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Novotown

Located in the heart of the Hengqin Island in Zhuhai, China, and is just five minutes away from Macau, the project is positioned as both a tourist destination and a cultural/creative incubator for Southeast Asia. This mixed-use development features a retail ring which seamlessly links different experiences together while embracing a massive courtyard garden – the Heart of China Garden. At the podium level, a 120,000-square-metre cultural and entertainment complex features a shopping mall, a multi-purpose hall, a wedding pavilion, a healthcare and beauty cultural center and two indoor themed attractions – the Lionsgate Entertainment World and the National Geographic Ultimate Explorer.

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We live in times of great technological advances, where mobile and digital communication connects us with anyone, anywhere, anytime, and all the information we need is always at hand. Our aspiration to develop new technologies has greatly changed the socio-spatial relations of people, the physical and digital world merged together and became an integral part of each other.

People spend a great deal of time in the workplace and are always connected to work through digital means. As a result, we witness a gradual increase in the number of independent specialists and employees switching to a remote mode of work. The boundaries between work and living space have become blurred. The traditional office as we know it was starting to decline. But the COVID-19 pandemic radically accelerated this event.

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Photoshop Architectural Rendering is a necessary rite of passage for all architects. It’s the best tool for creating and editing images, hands down. But to an architect just starting out, it can be hard to navigate. What makes the task even more daunting are the hours upon hours of photoshop tutorials on the internet. Some of them might contain pertinent information, while others might not. Since everyone is using Adobe Photoshop, from graphic designers and photo retouchers to architects, it’s hard to find focused photoshop tutorials. Luckily, we’ve compiled all the essential tips and tutorials that every young architect needs to know to make the most of this multipurpose photo-editing application.

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Russia Tower | Foster and Partners

Russia Tower

Located in Moscow City, 5.5 km from Red Square, Russia Tower will be a mixed-use, super-dense vertical city for 25,000 people, with offices, a hotel, shopping and apartments with private gardens. At 600 meters high, with 118 occupied floors, it will be the tallest naturally ventilated tower in the world and one of the greenest new buildings in Europe. Continuing themes first explored in the Tokyo Millennium Tower, the project extends the practice’s investigation into the nature of the tall building, taking structural, functional, environmental and urban logic to a new level.

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Located at the corner of Spear and Folsom, MIRA offers creative design, distinctive layouts, and expansive views. MIRA features a twisting façade and luxury condominium homes that are fresh and forward-thinking, offering residents an opportunity to own a part of an architecturally iconic building in San Francisco. Developed by Tishman Speyer, MIRA is their latest in a series of high-quality condominium properties where SoMa meets the Embarcadero. This inspired community will include a 40-floor luxury tower of residences topped by a Panorama Collection of penthouse homes offering stunning views and expansive floor plans.

Mira has 392 apartment units as two- and three-bedroom condominiums. In the photos, apartments have white walls, wood floors, white counters and dark wood kitchen cabinets and bathroom vanities.

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Songjiang Hotel Building – Intercontinental Shanghai Wonderland | Atkins

Intercontinental Shanghai Wonderland by Atkins: Without a doubt, the biggest changes to our world as we enter a new, modern era is the distinct respect for our environment. Long gone are days of reckless industrialism as we wash out pollutants and usher in conservation. To the eyes of an ordinary person, the aesthetics are welcomed but often disregard their efficiency in greener energy solutions. It is this that challenges many Post-21st Century Architects.

Songjiang Hotel Building – Intercontinental Shanghai Wonderland:

Designed by Atkins architecture firm is a big player in the revolution of architecture, especially in Shanghai, China. Atkins won the international competition to design this five-star resort hotel. Beset upon a magnificent quarry, shouldered by abundant waters; it is an intricate, yet the careful project that means to crush any doubt that a safe investment in greener buildings can often yield a sound structural design of aesthetics.

Jutting from its lush, beautiful greenery, the Songjiang stands impressively above cliffs and rugged rock forms. Its design incorporates over 400-bed layouts, capable of holding up to 1,000 guests with on suite banquets, restaurants, and amenities, all while showing a clear respect for its environment. Backed by a sustainability program, the intercontinental Shanghai wonderland hotel emits high energy levels at low cost, featuring eco-friendly roofing and geothermal resource.

