Architect Hagy Belzberg recently showed me around his latest creation, the new Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust. He had kindly agreed to give me a personal tour since I was preparing to write up a review.

While I had fully intended to focus on the architecture, the site, the ideas behind the design, I was caught off-guard by something unexpected: people.

Prior to my visit I had been looking at some new photographs of the building taken by Iwan Baan. Architecture photographed for reviews is usually uncluttered by the messiness of life. The buildings are often empty vessels waiting to be activated. People appear as mere apparitions, like objects, often blurred. Thus, there is little evidence of other responses or adaptations to the architecture. If we overlook the gaze of the photographer, there is then only one gaze present: that of the singular “I”. And this “I” had expected an encounter with a building.

More after the break.

In May we presented Kengo Kuma’s CCCWall Installation in anticipation for the now completed CCCloud monument. CCCloud, or Casalgrande Ceramic Cloud, Kengo Kuma’s first built work of architecture in Italy was completed September 2010. The monument, located in the middle of a roundabout in front of Casalgrande Padana‘s Headquarters, is the collaborative result of Kengo Kuma’s team, the University represented by Alfonso Acocella and Luigi Alini, and the authorities of Casalgrande Padana. The monument is remarkably made out of unglazed ceramic tiles that have been adapted for structural use that are produced by the client, Casalgrande Padana.

Read on for more information and images after the break.

The Parklands, South Bank, Brisbane, Australia, has played host to Lightwave, a sensory light installation at the Unlimited festival. At 10m x 16m x 5.5m, Lightwave is not just a sculpture or an art piece, but an object that can be interacted with, like a large animated toy or hybrid living creature—glowing and pulsing by the river. The design by AnL Studio was intended to provoke conversations about using contemporary parks as a performative public space. By offering a new and unexpected experience between people and the object (displayed art), or between nature and the (artificial) object, Lightwave responds in a purposefully dynamic and playful way, engaging and inviting public participation. The object is responsive to the new environment, therefore generating a new pattern into the place and time. More explanation and photographs of Lightwave following the break.

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Architects: AnL Studio Location: Brisbane, Australia Project Architects: Keehyun Ahn and Minsoo Lee Prototyping Design/Interactive Consultant : Rory Nugent, Andy Doro Project Management: Laing O’Rourke, Byte Logic Curator: Creativesight, Hassell Electrical Engineers and Lighting/Interactive Consultants: Webb Australia Structural engineer: OPUS Cost Planning: Mitchell Brandtman Building Certification: Certis Surveying: LandPartners Construction and Construction Management: Laing O’Rourke Project Year: 2010 Photographs: Courtesy of AnL Studio Interactive Fabrication: Watthouse, Zenith, Xenian, CTI, Imaginus Fabrication: Flow Force, Heyday Landscaping: Dig It, South Bank Corporation, Concrete Supply: Boral

171 Students from around the world attended the one-week workshop at the Tsinghua University in Beijing, China. In association with the AA summer school and sponsored by Gehry Technologies the workshop taught students how to generate, parametrically control, and fabricate complex geometry.

After the break, you can see a few projects from the 37 Advanced Design studio students which Daniel Gillen co taught with Xu Feng, Nikolaus Wabnitz, Rob Stuart-Smith, Raymond Lau, Xiaowei Tong, and Zhang Xiaoyi.

Images and more information after the break.

The Boston Society of Architects shared with us their publication where members were given honorable recognition for receiving the Preservation Achievement Award by the Boston Preservation Alliance. While, undoubtedly, these iconic buildings have been highlights to the city of Boston, they are now being acclaimed for being buildings of historic preservation while creating a resounding impact for society and beyond. Flip through the Boston Society of Architects’ images to view stunning work by architects after the break.

More info after the break.

