During the past few months we have been working hard to upgrade our Materials catalog to improve search functionality and user experience. Today we are happy to launch the first of many improvements!

In some exceptional cases, an architect can be just as monumental as the buildings they design. Michael Graves, who passed away in March, certainly had a huge influence over the architecture of the late 20th century, with works ranging from the geometric icons of early post-modernism such as the Portland Building, to the slightly more staid Denver Central Library, to the outlandish kitsch of his Swan and Dolphin resorts for Disney. Though his death brought well-deserved attention to his work, it's just as important to remember Graves as a person, and the influence he had on people throughout his lifetime. As such, Metropolis Magazine has brought together a group of Graves' friends, colleagues and collaborators to remember Michael Graves.

The Metropolitan Regional Government of Santiago, Chile has launched a Two Stage International Public Competition for the development of the urban design and engineering of the urban axis Alameda Providencia. This axis is not only the main avenue of the city of Santiago de Chile, but is also considered to be the “heart of the metropolis” and the republic's most representative public space. The 12 km corridor integrates civic, symbolic and economic functions, represented by the highest concentration of retail, business and civic activities of the Metropolitan Region.

Based on the national relevance of this space, this competition not only aims to select the best team of professionals, but also the best comprehensive urban design, public space, landscape and urban mobility proposal, which considers the demands of the inhabitants of the city of Santiago for a better quality of life and the need for revitalized public spaces and public transport improvements. The Master Plan should take into account the surrounding buildings and natural heritage, land uses and existing and future social activities along this metropolitan axis.

The Conceptual Master Plan should consider that Santiago's Metropolitan Transit System is an open system. Therefore, the proposals should be functional for bus services entering or leaving at various points along its 12 kms and/or at its ends; that is, the infrastructure must allow for intermediate points where buses can enter and/or exit, in addition to at the ends. Due to this, bus courtyards are not required, yet spaces for frequency regulation are.

View competition details after the break.

UIC Barcelona School of Architecture has adapted to recent changes in the field of architecture to offer an education that provides an overarching perspective of the profession and the opportunity to learn a wide-range of skill sets. Learn more about what makes the school unique after the break.

Romanian photographer Laurian Ghinitoiu has shared his photos of the Expo Milan, along with his ranking of the top 5 pavilions. Read on to see his beautiful collection of images accompanied by his short remarks on the merits of the designs.

With a clear international outlook and universal approach, the UIC Barcelona School of Architecture's Bachelor's Degree in Architecture offers students a holistic approach to architectural education, improving competitiveness by encouraging multiple skill sets, teamwork, responsibility, and entrepreneurship. The university employs a unique teaching method, where each student is tasked with undertaking a project at every step of the process.

Developed by architects from Colectivo bma in Barranca de Huentitán, Guadalajara, Mexico, this new building for the Mexican Institute for Community Development (IMDEC) was built in just four days with the help of 100 volunteers.

The new facility includes both housing and meeting space, and was constructed using local building techniques and materials. Built with a concrete base, the walls were made using bahareque (reed frames and mud) and woven reed lattices that cover most of the building’s exterior.

Learn more about the construction process after the break. 

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Swedish firm Studio Esinam's new print series depicts "Elevations" of architectural landmarks across the globe. Using minimalist line drawings, the illustrations attempt to "capture the unique feeling of various cities around the world".

Meticulously recreating the facades of landmarks in Berlin, Brooklyn, Copenhagen, Gothenburg, London, Paris, Stockholm, and Tokyo, the growing collection of prints reframes technical drawings as works of art. By distilling iconic facades to their barest and most essential elements, Studio Esinam aims to direct "attention to details that mostly pass unseen."

View selected prints from the "Elevations" series after the break.

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Hovering high above the earth's surface and presenting a serenely distant view of the terrain we inhabit, ULTRADISTANCIA is the latest photographic project from Argentinian artist, academic, and veteran traveller Federico Winer. The experimental series uses "the marvelous screens of Google Earth" to present stunning images of environments both built and natural.

Learn more about the project and view selected images after the break.

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For more than 150 years, the Golden Ratio has been one of the main tenets of design, informing generations of architects, designers, and artists. From Le Corbusier to Apple, Vitruvius to Da Vinci, the ratio purportedly dictates which forms will be found aesthetically pleasing. Yet mathematicians and designers have grown skeptical of the practical applications of the Golden Ratio, with Edmund Harriss of the University of Arkansas' mathematics department putting it at its most simple: "It is certainly not the universal formula behind aesthetic beauty." Writing for Fast Co. Design, John Brownlee collates sources as diverse as the mathematics department at Stanford University to Richard Meier, laying out the case against what may just be design's greatest hoax. Read the full article here.

