IKEA unveils “powerful” first photos by artist-in-residence Annie Leibovitz
CategoriesInterior Design

IKEA unveils “powerful” first photos by artist-in-residence Annie Leibovitz

Swedish furniture brand IKEA has released two images from a series of photographs taken by Annie Leibovitz, its first-ever artist-in-residence, showing people in their homes across the world.

The American photographer, who is best known for her portraits, travelled to twenty-five homes around the globe to take photos of people in their residences. She visited houses and apartments in Sweden, India, Italy, Japan, Germany, England and the US.

“The home has always been important in my work,” Leibovitz said when appointed artist-in-residence in 2023.

“I’ve been photographing people in their homes since I began,” she added. “It’s a way to understand who a person is. The advice I give to young photographers is to photograph their families. It’s one of the best ways to start.”

People in home photographed for IKEAPeople in home photographed for IKEA
Annie Leibovitz photographed 25 homes for IKEA, including this one in Germany

Leibovitz’s photos for IKEA show a variety of different interiors in seven different countries.

“The result is a powerful photographic document that illuminates the nuances of life at home – across borders, ethnicities and professions,” the furniture brand said of the project.

The series, which comprises 25 photos in total, was commissioned by IKEA after its IKEA Life at Home Report showed that 48 per cent of people globally don’t feel the media represents their home.

The first two images released by IKEA, show the homes of Yusuke Onimaru in Japan and Maria Arrechea in Germany – specifically Onimaru’s ceramic workshop and Arrechea’s living space filled with friends.

Leibovitz’s photos will be shown as part of the IKEA+ exhibition in Paris, which will take place during Paris Fashion Week.

It will also feature a collaboration with online radio station Rinse and showcase the Tesammans collection made by IKEA together with Eindhoven-basd design duo Raw Color.

Six emerging designers from the Casa93 fashion education program are also taking part in the IKEA+ showcase. They worked with “home furnishing mentors” from IKEA to create designs that focus on upcycling and sustainable design.

The photography is by Annie Leibovitz for IKEA.

IKEA+ will take place on 28 Rue de Lappe, Paris, from 29 February to 3 March. For more worldwide events, exhibitions and talks in architecture and design, visit Dezeen Events Guide. 

Reference

Photovoltaics, Often Misunderstood as Visual Nuisances, Are Powerful Architectural Features
CategoriesArchitecture

Photovoltaics, Often Misunderstood as Visual Nuisances, Are Powerful Architectural Features

Judging for the 11th A+Awards is now underway! While awaiting the Winners, learn more about Architizer’s Vision Awards. The Main Entry Deadline on June 9th is fast approaching. Start your entry today >

The potential for making an architectural statement with solar PV panels, particularly in the form of a canopy, has been availed by architects for a while now. There is the often-photographed monumental solar canopy at the Parc del Fòrum in Barcelona, Spain, from way back in 2004. More recently, Gensler Architects have built an enormous hypostyle portico covered in solar panels at the Fifth + Tillery office in Austin, Texas. These sweeping expanses of glass and silicon on exposed latticework structures are naturally dramatic and expressive while providing a dappled shade or shelter from the rain.

Fifth + Tillery by Gensler, Austin, TX, United States

On residential houses, however, the pattern is to simply stick solar panels dumbly on the roof in any way they may fit. Newly built houses abound where exceptional care has been exercised over every detail and proportion, no expense spared on materials — except for the ill-shaped clump of solar panels laid out across the roof. It’s as if there is an unspoken agreement not to notice. But you can’t look away: there they are in full sun atop the house: ugly, unloved, visually jarring.

Renewable Energy Tartan

It’s a shame because solar canopies, awnings, eaves, and screens are an opportunity to add construction details and architectural rhythm that is inherent in the trellis-like structures supporting solar arrays. The cross-crossing supports of various thicknesses combined with a grid of individual solar cells naturally form a tartan plaid with layers of depth and visual interest. Although the panels can be mounted at any angle or even flat, the most efficient orientation is always a south-facing slant that can be a strong visual counterpoint to the normally rectilinear forms of a typical house.

Windkraft Simonsfeld, Lower Austria by Arch.

Ernstbrunn Windkraft by Architekturbüro Reinberg ZTGesmbH, Energiewende Platz, Korneuburg, Niederösterreich, Austria

Solar Photovoltaics Everywhere

Solar canopies can power a house and provide well-modulated shade at the poolside, or they can float over the house, shading the roof while adding visual interest to the façade, as in this application of solar panels on an office building façade, with the array jauntily tipped over the front of the building at a skew angle. Panels can be integrated as a carport roof, a door awning, an eave line, skylights, an atrium roof, windows, a deck railing, a brise-soleil, a screening element, or even a garden fence. So it’s a wonder that they almost always just get stuck on the roof in the most unsightly possible way.

A shade trellis is an often-used feature when designers want to make an attractive sheltered backyard space. When made of solar panels, it can not only provide modulated shade but also rain cover. But any surface that receives sunlight can, theoretically, be made into a solar electric collector. Yet, few to no examples of solar panels are being used for features like railings or screening elements in residential architecture.

A solar eave will provide the shadow line of a traditional eave and the opportunity to de-materialize the eave as it reaches its edge. Combining bi-facial panels with clear glass panels offers another opportunity for modulation.

Solar panel canopy

Solar panel and glass canopy. Image by Charles via Pixabay

Lots of Choices

Manufacturers offer a wide variety of specialized solar panels just for solar roofs, canopies, and walls. Bi-facial panels that are glass on both faces are the most commonly used. These panels contain an array of dark silicon cells sandwiched between two sheets of glass. The silicon cells can be arranged at various spacing to adjust the amount of opaque versus clear area. Amorphous silicon glass panels present a uniform look without tiled silicon cells and can be made in various colored tints. Panels are also available in different sizes and form factors as well. Some panels can even be combined with windows and skylights. What if a building’s cladding material were entirely made of solar panels? More power to it! Added to the variety of panels is the variety of off-the-shelf mounting systems available, from minimalist to water-tight.

