It was named after its engineer, Gustaffe Eiffel, who had originally planned on it being constructed in Barcelona but, due to feelings at the Barcelona City Hall that it would clash with the overall architecture of the city, it ended up in its current location to celebrate the centenary of the French Revolution. “Located on the Champ de Mars next the Seine River in Paris, the Eiffel tower is one of the World’s great iconic structures. The Eiffel Tower by Gustave Eiffel, modeled by Damo In recognition of this modeling altruism, we highlight some of the most well-known architectural icons available within the Warehouse, complete with download links for those wishing to adapt, build upon, design alongside or simply explore this diverse range of landmark structures. The proliferation of uploads is all the more remarkable when you consider the work that goes into many 3D models, with many people taking hours or even days perfecting the details of their work before sharing the file for anyone across the globe to enjoy.

As of 2015, more than 2.2 million models had been created and made freely available for download on the platform, with the site garnering an average of 7.7 monthly visits. The statistics for the 3D Warehouse are as extraordinary as the creations to be found within it.

This vast open-source library is not just a repository of SketchUp models of every kind - architecture and otherwise - it is also home to a thriving online community, with modelers leaving feedback on each other’s work, sharing tips and tricks for modeling in SketchUp and even collaborating on vast, shared models of whole towns and cities with an incredible level of detail.

It is now more than 10 years since SketchUp’s 3D Warehouse was first created, and support for the “Wikipedia of 3D modeling” shows no signs of dwindling. The One Rendering Challenge is now part of the upcoming Architizer Vision Awards, honoring the best architectural photography, film, visualizations, drawings, models and the talented creators behind them.

Free sketchup models