Though it can sometimes be overlooked in favor of materials which are more decisively either transparent or opaque, wire mesh is a tremendously versatile material that can be used for anything from delicate screens to a rough industrial interior. Here, ArchDaily Materials presents five projects that use wire mesh to great effect: Camenzind Evolution's "Coccoon" building which shrouds the entire facade in a silvery screen; the Ibiray House by Oreggioni Prieto, which uses a loose mesh to grow plants for seasonal shading; Melaten Car Park by KSG Architekten, which uses a mesh facade to create an "out of focus" effect; Nickl & Partner Architekten's Renovation and Extension of the Hameln County Hospital, which uses motorized mesh screens to shade patient rooms; and finally the Croatian Pavilion for the 2010 Venice Biennale, with an interior space dramatically carved from a block of 32 tons of welded wire mesh.

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Designing and building an 831,000 square foot hospital in 30 months is no easy feat. In fact, the Denver Saint Joseph Hospital project, owned by SCL Health Systems, is actually one of the fastest hospital builds ever completed in the US. Innovative methods of design, construction and collaboration among project partners throughout all phases of the project — from planning to construction — were critical for the team to open the hospital doors on time.

“The document management was tough—a million square feet of anything is going to generate a lot of documentation,” said Dale Clingner, an associate with Davis Partnership Architects, who partnered with H+L Architecture and ZGF Architects on the project, which was built by Mortenson Construction. To avoid the type of document management confusion that could slow progress, all project partners established a tacitly agreed-upon BIM execution plan and decided to incorporate digital design review in live collaborative sessions to successfully meet the condensed timeline on or under budget.

Daydreaming about that round-the-world trip you've been planning for years? Covering over fifty countries and seven continents, Google Street View allows you to embark on the journey from the comfort of your own desk, no passport necessary.

Learn more and view our must-see destinations for a Street View "World Tour" after the break.

A dynamic post-professional program in Emerging Systems, Technologies, & Media (ESTm) offered by the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) in Los Angeles has been charged with examining core contemporary issues facing architecture and design today. Spanning topics from advanced manufacturing methodologies to new building systems, this one year Master of Design Research track allows professionals to rethink architecture and design through the experimental hands-on approach of the SCI-Arc community.

The ESTm program tests new levels of environmental performance as it prepares students to successfully integrate formal, technical, logistical, and material processes into advanced architectural designs. The program is open to graduates in architecture, engineering, product design, computer sciences and other professionals who wish to develop advanced research and design skills in light of continuously evolving materials and new production paradigms of the 21^st century.

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.

To many, the harsh turns the modern city has taken are not apparent. We see benches and bus stops that masquerade as shelters, but Guardian writer Alex Andreou's sudden plunge into homelessness opened his eyes to the hostile realities of these and other structures. In "Anti-Homeless spikes: 'Sleeping rough opened my eyes to the city's barbed cruelty'," he sheds some light on misconceptions about homelessness and explains the unfortunate trend of designing unlivable architecture to deter those affected.

Recently, national and international building codes have challenged the construction market with design-oriented goals of sustainability and energy efficiency. The increasing demand for high performance, energy-efficient buildings has led to the evolution of building enclosure designs that incorporate durability, longevity, and thermal and weather protection, and architects and building owners are now required to meet stringent energy codes, resulting in a systems approach to designing the building envelope components. As a result, fire protection and life safety issues have significantly affected the development of the fire codes, becoming an integral part of recent International Building Code (IBC) updates. A lot is now dependent on the correct usage of materials and systems, especially when it comes to the facade of a building and aluminum composite materials (ACM).

February 17 is Mardi Gras, or “Fat Tuesday,” traditionally a Catholic holiday that celebrates the last night of indulging in guilty pleasures before participating in the penitential season of Lent. Celebrated around the world with elaborate parties, parades, dancing, and other frivolities, its festivities are most famously celebrated within the United States today in the city of New Orleans, Louisiana, the site of the first American Mardi Gras.

President’s day marks a moment of reflection in the United States, where citizens acknowledge the contributions of US presidents to the politics and culture of the nation. While some of these men are still with us, the majority are represented only by the monuments and buildings they left to posterity. Indeed, the legacy of a United States President has come to be embodied in a very specific type of building—a library. The last 13 presidents have commissioned national libraries to be built in their name, marking the end of their service. Libraries have also been posthumously dedicated to presidents who did not erect such monuments during their own lifetimes. In either case, recording the lives and legacies of these great men has made for some fantastic architecture. See some of our favorites, after the break!

The word “treehouse” can conjure up fond childhood memories for many. As a kid, the idea of a house floating above the ground is an endless source of wonder-- and that wonder never truly goes away! Countless designers have experimented with the idea of suspending their architecture among the trees, and a large number of those projects have made their way onto our site. See nine of our favorites, after the break.