There is no excuse not to make solar photovoltaics part of the architecture. So, architects and designers, it’s time to embrace solar PV as part of the design and not just an unsightly piece of electrical equipment mounted on the most visible part of the house!

This article was written in collaboration with Californian architect Ian Ayers.

Judging for the 11th A+Awards is now underway! While awaiting the Winners, learn more about Architizer’s Vision Awards. The Main Entry Deadline on June 9th is fast approaching. Start your entry today >

Reference

100 Drawings That Tell Powerful Stories About Architecture in 2022
CategoriesArchitecture

100 Drawings That Tell Powerful Stories About Architecture in 2022

Architizer is thrilled to present the 100 Finalists for the 4th Annual One Drawing Challenge, architecture’s biggest drawing competition! This year’s best drawings are full of fascinating details that paint a rich architectural portrait of life and our world in 2022. A vibrant celebration of architectural representation, the images depict a diverse range of narrative-driven environments, from fantastical metropolises to dystopian landscapes. Others form satirical commentaries on climate change, capitalist society and political turmoil, and everything in between.

The judging process is officially underway, with our stellar line up of expert jurors reviewing each drawing in minute detail. They will be judging the drawings based on the competition criteria to come up with their top drawings. The jurors’ rankings will be converted into scores, which will then give us our two Top Winners and 10 Runners-up. As a reminder, the two Top Winners, one student and one non-student student, will each receive:

  • $3,000 cash prize
  • Top billing in this year’s One Drawing Challenge Winners’ Announcement
  • An exclusive interview with Architizer’s editorial team, published on architizer.com
  • A seat on next season’s competition jury

Without further ado, explore the 100 Finalists of the 2022 competition below (published across 4 posts and in no particular order), accompanied by their stories, written by the entrants. Tell us which is your favorite on Instagram and Twitter with the hashtag #OneDrawingChallenge! Below, “Part 1” presents the first 25 architectural drawings — you can jump to parts 2, 3 and 4 using these buttons:

Part 2     Part 3     Part 4


“Octavia – Suspended City” by Thomas Schaller

Schaller Architectural Fine Arts

“Inspired by the iconic book Invisible Cities. by Italo Calvino, this drawing tells the story of Octavia, a city suspended above the Earth by a spider’s web of cables and wires. Interpretations are limitless, but in my interpretation, the inhabitants of Octavia depict the central truth about humanity – connections are profound – but tenuous; just as is our grasp on life itself. Isolation is not sustainable and connectivity – for all its impermanence – remains a more beautiful response.”


“DELIRIOUS COFFEE PALACE” by Pengcheng Yang and Zirui Wang

The Melbourne University

“Cafe Palace selected a series of plans of landmark buildings with different cultural backgrounds according to the composition of immigrants in the block, which served as the inspiration and design starting point of the overall underground space layout. Through the redefinition and blend of different architectural styles, an architectural atmosphere similar to the situationist concept was created.

At the same time, the coffee underground palace introduces phenomenological concepts and guides and creates underground circulation ideas from touch, hearing, smell and taste. This architecture can also be seen as an experiment in phenomenology. Elite food etiquette is often quite luxurious, and this program not only summarizes the traditional coffee washing process, but has deliberately designed these machines to be overly fussy in order to satirize the pursuit of the ultimate in coffee culture.”


“Fable or Failure” by Alexander Jeong and Brandon Hing

University of Southern California

“The conversation around future space travel intensifies, illustrating an intrinsic tension between a childlike excitement towards space travel and a corrupt governmental elitist control. As the world we know deteriorates under our feet, we desire to preserve, to resist, to survive. Fable or Failure takes an architectural approach of dividing a traditional spacecraft into three sections.

The first captures the inherent hierarchy, placing governmental and elitist figures in the control room, dictating the direction of the spacecraft. The second creates a radial plethora of human cultural achievements, memories, and records of our collective development. The final depicts a need for biodiversity in extraterrestrial survival. Ironically, the spacecraft is divided hierarchically, giving the most value and meaning to those in the control room, the elite, highlighting the scale tipping, where our naive excitement for space travel is overrun by the forces of elitist and governmental monopolization.”


“Remembering Hanami” by Seah XinZe

WilkinsonEyre Architects

Detail

“Every spring, cherry trees in Japan bloom with a fleeting magnificence, captivating the nation for two weeks before wilting. During this time, parks are shrouded in pink and the ephemerality of cherry blossoms is appreciated as they are a reminder of the transitory yet overwhelming beauty of life.

Located in Yoyogi park, Tokyo, the project aims to immortalize the spirit of the cherry blossom. The building is a hand-woven landscape of experiences that engage the senses through the extraction of the different aspects of cherry blossom. The distillery boils flowers from the adjacent cherry grove, distributing scented steam through a network of pipes into the various spaces of the building. Visitors enjoy cherry blossom tea under a canopy crafted from sakiori weaving dyed pink from cherry trees and are invited to picnic by the scented water pools.”


“Ever Given Ever After: Suez Canal Obstruction Rethought” by Manuel Ragheb

ppp Architekten

“In March 2021, an Evergreen container ship blocked the Suez Canal waterway for 6 days. In a scenario in which the ship had never managed to leave the canal, people in need of homes would have brought their lives aboard. While the Egyptian government has been dragging people out of their homes in Warraq and Sinai as development plans move forward, people are forced into poorly planned habitats that pay no real attention to people’s needs or their economic activities.

Not only are people entitled to the right to shelter, but also to one that guarantees a high life standard with consideration to the way people earn their livings. Urban development plans should target local inhabitants rather than investments that disregard the human factor. Only then, people can be part of a better urban future. The mural portrays people building their own homes on board the container ship.”


