With its final height kept as a secret until the last minute, we witnessed the incredible opening of the tallest building in the world.

An amazing view of Dubai from the top of the tallest building in the world, which opens this Monday.

The title “Expanded Practice” comes from how Höweler + Yoon Architecture / My Studio have named their design methodology. And in this book it’s not just a title, as the book is really a guide on how this young firm conceives their projects rather than a mere catalog of works.

Their works can’t be grouped in types of buildings, instead their works are grouped in envelopes, natures, formats, interactions and media, as they range from a Möbius strip dress, to a responsive park.

What caught me while reading this book is the effective use of technology developed by this practice, not just mere eye candy as we are used to. It clearly shows how the architects’ experimentation with small electronic components could be derived into interactive spaces through a methodological work. And I have to repeat “metholodogy” as it is the most important part of this book, which makes it a learning tool instead of a construction catalog as we are used to on typical monographs.

More information about this book after the break.

The tallest building in the world will be opened in just a few more days. This 2.3 gigapixel photo, composed of 381 images taken with a Canon 5D Mk II with a 400mm lens by bristolg, who posted a video to show the high level of detail of the image.

The great buildings we feature ever day at ArchDaily have something in common: someone behind the lens capturing the building in a unique moment. Architecture photographers play a big role on how we actually see buildings, and we have decided to start a section to present you their work, their thoughts and who knows, here you might find the photographer that can help you put your work on ArchDaily and other magazines around the world.

We start with italian photographer Duccio Malagamba:

1. How did you start in photography?

I approached photography as a teenager, when the father of one of my best friends -amateur photographer- allowed us to join him when developing films at a storage room. The miracle of the apparition of the veiled images in the reddish darkness of the laboratory impressed me deeply. Soon after, I decided that when I grew up I wanted to be a photographer, and I even managed to sell some photos of my travels. When I finished High School, my parents insisted that -no matter what I would do afterwards – I should get a university degree. I choose, rather accidentally, the School of Architecture, when I found out there was a module on photography.

During this last few months we have presented you several works by the japanese office Tezuka Architects. The houses have very strong concepts, tied to different ways of inhabiting these projects designed specifically for each client.

Now we present you Woods of Net, a permanent pavilion for japanese net artist Toshiko Horiuchi Macadam, in collaboration with structural engineers TIS & PARTNERS.

The pavilion is located at the Hakone Open-Air Museum, a unique open museum located in one of the most visited tourist spots in Japan. Woods of Net was added to the collection of art works as part of their 40th anniversary.

After the break, the architects description of the pavilion with photos by Abel Erazo.

wHY Architecture has shown us their expertise on cultural projects at different scales: the Grand Rapids Art Museum (the first LEED Gold certified museum) on the large scale in one side and the Royal/T Gallery on a smaller scale, among other cultural projects shown on their website.

And now they share with us a cultural project on the infrastructure scale that I had the chance to see when I visited their office early this year, which got green light and enters construction phase in 2010: the Art Bridge.

The project is located over the Los Angeles river and it’s very related to it, as most of its structure will be built from trash salvaged from the river itself. This project will achieve what many have been looking for, and that is to reconnect with the river that crosses LA. And I think that it will make it.

You can also watch our interview with Yo-ichiro Hakomori from whY Architecture, filmed at Postopolis! LA earlier this year.

Project description and more images after the break:

Danish firm BIG, in collaboration with Fuglark, Lemming & Eriksson, Sámal Johannesen, Martin E. Leo and KJ Elrad, was awarded with 1st prize on a competition for a new Education Centre in Torshavn, at the Faroe Islands.

The Faroe Islands are an autonomous province of Denmark, and this is the largest educational project in the country’s history, and will house the Faroe Islands Gymnasium, the Torshavns Technical College and the Business College of Faroe Islands.

The schools are stacked and twisted, generating a central patio which will be the main gathering space of the center. Each of this programatic stripes is then open to the landscape, getting the most out of its location on a hillside with views over the sea, mountains and the harbor. A very simple scheme, which I like a lot as it doesn´t fragment the public space.

But apart from being a whole when seen from the common areas, each school escapes on its own, through the cantilevered volumes that generate a wide array of different views, giving character to each one of the programatic units. I find this reunite/desegregate scheme very good to get a sense of individuality at the center, and have an intense social life at the same time.

More information after the break, and take a special look at the structural diagram.

