Our obsession with airport architecture is well documented, and the San Jose International Airport is no exception. The Gensler- and Fentress Architects-designed Terminal B opened just last year, in 2010, and the art/architecture intervention goodness extends to the interior of the hub as well.

Located between gates 22 and 23, the recently-installed eCLOUD is a ‘dynamic sculpture inspired by the volume and behavior of an idealized cloud,’ via patterns that are transformed by data on real time weather around the world. Fabricated by Dan Goods, Nik Hafermaas, and Aaron Koblin, the cloud is made from polycarbonate tiles that fade in and out between transparent and opaque.

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Looking back over the last year, we picked out a few building characteristics that make for a popular project: unsurprisingly, it’s the cantilevers, stacked volumes, decks, and stunning landscapes that tend to make you click. Our dark horse winner for the most heavily-trafficked project in the Architizer database, however, goes to a running track in Elda, Spain. See why it breaks the mold, after the jump, and get an eyeful of the top ten projects in 2010.

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After the jump, Daniel Libeskind scores yet another controversial commission in Germany (above), New York’s urban archaeology eulogized for 2010, what New Yorkers have thought about over the last 365 days, and a gaudy, overblown new development in Mecca.

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Lovell Health House with its cantilevered swimming pool, by Richard Neutra in Los Angeles.

Nicolai Ouroussoff turns his gaze, and pen, to urban planning from a different era: Aleppo, Syria, “one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, and a gem of Islamic architecture.” Aleppo is undergoing a large-scale restoration (led by non-profit group the Aga Khan Trust for Culture) and Ourossoff argues it could become a blueprint for other Middle Eastern cities. [via New York Times]

Urban spelunking in Los Angeles reveals the buildings that tell the city’s architectural story, from the 1949 Eames House to downtown’s iconic Bradbury Building to the indigenous residential style called ‘Storybook.’ [via Huffington Post]

There’s a deficit in architecture news this week as Snowpocalypse 2010 takes center stage and critics focus on their year-end lists. Take a moment away from the noise and bliss out to these thirteen infographics, collected over the year by the editors at Co.Design. [via Fast Company Design]

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This morning we get a gander at the revamped designed-by-committee BBC headquarters in London, which comprises 861,000 square feet of production and broadcasting workspace. How novel! There’s even a cafe where visitors can peer at real, live journalists as they work. [via Guardian UK]

Ghost cities have taken over as the internet fodder du jour as a reminder of contemporary urbanism gone wrong, as well as the haunting nostalgia of what used to be. To wit: newly built ghost developments in Spain, satellite images of abandoned towns in China, and a grim prediction for the future ghost cities of the UK. [via New York Times, Business Insider, and BBC]

We mentioned TRON-itecture last week in regards to this building by ARM Architects in Melbourne. But what about the film itself? We saw a strong likeness to Paul Rudolph’s LOMEX in the city center; check out what other moviegoers spotted in this Archinect thread. [via Archinect]

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“I hope in the next year, maybe even sooner, to open an office in Europe, probably London. I like the idea of reversing the direction of influence, to bring what I’ve learned in the East back to the West.”

– Architect Ole Scheeren, making no small plans for his new Asia-based firm.

A few months ago Scheeren announced his imminent split from OMA, where he had worked with Rem Koolhaas for 15 years (eight as partner). Büro Ole Scheeren opens this year in Beijing and Hong Kong along with partner Eric Chang, an American architect.

Scheeren, most well-known for spearheading OMA’s CCTV project in Beijing, has an update on that as well:

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We’re pleased to hear that MoMA has decided to expand its Young Architects Program, exhibited at P.S.1 in Queens since its inception. The next branch of YAP will go on at (…drumroll!) MAXXI, the Zaha Hadid-designed museum in Rome. The shortlist for the courtyard installation includes Raffaella De Simone e Valentina Mandalari (Italy), Ghigos Ideas (Italy), Asif Khan (UK), Langarita Navarro Arquitectos (Spain), and stARTT (Rome). [via A/N Blog]

Speaking of MAXXI, it makes architecture critic Rowan Moore’s top ten for 2010 (shocker). Moore also cites 2010 as the ‘year of the pop-up’ — we’d have to agree — and namechecks Herzog & de Meuron’s stellar parking garage in Miami’s South Beach. [via Guardian UK]

A lofty skyscraper plan for downtown LA was approved on Thursday after two years of negotiations; the tower by AC Martin will occupy the site at Wilshire and Figueroa. In other Angeleno news, local developer AEG made a move to lure professional sports teams back to the city with an ambitious trifecta plan for a $1 billion stadium. Also downtown. Between this, the skyscraper, and Eli Broad’s new joint, LA is getting quite the architectural facelift. [via Architect's Newspaper, also here]

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Call us unhappy hipsters, but we’ve been hard-pressed to find a Christmas tree that blends seamlessly into our otherwise design-forward lives. But that’s what creative types are for!

Cue Fritz Klaetke, a reader and Boston-based principal of Visual Dialogue. Klaetke’s graphic design firm has racked up myriad awards for its work in the print, branding, packaging, and interactive design fields, and now he’s set his sights on Yuletide decorating. Results above; explanation below.

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Once upon a time, a city in Taiwan called Kaohsiung staged an international competition for the design of a masterplan on its waterfront, comprising eight buildings dedicated to pursuit of culture. The competition was summarily dismissed the day after plans and renderings were due, ticking off a lot of architecture firms who spent time and money putting together their proposals. The competition was later re-opened with a more well-rounded jury, and a shortlist was announced.

Meanwhile, a concurrent design competition — equally grand in scale but somewhat less hyped — was conducted for a Port and Cruise Service Center in the very same city of Kaohsiung. (Taiwan building boom: it’s happening.)

That shortlist was announced in September: HMC Group (USA), Asymptote Architecture (USA), Jet Architects with CXT Architects (Canada), Ricky Liu & Associates with Takenaka Corporation (Taiwan and Japan), and Fei & Chen with Reiser+Umemoto (Taiwan/USA). The results are in, and it’s Reiser + Umemoto with Fei & Chen. Check out the winning renderings after the jump, plus the runners-up.

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“If you take the reality of soaring birds – raptors, hunting birds – they spend most of their time soaring, not flapping. They capture a thermal.”

– Sir Norman Foster, explaining how his design for the Zayed National Museum in Masdar City was influenced by falconry.

And that’s not all! Foster also incorporated his own love of hang-gliding into the programming: “The museum will be surmounted by five giant steel feathers, which use the aerodynamic principles of birds and planes to draw cooling air through the building.”

What else, praytell?

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