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Ever enjoy swimming in fresh or salty blue water? Most people find much solace and self-renewal in immersing themselves in the natural world.

As the pioneering oceanographer, Sylvia Earle has said, “Without the blue, there could be no green.” The natural world can no longer be taken for granted as if there were no tomorrow. All relationships best blossom thanks to genuine giving and receiving of the best in life. This is how we ultimately find our true place in the world. Our planet is alive, intelligent, supportive, unconditionally and generously providing abundant life energy, resources, and beauty.  We, humans, are being called to align our actions with life-giving choices.

Author Rev. Michael Beckwith stated that “a challenge offers the opportunity of becoming.” Mary Huffington, founder of the Huffington Post, said: “In life, there are happiness chasers and happiness creators. Who do you choose to be?”

Russia’s history of mass housing development can be divided into several distinct periods, each manifested by its own specific type of residential building. These houses reveal what lifestyle, comfort level, construction cost and distinctive traits were considered preferable in any given decade. Every new stage saw its own experiments and had its achievements, which together can be regarded as a line of lessons, discoveries, and experiences, helping to understand a specific character of Russian standard housing.

Design visualization just keeps reaching new heights. While renderings remain a common part of design presentation, advances in technology have made new types of media not only possible but within the reach of even small teams and firms. These newer types of media require a change in workflow. Is it worth it?

The A’ Design Award was "born out of the desire to underline the best designs and well-designed products." It is an international award whose aim is to provide designers, architects, and innovators from all design fields with a platform to showcase their work and products to a global audience. This year's edition is now open for entries; designers can register their submissions here.

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Artfully dancing together to the beat of their own drum, the familiar look of the New York skyline has now been broken up by an eye-catching pair of skyscrapers on the banks of the East River. The dual copper-clad residential towers are reminiscent of a couple dancing, leaning back slightly and linked together by a bridge with a metallic reflecting finish half-way up the tower. The glass for the 100-meter-high skybridge for this extraordinary project was created by the Swiss specialists Glas Trösch which developed a complex, double-insulating glass with an internally laminated, metallic web to give a glossy finish.

The design of the American Copper Buildings overcame the challenges posed by development and zoning plans, which helped to determine the layout and architectural volumes. This makes the end result all the more impressive: New York firm SHoP Architects has created a distinctive building complex for developer JDS that stands out both in its material choice and shape—even in a city as architecturally distinctive as New York. The central design element is the Skybridge, which goes beyond a purely aesthetic function as it links the utilities of both towers and is integrated into the structure’s static design.

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Architects are always trying to be more efficient and adding more value for clients. But with most software, rendering is very time-consuming, impairing efficiency significantly. It is exhausting for designers when the process of visual processing uses energy that would be better invested in design and architecture itself.

With the Enscape plugin, real-time rendering and virtual reality can help to remedy this situation. The plugin integrates as a toolbar in the popular design platforms Rhino, Revit and SketchUp, with a version for Archicad also currently in development. Because the software is a plugin for these popular programs, architects do not need to learn to use new software, but work in their familiar system with some additional features. And since the software runs on the local graphics card, projects do not have to be uploaded to the cloud.

Getting around a city of millions is a miracle of design, engineering and cooperation. In conversation, on foot, by bus, train, bike and ferry, Van Alen’s weeklong Spring Festival this June invites participants to experience and consider the present and future of urban mobility.

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Architects from all over the world showcase their modern, innovative concepts with ceramic materials: nearly 600 projects from 44 countries had been submitted. The winners of the Wienerberger Brick Award 2018 impressed with bold and creative architectural concepts for sustainable and forward-looking living spaces.

The Wienerberger Brick Award provides architects from all over the world with an opportunity to showcase modern, innovative architecture with ceramic materials. It aims to inspire architects and people alike, to share design concepts and explore new ways of fulfilling built ideas. 2018 marks the eighth time that Wienerberger is presenting this internationally established award. Nearly 600 projects from 44 countries were submitted, this year with a particularly strong European focus.

