shades of Red: Projects to Fall in Love With on Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day!

We've affectionately rounded up 14 projects that use the power of the color most associated to love, passion, joy, sexuality and intensity: red

These Watercolors Capture the Unsung Architecture of Tokyo's Eclectic Storefronts

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© Mateusz Urbanowicz

A renowned symbol of the modern world, Tokyo is a city commonly associated with bright lights, innovative technology and sleek buildings. So when Polish artist Mateusz Urbanowicz first moved to Tokyo, he was taken aback by the number of old, architecturally eclectic storefronts that continued to flourish within the city.

“When I moved to Tokyo, more than 3 years ago I was really surprised that upon my walks I encountered so many shops still in business in really old buildings,” Urbanowicz explains. “Differently to Kobe, where the earthquake wiped out a lot of these old downtown houses and shops, in Tokyo they still survive.”

Inspired by the buildings’ resilience and their unique architectural features, Urbanowicz set out to document the storefronts in a series of watercolor illustrations, capturing the process through making-of videos.

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Why We're Removing Our Comments Section

In both of ArchDaily's last two major website redesigns, one idea was central to our thinking: Mies van der Rohe's aphorism "less is more." These redesigns added new features, sure - but more importantly, they identified extraneous features on the site and removed them. Today, on February 9th 2017, we are removing one more feature that we no longer believe to be necessary on ArchDaily: comments on certain articles.

All comments previously left on our articles will still be visible, preserving the many positive contributions left by our readers over the years. But from today, we will be gradually shifting the discussion to social media, leaving comments open only on News and Editorial articles while the option to comment on Projects, Events, Competitions and Publications articles will be removed. Instead, we encourage readers to take part in the discussions happening on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, or to get in touch through our contact form for direct feedback or substantive comments about our articles. Read on to understand the reasons behind our decision.

10 Brilliant Tiny Houses that are Revolutionizing Micro-Living

Inspired by the increasingly popular micro house trend, these 10 project designs came about for various reasons. In addition to being a cheaper option when compared to larger homes – both for construction and in maintenance – they are an ideal solution for people who want to reduce their material possessions and the space they occupy. Tiny houses have evolved far beyond cramped quarters into a custom being adopted both as a viable alternative to the unaffordability of housing and a source of freedom.  

These selected houses, each under 40 square meters, serve as perfect examples of innovative designs that provide a simpler life, while fostering social interaction between people and dialogue with their environment.

Check out the 10 examples below.

EGGER is Enabling a New Level of Inspiration

EGGERs innovative, idea-sparking 9-Grid system and how it boosts Interior Designers’ creativity.

The Architectural Stories Behind 7 Famous Album Covers

The Architectural Stories Behind 7 Famous Album Covers - Arts & Architecture
Image via amazon.com

The production of creative work often requires a very particular type of space—a temple, if you will, to the work being done. Architects and artists are open about how their living and working areas affect their practice, and musicians, of course, are no different. Perhaps this is why places and spaces are often featured on album covers. The art on an album cover is partially advertising, but it is also often a visual symbol of an entire period in the life of a musician. An album's cover artwork may depict the view a band saw coming into the studio every day, the building the album was recorded in, the city the musician grew up in, or myriad other more abstract connections. We will leave it to you to make sense of the connection between the 7 architectural landmarks featured on the following albums and the music their images envelop, but the stories behind the constructions themselves may help you make a more educated guess.

SCI-Arc’s New Undergraduate Curriculum Radically Rethinks Conventional Educational Models

SCI-Arc, one of the few remaining schools whose undergraduate program culminates in a thesis project, asks students to locate their position within the discipline, theorize a problem around that position, create a project that tests their theory, and ultimately to present and defend that position to an audience of future peers and professionals. It’s a cathartic endeavor that is to some degree fraught with anxiety, as defining a position and speculating on the future of the discipline can be a rather daunting endeavor.

10 Project Details That Show How to Make Stunning Storage Spaces

One of the hallmarks of architectural sensibility is a clean, clutter-free space – "a place for everything and everything in its place." Every project requires some element where things can be neatly stored away, whether it be books, kitchen appliances, or entire furniture pieces. Solutions for these storage needs can range from invisible and out of the way, to stunning, textural centerpieces – either way adding necessary functionality to our most-used spaces.

Check out this selection of ten brilliant storage spaces.

10 Architecture Offices with Inspiring Workspaces

The spaces in which great architecture firms produce their work are a source of endless curiosity for architects. By understanding these workspaces, architects hope to understand the environment in which their favorite ideas and drawings are shaped, and gain a more intimate understanding of their favorite practices. For this reason, we have searched our archives for the architectural offices that have previously been published on our website. Among our selection are international names such as MVRDV and Selgas Cano alongside other offices which, though not so well known, also demonstrate how your workspace can be a source of inspiration for design.

