The latest in the European Finance Ministries series - Italy's 'Ministero della Sviluppo Economico'. The crumbling building in Rome's EUR district features roller shutters that read together as bar graphs, potted rubber trees and a mysterious figure on the 4th floor striking a Medici like pose. Meanwhile in the car jammed street Roman youths in tricolore tracksuits practise 'parkour'.
Cover story of the very wonderful relaunch issue of Architecture Australia magazine is Minifie van Schaik's sublime Edithvale-Seaford Wetlands Dicovery Centre. Wolf and Magnus and their friend Lily discover the buiding, test the features and view the birds.
Photographing BARstudio's Park Hyatt Sydney last week had us battling torrential rain and 4am starts. My kit now includes a nespresso machine! BARstudio have re-designed Sydney's iconic hotel to give it the feel of a luxurious residence...with views. The Ancher Mortlock and Woolley building has been completely re-worked internally and had a new level added. Sydney sandstone features large in the new interiors...so now there's a nice correspondence between interior and exterior. It's the home you'd like to have away from home!
At the WAF awards ceremony on Friday night Enric Ruiz-Geli of Cloud 9 which designed the Media-TIC building, said it should act as a 'seed for an environmental revolution'. He said, 'If it doesn't happen, we will not succeed with our fight against global warming.'
Ruiz-Geli took to the stage with his entire family, saying, 'This is what happens when you win an award at home.' His nine-year old son, Iago, had chosen the green colour that dominates in the building, he said. Looking at his children, he added, 'These are our clients.'
Big clap Enric, Iago and all at Cloud 9!
I'm leaving Barca now for an super looking little project 'the Illuminami' showroom by Russell + George in Rome's EUR suburb - it's in view of the Square Colosseum.
The AIA National Awards were held this year at the fantastic MONA. From what I hear it was a big-top's worth of fun. Congratulations to all the winners! Great to see two major awards heading west to Perth, including the Walter Burley Griffin Award for Urban Design that was awarded to Hassell's one40william. Congratulations also to Durbach Block Jaggers Architects for the Garden House and to Muir Mendes for the Law Street House, awarded Commendations in the Residential Architecture - Houses and Small Project categories respectively. It was pleasure working with everyone involved in these projects!
Announcing the launch of New York based OTTO, a full-service architectural and design photography agency dedicated to licensing the work of preeminent architects and designers from around the world as captured by master contemporary photographers. OTTO represents the works of leading photographers such as Scott Frances, Peter Aaron, Tim Street-Porter, Michael Moran, Floto + Warner, Richard Barnes,Ty Cole and me!
On 29 June 2011, violent clashes occurred between the riot police and protesters as the Greek parliament voted to accept the EU's austerity requirements. Poignantly marking the violence was this Finance Ministry building in Plaka. I was fascinated by the patina of soot left on the 70's building. Completely burnt out, the building was blacker than black in the harsh light of day. I've been photographing finance ministries Europe over - they are uncannily accurate metaphors for a countries fortunes or lack there of...
Dezeen magazine, one of the world's most popular and influential design blogs has as it's most popular story this week the Holman House by Durbach Block Jaggers. In the last week Dezeen has featured House 20 by Jolson, Law Street House by Muir Mendes and CentralTAFE Perth by Lyons.
For the second week running I've photographed Dezeen's most looked at story - Law Street House by Muir Mendes. And yes, we'll be joining Amy and Bruno in their house in case of a zombie apocalypse.
Just published is TRIPTYCH: The Penthouse Collection a monograph of my photographs of the just completed Triptych Apartments in Melbourne's Arts Centre Precinct. Commissioned by Stable Properties' Beatrice Imbert and designed by the Büro North team of Soren Luckins, Jason Mildren and David Williamson this tome is truly beautiful. Printed on silver foil with post production/colour work by Visual Thing, the book highlights the collaboration of architects Nettleton Tribe, artist Robert Owen, interior designers Carr Design, Büro North and the building's developer Stable Properties.
