Archinect - Features

Fellow Fellows: Zelig Fok Discusses Architecture, Photography, and Its Relationship To Manipulating Space

2022-11-16T15:21:00-05:00

Archinect's Fellow Fellows series connects with individuals who are currently in, or have recently finished, an architecture fellowship; discussing their architectural journey, areas of research, and their overall experience as academic fellows.

For our latest interview, we connected with Zelig Fok, the 2021–2022 Howard E. LeFevre '29 Emerging Practitioner Fellow at The Knowlton School of Architecture at Ohio State. We discuss his fellowship experience, his passion for photography, the studios he teaches, and work from his fellowship exhibition, titled Déjà View.

In Focus: Jason O’Rear’s Captivating Architectural Photography Comes from the Eye of a Trained Architect

2022-01-17T13:36:00-05:00

In Focus is Archinect's recurring series dedicated to profiling the photographers who help capture architecture and make the work of architects look that much better. In this series, we ask: What is their relationship to architecture? How do they work? What are their goals when capturing buildings?

For this installment, Archinect talks with Jason O'Rear, a San Francisco-based architectural photographer. With a career including a professional background in architecture, Jason brings an experienced and empathetic eye to the spaces he captures with his camera. His work brings into focus the synthesis of structure, human experience and landscape.

Barbara Bestor Reflects on the Julius Shulman Institute and Woodbury University's Commitment to Celebrating Architectural Photography Through Exhibition

2021-10-29T10:13:00-04:00

Architecture and photography are two disciplines whose relationship has blossomed into visual documentation used repeatedly for reference, inspiration, and research. While there are many architectural photographers whose work has been exemplary in presenting the public with a glimpse into the world of architecture, Julius Shulman remains an industry icon and pioneer in the field. Since 2005, the Julius Shulman Institute (JSI) has acted as an important bridge for Woodbury University to connect the public with the disciplines of architecture and photography. To learn more about the JSI, its history, and its mission, I spoke with Woodbury University's Julius Shulman Distinguished Professor of Practice and Executive Director of the JSI, Barbara Bestor.

"Our goal is to change the way Architecture and photography of the built environment are understood and presented in our culture and museums," shared Bestor. "It's rare for there to be an architecture department in any given museum. On t...

How the Pandemic Is Impacting Architectural Photography

2020-05-06T12:14:00-04:00

While most of the professional and academic architecture world managed to, more or less, cope with the new reality of the pandemic by transitioning to remote work, some specialized roles in the industry intrinsically rely on the physical interaction with space in its unique location.

To find out how architectural photographers around the world have kept up so far with the sudden limitations to business, we have reached out to a number of photographers previously featured in Archinect's popular In Focus series.

We asked them how architecture had been impacted in their region, if social distancing was even possible during shoots, and how they planned on operating now with numerous new safety measures in place.

In Focus: Adam Gibson Captures Tasmania's Modern Architecture in Gorgeous, Moody Hues

2020-02-17T14:11:00-05:00

For this installment, Archinect chatted with Australian photographer Adam Gibson. Based in Tasmania, Gibson documents the stunning work of the island's architecture scene in his unique style that often straddles the intriguing border between architectural and lifestyle photography.

In Focus: Creating Spatial Sensibility and Cinematic Narratives With Kevin Scott

2020-02-07T14:35:00-05:00

In Focus is Archinect's recurring series dedicated to profiling the photographers who help capture architecture and who make the work of architects look that much better. In this series, we ask: What is their relationship to architecture? How do they work? What equipment do they use? What are their goals when capturing buildings? And is there such thing as the perfect photo?

For this installment, Archinect chats with London and New York-based photographer Kevin Scott. With his experience as a trained architect, Scott uses his keen eye and spatial sensibility to capture some of the most mesmerizing photographs. Working with an esteemed list of architecture firms such as Rojkind Arquitectos, Zaha Hadid Architects, MAD Architecture, and Olson Kundig Architects, Scott has established himself as a photographer with a penchant for exhibiting cinematic beauty and compelling narratives.

His enthusiasm for the work and dedication to the craft of photography is something that doesn't easily g...