“The Red-Wall Maze” by Dong Fu

Zephyr(US) Architects P.C.

“Stair mazes will always be dynamic structures for the human spatial experience. Humans have the instinct to create infinite space through limited materials so that a certain relationship can be formed between limited life and the infinite universe. Stairs are important elements of a maze—connecting different heights and circulating up and down. The winding pink staircases, the main subject of this drawing, give the building a very large number of possible paths, forming a complex labyrinth.

At the same time, I utilized Escher’s impossible space in such a way that the upper part of the drawing is a space facing up, and the lower part faces down. In this way, at the shared edge of the two spaces, a person needs to make a 90-degree rotation of the body to complete the crossing between the two parts, similar to scenes of the movie “Inception.””


“Post Boulevard” by endri marku

“A Sultan built a temple over the wilderness and a little picturesque settlement grew all around it.

Years later, a King ruled the place. He soon decided that the town needed a boulevard.

An Emperor dethroned the King. He thought the boulevard would be better surrounded by monumental buildings.

A Secretary General rised to power. He accepted the boulevard as it was and used it for his own celebrations.

A President came. He disliked all that space around the boulevard so he filled it with all sort of things.

Lastly a Post-Modern leader became the ruler of the city. He too liked that boulevard but with a city of its own making around. Architects from all over the world where invited to embellish it. Every corner of the bulevard, every space and especially the sky over it were filled with bright and colorful wonders – a place of terrifying beauty.”


“Chamber of Memories: Hidden Odyssey” by Ghassan Alserayhi

Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, University of Michigan

“Peter Eisenman commented on John Hejduk’s Berlin figures that they are not architecture “because you can’t get in them.” To which Hejduk replied, “YOU can’t get in them.” The work questions the degrees of accessibility in which users/participants can have agency/authorship to a piece of architecture. The notion of authorship can be understood as a form of intellectual property, where participants can only be allowed to travel with the designer through the meaning/essence of the work using their imaginations, only if the work was explained to them.

Analogously, this drawing reflects on the relationship between memories, architecture, and authorship, by capturing one moment extracted from the designer’s memory during the design process of this particular work, and then structuring different relations that intersect with time and space to reconstruct two possible realms of memories [exposed+hidden].”


“The Gardener’s Diary” by Glory Kuk

KPF

“Dear Diary,

I recently rummaged through my old diaries and found melancholic entries.

Located in Renwick Ruins of Welfare Island, an island that housed the undesirables of the city, much like our rejection of mental health problems.

The drawing diary is informed by small details in life and on site, which is spatially translated. It grows as more details are noticed, the drawing itself as a growing diary where it is reconditioned daily by me, tending, caring and maintaining the space. There is a visitor within me who might create chaos within the garden based on their emotions, the other side of my psyche. We shall leave traces for each other as we will never meet.

The drawing is where the garden is architecturised, and the architecture is gardenised.
It is a safe haven to defuse my worries, through this drawing I shall find my peace…

Yours Truly, The Gardener”


“The renovation of Chungking Mansions” by Chenkai Shao

Manchester School of Architecture

“Chungking Mansion is located in Hong Kong. It has brought together traders and asylum-seekers from South Asia and Africa, temporary workers from India and cash-strapped tourists from all over the world. It is a building that represents “low-end globalisation”.

Marginalization, cultural collisions, illegal activities, fire problems… These problems have complicated and frayed the small society of Chungking Mansions. At the same time, these problems are closely related to each other. Fire seems to be the embodiment of other problems, and is the only one that can cause substantial damage to the structure and space of Chungking Mansions.

Therefore, I conducted a study on this issue. On the premise of advocating the exploration of residents’ spontaneity and the use of low-technology construction, I rebuilt the building on the fire problem and tried to build a new life style for residents.”


“Dream of The Lost Era” by Mai Tung

HANOI ARCHITECTURAL UNIVERSITY

“The world was once filled with secluded and mysterious villages. The populations of these villages each lived and died in their own immaculate beliefs, traditions, and laws, their respective cultures untouched by the outside world for eons. With what land, sea and sky would offer, they would farm, herd, weave, build and worship, all in harmony with the cycles of nature.
Nowadays, the way of life of the ancients rings in the ears and minds of new generations suffocated by modernity like echoes. Voices from the distant past, urging them to embrace again traditions that preserved human groups for thousands of years. If not for modernity, nothing would have shaken the peace of these villages until the end of times.”


“A Garden of Rebirth” by Glory Kuk

KPF

Detail

“Aokigahara, known for its unusual geography and abandoned objects, a Garden of Rebirth will be constructed in this forest of death, to transform the forest into a growing garden of the everyday. It is a building that never ends and grows, to be stood for all of eternity at least 10,000 years.

As a hybrid between a garden, monastery, hotel, the building records the passing of time. The garden acts as a refuge for visitors and lost souls that wander in the forest seeking for an end; a place for the dead and the living to exchange moments.

The building will be informed by the Pine trees in the forest, with the technical investigation into the study of shaping trees (pleaching), inspired by bonsai gardening, to construct desired elements and harvesting furniture as a self-sustained structure, to explore the notion of the evanescence of life and the essence of Zen.”


“Architecture of Insecurity” by Seungho Park, Architect

“During its rapid growth in the late 1800s, New York City formed most of its current modern city fabric. As a city of immigrants with its own cultural insecurity, New York borrowed the architectural style of its diverse ancestral European roots in an attempt to create a historic urban context. This European influence, combined with the advancing construction technology and socioeconomic factors of the time, forged a unique architectural environment. Architectural elements of different origin, whether ornamental or functional, were melded into New York’s building facades; architectural manifestation of “insecurity”.