Oscar Niemeyer turned 102 today… and as you can see he is still rocking.

SOM recently unveiled the design for the Digital Media City Landmark Tower in Seoul, Korea. The 2,100 foot (640m) tall tower will be the tallest tower in East Asia when completed in 2014.

The iconic building is located in the north of the Han River, which crosses the city, and will dominate the skyline becoming a important icon for Seoul… which is what you will expect if you commission a tower this tall.

Last weekend I had the chance to spend the afternoon with a group of entrepreneurs and Chris Anderson, editor for Wired magazine and author of The Long Tail and Free, two books that define the new economies of the Internet (highly recommended if you haven´t read them yet, specially Free)

Chris did a little speech on his new research, which immediately made sense to me from an architect’s point of view. At this point, it is more than clear that the bit revolution turned our world in 360º, and thanks to the connected world it seems that the technology development curve is more steep than ever. And now, many rules of the online world are being adopted by the physical world, and according to Anderson “atoms are the new bits”.

First, it was the media revolution. Information became democratic, collaborative, the tools became free, and everyone is part of it. But how do we take this to the World (World 2.0?)? Actually… it´s happening and very close to our profession:

Libraries are something that has been revolving my head ever since I read some writings by Kahn on the Exeter Academy Library. Part of my graduate studies focused on how this typology has evolved during this last few years, moving between the silent sanctuary of books we find at Exeter and new public spaces like OMA’s Seattle Library.

As the publishing/reading platforms are changing at an unprecedented speed (Web 2.0, eReaders and the Kindle, an upcoming “Hulu for Magazines”), physical libraries have the challenge to be a place for research, gathering, socializing… being built today, to house activities in the future that we don´t even know yet.

A good example is the ongoing “Urban Mediaspace”, a project by danish practice Schmidt / Hammer / Lassen Architects which will be completed by 2014. The project is part of a large scale urban renewal project to regenerate the docks area in Aarhus, Denmark.

A big covered public space offers the flexibility needed for this kind of program, enclosed by a transparent skin that connects the outside public space with the new interior public space.

Project description and more images after the break. Thanks to Trine from SHL for sharing this project with us:

While world leaders get together in Copenhagen for COP15, the United Nations Climate Change Conference, our friends from Various Architects share with us a very interesting project, that is also a statement addressing sustainability in office buildings.

Skagen ØKOntor is currently the most sustainable office building currently planned in Norway.

Developed together with engineers from Ramboll UK in Bristol and Pollen Architecture in Austin, TX, the project is also a showcase of concepts that can be applied elsewhere in the Nordic countries as you will see on the diagrams and project description below.

I´m very happy to see architects speaking through their projects, reacting to what is currently being debated these days and that has a lot to do with our profession.

Various Architects and Ramboll believe that the ØKOntor project demonstrates that architects, engineers, and developers of new office buildings should push harder to develop highly energy efficient buildings with a zero net-carbon construction. We should not accept the minimum reductions required by law as standards, but should see them as a challenge to do better. Good luck to the COP15 representatives.

Project description and images after the break:

This morning I was watching MTV and there was a video for Lady Gaga’s “Paparazzi”. Even if you like or don´t her music, the aesthetic/art direction of the video was incredible. After that I went went to my computer to Google more info about the video, and found a tweet by @tomatoejane, one of our readers, pointing to an article on Curbed NY: Frank Gehry Designs Hat For Lady Gaga.

A few weeks ago Superpool surprised me with one of the best library designs I have seen in a while: the Open Library in Istanbul. A small area, a rich public space.

But the office has also been working on two large scale residential projects in Turkey: Konya Residence and Dagos Tower (will be featured on a future article). Both projects propose innovative strategies in terms of dense housing. I´m eager to see how this projects develop and materialize in the future.

About the Konya Residence:

During the 2009 AIA Convention I had the chance to attend a lecture by Nader Tehrani, after which I conducted this interview. He is one of the founders of the Boston based practice Office dA, with Monica Ponce de Leon.

During my visit to Croatia for CIP Talks, everyone kept recommending me to meet Hrvoje Njiric. Partner of njiric+ arhitekti, his recent works are very good examples on residential and educational architecture. He won -among other awards- the 2006 Zagreb Salon Grand Prix, which resulted on the Zagreb 09 Pavilion we featured last week.

First, I have to thank all of you!!!

Thanks to your support we made it to the shortlist for Best Online Magazine at the Open Web Awards.