Shocking is a word best used for its “pseudo-waterfall” design, an imaginative layout of glass. The intercontinental Shanghai wonderland hotel sits nestled between an amazing backdrop of resources, water not only used as energy but as an immediate line drawn to the culturally respective while taking the users breath away with long lasting memories of a hotel that shaped the future. A true respect is shown in this project for the ecological design that makes not only the concept beautiful but the end results pleasing as well.

Find more: Intercontinental Shanghai Wonderland

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Cities in Europe Re-imagined by the Hands of This Illustrator

Nowadays, everyone documents their trips by taking a photo. And Why wouldn’t they? A picture, as they say, speaks a thousand words. Artist Maxwell Tilse, on the other hand, chooses to take a different path. Traveling across several cities in Europe, Tilse chooses to illustrate these cities on postcards. The 23-year-old Australian artist currently lives in London, but he’s taking it upon himself to create intricate illustrations of all the cities from his travels. In an age where everything has become digital, Tilse presents a refreshing view of his surroundings.

A Comic Diary of Cities in Europe:

Tilse’s comic diary is a way for him to capture the famous landmarks he encounters on his travels. So far, the Australian artist has been to the following Countries & Cities in Europe:  Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Spain, and Denmark. But he also makes a point to display drawings of where he currently resides with a colorful depiction of Big Ben.  Fleshing out these drawings is somewhat of a two-part process with Tilse.

The Two-Part Process

Although the illustrations appear to be drawn on the spot, the artist actually puts some considerable effort to get these landmarks onto paper. First, Tilse begins by hand-drawing the area outside. He begins his illustrations in pencil and finishes by adding those little touches that really give shape and character to his drawings.  If the image needs color, Tilse likely paints with watercolor and waits for it to dry before outlining with black ink. “On my current trip, I’ve mostly done quick pencil sketches outside. Then, I’ll find a warm cozy place to finish the drawing with a hot meal and a cold beer. Here are a few of my latest postcard sketches” the artist tells Bored Panda.

At the moment, Tilse displays his artwork on Instagram which is definitely worth checking out if only to keep an eye out on where he is going next! If you found Tilse’s illustrations impressive check out how this: Architecture Student Revives the Magic of Architectural Hand Sketching Through These Marvelous Sketches.

Find more: Cities in Europe

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Gateway Arch Museum | Cooper Robertson

Located at the base of the iconic Gateway Arch designed by Eero Saarinen, is the majestic underground Gateway Arch museum. The international competition, The City + The Arch + The River 2015, was won by Cooper Robertsonalong with  James Carpenter Design Associates and Trivers Association. The winning design looked to expand and renovate the underground museum, which needed more visibility and a contemporary makeover.

The Expansion of the Gateway Arch Museum:

The expansion adds an area of 47,000 square feet to the west of the current museum, creating a space for new museum area and around 100,000 square feet of reconfigured galleries, public amenities, and educational facilities. The $380 million projects are taking over a land that was previously occupied by the Museum of Westward Expansion. An exterior plaza that slightly slopes towards the museum integrates with ramps that lead the way inside.  The interior spaces have been demolished and reconfigured to encompass new galleries, public amenities, and staff offices. However, the original architectural elements are preserved with their distinctive character and are highlighted with the help of lighting and other interior interventions.

The designers have added a new lobby to the museum, which doubles up as a visitor center. They have also designed a Great Hall with elements that introduce the visitors to the various themes in the gallery. The museum’s design is integrated into the surrounding National Register-listed landscape, fully respecting the design of  Dan Kiley’s Park. The new stainless steel and glass entrance is a hat-tip to the Arch’s materiality and form. Visitors enter the building through the landscape, and not by going underground. When they enter, the Great Hall comes to view with its monumentally scaled exhibits and animated elements.

Cooper Robertson’s design, for the Museum expansion, renovation, and exhibits, follows the code of Universal design i.e equal or equivalent means of use for all visitors and staff. The design exceeds the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act and creates a comfortable environment that is simple and intuitive. It reduces the physical barriers and enhances the experience of the users, encouraging them to visit the museum more frequently.