The drawing mimics and exaggerates the architectural evolution of the city by displacing and fragmenting the buildings and architectural elements from their origin and context. Does the reassembly of the architectural fragments give us an extreme New York City? Through assemblage and abstraction, what can architects learn from it?”


“Art Expose” by Mannik Singh, Evelynne New and Xianke Qi

University of Melbourne

“Art Expose is a Public Fabric Art Forum aiming to raise awareness and mend inequities within Melbourne’s art scene alongside a fibre arts community. Putting the public in the central spine, the discursive architecture seeks to mediate between prosperous art dealers and struggling artists. The scheme arms the public with tools for measured amounts of active and passive surveillance of art production, storage and sales.

Art dealers have become synonymous with scandal and theft. While their secrets have been leaked to the press front pages, they remain the essential tin can telephone between artists and buyers, if we were to remove them, the connection will be lost.

The underbelly of the Art world continues to hum. Hundreds of feathered stewards hustle to feed the insatiable demand for smuggled art. The Machiavellian patrons get away with their white-collar crimes promising the cooing servants better living conditions for the pigeon race.”


“Pocket Size City: The Atlas” by Stefan Maier

University of Applied Arts Vienna

“The Atlas – a loose assemblage of maps. It constitutes a multitude of scales within itself. It links between the content and its representations, creates relationships, and references – a hyperlink into the digital space. The atlas holds the weight of the digital mesh.”


“The Post Apocalyptic Debrisity of Semporna” by kwok keng wong

School of Architecture & Built Environment, UCSI University, Malaysia

“The drawing is a capriccio depicting a post-apocalyptic Semporna as a ‘debrisity’ serving as a reminder that anthropogenic coastal and ocean debris is never another speculation but a reality. The notion of this drawing is to question the precarity whilst disseminating the importance of waste management and striving for the betterment of the settlement and marine life of Semporna. Cities across the globe are sharing the same fate in that unless we become more conscious about the impact of marine debris, they are destined to bear the brunt of human activities. Water is quintessential to support all forms of life yet paradoxically, human narcissism has laid and continues to lay waste to cities that are granted access to the paramount gift of nature, water, turning the ocean into a gigantic dumpster.

Medium : Mixed media on cartridge ( fineliner, ink, paint )
Size : 840 mm x 1188 mm (A0)”


“Synopolis” by Lohren Deeg

Ball State University

“Content with the limitations of their small apartments and quaint terraces, warmly greeting their neighbors, and strolling among the stepped streets, the citizens of Synopolis greet the sunset each evening with decanters of bubbly concoctions, slowness in their constitutionals, diving into delectable sweets, and chatting away the day’s trials and travails over stacks of plates of tapas.”


“More was more” by Gregory Klosowski

Pappageorge Haymes Partners

“This drawing imagines an alternate reality and economic reverie where the Great Depression never happened, a need for stripped to the basics skyscrapers averted, and the stylistic impressions of the era continued to roar for decades onward. This depicts a parallel Chicago, devoid of modernist glassy structures. A staggered stone skyline is a hazy backdrop to airships hovering at startlingly low altitudes.

Flight mechanisms with robotic precision, advanced echolocation, exact three dimensional positioning, and miniaturized drones allow for all manners of ability to defy gravity…affording anyone the ability to gracefully, and accurately, fly within the glowing limestone canyons. The drawing is rendered in ink pen and colored pencil with a warmth and technique characteristic of, and inspired by, period watercolor renderings.”


“The Keys” by mykhailo ponomarenko

EDSA, inc.

““This day has come, my young apprentice!” – said Remio Kulhassio, founding partner of the renowned architecture studio in Fornio, Italy.

They met outside the studio in front of the piazza, designed by Kulhassio himself. It was around noon on April 12, 1796. Piazza represented a giant statement to human superiority over Nature. Remio was so proud of it.
The space was filled with people, minding their own business. Some wealthy dutch tourists were walking nearby and argued about whether they should go out at night or better to stay at their comfortable accommodations.

“Now you’re ready to keep the keys from the studio, while we will be out on a site visit. Keep the space spotless, Bjarki. Should I discover lapse of any variety during my absence, I promise swift and merciless justice will descend upon you”.”


“Ronin’s Lair” by Eduardo Perez

California State University Long Beach

“‘Ronin’s Lair’… an environment that lies between two parallel universes. These series of spaces are a continually morphing and warping training grounds for the ‘wayward samurai’. They are part Japanese Edo Period and part digital future, they are neither today nor tomorrow… they are in a continually shifting threshold space; a warped interim and an evolutionary and non-chronological series of physicality’s and landscapes. My explorations also lie within 2 worlds of the analogue and the digital, my submission is one of the analogue (ink on parchment paper) and it is one of a series of many such explorations in digital, analogue, and hybrid mediums.”


“One Encounter, One Chance” by Ke Zhang

withoutarchitect

“If we strip away the technological advances of virtual reality and artificial intelligence, how do we ensure our ability to feel still exists in this digital age? Inspired by the Teatro Del Mondo “Floating Theater” (Aldo Rossi, 1979), this temporary structure floats in Tokyo Bay and is set to open every summer as a metaphor for the Japanese idiom: Ichi-go Ichi-e (one encounter, one chance), a celebration of the unrepeatable nature of every single moment.

Hundreds of fishing boats are tied together to create the strongest support for this flexible, adaptable, and stable structure. Upon entering this laboratory of raw emotions, conscious and subconscious, every encounter becomes a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, each convergence of time, light, mood, thought, and movement is unique and unrepeatable. This project aims to bring forward a discourse on the potential of collective space that addresses the fundamental human need to simply feel, connect, and participate.”


“Threshold” by Kenan Pence and Deniz Calisir Pence

Kenan Pence / Design Office

“Threshold: The focal point of the picture is a human standing on the water’s surface, facing the light (referring to the Truth) diffusing from a cracked wall in an uncanny cave. The philosophy of art and visual arts questioning the “reality” and “illusion” frequently refers to Platon’s “the allegory of Cave”. The picture uses a cave metaphor as well as a “the allegory of uterus” referring to the human’s first home which is conceptualized by the curvilinear forms.

