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From the beginning of time, human beings have gathered around the fire. The first settlements and huts included in their interior a small bonfire to cook and maintain the heat of its inhabitants. This tradition has continued to the present, and chimneys and fireplaces have developed into the most varied designs and forms, providing possibilities both inside and outside a home.

To give you ideas for materials, structures, and spatial configurations, we present 35 remarkable meeting places around the fire.

Landscape architecture is responsible for the transformation and resignification of the landscape, either by enriching architecture or by bringing forth the history of the site. As with buildings, when we design with vegetation it allows us to work a series of stimuli, qualities, and functions.  

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Guardrails and handrails are two elements that are often confused. While the first is used to close a space and prevent a person from falling, the second is a support bar for balance. Normally standard solutions are used for both elements, but with an attractive design, they can become standout details in a project.

For inspiration on materials, structures, and details of guardrails and handrails, here are 17 notable examples.

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Are you a cat or dog lover? At ArchDaily we know that you're as big an animal lover as we are. They inspire us, keep us company, and in the case of architectural photography, give us an idea of a structure's scale. We previously made a collection of photographs starring cats and architecture, and we could never forget our dog-loving readers. We bring you a collection of photographs where dogs take center stage.

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Constructing places of worship has always been an intricate practice, managing to detach the human, and release the boundary between body, mind, and spirit. Holy presence has been crucial in designing and constructing sacred places, which is why almost all religious building possessed similar characteristics: grandiosity, monolithic material, natural elements, and a plan that compliments an individual’s circulation through the space. Contemporary religious structures, however, found a way to adapt to the evolution of architecture. Unlike the Gothic or Baroque periods, modern-day architecture does not have a dominant identity. It is, in fact, a combination of postmodernism, futurism, minimalism, and everything in between. Architects have found a way to transform these exclusive, religion-devoted places into structures of spirituality, manifestation, and fascination.

Here is a selection of contemporary religious buildings that prove once again that architects are breaking all boundaries of creativity.

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There is nothing more rational than taking advantage of natural lighting as a guarantee to improve the spatial quality of buildings, as well as saving energy. The awareness of the finitude of natural resources and the demands for reducing energy consumption has increasingly diminished the prominence of artificial lighting systems, forcing architects to seek more efficient design solutions. With this goal in mind, different operations have been adopted to capture natural light.

These systems can also guarantee excellent spatial properties if projected correctly. Below we have gathered five essential systems for zenithal lighting.

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The office of Peter Zumthor has been selected to design an expansion to the Beyeler Foundation, located just outside Zumthor’s childhood home of Basel, Switzerland. The Swiss architect was chosen from a prestigious shortlist of 11 firms to add to the existing museum building, designed by Renzo Piano Building Workshop and completed in 1997.

“The sky above Basel, the city and its surroundings–those are the landscapes of my youth,” said Zumthor. “It is heart-warming to be able to design a major building here.”

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Videos

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Videos

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