The project is targetting the LEED Gold certification with is sustainable features. The Arch, museum, and park connect visitors to downtown St Louis and the metro station, thus encouraging them to use public transport instead of private automobiles. Also, 98.5% of the museum’s room is covered by vegetation, which helps reduce the heat island effect. Moreover, the energy consumption is further reduced and a higher level of thermal efficiency is achieved by locating the Visitors Center under the landscape. Low-flow water fixtures have also been introduced to reduce the use of potable water by 31%, and highly efficient LED lights with a high life cycle have been selected for lighting purposes. Add to that the expansion reuses and reorganizes the original facility’s already existing spaces, to begin with. “The Gateway Arch Museum reflects a fundamental shift in the public sector and the design community, where greater equity and inclusivity in our public buildings is seen as a valuable goal,” said Scott Newman, a partner at Cooper Robertson.

Find more: Gateway Arch

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15 simple tips to easily improve your SketchUp skills

SketchUp has been one of the best -known 3D modeling programs in the world of design. Its intuitive working tools, open source libraries, and innumerable plugins make SketchUp easy to use. Often, it is used to engage children with architecture.

Its user-friendly interface makes it a great application for beginners. It contains an array of functions and is capable of producing complex results for students and senior partners alike, in an efficient and prominent manner. here: 50+ SketchUp Models of Construction Details for free download Here are 17 useful tips to make you the best SketchUp user of your office.

SketchUp Tips:

1. 3D Warehouse

3D warehouse comes with Sketchup as a platform to promote the 3D modeling designs. With a massive gallery of free 3D models designed by other users, you have the option of choosing the right design for your project. This even helps you avoid increasing your file size – as you don’t need to add lines, layers, and materials.

2. Geo-locate

Sketchup allows you to geolocate your model – accessible from Window> Model Information>Geolocation>Add location/ Define location manually. This is especially important as the conceptualization of a project requires the reallocation. Moreover, the shadows cast by the project varies as you move the project from one location to another.

3. Extension Warehouse

Users of Sketchup have developed a variety of plugins – not only to solve problems in the software but also to exploit the potential of existing tools. Solar North is an extension that provides tools to set the orientation for shadows and angle of sunlight. Extensions like Curviloft generate parameterized volumes when selecting a series of curves.

4. Customize your Toolbar

A work environment customized to your needs and preferences will help you execute tasks efficiently.  It takes a considerable amount of time to organize your toolbar, but it helps out a lot. The end result is worth the time is taken as it offers you a better environment to design and detail.

5. Group It

Using a group is extremely beneficial if you have to make changes to your model later in time. Organizing parts of the model into groups allows you to alter one part of your model without affecting the faces and lines attached to it. Click on the surfaces/lines/figures, right-click>create a group. Double-click the group to easily edit it.

6. Layers – but not too many

Use layers to perform work smoothly. If you are importing other models or CAD files into SketchUp, there might be innumerable new layers added from them. If you choose to delete any layers, be careful – they might be from the CAD file or other models. Hide the layers you are not using (Windows>Layers) to hide the parts of the model you are not currently using.

7. Reference Points

Reference points come in handy when you are creating or duplicating elements. Using points, objects or reference guides while copying objects will make it precise and accurate. Select the object, choose a reference point in space and press the Ctrl key.

8. Shortcuts

Keyboard shortcuts, for any software, make you speedy and efficient in it. Sketchup has easy to remember keyboard shortcuts, but they can be customized (Windows>Preferences>Shortcuts). Read the different actions and variations (indicated on the lower left of the screen) of the key combinations

9. Visual Styles

The 3D modeling software has built-in graphic styles. You can use them to create artistic effects or to hide geometries. If you know what you want your model to represent, the visual styles can be chosen to resonate that. This tool has always stayed at the top in the designers’ preference list.

10. Scene Manager

Scene manager (Windows>Scene) allows you to create different camera angles or scenes. These help in communicating, understanding and animating the project. It is a useful precision tool to control the height of the camera in relation to the ground. Moreover, adding a scene to the scene manager allows you to have one viewpoint if you are presenting different interior layout options for one particular room. Similarly, it can be used for exterior facades of a project.