In this context, space means “existence”. The picture merges both metaphors to create a conceptual architectural space representing a contemporary critical interpretation. The cave symbolized by the architectural space of the picture has metaphoric shadows that represent illusions built by power. The human at the threshold is left systematically created chaos behind in need of finding new hope.”


“(Your) My Bedroom” by Daniel Ho

University of Auckland

“Many see in architecture the plan, section, elevation, axonometric, and BIM model; mathematical conventions communicating the means of construction. However, drawing by measurement to prescribe beyond the floor, walls, and roof is a perverse overstep; measurements cannot make singular the continuous performance of everyday living.

‘(Your) My Bedroom’ departs from such Cartesian description. It draws a transient domestic, where violence and protection coalesce. A place to laugh, cry, hate, love, reflect, and regret; to feel ambition, faith, passion, cynicism, pleasure, and pain. To draw the bedroom should reflect these experiences with all the egotism of the eye, lest the drawing repels the character it endeavors to express.

Singular compositionally, yet multiplicative in evoking identities of the viewer’s own ‘Bedroom.’ Recalling these identities with blue pencil on 2000 x 1500mm paper means democratizing these everyday experiences. Identities range from bodily to microscopic scales; zoom up, explore, and analyze the character, ‘Bedroom.’”


“Futuristic Organic Architecture” by Muthanna Akram

WHY Architecture

“The drawing depicts the possible future of architecture, where buildings are grown organically using programmable bionanobots and natural materials that automatically assemble and fuse chemically via biological mechanisms. buildings will be grown.”


“Resiting 1” by Roger Emmerson, Architectural Writer

“Resiting 1, part of a series which marries significant Scottish buildings with significant Scottish landscape, relocates the Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh to the isle of Eilean Donan in the Scottish Highlands. The Museum of Scotland, 1999, by Benson + Forsyth seeks to encapsulate the history of Scottish architecture in one city centre building whereas Eilean Donan and its castle represent the archetypical view of both Scottish landscape and traditional 17th century architecture. The drawing process attempts to test the validity of the Museum’s original conception against the fact of the historic landscape and, through that process, to posit a continuity of intent and form peculiar to Scottish architecture.”

Next 25 Drawings →

Reference

100 Photos That Tell Powerful Stories About Architecture in 2022
CategoriesArchitecture

100 Photos That Tell Powerful Stories About Architecture in 2022

One of the most exciting moments of Architizer’s year is upon us again — we are thrilled to reveal the 100 amazing Finalists for the 3rd Annual One Photo Challenge, architecture’s biggest photography competition! Including unique architectural images from around the world, this year’s vibrant exhibition is full of unusual perspectives and bold juxtapositions of form and void. Each photograph tells its own unique story about buildings, people and our world in 2022, demonstrating how architecture can be viewed as a landscape, an artwork, a stage, a refuge and a home.

The final judging process is officially underway, with our stellar line up of expert jurors reviewing each image in minute detail and reading the stories behind them. They will be judging the photographs based on the competition criteria to come up with their top entries. The jurors’ rankings will be converted into scores, which will then give us our two Top Winners and 10 Runners-up.

The 2 Top Winners — 1 student and 1 non-student — will win themselves $2,500, an exclusive interview with Architizer Editors about their image, and a spot on next season’s prestigious competition jury! If this sounds like a challenge you’d like to have a go at, you can register for next season’s One Photo Challenge by signing up here.

Without further ado, explore the 100 Finalists below (published across 4 posts and in no particular order), accompanied by their stories, written by the entrants. Tell us which is your favorite on Instagram and Twitter with the hashtag #OnePhotoChallenge! Below, “Part 1” presents the first 25 architectural photographs — you can jump to parts 2, 3 and 4 using these buttons:

Part 2     Part 3     Part 4


“Family” by Jeff Durkin

Breadtruck Films

“This was taken at the University of California San Diego’s world famous Geisel library by William Pereira. This was taken on a hot summer day when school is out and the campus becomes a playground for families and children in the area of La Jolla. I’ve spent many days at this library, but this day was special because many families where on campus to see the “Cat in the Hat” statue that is just out of frame.

Theodore Geisel a.k.a. children’s book author Dr. Seuss had lived in the area and his wife had donated his work and trust to the library, in his honor, so it’s a big place for kids. I snapped several photos that day, but this family in primary colors captivated by the inverted pyramid represents and idealistic childhood in the mid-century.”

Camera: Canon


“Urban Mountains” by Katharina Klopfer

“When walking through downtown I am constantly fascinated by highrise buildings and the impact they leave on us. Do we feel small and overwhelmed by this kind of architecture? Or is it similar to what we feel when we climb mountains or get lost in dark valleys? We certainly do enjoy the view when we reach the peak or rooftop. This urban landscape seems to be a reinterpretion of the white-top mountains that surround us and can be spotted vaguely in the distance.

While I was watching the facade workers doing their job the image of an alpine scenery was recalled. An urban mountain landscape waiting to be conquered by humans. Mysterious, frightening, but also loved. Excactly like pristine nature appears to us.”

Camera: Fujifilm SLR


“POPCourts!” by Shelby Kroeger, Alan Barker, Max Komnenich, Anezka Gocova, Vanessa Stokes & Missy Perkins

Lamar Johnson Collaborative

“POPCourts!, a 7,000 SF community plaza in the Austin neighborhood on Chicago’s West Side, was born from the pandemic and civil unrest and developed in concert with Mayor Lightfoot’s INVEST South/West initiative. The goal was to provide a safe community space that residents could enjoy outdoors during the pandemic while also creating a visible presence along Chicago Avenue.

