Benjamin Clavan is Principal of BENJAMIN CLAVAN, ARCHITECT, located in Los Angeles, U.S.A. and Valencia, Spain. (www.ClavanArchitecture.com) The residential and commercial projects of his firm - all smaller scale, hands-on, people-oriented projects - have been showcased in design magazines and featured in the media. In different periods of his professional life he has also been active as an architectural journalist, and his research and commentary has appeared in professional and popular publications.

Benjamin has previously been very involved in civic affairs, particularly as they intersect with urban design issues. Over the years he has served as an appointed Member of the West Hollywood, California Planning Commission, the West Hollywood Public Facilities Commission, and as a publicly elected member of his Los Angeles, California neighborhood's Community Council and Chair of its Land Use Planning Committee.

He is one of the founding Members of the international Berkeley Undergraduate Prize for Architectural Design Excellence (www.BerkeleyPrize.org) and for the past number of years been responsible for the day-to-day operations of the Prize. These responsibilities include a leading role in the development of the yearly Prize topics, recruiting the invited Jury members, interacting with the Committee Members, and guiding the editorial content and look of the Prize's website.

He holds a Ph.D. in Architecture and a Master's in Architecture (University of California, Berkeley College of Environmental Design), a Bachelor's in Architecture (University of Virginia School of Architecture), and successfully completed the Diploma in Architecture program (Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London) as a non-degree student.

IT'S ABOUT THE PEOPLE! Unlocking the Social Art of Architecture is his first full-length book.