11. Save!

You can never rely on software and computers. SketchUp is not immune to crashes and “bug splats”. Moreover, there is nothing worse than losing hours of work because of an unexpected crash. Make sure you have Auto-save enabled and set to 5-minute intervals.

12. Axis and Arrow Keys

Sometimes when you are trying to move something or drawing a line, it becomes hard to get it to do so in the direction you want. Sketchup has one unique way of ensuring that you lock the axis you want to work in. Up arrow is blue axis, the right arrow is red axis and the left arrow is the green axis. By tapping them when you are doing something, locks it to that axis. If you tapped the wrong arrow, you can re-tap it to free the object or tap the arrow you were supposed to tap. You can also lock an axis by using the Shift key while aligned to an axis.

13. Complex Moves require multiple steps

If you are moving something “down, to the left and little towards the front”, it becomes easier to do it in multiple steps. First move it down, then move it to the left and finally, in front. Doing it in multiple separate steps will allow you to precisely position an object without having to align multiple axes at the same time.

14. Multiple Copies

First, select the object you want to copy. Then, use the Move tool to move it. Tap on the Ctrl button. This informs the software that you want to copy the original. If you specify a distance say 1000mm, it copies it to that distance. If you require multiple copies, equally spaced apart, just type the number of copies followed by an asterisk. For example, typing 10* and pressing enter would give ten copies each at 1000mm from the previous one. But, if you want 10 copies between the first and the last, within the 1000mm, type /10. This will create ten copies between the original two.

15. User Community

SketchUp has lots of communities to discuss all things SketchUp. These communities are locations for professional design advice, or to share and find Sketchup related things.

Find more: Sketchup

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This is How Google Doodles Celebrate Architects and Architecture

1998 was the year internet giant Google began manipulating their iconic logo in celebration of several national and international holidays. Since then,  Google Doodles have been celebrating the works of several famous figures, from actors and artists to political figures, and even architects and designers. We have selected some of our favorites below sorted by year. 

The Origin Story of Google Doodles:

The first Google doodle was in celebration of the Burning Man Festival.  At the time, designers Larry Page and Sergey Brin were planning on attending the festival. Thus, by adding the burning man logo behind the second “O” in Google the designers could attend the event. It also allowed them to warn users that they would be absent, in case of the servers crashing. Since that fateful day, Google has been using Google Doodles to celebrate important people and moments in history. The Doodles did not usually have hyperlinks or animations in the beginning, but with time this became the norm. Until today, there are over 2000 local and International Doodles appearing on Google’s homepage periodically.

2005 

June 8th – 138th Birthday of Frank Lloyd Wright

2008 

May 17th – 125th Birthday of Walter Gropius 

October 30th – 35th Anniversary of Sydney Opera House Opening

2009

November 17th – 105th Birthday of Isamu Noguchi

2010

September 4th – 5th Anniversary of the Bucky Ball

2011

July 12th – 450th Anniversary of St. Basil’s Cathedral

August 4th – 102nd Birthday of Robert Burle Marx.

December 15th – 83rd Birthday of Friedensreich Hundertwasser

2012

March 27th – 126th Birthday of Mies Van der Rohe

April 18th – 75th Birthday of Jan Kaplicky

April 21st – Anniversary of Brasilia

May 27th – Anniversary of the Golden Gate Bridge

2013

January 9th – 150th Anniversary of the Tube

April 3rd – 150th Birthday of Henry van de Velde

May 20th – 125th Anniversary of the Exposición Universal de Barcelona

June 25th – 161st Birthday of Antoni Gaudi

September 4th – 100th Birthday of Kenzo Tange

2014

January 15th – 255th Anniversary of the British Museum

January 27th – 200th Birthday of Eugène Viollet-le-Duc

August 6th – 94th Birthday of Anna Castelli Ferrieri

October 20th – 382nd Birthday of Christopher Wren

2015

March 31st – 126th Anniversary of the Public Opening of the Eiffel Tower

August 5th – 101st Anniversary of the First Electrical Traffic Signal

2016

January 19th – 127th Birthday of Sophie Taeuber-Arp 

March 4th – 42nd Anniversary of Rio-Niteroi Bridge opening

May 4th – 100th Birthday of Jane Jacobs

May 31st – First Female Pritzker Prize Winner Zaha Hadid

Find more: Google Doodle

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Check Out the Domino Sugar Factory Park After Completion