The entire design team transformed this empty city lot into three-zone “Courts,” each serving a variety of community functions, allowing activities to “Pop” up and transform over time. The basketball court doubles as a community plaza. The gravel drive hosts food trucks, farmer’s markets, and other seasonal vendors, and the shaded lawn functions as a Food Court with casual seating. Local artists painted murals on the adjacent building walls, depicting figures such as Malcolm X, Harriet Tubman, and Maya Angelou.”

Camera: Canon


“‘Undersea Adventure’ on the Roof of Opus” by Wujingting Zeng

Politecnico di Milano

“One morning, I looked up at Zaha’s Opus and saw workers scrubbing the roof of the atrium. Then I walked to the top floor of the atrium and took this photo under the feet of the workers.

The sky bridge blocks the sun, and people lose the reference to identify themselves as on land.The glass makes the outside world a blue like the under the sea . The curved building shape makes people feel like they are at the bottom of a coral reef. “Divers“ are holding ”probes“ to find the lost treasures. Falling water droplets became the bubbles they exhaled.

In a city like Dubai, where the desert meets the ocean, the workers who clean the dust from the desert look like divers under the sea in the contrast of the building, which endows the picture with a mysterious poetry.”

Camera: Other


“Here’s looking at you, kid!” by Paul Ott

paul ott photografiert

“This image is my photographic translation of a space-dissolving surface design of a stairwell interior. Its design is part of the conversion of a bourgeois house from the 1900 into an apartment building.

The woman’s steady gaze questions the observer: What is the substance of this image? Is it real or imaginary?

“Here’s looking at you, kid!” – Humphrey Bogart, Casablanca.”

Camera: Hasselblad 500 C/M


“Steps” by Manuel Mergal

“The “steps” are of the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC. The hard shadows on the photo serve to decontextualize it, thereby engaging the viewer with what he or she has in front as a photo itself, and not necessarily the fact that it is recognizable as the National Gallery of Art in DC. The sharp divide between the left and the right is a comment on the human condition: the decision that we are all confronted with and the fact that it is only in the light of knowledge (light which produces the hard shadows) that we see the right choice.”

Camera: iPhone


“Self-revealing.” by 易暹 李

YHLAA

“This is a chamber for yoga master to give lecture and practice.
The design concept is to build a cave for the master to hide himself from the noisy world.
It is hidden in the busiest area in Taipei City.
Outside the chamber is extremely busy and loud, but inside is totally different.
This place gives people a huge sense of tranquility, Where people can discover themself via yoga training.”

Camera: Sony


“Fountain of Youth” by Sean Wolanyk

McGill University

“Walking through the streets of Chefchaouen, one notices the distinct lack of authentic life. With vendors catering to groups of tourists, finding people genuinely living their lives is a rare sight.

However, upon turning around a corner, I saw a young girl sitting on the edge of a water fountain, filling a small bottle. I was fascinated by this sight, as not only was it a resident living their life, but a child on her own in the street. This seems distinctly foreign to me, having grown up in suburban North America. Perhaps this is an example of bad parenting, but maybe it is emblematic of an older way of life that has died in my world, but lives on here in Morocco.”

Camera: Canon


“Reflect” by Kim Smith

Kim Smith Photo

“In one still moment, our viewer inhabits the past, present and multiple futures. From her perch, she feels the power of the timeless.

Set in the context of bustling, time-worn Manhattan, our viewer reflects – literally and figuratively. Amongst iconic architecture of a classic era, she discovers the present moment. Comfortable, curious and captured, her future lies unwritten among infinite reflections.”

Camera: Fujifilm SLR


“Reflektor” by Adrian Aguilar H

“The cultural center Teotitlan Del Valle in Oaxaca Mexico, is a cultural center located in a community where the main income is art crafted textiles, this center not only allows small artisans to show and promote their work, the center also hosts various artistic activities for the development of young people, these activities are: music, painting, dance and theater.

The stairs that can be seen in the photograph, are the connection between 2 important levels that communicate to a main square where the artisans are located and the second level connects to the halls to practice the cultural activities, this portal is the daily crossroads of the community. The photo wants to reflect the important connection between the economic development of the community and the importance of cultural and artistic development in the society. The architecture becomes protagonist and spectator of the development of a community proud of its roots.”

Camera: iPhone


“Solitude” by Robin Quarrelle

Robin Quarrelle Photography

“Early 2022, when the Omicron Covid variant was ripping through the UK, it was hard to find a safe place where one could find comfort away from home. This is Clifton Cathedral, in Bristol, UK. A building i’ve walked past many times without realising what an architectural treasure the interior was. I’m not a religious man, but I do find these spaces incredibly peaceful. I was alone for an hour whilst taking some pictures of this space, except for a short few minutes when a student popped her head in to seek some peace, solitude, and perhaps comfort during an unsettling and difficult time for the country.”

Camera: Sony


“A Glimpse of Heaven” by Jean Claude Ardila

Jean Claude Photography

“This image was taken at the Tampa Museum of Art. There is an opening on the building guiding your eyes towards the sky. I laid there with my camera on my face to avoid shake and trying to capture the best angle using the lines in the structure towards the clouds. I noticed there were paragliders in the area and I waited patiently for one to appear in my frame. I am glad I did.”

Camera: Sony


“Arachnophobia” by Tiffany Liem

Brookfield Properties

“Suspended 40ft in the air, a woman floats on a web-like net.

The scale of the human form to the net equates to a spider and its web. The artist, Tomás Saraceno, transports the user to a sensory experience in which we become the arachnid. The sun-like sphere fades into black and we are transported to a universe where we feel every vibration of the web and our ears consume all of the frequencies echoing in the darkness.

It’s a subtle reminder of how small and isolating we can feel in a vast and expanding universe.