Urban Archive Opens a New Door for Digital Architectural Archives

2020-01-17T14:52:00-05:00

Historical archives and repositories are notorious for holding endless amounts of data and information of the built environment while struggling with offering public accessibility and access. The team at Urban Archive, a non-profit technology app, aims to merge passions for history, architecture, technology, and preservation to create a platform that enables others to not only learn about, but also experience the built environment in a whole new way.

Powered by a diverse team of professionals that includes preservationists, urbanists, coders, and museum specialists, Urban Archive has spent the past three years creating a new face for historical building archives. According to team member Sam Addeo, "This blend of technology, institutional buy-in, and data allows architects and students to trace contemporary debates over development and urban policy (including topics like gentrification, housing, and transit access) back to the records themselves." Archinect connected the multidisci...

In Focus: Chase Daniel On Oscillating Between Designing and Photographing Buildings

2019-12-12T09:00:00-05:00

In Focus is Archinect's recurring series dedicated to profiling the photographers who help capture architecture and make the work of architects look that much better. In this series, we ask: What is their relationship to architecture? How do they work? What are their goals when capturing buildings?

For this installment, Archinect chats with Austin, Texas-based photographer and designer Chase Daniel. Daniel's work is highlighted in our previously featured Studio Snapshots for North Arrow Studio and Michael Hsu Office of Architecture.

As someone who graduated from architecture school and works at design firms himself, Daniel values his experience on both the producing and the documenting end of the built environment.

In Focus: Aaron Leitz and Respecting Architectural Space Through Stillness

2019-11-21T12:15:00-05:00

In Focus is Archinect's recurring series dedicated to profiling the photographers who help capture architecture and who make the work of architects look that much better. In this series, we ask: What is their relationship to architecture? How do they work? What equipment do they use? What are their goals are when capturing buildings? And is there such thing as the perfect photo?

For this installment, Archinect chats with Seattle-based photographer Aaron Leitz. Specializing in interior and exterior architectural spaces, Leitz attributes his entrance into the profession to "coincidence and good fortune." However, despite his informal introduction to architecture and design, Leitz has established himself as a notable photographer who has worked with prominent architecture firms in Seattle, like Olson Kundig Architects and Suyama Peterson Deguchi, to name a few.

A fan of "respecting the process" and a believer that the "perfect" photo doesn't exist, Leitz seeks to capture moments by ke...

In Focus: Miguel Rodriguez exhibits Los Angeles architecture as a silent observer

2019-08-08T10:15:00-04:00

For this installment, Archinect chats with Los Angeles-based photographer Miguel Rodriguez. By observing the relationship structures have with light, Rodriguez has found a way to capture the city of Los Angeles from a fresh perspective. By focusing on the design details and textures each building posses, he invites the viewer to look at the city in a whole new way. Fueled by Los Angeles's rich architectural history, Rodriguez aimed to highlight the buildings of G. Albert Lansburgh, Albert C. Martin, and Walker & Eisen. According to Rodriguez, he compares Los Angeles to an "architectural petri dish" where one can see the evolutions of the buildings in a conf...

In Focus: Helin Bereket Discusses Architecture's Emotions Through Photographs

2019-07-28T13:27:00-04:00

For this installment, Archinect chats with Berlin-based architectural photographer Helin Bereket. After receiving her bachelor's degree in architecture from Yildiz Technical University, Bereket realized that she could unify her passion for composition, form, and color through architectural photography. Now recognized for her keen eye toward visual content curation, Bereket uses the skills she learned in architecture school to blend the distinction between architecture and art. Showcasing photographs that are both beautifully isolating and visually provocative, Bereket's oeuvre is fueled by her spontaneity and ability to capture genuinely immersive images.

In Focus: Peter Stewart and His Exploration Into the Architecturally Unreal

2019-05-26T11:38:00-04:00

In Focus is Archinect's recurring series dedicated to profiling the photographers who help capture architecture and who make the work of architects look that much better. In this series, we ask: What is their relationship to architecture? How do they work? What kind of equipment do they use? What are their goals when capturing buildings?

For this installment, Archinect chats with Australian architectural photographer Peter Stewart. Through extensive travel, Stewart has spent much time exploring South East Asia and experiencing its dense urban environments. After immersing himself within each culture and learning about the environments around him, Stewart has used his creative eye as a tool to capture photographs that follow themes of mass scale and repetition. Using a technical approach to photographing buildings, Stewart aims to blend the visual perspective with geometry and color to see the world through "the spaces between." An exploration into the "unreal" Stewart provides a mes...