Currently on view at the MoMa, the Small Scale, Big Change: New Architectures of Social Engagement exhibition has provided an exciting and successful glimpse into how architecture can serve the greater needs of society. The museum just shared with us their latest news that starting in November and running through May, the Philip Johnson Architecture and Design Galleries will hosting Building Collections: Recent Acquisitions of Architecture. This exhibit will highlight the great variety of important acquisitions made by the Department of Architecture and Design since 2005, juxtaposing, in several cases, newly acquired material with works long held in the collection in order to underscore the rationale and motives behind collecting architecture at MoMA. Some of the featured pieces include models by Corbusier and sketches by Sullivan.

More about the exhibition, including images of some of the acquired pieces after the break.

Architects: Josep Lluís Mateo / Mateo Arquitectura Location: Zeist, Utrecht, The Netherlands Project Leaders: Markus Lauber, Till von Mackensen Project Area: 25,000 sqm offices, 25,000 sqm car park Project Year: 2010 Photographs: Adrià Goula

We’ve got another great project by Studio Gang Architects to share with you. The building, a former brown-field converted into a visitor center, speaks to Jeanne Gang’s idea of architecture being an all encompassing field with the built landscape playing a large role in shaping our enviornment. In our interview with Ms. Gang, the principal at Studio Gang along with Mark Schendel, she expressed her interest in “the horizontal plane” as a designed landscape can also function to compliment the built form. For their visitor center, which is located at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains, the project remediates its distressed site by reestablishing native species and habitat. Both site and building design work together to educate visitors about the region’s unique bio-diversity.

More about the Blue Wall Center after the break.

More than 30,000 photos can be found today in our Flickr Pool! Thanks to everyone who helped us reach that number by submitting their amazing photos! In case you haven’t seen our previous selections, check them all right here. As always, remember you can submit your own photo here, and don’t forget to follow us through Twitter and our Facebook Fan Page to find many more features.

The photo above was taken by philljackcolombia in Brasilia, Brazil. Check the other four after the break.

Authors: Manfred Hegger, Matthias Fuchs, Thomas Stark, Martin Zeumer ISBN: 978-3-7643-8764-8

More info about this publication after the break.

It strives, with the help of the curatorial endeavours of artists and projects that can contribute a different layer to the ever more monopolized artistic scene.

Interdisciplinary design firm HASSELL has shared with us their competition submittal for the Advanced Manufacturing Centre (AMC), a new landmark building at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia. Additional images and the architect’s description after the break.

“What defines the Internet is its social architecture. It’s the living environment that counts, the live interaction, not just the storage and retrieval procedure.” -Geert Lovink, 2005

Last week we were invited to the HP Designjet Launch and BIG’s House 8 Presentation. The experience was really striking, because being there with some other architects and bloggers, made us think about how work systems are changing so fast, that some times is difficult to even notice them until you find yourself inside that system, working and sharing information without any limitations.

That made us re-think about what social networks and web 2.0 are doing in the field of architectural production. All the new tools we’re discovering every day, make the practice more collaborative and open. Some months ago, we wrote in a guest post for Ymag:

Now communication is more dynamic and also it may be a little bit confusing because of that. With blogs actualized every single day and using social networks as facebook and twitter, architects may have a personal contact in between them, with the users of their buildings and also with researchers that are working on new materials and constructive solutions.

Teachers, parents, administrators, design professionals and the general public are invited to visit the exhibition, meet program staff and learn how to bring CFAF’s design education programs to their communities. The event is free and refreshments will be served. For more information and to RSVP, visit the official website.

Yaohua Wang shared with us his thesis work, “Latent City”, which received Sci-Arc’s Best Thesis Award and was also selected for the Venice Biennale. One of the many highlights of this projects is that there is no “dead end” as Wang demonstrates with his circulation loop throughout the city.

The core of the design is held within the top and bottom infrastructure layers, which are the most important layers of his design where he creates a series of solid and void spaces. Wang is able to create not only a city with endless opportunities, but a city that takes advantage of its environment by maximizing daylighting strategies and natural ventilation. Wang then goes beyond architecture and takes into account the socio-political impacts his Latent City would have over China’s current conditions. These highlights, and more, have earned him this honorable recognition. More images and architect’s description after the break.