Photo from Tomás Saraceno’s exhibition Particular Matter(s): Free the Air: How to hear the universe in a spider/web exhibited at The Shed.”

Camera: iPhone


“Art Jameel” by Shoayb Khattab

Shoayb Khattab Photography

“My intention from this project was to reduce the minimalist architecture design of Jameel Arts Centre to a single frame and presents its white façade and clean lines in the simplest way possible. What made the capture more interesting is the passing mechanical guy which was a happy accident that contributed a human element to the otherwise too pure of a picture.”

Camera: Canon


“Fun in the Sun” by Daniel Francis

Dan Francis Photography

“In the year 2020, the world as we knew it changed.

Adults who spent hours at the office are now finding themselves at home a lot more than usual.

Work and home life has merged. The new addition of the house for this active family was completed in 2021 to bring some relaxation and to enjoy the outdoors with the ones that matter most.

The exterior finish of the home was a technique called Shou Sugi Ban and the deck brought the goal to have the backyard be an extension to their home.”

Camera: Canon


“Cadets” by Brad Feinknopf

feinknopf

“We had been hired by Ikon 5 to photograph Bastin Hall at The Citadel. The Citadel is a U.S. Military College in Charleston, SC. Bastin Hall had a beautiful screen that allowed dappled light into the atrium. It also created a beautiful backdrop for the Cadets heading to and from drills. This is a brief moment of relaxation on the way to drills in a rather structured environment.”

Camera: Canon


“Dancers” by Brad Feinknopf

feinknopf

“We were hired to shoot the new Cincinnati Ballet’s new home. If the lobby is a ceiling cut, people can look up into the studios above. A beautiful window into their great artistry.”

Camera: Canon


“Kites” by Lim yu heng

“This photograph was taken at the plaza of Kanagawa Institute of Technology in Japan designed by Ishigami Junya.

The photograph is titled Kites as the square openings on the thin metal roof distorts when viewed from above. At different seasons of the year, the metal roof expands and contracts according to the changing temperature. Thus, different shadows are casted on the plaza space below.

I intently waited until a passerby walk by underneath the roof in order to give the audience a notion of the sense of human scale as well as the feeling of vastness through architecture.

The negative white space is used as a metaphorical reference to the sky and the openings to be the kites floating in the wind. Through this expression, the photograph intends to evoke a feeling of isolation and to question our existence as mankind and the vastness of the space we inhibit.”

Camera: Sony


“Voyage” by Yin Tse Tseng

“I visited this expressionist Gothic church with vertical and minimal modern aesthetic. I captured a breathtaking moment on the first day of 2022. I experienced serene golden light sprinkling through the aisle while surrounded by pleasant music. To be a moment’s ornament, I am voyaging through the pulse of light.”

Camera: Nikon


“Down the Rabbit Hole” by Melissa Teo

“I stumbled upon Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art, designed by Tadao Ando, during my mission to photograph minimalism in Kobe, Japan.

I was drawn to the maze-like staircase at the centre of the museum which connects the basement floor to to the outdoor space. This particular scene reminds me of the author, Lewis Carroll, who introduced the term “Down the rabbit hole” in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

I wanted to photograph the use colors, contrast of the concrete walls, space and natural light which heightens visitors’ curiosity to escape into the designed “rabbit holes” of the museum. It conveys a sense of time spent in transit where one could drift into a reverie.

This invites us to move forward, urging us to keep becoming, as Alice would say, “curiouser and curiouser” and experiencing delight with architecture, in a multi-layered and synergistic fashion.”

Camera: Canon


“The Atlas Building” by Michelle Aarlaht

“The confident Atlas Building being wrapped in by the London clouds. This residential and office tower, by Make Architects, was completed in 2019, and is easily spotted when walking around East London as it is one of the tallest buildings in the area. To watch this bold construction disappear in the clouds was quite a humbling experience, broadening the personality spectrum of the structure – showing for a brief moment that it also has an introverted side – before it fully revealed itself through the clouds again.”

Camera: Canon


“From the inside to the outside in one jump” by Ivo Tavares studio Architectural Photographer

Ivo Tavares Studio

“The pandemic has created a new way for people to relate to their home.
The house is a symbol of security and outside of it we tried to complement it with experiences and being ourselves.
As we spent more time inside our homes, we had to bring these moments of pleasure and fun, and it is here that architecture gained a new perception.

The architecture created by the Frari atelier allowed this family, in a single jump, to connect the security of the interior of the house, to the exterior and to their fun.”

Camera: Canon


“WALKING FOR THE PACHINKO” by Otto Lizst

G+C

“The Botín Center, new art contemporary center in Santander, is made up of two volumes linked by an element made up of steel and glass walkways and stairs whose function is to connect both volumes called Pachunko, which owes its name to a Japanese pinball machine. It is a structure of squares and steel and glass walkways, which is seven meters high and whose function is to connect the east and west volumes, distributing the flow of visitors to the building. In addition, a nine meter long trampoline flies over the cliff, cantilevering over the sea, and allows the public to contemplate the bay in a unique and special way.

With this descriptive work of Renzo Piano’s architecture, I also emphasize the juxtapositions that the building gives off, lightness – solidity, transparency – opacity, minimalist spaces versus cumbersome spaces in their perception, not in their function.”

Camera: Nikon


“waiting time” by Ivo Tavares studio Architectural Photographer

Ivo Tavares Studio

Restaurante 34 em Guimarães com Arquitectura REM’A e fotografias de Ivo Tavares Studio

“After months in confinement caused by covid, many restaurants waited closed for better days, this image represents this moment of anxiety, calm and hope for better days.
Restaurant 34 in Guimarães created by atelier REM’A was inspired by nature and its elements, the image represents that awakening of nature where the morning fog does not allow us to clearly see the past or the future.”

