Aarhus School of Architecture launches new international architecture photo competition for students

The competition encourages students of architecture to look at architecture in interaction with its users: the children, young and old people who work, live and die in architecture. Submissions will be judged by an international top jury.

03.06.2019

Architectural photography is a special discipline, which, like drawing, has a strong connection to the development of architecture. The potential of architectural photography – also as an artistic development – helps challenge the way we look at and work with architecture, and in an image filled world the photo is today more relevant than ever before.

This is our reason for launching a new international architecture photo competition for students. We call the competition Photo of the Year, and the competition is a companion piece to the school’s well-known drawing competition, Drawing of the Year, which annually receives hundreds of contributions from students of architecture all over the world. The winners are selected by an international jury whose members are: Hélène Binet, Jens Markus Lindhe, Mette Sandbye and Torben Nielsen.

“With Drawing of the Year, we were able to focus on the importance of the art of drawing in architecture. I now hope we can do the same for architectural photography. Every year I am surprised by the creativity that the students show in the drawings they submit for the competition, and I really look forward to seeing how they will approach the photo competition”, says Torben Nielsen, Rector of Aarhus School of Architecture – and also a keen photographer.

Today, making 3D models and renderings of buildings is easier than ever before, but it is nevertheless important to maintain a focus on architectural photography.

“Something very important occurs in the field between the 3D models and a photograph – the building is born. The photographer’s work no longer refers to a design proposal of what the building is supposed to be like, but instead through the camera shows what the building ended up becoming. The camera has its limitations but it also has a certain poetic strength”, says architectural photographer Hélène Binet, who, as a member of the competition jury, will help pick the winners.

The winners of the new architecture photo competition receive 5000 euro for the first place, 2000 euro for the second place and 1000 euro for the third place.

A recognized jury

The international jury is selected from among the best and most recognised photographers and theorists in the area.

Hélène Binet has worked with and for great architects such as Caruso St John, David Chipperfield, Daniel Libeskind, and Peter Zumthor. She has published several books and is represented in major museums. She is an ardent supporter of analogue photography and therefore works exclusively with photographic film. For more than 25 years she has followed the work of contemporary architects, often from start to finish.

Jens Markus Lindhe is both a photographer and an architect, and has for many years worked as an architectural photographer for the best practices in Denmark. He has arranged countless exhibitions and written many books and, like Iwan Baan, focuses on the way we use architecture.

Mette Sandbye is head of department of the Department of Arts and Cultural Studies, University of Copenhagen, where she is currently doing research into the relationship between amateur photography and the collective history since the 1960s. She is the only member of the jury who is not a trained photographer and whose life is occupied with taking photos. On the other hand, her knowledge of photography, its history and development is greater than most photographers in terms of the development, influence and trends of photography.

Architecture and People

The theme of this year’s competition is “Architecture and People”. The drawings of architects typically contain people, but when it comes to photography, they are often absent. The competition therefore encourages students of architecture to look at architecture in interaction with the users: with the children, young and old people who work, live and die in architecture.

“Architecture mirrors people’s lives and ambitions. The aim should hardly be to build spaces devoid of people. We build spaces for them to be used. I can easily portray a ball or a car without showing the way these objects are used. Seeing them used just makes so much more sense – showing social actions in a social space. I graduated in architecture and know how infatuated you can become with your ‘pure and clear idea’ of the forms of buildings. But one thing is how the architect imagined the finished space, another how it is used in everyday life”, says Jens Markus Lindhe, who will help select the winners of the competition.

The competition is supported by Dinesen and The Dreyer Foundation. Dinesen has pledged financial support for the competition for the next three years.

“Architectural photography is crucial to Dinesen. Over the years, we have worked with photographers who have followed the lines of architecture and our products and created pure and minimalist images. We are now entering a period where we also want to portray life on the floors and the people who affect spaces. The imperfect and the living is a major theme for us. This is why being part of “Photo of the Year” is so relevant to us: we want to know more about how architects around the world experience spaces through the medium of photography”, says Hans Peter Dinesen, of Dinesen.

Read more about Photo of The Year 2019 here.