Understanding Visual Perspectives Through Risk and Research with Architecture Office

2019-05-20T11:51:00-04:00

The power of visual representation is key when expressing thoughts and ideas. The Syracuse-based architecture studio pulls together their passion for research and design practice to create projects which question the way people think about architecture and current issues.

For this week's Studio Snapshot, Archinect chats with Nicole McIntosh and Jonathan Louie of Architecture Office. During this segment, we discuss what it means for a promising practice to take risks and excel creatively while running a firm. After founding their practice in 2015, McIntosh and Louie explore the opportunity of how different perspectives strengthen research-based experimentation.

In Focus: Ema Peter, a Master of Visual Narrative Through Light and Shadow

2019-05-17T13:10:00-04:00

For this installment, Archinect chats with Bulgarian-born, Vancouver-based interior and architectural photographer, Ema Peter. A well-seasoned architectural photographer, Peter's detailed approach to capturing buildings has deemed her a household name in the architecture community. She has worked with the industry's most celebrated architects who praise her intuitive approach to photography. By blending her passions of photojournalism and architecture, Peter creates stunning visual narratives through light and shadow. Being a woman in the industry, she has learned to push through as an artist by challenging the mundane and tak...

In Focus: Błażej Pindor's Photographs Document the Historic Architecture of Poland

2019-04-27T12:00:00-04:00

In Focus is Archinect's recurring series dedicated to profiling the photographers who help make the work of architects look that much better. What has attracted them to architecture? How do they work? What type of equipment do they use? What do they think about seeing their work in blogs?

For this installment, Archinect interviews the Polish photographer Błażej Pindor, whose work often focuses on capturing the modernist-era buildings and interiors of Poland.

Finding the Artful in Artless Spaces: A Review of Thomas Demand's 'The Complete Papers'

2019-03-26T20:02:00-04:00

Weighing in at over 6 pounds, the breadth of work and reference material makes The Complete Papers, the newest and most comprehensive book from the artist Thomas Demand, an indispensable resource for anyone invested in art, architecture or media theory. The catalogue raisonné compiles all of Demand's individual works, selections from larger series works and the most critical texts from art and architecture historians over a 28 year span.

Join us at Archinect Outpost on March 29th, from 7-9pm to host artist Thomas Demand and The Complete Papers, the comprehensive survey of the artist's photographs to date.

In Focus: Jesse Rieser and His 2D Facsimile to Architecture

2019-01-30T10:34:00-05:00

In Focus is Archinect's recurring series dedicated to profiling the photographers who help capture architecture and who make the work of architects look that much better. In this series we ask: What is their relationship to architecture? Is there a difference between capturing a building versus capturing people? What are their thoughts on seeing their work on public platforms like blogs and Instagram?

For this installment, Archinect chats with photographer Jesse Rieser. Although Rieser wouldn't consider himself an architectural photographer, his recent series, The Retail Apocalypse: The Changing Landscapes of American Retail, captures the beautiful stillness and abandonment retail buildings can represent over time. Specifically focusing on rundown, commercial buildings in Phoenix, Arizona Rieser imbues expressive color palettes and geometric forms with a sense of nostalgia to give these structures a second life.

#ArchinectMeets @hannespeer

2018-12-28T12:00:00-05:00

#ArchinectMeets is a series of interviews with members of the architecture community that use Instagram as a creative medium. With the series, we ask some of Instagram’s architectural photographers, producers and curators about their relationship to the social media platform and how it has affected their practice.

Social media has undeniably affected the way we perceive, interpret and share opinions about architecture today. While we use our own account, @Archinect, as a site for image curation and news content, we wanted to ask fellow Instagram users how they navigated the platform.

We spoke to Hannes Peer, the photographer, architect and curator behind @hannespeer. With an eye for "imperfections, nostalgic utopia, and future archeology," Peer captures architectural oddities of the 20th century with aplomb.

Architecture in a Country of Stage Sets: Our Interview with Oliver Wainwright on Inside North Korea

2018-12-21T11:24:00-05:00

Now available at Archinect Outpost, Inside North Korea is the ambitious new book from British journalist Oliver Wainwright. I spoke to Wainwright about the making of the book and how he extended his journalistic talents to become its principal photographer. Though North Korea had long been a subject of interest to Wainwright, he had the chance in our interview to expand on how similar its architectural techniques are to those more familiar in Western practice.

