The winner of the 2015 Arcaid Images Architectural Photography Award has been announced. Revealed at the World Architecture Festival's Gala Dinner – held on 6 November in Singapore – Fernando Guerra's image of EPFL Quartier Nord, Ecublens, Switzerland scooped the top prize of $3,000 (and inevitable press exposure).
Drawn from a shortlist of 20 photographs – itself split into the categories 'Sense of Place', 'Interior', 'Exterior' and the winner's category, 'Buildings of Use' – Guerra's image of the Richter Dahl Rocha & Associé-designed convention and student housing centre is both kinetic and understated – a worthy winner in a competition flush with impressive work.
Guerra and each of the runners up – Tom Roe, Su Shengliang (for two separate photographs) and Tan Lingfei – successfully displayed an unerring ability to transpose the complexity of the built environment (in various guises) into images that are readable, meticulously composed and occupying a liminal space between practical documentation and art, while still expressing the nuances and environment of each project.
The international panel of judges comprised architects Fabrizio Barozzi and Alberto Veiga (Barcelona); Amy Croft, curator at The Werkstatt; Foster + Partners' head of communications, Katy Harris (London); architectural photographers Nick Hufton and Allan Crow (London); architect Ian Moore (Sydney); Clifford Pearson, deputy editor of Architectural Record (New York); and Christine Murray, editor of Architectural Review (London).
'The most important thing for us has been the concept and atmosphere of the images,' said Barozzi and Veiga of the judging process. 'How they have been perceived and expressed through the creativity and inspiration of the photographer.'
All of the shortlisted entries (including Guerra's winning image) will be on display in an exhibition at East London's The Werkstatt – 'Building Images' – from 5 February 2016.
Guerra – and three runners up – were drawn from a shortlist of 20, divided into the categories 'Sense of Place', 'Interior', 'Exterior' and 'Buildings of Use'. Pictured: Su Shengliang's image of Shanghai's Long Museum West Bund, by Atelier Deshaus (from the 'Exteriors' category)
Guerra – and three runners up – were drawn from a shortlist of 20, divided into the categories 'Sense of Place', 'Interior', 'Exterior' and 'Buildings of Use'. Pictured: Su Shengliang's image of Shanghai's Long Museum West Bund, by Atelier Deshaus (from the 'Exteriors' category)
Shengliang was also shortlisted for a second image of Shanghai's Long Museum West Bund (this time an 'Interior' category shot)
Shengliang was also shortlisted for a second image of Shanghai's Long Museum West Bund (this time an 'Interior' category shot)
Tan Lingfei's image of Hong Kong's Quarry Bay Yick Cheong Building (from the 'Buildings in Use' category)
Tan Lingfei's image of Hong Kong's Quarry Bay Yick Cheong Building (from the 'Buildings in Use' category)
The 'Sense of Place' category was represented by Tom Roe's bucolic photograph of the Kandalama Hotel in Dambulla, Sri Lanka, by architect Geoffrey Bawa
The 'Sense of Place' category was represented by Tom Roe's bucolic photograph of the Kandalama Hotel in Dambulla, Sri Lanka, by architect Geoffrey Bawa