If you happen to find yourself in Los Angeles tonight be sure not to miss the AIA Design Awards Party at LACMA. As the email I recently received noted:

Join us for what will be a joyous celebration of architecture and design in the Los Angeles community.

These award bashes are always well-produced: nice venues, music, projection screens, hors d’oeuvres, cocktails, sumptuous buffet. Plus, who doesn’t like getting awards? Everyone being honored deserves the recognition, respect, and adulation of professional peers. The accomplishments of architects, firms and organizations like the Skid Row Housing Trust should be celebrated and honored. But what if they were honored more publicly?

More after the break.

We just received one of Detail´s latest: Photovoltaics: Technology, Architecture, Installation

Bernhard Weller Claudia Hemmerle Sven Jakubetz Stefan Unnewehr

Edition Detail ISBN: 978-3-0346-0369-0

See full index after the break:

Architects: Rojkind Arquitectos + ESRAWE Studio Location: Polanco, Mexico City, Mexico Project Area: 629 sqm Design Year: 2009 Construction Year: 2009-2010 Renders: Glessner Group Photographs: Guido Torres & Rojkind Arquitectos

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New York architects Richard Meier & Partners announced the opening of the new corporate headquarters for Neumann Kaffee Gruppe (NKG), the world’s largest green coffee service group located in Hamburg’s HafenCity. The site of the new building is a part of a redevelopment initiative of the post-industrial port into a business, commercial and cultural center. Overlooking the Sandtorpark, harbor basins and the traditional skyline of Hamburg, the 12-story glass tower, now called Coffee Plaza, and its two adjacent office buildings, act as an anchor for the renovated harbor.

More information and images after the break.

Shenzhen based Jaeger and Partner Architects, Ltd. and Chicago based saltans architects intl, ltd have collaborated on the winning design solution for the NanFanG University of Science & Technology and New Shenzhen University Technology Park.

The site for the competition is in the rapidly developing Nanshan Dashahe Innovation Corridor in Shenzhen, PRC and directly adjacent to the New Shenzhen University Campus and will comprise of R&D office and light manufacturing, IT incubator space, outsourcing facilities, and business support services. The concept for the master plan is an integral environment for entrepreneurs, researchers and students within an environment for technological innovation and discovery in an above ground building area of 528,000 m2.

More images and descriptions after the break.

We received a copy of the 3rd edition of the Optimistic Architecture Yearbook, a fine selection of fresh works from french architects. The book includes firms previously featured at ArchDaily, such as Atelier du Pont, Agence Beckmann N’Thepe, BP Architectures, Chartier-Corbasson, KOZ, Plan 01, Atelier Phileas, Colboc Franzen & Associes, Tetrarc, and more.

The book presents 54 projects in a large format with high quality photos, and drawings. More info after the break:

In response to the challenges faced by the University of Montpelier South of France, the teamwork of architects N+B, C+D and Hitoshi Abe worked to develop a distributed network based upon environmental, mental and social ecologies for A Campus Lived for a Sensory City. Their project demonstrates a dynamic articulation with the city while presenting their ideas for a contemporary urban design. More images and architect’s description after the break.

Radical among the architects of today, Jean Nouvel continually amazes practicing architects and unstudied passerby alike with his brilliant manipulation of form, patterns, materials and colors. Currently discussed for his vibrant Serpentine Gallery Pavilion in London and the recently built luxurious Chelsea apartments in New York, Nouvel has a history of creating the most striking and innovative buildings.

One of his earlier buildings, the Fondation Cartier in Paris 1994, employs the same dedication to transparency and rigor of the surface as the more recently designed structures of Nouvel. As a public space that houses contemporary art and graffiti exhibitions, the play between inside and out is very fitting as it creates an openness which invites people to experience the building from both up close and afar.

More on the Fondation Cartier after the break.