See the offices after the break. 

13 Stunning Inner Courtyards

We would like to take a second to focus on the wonderful, yet often overlooked, inner courtyard. The inner courtyard is essentially a "contained outside space" made up of transparent walls, and a well thought-out drainage system is a must. Other elements such as furnishings, decks, vegetation, stairs, water are then added, complicating the space created. The inner courtyard also plays a role in the building's layout; in most cases it functions as the central point from which the other rooms and functions of the project are organized, giving them air and light when the façade openings are not enough.

Here is our selection of 13 stunning inner courtyards of houses and buildings that we have previously published on our site.

A Selection of Name-Based Architecture Memes

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The world of architecture can be a serious place. Though the rest of the world holds quite a few stereotypes about architects, unfortunately none of them include us having a sense of humor—and perhaps that seriousness explains why one of the most popular memes involving architects isn't exactly favorable to the profession. Here at ArchDaily we thought we'd do just a little to correct that with some memes riffing on some of the profession's most beloved names—as our gift to the entire architectural profession. Read on to see what we've come up with, and don't forget to get involved with your own architecture funnies.

The Best Architecture Drawings of 2016

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Designing and building a project is a challenge in itself. However, once the project is complete there are also challenges in expressing the project so that it can be understood by a new audience. This is especially true in digital media, where online readers don't necessarily spend the same time reading an article as in print media. Drawings and all new forms of visual representation – such as animated Gifs – play an important role in the project's understanding. 

At ArchDaily we push ourselves as editors to look for the best drawings from the architects that work with us. We are constantly looking to get the best out of the projects we receive to share with the world and deliver knowledge and inspiration to millions of people. The drawings we have chosen are not only visually entertaining but they serve as a way of educating and learning fundamental architectural representations.

Regardless if they are digital or hand-drawn, all the architectural drawings we have selected this year have a sensitive expression, whether it be artistic, technical or conceptual, and they all aim to express and explain the project using simplicity, detail, textures, 3D and color as main tools. 

This year we want to highlight a selection of 90 drawings arranged under eight categories: Architectural Drawings, Axonometrics, Context, Diagrams, Sketches, Animated Gifs, Details and Other Techniques.

10 Beautiful Brazilian Apartment Interiors

From Oscar Niemeyer's iconic Edifício Copan to Lina Bo Bardi's influential glass house, Brazil has long been notable for its residential architecture. Part of that success has been driven by the strength of Brazilian interiors, as many of the country's designers have an astute understanding of and appreciation for materials. Many designs sensitively fuse both rough, raw elements with luxurious details—an approach that is can be cleverly adjusted to suit a wide variety of clients and budgets. Here we showcase ten projects, published on both ArchDaily and ArchDaily Brasil, that respond to the needs of different clients and different ways of living to provide a cross-section of interior architecture in Brazil.

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Below are the 10 selected projects. 

This Architect Fuses Art and Science by Hand Illustrating the Golden Ratio

Rafael Araujo is a Venezuelan architect and illustrator who at the age of fifteen began to observe intelligent patterns in nature, giving rise to his interest in the golden ratio located in our natural environment.

More than 40 years later, the results of this hobby is a collection of beautiful illustrations of nature made entirely by hand, equipped with a pencil, a compass, a ruler and a protractor.

The artist's illustrations give his ability to represent the mathematical brilliance of the natural world, inciting the reunion of humans with nature.

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How the Crystal Cathedral Is Adapting for a New Life Out of the Spotlight

When the Crystal Cathedral was constructed near Los Angeles in 1980, its design was pure Hollywood: designed by Philip Johnson and John Burgee for televangelist star Robert Schuller, the design combined traditional elements of church design with features that made it suitable for television broadcasts. However, when Crystal Cathedral Ministries filed for bankruptcy in 2010, the building was passed to a very different tenant, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange, who then commissioned Los Angeles-based firm Johnson Fain to adapt the building to be a better fit for the Catholic Church.

A recent article by Mimi Zeiger for Architect Magazine investigates how Johnson Fain are converting the 1980 classic into something more suitable for its new life out of the spotlight—including modulating the light within the vast all-glass structure and rearranging the seating.

The Totora Cube Investigates the Techniques of Incan-Era Craftsmanship

Developed by the architects of the "think-act tank" Archquid, in connection with the indigenous community and other institutions of the parish of San Rafael de la Laguna (Otavalo, Ecuador), this project revolves around the material research of the totora plant, a subspecies of the giant bulrush sedge. The Totora Cube project deepens the understanding of the art and craft with which these fibers have been used since pre-Inca times.

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