The Art of Building photography competition 2014

The Art of Building photography competition run by the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) is now entering its final stages. The public will select the winner by voting for one of the 15 finalists shortlisted by a panel of experts.



The power of images as a direct, universal way of communicating architecture on the web – whether it is already built or still under development – is fundamental. Indeed, as Paolo Schianchi writes in his book “L'immagine è un'oggetto” (The Image is an Object - link) “If we ask someone to read a book, their first question is most likely to be how long is it. Whereas, if we ask them to look at an image, they certainly won’t ask how big it is.”






This is also expressed in the number of photography competitions, spearheaded by the Art of Building photography competition being run by the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) for the fifth year. The CIOB is at the heart of communicating construction management and leadership, and focuses on spreading the image of the built environment. This competition is open to professional and amateur photographers alike and celebrates the most creative digital photography in the construction industry. 





The judging panel (including photography critic Sue Steward, award-winning photographer Matt Wain and Elaine Knutt, editor of Construction Manager Magazine) shortlisted the works and now it’s up to the public to vote for the photograph that will earn the photographer the title of Art of Building Photographer of the Year.





You have until 11 January 2015 to vote on the dedicated site (http://www.artofbuilding.org/vote). The 2014 Art of Building Photographer of the Year will be announced on 5 February 2015. 

(Christiane Bürklein)

The Art of Building photography competition
http://www.artofbuilding.org/
You can vote until 11 January 2015

Captions (in the order of the image gallery):
1) File ref: 9805
Name: Mario Bejagan Cardenas
Title of Photograph: Bird’s Nest Puzzle Close-Up
Photo taken in: Beijing, China
Photographer from: Abu Dhabi, UAE
Photographer’s description: Beijing National Stadium is an eye-catching state of the art structure. The stadium is a work of exceptional design and proves to be a mind-boggling complex artefact as you get up close.

2) File ref: 9222
Name: Frank Machalowski
Title of Photograph: Multiexpo Potsdam#5
Photo taken in: Potsdam, Germany
Photographer from: Germany
Photographer’s description: This multi-exposure picture reduces the building to its core without any irrelevant background. It emphasises the building.

3) File ref: 9573
Name: Hoang Long Ly
Title of Photograph: Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque
Photo taken in: Abu Dhabi - UAE  
Photographer from: Vietnam
Photographer’s description: This mosque is a religious icon not only for Abu Dhabi but also for the Islamic world of UAE.

4)  File ref: 9910
Name: Rajaram
Title of Photograph: Near to fire for bricks
Photo taken in: Pondicherry, India
Photographer from: Pondicherry, India
Photographer’s description: The people are working near a hot fire to burn the bricks. To make a single brick is not as easy as we think. 

5) File ref: 9381
Name: Richard Pennington
Title of Photograph: Concrete Arteries
Photo taken in: Amsterdam, Holland
Photographer from: Essex, UK
Photographer’s description: A rare infrastructure perspective of Amsterdam's newest Metro Line. I liken the concrete Metro tunnels of the city to the arteries running throughout or bodies that keep it alive and functioning.

6)  File ref: 9003
Name: Flores Giorgini
Title of Photograph: Water pipe on a roof
Photo taken in: Sao Paulo, Brazil
Photographer from: Paris, France
Photographer’s description: When I took this photo it was because I found it really strange that this pipe was on the roof; it is an interesting contrast with modern buildings.

7)  File ref: 8856
Name: Pierre Cuony
Title of Photograph: Up
Photo taken in: London
Photographer from: Switzerland
Photographer’s description: This picture is a low angle shot of a beautiful building in London. Good place, right time.

8) File ref: 9806
Name: Mario Bejagan Cardenas
Title of Photograph: My home, my playground and my cemetery 
Photo taken in: Manila, Philippines 
Photographer from: Abu Dhabi, UAE
Photographer’s description: Thousands of families have made a city’s graveyard their home as authorities grapple with rising population and housing shortage. Depressing community where hapless residents call this place a home among the dead.

9)  File ref: 7858
Name: Lisa Shalom
Title of Photograph: Giuseppe Perugini Bathroom
Photo taken in: Fregene, Italy
Photographer from: California, USA
Photographer’s description: Giuseppe Perugini was a famous architect who built very modern home decades ago in the heart of Fregene, Italy. Since his death, the home is abandoned. Here is a woman gazing through a small window in the bathroom.

10) File ref: 10170
Name: Pessoa Neto
Title of Photograph: Library by Siza Vieira
Photo taken in: Portugal
Photographer from: Portugal
Photographer’s description: I really loved the light coming down the centre of the Library building. I saw two young kids and just waited for the moment.

11)  File ref: 8151
Name: Pulock Biswas
Title of Photograph: Little House
Photo taken in: Bangladesh
Photographer from: Bangladesh
Photographer’s description: It becomes a work of art.

12)  File ref: 8869
Name: Wahid Adnan
Title of Photograph: Getting lost on a roof
Photo taken in: Bangladesh
Photographer from: Bangladesh
Photographer’s description: A Muslim man is deep into his thoughts on a roof of a building surrounded by other buildings. Access to a roof in Dhaka is not always possible for people as the owners don't allow tenants to go up.

13)  File ref: 8523
Name: Yana Bulyizheva
Title of Photograph: Songs of light
Photo taken in: Milan, Italy
Photographer from: St.Petersburg, Russia
Photographer’s description: The photo shows Duomo not from the main facade, it shows details, and this architectural element is like a powerful luminous song for me.
*This photo was taken with a Smartphone.

14)  File ref: 8477
Name: Patrick Mouzawak
Title of Photograph: Inception
Photo taken in: Milwaukee, USA
Photographer from: Madrid, Spain
Photographer’s description:  The multiple layers created by this architectural form with a human attending to it as if carefully repositioning the triangle shapes herself.

15) 
Name: Lana Yankovskaya
Title of Photograph: Capsule
Photo taken in: Germany
Photographer from: Kiev, Ukraine
Photographer’s description: Mysterious construction, as if it’s from the future, but at the same time from the past. Reminds about aliens or mad architect, about emptiness and uselessness, which in fact, no one needs what we do, and it all will turn to ash.