Dominated by New York’s Iconic Domino Sugar Factory, Brooklyn’s waterfront has been renovated through the introduction of a new public park.  The US architectural landscape firm, James Corner Field Operations delivered a design inspired by the site’s rich history and the community. The project aims to build interest in the history of the site while reconnecting New Yorkers to the East River waterfront.

Offering a view of Manhattan’s skyline and bridge, a 1,200-foot-long esplanade runs along the river connecting all public spaces. Activities featured within these open spaces are distributed based on their categorization as either “Active” or “Passive”.  Moreover, the whole park is raised above FEMA’s flood elevations, protecting it from possible future flooding.

The Northern Side of The Domino Sugar Factory Park:

On the northern end, passive activities include the Artifact Walk which capitalizes on both the site’s history and the value of the Sugar Refinery Building. The Walk also features salvaged machinery and items from the refinery, including 30 pieces of salvaged factory machinery, 21 original columns from the Raw Sugar Warehouse, 585 feet of crane tracks, and four 36-foot-tall tanks that were once used to collect syrup during the refining process. Leading to the Artifact Walk is a passive recreation park which comprises a number of passive activities: picnic areas, a sloping lawn, food kiosks, a Japanese pine garden, an urban beach, and a play space inspired by the sugar refining process.

The Southern Side of The Domino Sugar Factory Park:

On the other hand, the southern side of the park houses a variety of active amenities, which includes a dog run, flexible sports fields, a volleyball court, and two Bocce Ball Courts. Finally, there is the center which features five separate gathering spaces and includes the syrup tank garden, a recessed area with steps for river-viewing, a four-tiered seating area, and a central water feature. The park has been open to the public since June 2018. While it is owned by Two Trees, it is subject to the New York City Parks Department’s maintenance standards. With a platform of dotted by factory artifacts, an industrial style playground, and long-dormant cranes painted in seafoam green, the reference to the site’s industrial past is hard to miss.

Find more: Sugar Factory

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Kitchen design by Caroline Kincheski

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Legacy of the Grand Rapids Celebrated by the Unique Harvest Dome

A giant dome, made from seatbelts and mirrors bobs up and down the Grand River in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Amanda Schachter and Alexander Levi—the husband and wife team of SLO Architecture, built the Harvest Dome 3.0.

SLO Architecture’s series of Harvest Domes are made from locally sourced and repurposed materials. The previous buoyant installation, dubbed Harvest Dome 2.0, was released in New York City waters in 2013. It had a 24-foot-diameter, and it was made out of 450 reclaimed umbrellas floating over 128 soda bottles. The purpose of the Harvest Dome 2.0 was to reveal the recurring cycle of tides at the northern tip of Manhattan.

The Materials of The Harvest Dome  in Grand Rapids, Michigan:

The Harvest Dome 3.0, on the other hands, is made of materials sourced from the Grand Rapids industry—seatbelts, rearview mirrors, and soda bottles. The massive dome-shaped installation celebrates the heritage of the riparian city as well as the legacy of the city’s manufacturing industry. The dome measures 20 feet in diameter and is made of 128 two-liter soda bottles and brightly colored seatbelts. Designed to draw attention to the Grand River, the Harvest Dome 3.0 is sometimes called a work of “performance architecture”.

“While the river’s energy propelled Grand Rapids to become a center for logging, furniture fabrication and automotive industries, the possibility of the river also engendered changes to landscape ecology, leading to flooding and contamination,” revealed the architects about their latest project. “The transcendent abstract form of Harvest Dome 3.0 emerges from a flotsam of accumulated materials, its bright blue seatbelt lines and sky-and-water-reflecting rearview mirrors shimmering like a bubble coming up from the surging rapids, transfiguring the river’s power and possibility.“

Their work links architectural design with urban design and art. It brings together people from different industries and from different realms of life. Local practitioners, public officials, youth, and many others come together to create these installations that make the local citizens sit up and demand action. SLO, with its public projects, wants to reforge the links between the natural ecosystems while amplifying the environment-related social and artistical ambitions of the neighborhoods. They seek to garner attention to improve the waterways that remain forgotten between the infrastructure, the industries, and the hustle and bustle of the city life.

