Architect’s Eye Photography Competition Announces Winners

The winners of the Architect's Eye Awards, which celebrates architects' passion for photograph, were announced on Tuesday, November 22, during a ceremony hosted by the competition organizers, International Art Consultants, at their gallery in London, UK.

Simon Kennedy, a freelance architect and lecturer at the Bartlett School of Architecture, won the Architecture and Place category with his image "Heygate Estate" (Southwark, London).

Designed by Tim Tinker, the Heygate was completed in 1974 and was once a popular place to live, the flats thought to be light and spacious, but the estate later developed a reputation for crime, poverty and dilapidation. The sheer scale of many of the blocks also meant there was little sense of community. Subjected to urban decay and now abandoned, the Heygate estate is currently being demolished to make way for 2,500 new homes.

The runner-up for this category, Revti Halai, a Part II Architectural Assistant at TP Bennett Architects was rewarded for her stunning shot of this year's Serpentine Gallery Pavilion designed by Peter Zumthor.

Neil Dusheiko, Director of Neil Dusheiko Architects, won the Architecture and People category with his picture of "Unite d'Habitation", the modernist residential housing design developed by Le Corbusier.

The Unite d'Habitation is a courageous architectural experiment, borne out the architect's believe that a buildings social program can positively alter the way people live. The Unite is a utopian vision of the Garden City model realized in an urban context.

The runner-up for this category was Chris Drummond, an architectural assistant at Grimshaw and Partners, who presented "Ghosts of the Underground" which he described as "the traces that people leave on the places they inhabit through use and time".

Commenting on the results of the competition, the Chairman of the Judges Jack Pringle (Pringle Brandon Architects and recent president of RIBA) said: "The two winning photographs, both of modernist designs, demonstrate carefully and beautifully, the striking contrast between the vibrant success of the Le Corbusier building and the lifeless failure of the Heygate estate".

Along with Jack Pringle, the judging panel comprised Keith Priest (Fletcher Priest Architects and President of the Architectural Association), Simon Allford (Allford Hall Monaghan Morris), photographers Grant Smith and Nick Scott (Chair of Applied and Professional Panel, Royal Photographic Society), Dr Irena Murray (Sir Banister Fletcher Director of the British Architectural Library), Amanda Baillieu (Editor of Building Design) and Alex Heath (Managing Director of International Art Consultants).

Architect's Eye was launched in 2006 by International Art Consultants (IAC), one of Europe's leading corporate art advisers, who developed the idea from observing architects' enthusiasm when photographing buildings. Since the awards were launched, they have counted on the support of leading figures from the architecture and photography communities alike. This year, the competition has been sponsored by Building Design and supported by the Royal Photographic Society and RIBA Trust.

All 19 competition finalists across both categories are currently being exhibited and can still be viewed by appointment until November 30 at the Galleries, 15 Dock Street in London, UK.