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Today, ArchDaily is celebrating its seventh birthday (check out our letter to our readers and our infographic "7 Years of ArchDaily"). Our seventh birthday is a chance to reflect on our story, and to thank the readers that have helped to shape our course over the years, but of course there is one more ingredient that has helped to make us the world's most visited architecture website: great projects from talented designers all over the world. In fact as of press time, we have published 15,942 projects in total, an astonishing number that demonstrates the sheer quantity of architects out there working for a better world.

Which of these thousands of projects have had the biggest impact on you, our readers? Join us after the break as we look back at seven buildings that rose above the fray to become the most-viewed project in each of our seven years.

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Speaking to the Portuguese communication agency Lusa, Álvaro Siza Vieira, winner of the 2015 Building of the Year Awards' office category, stated that the international award is a "strong incentive" to continue working in the architectural field.

Siza's awarded building – named The Building on the Water – is located in Huai'na, Jiangsu Province (China), and was designed together with Portuguese architect Carlos Castanheira for the company Shihlien Chemical Industrial Jiangsu Co.

Showing gratitude for the acknowledgement, Siza highlighted that the building process went as planned, without any drawbacks, and client Mr. Por-Shih Lin contributed a lot with the project. "I use to say the building's owner is the first architect and without his effort it's nearly impossible to get satisfying results," said Siza, the first Portuguese Pritzker laureate. 

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What is the draw of the aerial view? Whereas architects and designers often find solace in this particular spatial perspective there is a more inclusive, universal appeal to this way of seeing. The ease of access to online mapping services has increased our collective reliance on understanding our world from above.

Maps condense the planet into a little world inside our pocket, the commodification of which has universalised the ‘plan-view’ photograph. The question of whether or not their ubiquitous availability, having now been assimilated into our collective consciousness, is a positive step for the status of the plan is a discussion ongoing. Yet, in the face of this dilemma, architectural photographers are pushing the boundaries of drone technology in order to find new meaning.

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