#ArchinectMeets @decorhardcore

2018-12-21T10:58:00-05:00

We spoke to Ksenia Shestakovskaia about their Instagram, @decorhardcore. Decoration may be a field associated with elegance and restraint, but the world exposed by @decorhardcore is one of extravagance and indulgence. It is a world that can yield either restraint or transgression, but at its most extreme, in the words of of Shestakovskaia, "Hardcore is not for everybody."

#ArchinectMeets @mmmosarchitects

2018-12-18T12:00:00-05:00

We spoke to MOS Architects about their Instagram, @mmmosarchitects. For the New York firm, Instagram is less a tool for self-promotion than a way of killing time in between important moments. Their Instagram, to put it simply, allows them to reveal glimpses into their lives, both in the office and outside of it, as earnestly as an architecture firm can.

#ArchinectMeets @spomenikdatabase

2018-12-14T13:31:00-05:00

We spoke to Donald Niebyl, the administrator of @spomenikdatabase. After researching and subsequently traveling to and documenting the significant majority of former Yugoslavia's spomeniks, those extra-large monuments to bygone wars, Niebyl shared his findings in a book and through social media (the Spomenik Monument Database book is also available in our online shop).

#ArchinectMeets @lucborho

2018-12-11T12:00:00-05:00

We spoke to Luc Borho (@lucborho), a photographer and art director. Borho has added an ethereal spin to the badlands of SpaceX and the brutalism of his native Paris through his carefully lit photography. His work shows the lives buildings make possible after their construction, in ways their architects or planners might not have imagined.

#ArchinectMeets @modarchitecture

2018-12-04T12:00:00-05:00

We spoke to Darren Bradley, the photographer behind @modarchitecture. Bradley began his career as a history major and soon developed a following for his clear and stunning photographs of modern architecture from around the world. When he began collaborating with Sam Lubell in the production and photography of Phaidon's Mid-Century Modern Architecture Travel Guides: East Coast USA and West Coast USA, Bra...

#ArchinectMeets @manvisual

2018-11-30T08:30:00-05:00

We spoke to Jonathan Wilson, the photographer behind @manvisual. Wilson zooms into the architectural details and juxtapositions of London to reveal light and material sensations far too easily missed by first glance.

#ArchinectMeets @chatelp

2018-11-20T12:00:00-05:00

We spoke to Pierre Chatel, the photographer behind @chatelp. A computer scientist by trade, Chatel recently took up architectural photography full time. His work can best be described as 'cool abstraction' thanks to a rare abilities to both discover rare moments in well-known buildings throughout Europe as well as to find the beauty in objects as mundane as storage containers.

#ArchinectMeets @phdonohue

2018-11-16T09:00:00-05:00

We spoke to Phil Donahue, the photographer behind @phdonohue. Donohugh is based in Los Angeles, a city made up of quick structures with short life spans. His task as a photographer has been to capture the city's most timely and ephemeral designs before they vanish in the sands of time. 1980s fast food chains and strip malls have been of particular interest to the photographer, as they might reflect at o...

#ArchinectMeets @town.and.concrete

2018-11-13T09:00:00-05:00

We spoke to Cyril Lancelin, the artist behind @town.and.concrete. Though his work is designed to be experienced in person, it has far more than a full life on Instagram. In fact, Instagram was in part the inspiration for his career as an installation artist. The work and its imagery are equally dreamy; they reflect the demands of the current generation of Instagram models and all-around selfie enthusias...

#ArchinectMeets @krisprovoost

2018-11-09T10:00:00-05:00

We spoke to Kris Provoost, the photographer behind @krisprovoost. As a Belgian based in China, Provoost demonstrates an undying passion for his new home base as he uniquely documents it for his social media. And his background as an architect undoubtedly aided in his ability to photograph buildings as their designers might have envisioned (or wished they had).

#ArchinectMeets @daniellaondesign

2018-11-06T09:00:00-05:00

We spoke to Daniella Ohad, Ph.D, the curator of @daniellaondesign. As a design historian that regularly lectures on the subject, Ohad uses Instagram to advocate for the significance of design history through its most stunning precedents and their most seductive photographs.