Oct
My photography is featured in this month’s “The Architectural Review” Magazine. The October edition is all about Energy and seeks to make visible the often-obscured links between buildings and the energy sources they are built from, and around.
In the middle of the pandemic, I was commissioned by Microsoft to capture Project Natick.
Project Natick is Microsoft’s research into the feasibility of an underwater datacentre, to determine whether it is logistically, environmentally, and economically practical. The Northern Isles datacentre was deployed 117 feet deep to the seafloor in spring 2018. For the next 2 years, team members tested and monitored the performance and reliability of the datacentre’s servers.
Part of Microsoft’s aim was to assess whether submerged datacentres use less energy than those on land. Servers generate heat while operating but work best at low temperatures, so land-based centres demand energy-guzzling cooling systems. The consistently cool underwater environment allowed Microsoft to opt for the sort of energy-efficient heat-exchange plumbing more normally found on submarines. Project Natick team selected the Orkney Islands for the Northern Isles deployment in part because the grid there is supplied 100% by wind and solar as well as experimental green energy technologies under development at the European Marine Energy Centre.
The Architectural Review is a monthly international architectural magazine. It has been published in London since 1896. Its articles cover the built environment – which includes landscape, building design, interior design and urbanism – as well as theory of these subjects.
Oct
London is regarded as Europe’s leading technology centre with over 3,000 new businesses (according to Start-up Genome Project) as well as Google’s largest office outside Silicon Valley. Although the Financial and Insurance sectors remain key drivers, the Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT) sector has now overtaken these sectors in terms of office take-up in Central London.
Shoreditch and Tech City have become distinct as London’s new centre of creativity and innovation. The area serves as an incubator for start-ups in fintech, media, and technology, fashion, music and art industries.
The Epworth comprises a landmark 1930s Art Deco building beautifully modernised for the creative industries by award winning architects Buckley Gray Yeoman in 2018. The project involved the substantial refurbishment and reconstruction of three separate buildings to provide approximately 62,789 sq ft (5,833 sq m) of ‘best in class’ Grade A office accommodation arranged over lower ground, ground and six upper floors.
Earlier this year I was commissioned to photograph the iconic building. My brief was to capture how Buckley Gray Yeoman breathed new life into the building consolidating its mix of architectural styles whilst also remaining sensitive to the site’s prominent urban setting.
The rear half of the building has been demolished and rebuilt as a new steel frame behind the beautifully retained Art Deco facade. Two upper partial floors have been removed and replaced by three new floors, with the 5th and 6th benefiting from substantial roof terraces. Along both City Road and Epworth Street, new double height voids have been formed to link the ground and lower ground. The office floor plates provide high quality space sympathetically restored with a sophisticated industrial aesthetic.
#photography #photographer #architecture #architect #architecturephotography #architectphotographer #architecturedesign #archdaily #architecturaldesign #creative #innovation #tech #interiordesign #design #futureproof
Oct
Architecture and interior photography are as much about the atmosphere of the space as the appearance. Our roll as visual story tellers means that we must understand and capture the essence of the design.
How do you showcase this in just a handful of photos? Close up details and specific features shot with a short depth of field do not inform the viewer of much more than what is in focus. Lifestyle photos including people show how the space is used and enjoyed but are challenging to organise.
It is rare to photograph any building or interior which is complete and not in use. I am always working around the public or the client.
I seek to show what makes the design of the space unique. In the case of photographing Nando’s restaurants, it is being able to taste the Peri-Peri in the pictures!
The new Blackpool Nando’s was designed by Harrison and is located at Squires Gate retail park. The restaurant features a unique swooping timber structure which has a painted timber lath canopy, planters, and pendant lighting to create a central zone in the floor plan. It also contributes to the new ‘super-coordinator’ concept design to create a strong guest focus on the servery area.
The fixed seating, which is backed with a sustainable cork lining, reinforces the central space and adds to the customers overall ‘sensory experience’. From the heavily textured concrete render to the vibrant fabrics and artwork, with the mixed lighting and different floor surfaces, this restaurant is as much about the experience as the food. It’s the bringing together of a great space, memorable food and drink and passionate service that will deliver sustainable success.
#photography #architecture #interior #restaurant #art #design #people #food #interiordesign #restaurantdesign #interiorphotography #architecturephotography #photo #brand #marketing #lighting #lightingdesign #furniture #wood #tiling #details #retail #sustainable #concrete
Oct
World Teachers’ Day is held annually on 5 October to celebrate all teachers around the globe. It commemorates the anniversary of the adoption of the 1966 ILO/UNESCO Recommendation concerning the Status of Teachers, which sets benchmarks regarding the rights and responsibilities of teachers, and standards for their initial preparation and further education, recruitment, employment, and teaching and learning conditions. The Recommendation concerning the Status of Higher-Education Teaching Personnel was adopted in 1997 to complement the 1966 Recommendation by covering teaching personnel in higher education. World Teachers’ Day has been celebrated since 1994.
I have supported a number of education projects through my photography, in this country and abroad.
World Teachers’ Day celebrates how teachers are transforming education but also to reflect on the support they need to fully deploy their talent and vocation, and to rethink the way ahead for the profession globally.
World Teachers’ Day is co-convened in partnership with the International Labour Organization (ILO), UNICEF and Education International (EI).
#photography #photographer #humanitarian #makeadifference #teaching #teacher #charity #education #creative #learning
