Archinect - News

Docomomo US announces winners of its inaugural architectural photography competition

2020-09-09T18:02:00-04:00

In its inaugural year, the Docomomo US I Spy Modernism Photography Competition welcomed photographers of all skill levels to “put their own photographic imprint on modernism,” or as the iconic photographer Julius Schulman once put it, “to assemble thoughts in [their] mind,” and share them with the world in the form of a photograph. Close to 300 submissions were received with the jury selecting twelve winning photographs, taken by students, amateur photographers, and professionals.

The 2020 winners are:

FIRST PLACE
Joy Mullappally, "National Maritime Union Headquarters"
Lenox Health Greenwich Village, New York, NY, Albert Ledner 1964

SECOND PLACE
Tiecheng Chen, "The Hole"
Galaxy SOHO, Beijing, China, Zaha Hadid, 2012

THIRD PLACE
Julio Alberto Cedano, "Farnsworth House"
Farnsworth House, Plano, IL, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, 1951

And below are those who received honorable mention:

New book shares the untold work of African American architects from Chicago's South Side

2019-09-30T11:49:00-04:00

Chicago is recognized for its iconic architectural history, however, there are some areas of this beloved architectural haven that have not found a voice until now. Writer and photographer Lee Bey has documented buildings located in Chicago's South Side for several years. With the hopes to expose their architectural and cultural influence within the city Bey showcased these photographs in an exhibition, Southern Exposure, during the 2017 Chicago Architecture Biennial. Since then Bey has published the book "Southern Exposure: The Overlooked Architecture of Chicago’s South Side"

Recently Bey sat with Iker Gil of, director of MAS Studio to discuss the book and the project's origin. According to Bey he explains "The exhibition and the book grew up together [...] The idea was to not make the book an exhibition book, but to use the exhibition as inspiration and to go beyond the show and showcase more buildings and places, and have the text delve deeply into the South Side’s—and Chicago’s...

The first architecture photography

2019-07-02T13:51:00-04:00

Shortly after the invention of photography, there was architecture photography. Generous natural lighting, a range of scalable details and a pride of place made architecture a primary subject in the understanding of photographic technology during the first half of the 19th century.

Paris' Boulevard du Temple (1839). Photo by Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre.

The Daguerreotype was among the first photographic methods when it was invented by Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre in 1839. An image of Paris' Boulevard du Temple taken by Daguerre in the same year is famous for being the first photograph of a person (visible near the lower left corner), but it is also among the first known photographs of an urban scene. Because the photo required a long exposure lasting several minutes, the traffic is rendered invisible while the buildings are reproduced in great detail, allowing them to become the primary focus.

Tuileries Palace (1841). Photo by Joseph-Philibert Girault de Prangey.

Cathédrale Notre-D...

Graphic designer Arnold Schwartzman captures art deco buildings around the world

2019-01-03T15:47:00-05:00

Los Angeles's Central Library, London's Hoover building, and Lisbon's Eden Teatro, are all considered to be some of the finest examples of Art Deco from around the world. They also all take center stage in the stunning photographs taken by graphic designer and film-maker Arnold Schwartzman, whose book on the 20th century architectural style was released in November of last year.

Schwartzman, who was the Director of Design for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games, photographed 13 of the world's most beautiful buildings. From a movie theater in Glendale, California, to an amusement park in Sydney, Australia, Schwartzman captures the careful and exacting detail of Art Deco's most celebrated examples. A number of them can be seen here in the Guardian.

Photographer discovers Chicago's hidden modernist gems along Peterson Avenue

2018-09-18T15:20:00-04:00

The buildings aren’t the work of celebrated modernist architects such as Ludwig Mies van der Rohe or Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. They bear no resemblance to the towering glass and steel monuments to postwar rationalism that you see downtown. They house doctors’ offices and dry cleaners, furniture stores and accounting firms. Some are vacant, their prim hedges and topiary gone to seed.

Architectural photographer and critic Lee Bey discovered a group of quirky modernist buildings on a section of Chicago's Peterson Ave. Overlooked and unkempt, these low-rise gems draw from Southern California's modernist vernacular prompting an unexpected, sunny and 60's nostalgia on the Northwest Side of the city. Check out these hidden structures documented here.

Bogota from the Roofs, Streets and Sky by Camilo Mønón Navas

2018-01-26T13:56:00-05:00

To me, everything looks fascinating from the air. But, for some reason, I never expected Bogotá, Colombia, to look so striking.

Colombian artist, Camilo Mønón Navas has produced a series of images titled, Arial Façades, in which Camilo takes various perspectival photographs and assembles them whimsical and fantastical means while bringing his home city of Bogota to the surface through all its cultural glory.

In Camilo's words. "Those buildings, spaces, or architectural complexes that are part of our city and that show us through a drone the incredible details that our city hides from the air...by exploring from the terrace of my apartment–a 10-story building–the structures of the cities from the zenith views.”