Camera: Canon


“relationships” by Jeff Durkin

Breadtruck Films

“For me architecture is all about relationships. So when when my daughter wanted to do a photoshoot on her birthday when it was raining I cooperated. We grabbed our rain gear and stopped by the new Miller Hull Engineering building at the University of California San Diego’s campus which is across from our house and sat for a few shots with my camera on a timer. I just love the relationship between the primary colors against the monotone concrete framed by the bright green grass below. She turned 7 that day, and we have this stunning photo to remember the moment.”

Camera: Canon

Next 25 Photos →

Reference

5 Powerful Ways Lighting Can Transform Simple Architectural Spaces
CategoriesArchitecture

5 Powerful Ways Lighting Can Transform Simple Architectural Spaces

The A+Product Awards is open for entries, with a Main Entry Deadline of June 24th. Get started on your submission today! 

Good lighting can make or break a well-designed interior project. In addition to optimizing the availability of natural light in a space, selecting the right light fixtures can augment the furniture inside and cement a tone for the entire space. Bright white lights can make writing or chopping easier whereas warm yellow lights can make dinners an elevated experience. Similarly, colored lights can liven up parties and candle-lit wall sconces can be perfect for cozy nights.

Layering a variety of lights can add depth to any space and make it more comfortable. This technique also helps utilize different parts of a space in different ways. The scale and size of light fittings can also help fill up spaces or make them look more spacious.


Natural Light

Apartment in Amsterdam by MAMM DESIGN, Amsterdam, The Netherlands | Image by Takumi Ota Photography

For years, designers have been trying to maximize the amount of natural light within a space. Having an abundance of sunlight pouring into a space can help make it feel bright, airy and comfortable (this is especially due to its soothing tone and physical warmth). Another check in favor of designing for natural light: it cuts down on power use.

Exposure to the sun’s rays also helps regulate the body’s sleep cycles as well as overall health. In addition to windows, skylights have become increasingly popular to draw in light in interior spaces. Some interior designers also use cleverly arranged reflective surfaces throughout the space to help the light bounce off of surfaces and make the space feel brighter. Translucent partitions or latticed screens in homes can also help draw light to interior spaces that might otherwise be blocked by solid walls.


Ambient Light

Lenvix by STIPFOLD

Peaches Rooftop Cocktail Bar by Pierce Widera, Melbourne, Australia

This is perhaps the most important selection of lights for a space. Ambient light refers to the fixtures that are used to brighten the entire space, more often than not in a uniform manner. The tone used for ambient light can also determine the overall mood of the space. Offices tend to use white light to help carry out tasks efficiently under the brightness. On the other hand, warmer lighting schemes are gaining popularity in restaurants and homes for the warm and cozy atmosphere they can create.

Ambient lighting can be designed in a variety of ways. It can range from ceiling lights, track lights, wall lights and chandeliers to recessed circular and strip lights. Using dimmable fittings for ambient light can also help adjust brightness levels for different activities. Now, there are a variety of options and illumination systems that are not only functional but also quirky and trendy.

In Lenvix, STIPFOLD composed a hexagonal pattern on the ceiling using slimmer light fixtures. This not only brightens the space but also adds an additional pattern to the space and helps demarcate the seating area. Alternatively, the Peaches Rooftop Cocktail Bar features a canopy of pink-toned spherical pendant lights hanging from the ceiling to mimic peaches.


Task Lighting

Coil Collection Naturals by LightArt

Casa Cosmos by S-AR, Oaxaca, Mexico

This could be considered a secondary source of lighting. Task lighting is referred to lighting fixtures with a very specific function. Desk lamps, bedside lights, wardrobe lights, strip lights under kitchen cabinets and even staircase guiders can come under this category. Task lighting can help carve out secluded nooks and can also help easy navigation during the night. It is ideal to isolate the switches for task lights from the overall ambient light connection so that they can be used only when needed.

Decorative additions like the A+Award-winning Coil Collection Naturals can make a great bedside companion for late-night reading and can also be used as an additional light source near desks or in hallways. In Casa Cosmos, S-AR used a focused light fixture to brighten the concrete-backed seating area. Unlike the above example, these lights can also help separate the multiple functions within a space without the use of partitions.


Accent Lights

Sticks by Vibia

Hong Kong Garden / Theatre House by Bean Buro, Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong

The aim of accent lights is to draw attention to a specific object or an element, even when the general lights are on. These can be direct or indirect sources of light that highlight artwork, wall textures, level differences, recesses, false ceilings or other architectural elements in a space. This also adds more dimension and drama to the space. Types of accent lights range from small spotlights to wall-grazing linear lights.

The A+Award Winning Sticks is a modular design that can be used in a variety of ways to either focus on specific objects or illuminate specific areas in spaces. In the image above, the light is used to mimic the space of the doorway to accent not only the passage but also the wall texture. It also becomes an additional spotlight for the sides of a small stepped seating area. Accent lights also help highlight doors and partitions in Hong Kong Garden / Theatre House.


Decorative and Mood Lighting

Lo-Fi by SYNECDOCHE, Ann Arbor, Michigan

Media Plaza by Liong Lie Architects | Image by Christiaan de Bruijne

This category is often more to set a mood as opposed to being functional; it includes candle-based décor, string lights, lanterns, wall sconces and colored lights. These different techniques of illumination act as secondary light sources as they are not bright enough to help carry out everyday tasks without straining your eyes. There are extremely popular in restaurants and nightclubs as they help create an air of mystery and build tension without compromising the functionality of the furniture.

Neon blue and pink lights make up the interior of Lo-Fi in Michigan. The vibrancy of the lights energizes the otherwise dim space and also provides a great backdrop for photos, creating additional interest. In Media Plaza, a strip of blue wraps around the back wall of a projection room that is covered in foils that can change color when needed.

The A+Product Awards is open for entries, with a Main Entry Deadline of June 24th. Get started on your submission today! 

Reference