My photograph of a detail of Danish designer Louise Campbell's work Displacement Activity No. 1 is the cover story of Monument magazine #103. Photographed for this issue's Frontier feature on Copenhagen, I spent a morning photographing Louise as she installed the art works in the Den Frie Centre of Contemporary Art. 'Den Frie' translates as the 'The Free'. The galleryi is a 100+ year old weatherboard building oppersite Østerport station which features beautiful natural light on even the dullest Copenhagen day.
Working together with Fabio Ongarato Design and their team of Fabio, Maurice Lai, Katherine McQuarrie & Meg Phillips and my team of John Hamiliton (as maestro retoucher), Max Schafer (intern) & Andrew Butler (digital operator) along with Chris Sherwood (pilot) we've produced an advertising and art series of images for The Capitol. The Capitol designed by architects Bates Smart is a new apartment development on Toorak and Chapel Street, South Yarra. Photographing with ALPA cameras, a Leaf Aptus II-10 (56mp) digital back, Tyler Gyro, and Bell Jetranger III one image from the series has been reproduced as 12.5m x 3m Durotrans print for The Capitol's display suite. This image is one of the largest and highest resoloution prints ever made and from a helicopter while hovering over South Yarra in the late afternoon. You can visit The Capitol display suite and see the print for yourself at 367 Chapel street from 2011. I've had the pleasure too of working with Flood Slicer's Sam Slicer and Daniel Flood over the visualisations, great work!
Photographing the Ordrupgaard Museum extension by Zaha Hadid Architects I was taken by this demonstration of the Danish concept of hygge, which roughly translates as 'cosy'. Here a flock of Finn Juhl's Pelican chairs sit in contrast to the flowing forms of Hadid's black lava like concrete.
The awards season has been silly! Since January 5th we’ve photographed 44 projects in 5 Australian states for the AIA chapter awards AND completed two major advertising commissions. It’s meant contending with cyclones, floods, 40+ degree heat. I photographed a beautiful house that burnt down a week later and another was cleaned out by burglars the night before the shoot!!
Accompanied by intern Roger Qian (whose blog describes the shooting blow by blow) and assistants Max Schaeffer and Nils Koenning and backed up in the studio by John Hamilton on processing and retouching we’ve covered some ground and seen some things. I’ve been humbled to have photographed some of the very best new built work in Australia. Project photography has been commissioned by Anthony Gill, Bamford-Dash, BATES SMART, BKK, BLP, Durbach Block Jaggers, HASSELL, iph, Jolson, Kerstin Thompson Architects, KUD, LYONS, Muir Mendes, NettletonTribe, NMBW, Nobbs Radford, PHOOEY, Paul Morgan and Woods Bagot.
It’s been a blast…good luck everyone!!
Hilton South Wharf by Woods Bagot and NH Architecture is the hospitality category winner and overall winner 2010 of the IDEA awards. I'd photographed the Hilton and adjacent Melbourne Convention Centre over three years of construction for 'The Private Life of Public Architecture' book and was commissioned to photograph the Hilton for the cover of the awards edition of (inside) magazine.
2010 National Architecture Awards were announced at a ceremony in the National Gallery Canberra last night. Congratulations to all the winners!
It's been a great privilege to have photographed many of the winning projects. I'm humbled to have had so many wonderful projects before my camera. Awarded projects photographed include;
5-9 Roslyn Street in Kings Cross by Durbach Block Architects – awarded this year’s top Harry Seidler Award for Commercial Architecture. The jury said the building has “a particularly human quality” and they had “a strong sense that this building would adapt and change gracefully to changes in commercial use over time – a mark of an exemplar commercial building”.
HASSELL received 3 awards including the Emil Sodersten Award for Interior Architecture for the ANZ Centre in Melbourne, and a National Commendation for Urban Design for the Adelaide Zoo Entrance Precinct in Adelaide.
Lyons Architecture Office (Melbourne, VIC) by NMBW Architecture Studio was awarded twice, receiving a National Award for Interior Architecture and a National Commendation for Sustainable Architecture.
The Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre by Woods Bagot and NH Architecture received a National Award for Public Architecture
Australian Expo Pavilion in Shanghai, China by Wood/Marsh received The Colorbond® Award for Steel Architecture.
Short-listed for this year's World Architecture Festival awards are 3 projects that I’ve been fortunate to have photographed. And in more good fortune I’m going to be in Barcelona again for this year's WAF – I'll have been to all three festivals.
Shortlisted projects that I photographed include;
The ANZ Headquarters Melbourne and the Adelaide Zoo Precinct by HASSELL and also the 'MAXXI' - National Museum of the XXI Century Arts by Zaha Hadid Architects.
The WAF runs from 3-5 November 2010. See you in Barcelona!
Congratulations to the winners in the Australian Institute of Architects Victorian Chapter Awards!! The Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre by NH Architecture and Woods Bagot scooped four of the highest honours as well as Victoria's highest prize the Victorian Architecture Medal. Successfully crossing design boundaries the MCEC won the William Wardell Award for Public Architecture, the Steel Architecture Award, an Award for Sustainable Architecture and the Melbourne Prize.
I'd photographed the MCEC over 3 years through construction and its subsequent completion for the book project 'The Private Life of Public Architecture'.
Another major winner I'd the pleasure to photograph is the ANZ Centre by HASSELL and Lend Lease, honoured with the Marion Mahony Award for Interior Architecture and a Commercial Architecture Award. The jury said 'It is refreshing to be reminded of what can be achieved when there is an alignment of budget, an informed client, a committed builder and an experienced and imaginative design team,’.
Winners of architecture awards that I'd the pleasure and privilege to photograph included NMBW Architecture Studio's Studio for Lyons with an award for Interior Architecture. Andrew Maynard won for Anglesea House a Residential Architecture Award - Alterations and Additions.
BKK's Beached House is the cover story of Houses® #94. I'm chuffed that we made the cover of the relaunch issue of Houses. The magazine has been redesigned by Art Director Ken Leung of Monocle and Vanity Fair renown. Really well done to the Houses crew - Cameron Bruhn, Katelin Butler, Peter Davies, Sue Harris et al.
The magazine now has a regular feature titled 'revisted' in which projects older than 10 years are literally 'revisited' - photographed and reviewed. It was a particular privilege to, along with Fleur Watson and Cameron Bruhn meet Neil Clerehan at his Brighton House, completed in 1968. Apart from a few minor alterations - which meet with Neil's approval - the house is beautifully intact, a testament to the longevity of his architectural principles.
What’s a volcano in Iceland got to do with me – a lot as it turns out, my flight to Hong Kong was cancelled as it was to go onto Frankfurt, so with a couple of hours notice I was at the airport to fly first to Sydney and join another flight to Hong Kong, eventually Shanghai and then straight to the Expo site to make the best of clearish skies.
Photographing Wood Marsh's Australian Pavilion at Expo 2010 Shanghai I was intrigued and struck by the incongruity of icon 'Australia' and the PLA (People's Liberation Army) soldiers. The soldiers, all women, had a hilarious time photographing themselves in a variety of poses in front of the building.
There's been no respite for this photographer. Having finished with the architecture awards I have with Nils at my side and Katherine in Sydney completed a series of memorable commissions for Buro North, Durbach Block, Edwards Moore, Electrolight, Elenberg Fraser, Houses, NMBW, Vicroads and Wallpaper* as well as collaborating with sculptor Cameron Robbins to document his work at Federation Square 'Very Slow Drawing Machine'. And there's been the annual Falls Creek Artist Camp of which as well as participant with David H. Thomas I'm co-convenor and instigator.
Now i'm off to Shanghai and Hangzhou. I'll be photographing Wood Marsh's Australian Pavilion at World Expo 2010 and I'm looking forward to seeing and once again working with artist Matej Andraz Vogrincic photographing his installation for the Slovenian Pavilion. After Shanghai it's the fast train south to photograph for HASSELL their just completed China headquarters for Alibaba.