108 hours of lessons, a 60-hour workshop and internships/lectures held by internationally-renowned architectural firms like Foster+Partners (London), Studio Libeskind (New York) Partisans (Toronto) Emmanuelle Moureaux Architecture+Design (Tokyo) Dejaco+Partner (Bolzano) Alberto Apostoli (Verona) Veneziano+Team (Milan) Matteo Thun & Partners (Milan).

A’ Design Award & Competition, the world’s largest and most diffuse international design awards, has announced results of their 2017–2018 design awards, featuring 1,962 Winners from 100 countries in 99 different design disciplines. Entries were evaluated by an internationally influential jury panel composed of established scholars, prominent press members, creative design professionals and experienced entrepreneurs who carefully analyzed each entry.

This year's winners add to the rich database of architectural inspiration already established by past iterations of the award that celebrate the latest trends in arts, architecture, and technology. The online gallery of winners is available here, as well as interviews with the winning designers.

Architecture for Landscape: YACademy’s high-level training course offers 8 scholarships, and internships in internationally-renowned architectural firms. 110 hours of lessons, a 60-hour workshop and internships/lectures in internationally-renowned architectural firms like Eduardo Souto de Moura, Jean Nouvel Design, Snøhetta, HHF, Duque Motta & AA, Stefano Boeri Architetti.

On May 18-19, the city of Kaliningrad, capital of the westernmost part of Russia, will host the Living Environment: All About Housing Forum. The Forum includes a business program and the Urban Weekend outdoor public festival.

Besides sessions and roundtables, the ambitious program of the event includes the shortlist presentation of the projects submitted for the Open International Competition of Architectural Concepts for Standard Housing and Residential Buildings. Architects and bureaus from 39 countries took part in this prestigious competition with their projects of innovative residential housing for future generations of Russians. The competition announces a remarkable prize fund: 20 finalists will receive 1 million roubles (about € 13 300) each, up to five winning projects will be awarded 2 million roubles (about € 26 600) each, and up to five runners-up will receive 1.5 million roubles (about € 19 900) each.

BI Group Architects Awards – is the first international competition for young professionals and graduates of architectural universities in Kazakhstan. The organizer is a large construction holding BI Group — the leader in the real estate market in Kazakhstan. The holding company has been working since 1995 and during this time has earned the reputation of a professional and reliable partner. The purpose of this competition is to develop a concept to draw and identify the most modern and progressive architectural and engineering solutions, as well as innovative technologies to solve acute social problems on the territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan, caused by a shortage of cultural facilities, educational and health facilities.

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Get designs out of your head and in front of your client. In the normal world, a building project starts with a client interview. Then you go back to the office to develop your design and build a proposal. Then you meet to sell your concept. Rinse. Repeat.

Wouldn’t it be great if you and the client could sit for an interactive design session? To do this, you would need a tool that acts like “digital clay”. You would need software that is so easy to use, and so responsive, that you could capture, sculpt and modify your concept freely.

YAC – Young Architects Competitions – and the Italian Government launch “Military Museum”, an architectural competition to re-purpose a breathtaking military fortress in Sardinia into an international hub dedicated to the military history. A cash prize of € 20,000 will be awarded to the winners selected by a well-renowned jury made of, among the others, Fuensanta Nieto (Nieto Sobejano), Rossana Hu (Neri&Hu), Todd Saunders (Saunders Architecture), Edoardo Tresoldi, Livia Tani (Ateliers Jean Nouvel)

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Making a design whole through its look and feel.

One thing is key when it comes to wood-based materials: Authenticity. In addition to how it looks, the feel of a surface is also important. The right texture gives a decor character and depth, as well as a natural appeal, brings it even closer to the real thing.

YAC – Young Architects Competitions – and the Municipality of Favignana, in cooperation with the Italian Government, launch “Art Prison”, an architectural competition to refurbish a breathtaking fortress on a scattered island in southern Sicily. A cash prize of € 20,000 will be awarded to the winners selected by an internationally-renowned featuring Daniel Libeskind (Studio Libeskind), Manuel Aires Mateus (Aires Mateus), Felix Perasso (Snøhetta), João Luís Carrilho da Graça (Carrilho da Graça Arquitectos).