Find more: Grand Rapids

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10 Tips for Creating a Winning Architecture Portfolio

The architecture portfolio is the greatest tool in the hands of a student or a professional architect to present themselves and their work to potential employers, clients or tutors. Whether to get architecture jobs with no experience, or want to build up your academic and professional career, there are some golden rules for organizing your work, present your skills and stand out from the crowd in the demanding field of architecture. Always keep in mind that the architecture portfolio is the reflection of your character, your attitude and your view of the world, so just be yourself and follow some simple tips to get the best out of it. Also, check for another strategies to develop your architecture career.

Architecture Portfolio Tips:

1. Listen to the audience

The first question you should ask yourself before starting organizing your architecture portfolio is “who is the audience?”. If you are applying for a position in an architectural firm, do some research online. Try to find out what is the field of their projects (landscape architecture, residence design, internal design) and adjust accordingly. Highlight the projects that are more relevant to theirs and focus on the ones that you think can add a new perspective to the firm. Show them that you have understood completely the role you are supposed to follow but you also have to offer a fresh and innovative point of view on design and architecture.

2. PDF or Online portfolio, Which one is better for you?

Although creating your architecture portfolio on an online template can be much easier and fast, PDF is the option to go. Sometimes servers crash, navigation in the site can be complicated and the recipient can easily become frustrated and move on to another applicant. PDF functions on every device, it can be easily downloaded and you don’t need internet access to read it. Moreover, you have complete control of the appearance and the formatting of your work and also an advantage of promoting your graphic design skills instead of using ready-made templates. Just make sure that your file size is no more than 5MB so that it can be sent with every mail service.

3. Create an appealing CV page

It is usually the first page of your portfolio so it has to make a good first impression. Choose a proper professional photo of yourself and stick only to the relevant and necessary information about your education and work experience. In this era of globalization with companies expanding their projects abroad, knowledge of foreign languages is highly appreciated, so don’t forget to mention them, as well as your computer skills concerning design and architectural programs that you can easily use. Being an architect is a combination of our personality, our gained knowledge through education and experiential processes in our everyday lives. If you are interested in photography, traveling or other hobbies in your free time, try to include them to give an overall view of your character and interests.

4. Select your best projects

Sometimes we fall into the trap of presenting every single project we have ever done, from the first year of architecture school to the last sketch, we made for a friend’s friend. This not only leads to endless portfolios that require valuable time to read but also shows a lack of self-evaluation. Take a moment and select up to 8-10 of your projects that reflect best your work and skills. If you have doubts about a project, its results, or you think it doesn’t suit the firm’s profile, leave it out. In case you want to focus on your evolution through the years, try not go back further than 5 years and make a wise selection as well.

5. Less is more

Keep your portfolio as simple and short as possible. Long presentations and texts tend to exhaust and confuse the reader and distract them from the main purpose: to create a brief image of your personality and skills in a short time. Usually, firms don’t spend more than 1 minute on each portfolio, so make sure that in this time they can get the best out of your work and experience. Give them a general idea of each project, some clues about the design problem, process and final solution, using minimal readable text accompanied with relevant pictures in high quality. The less they need to read to understand your ideas, the better. Instead of analyzing thoroughly every step of the design process, label the images with short comments that show your intentions followed by the visual content.

6. Include team projects, it’s important!\

Although a portfolio is a very personal presentation, it is important to show that you can work as well in teams. We all have participated in projects that require team work and interdisciplinary relationships. Being communicative, flexible and contributing to the team with a specific role given, is a highly appreciated skill in big firms and companies. All you have to do is name the project, give credits to the other partners and focus on the parts of the project that you completed on your own. Whether it is just a technical drawing or a solution to a functional problem, your personal contribution has to be highlighted as a valuable factor.

7. Pay attention to fonts and grammar

The text might be minimal and short but mistakes in spelling and grammar are easily spotted. Always use a spelling and grammar corrector before submitting your portfolio. Your designs and ideas might be great and innovative but a misspelled text looks unprofessional. Try not to overdo it with font styles, or you will lack consistency and order. Choose among 2-3 fonts (Comis Sans is forbidden!) and adjust sizes to emphasize where you need it. Variety is fine as long it does not compromise on clarity and legibility.

8. Use your drawing skills

Using technology in the design process is essential and always required in job positions. Renderings and 3D representations give us an overall view of the final result and a variety of options on materials and surfaces. However, being able to communicate through quick sketches and drawings is still a necessity. So, if you are good at sketching or model making by hand, don’t hesitate to include it in your portfolio. It shows your ability to understand basic concepts and ideas, communicate it to your colleagues in short notice and it also consists a medium of quick problem-solving competence.

9. Don’t be afraid of blank space

The presentation of your work is as much important as the content. Overloaded portfolios with images, texts and renderings are usually doomed to be ignored. It is preferable to have more pages with less content per page than use every inch of your page to fit everything in there. Keep your background clean and don’t use a distractive color that will take the attention from your projects. White or light gray is a good option to go. Try to maintain a consistent format with logical section breaks that will give your images the necessary space to “breathe”. Following a system and geometry throughout your portfolio will give a good impression for you as an architect. Imagine the design of your portfolio as an architectural synthesis: proportions, geometry, aesthetics and function are important factors of the design process. Always think quality, not quantity.

10. Update frequently

The portfolio is a living document and it should be evolving as the architects evolve with every new project and with the challenges they have to face in their professional field. A good option is to update it every six months or at least yearly. Waiting longer tends to allow for work or documentation to go missing. Keep your projects organized and be prepared for every job opportunity that you may come across.

Find more: Architecture Portfolio Examples

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David Cardelús photographs Antoni Gaudí’s El Capricho

David Cardelús is a Spanish architectural photographer who specialized in representing contemporary architecture for architectural firms and national and international publishing companies, has takes a series of photographs of El Capricho, that in 1883, Máximo Díaz de Quijano, an “Indiano” enriched in America, commissioned to Antoni Gaudí with what would be a summer villa near the palace of Sobrellano del Marqués in Comillas, Cantabria. Gaudi has several other works in Barcelona that one cannot miss if they happen to visit the Catalonian city.

Most of architect Antoni Gaudí‘s masterpieces are found in Catalonia, there is one precious gem that is located in northern Spain. El Capricho is an incredible villa that was built by Gaudí between 1883 and 1885 as the summer residence for a wealthy patron. Also known as the Villa Quijano, the vibrant building is a wonderful example of his early work.

El Capricho is a contemporary work to Casa Vicens (1883-1888), and both projects are Gaudí’s first buildings. These works are going to be fundamental in the evolution of the architect’s career, and essential for the study of his career. Both define the style of its first era, which is distinguished, as noted by L.E. Cirlot, by Mudejar, oriental and medieval influences. The construction of Capricho was directed by Cristóbal Cascante, friend and colleague of Gaudí’s promotion, at the same time that he was building the Vicens house in Barcelona.

The Interior by Antoni Gaudí:

The interior design responds mainly to the necessary program for a single person and with a recreational purpose, since it was a building intended as a holiday residence. It is distributed in three plants. Gaudí distributed the space based on the route of the sun, situating the rooms for morning activities to the south, and the evening ones to the west, while the summer ones are oriented to the north.

The exterior of the building is characterized by the use of stone in the lower part of the brick seen adorned with glazed ceramic strips representing sunflowers and leaves in the rest, and the superposition of the curved surface facing the straight. Finding harmony and balance within Antoni Gaudí’s strong color palette is a challenge, but Cardelús manages to show off the quality of the architect’s design while still embracing the environment. Through pulled back views and close-up details, the photographer allows us to see how Gaudí mixed different influences. El Capricho’s tower over the front portico, influenced by minarets, shows his Orientalist tendencies, while his incorporation of cast iron and colored tile are evidence of Art Nouveau trends.

Find more: Antoni Gaudí