The Art of Building, the world’s biggest prize for built environment photography, has opened for voting today, with the public urged to vote for 2017’s winner from a shortlist of 12.
The competition is held annually by the CIOB and among the shortlisted pictures this year are a historic theatre in France, a photograph of a mosque in Malaysia inspired by the Christopher Nolan film Inception, and references to some of modern architecture’s greats like Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer.
All 12 finalists’ pictures can now be viewed and voted for on CIOB’s Art of Building website and will be featured across a range of international media channels. The top prize for the winner is £3,500 cash.
Originally launched in 2010 by the CIOB, Art of Building is open to amateur and professional photographers alike and they can use a variety of equipment ranging from high specification cameras to smart phones.
Last year’s winner of the prize was Roman Rabroek, who won for his entry Control.
This year’s competition attracted thousands of entries, with more than 70% coming from outside of the UK.
CIOB competition organiser Saul Townsend said: “The breadth of photography we see is amazing. From those who are revealing a little-known building to those showcasing a familiar icon in a new light. Best of luck to all our finalists.”
The 12 finalists
Title: Eye of the Tower
Photographer: Mehmet Yasa
Location of shot: Verona, Italy
Photographer’s comment: “The staircase and the bell looks like an eye. Architecture can fascinate us in many ways.”
Title: Bicycle Rider
Photographer: Hans Wichmann
Location of shot: Aviles, Spain
Photographer’s comment: “The photo shows the Cultural Centre of Aviles in Northern Spain. It is a successful integration of modern buildings in an old industrial site by architect Oscar Niemeyer. A place for large and small people.”
Title: Inception
Photographer: Hanqing Qu
Location of shot: Kuala Lumpur
Photographer’s comment: “This picture was taken at Malaysia’s National Mosque. When the sun light sprinkles into this building, light and shade meet each other into a dream like scene. It reminds me of the movie ‘Inception’.”
Title: The Showstopper
Photographer: Linda van Slobbe
Location of shot: Bar-le-Duc, France
Photographer’s comment: “This historic theatre is built in a typical oval shape that has the stage on one end and multiple floors and balconies all around the rest. This one has beautiful decorations.”
Title: Bones
Photographer: Francis Meslet
Location of shot: France
Photographer’s comment: “This picture was taken in a well-known French memorial for the centenary of the First World War. You can see the other side of this memorial looking up over your head. Another point of view.”
Title: Abandoned School in Fresno
Photographer: Robert Cassway
Location of shot: Montana, USA
Photographer’s comment: “This photo shows the ravages of time and weather on a building that was left to decay by benign neglect, after the families that lived in Fresno moved away. It is part a larger series of photographs titled ‘The Vanishing West’.”
Title: Cemetery of the 21st Century
Photographer: Petr Starov
Location of shot: Ryazan, Russia
Photographer’s comment: The Image was shot in Russia, in summer 2010. The photo reveals the suspended construction of shopping centre.
Title: The majestic St. Andrew’s Cathedral Tower
Photographer: Andrean Hadhianto Kwee
Location of shot: Singapore
Photographer’s comment: “The Neo-Gothic Style Building that was once subsequently demolished, rebuilt and completed in 1861. This Cathedral now stands majestically in its surroundings in Singapore. Where it has still preserved its originality.”
Title: Cross Bridge Waltz
Photographer: Guo Ji Hua
Location of shot: Guangdong, China
Photographer’s comment: “This work uses unmanned aerial vehicles, because the intersection of this work has an abstract line of beauty.”
Title: Geometric Concept
Photographer: Dmytro Levchuk
Location of shot: Dubai, UAE
Photographer’s comment: “New architectural concept forms in modern residential building. A sky view through floors from lobby.”
Title: From the Carpet to the Throne
Photographer: Hossein Younesi
Location of shot: Iran
Photographer’s comment: “A special look at architecture, by defining the move to God Conceptual. The conception of architecture for man and his purpose From the Carpet to the Throne.”
Title: Man-Made Cave
Photographer: Gautam Kamat Bambolkar
Location of shot: New York, USA
Photographer’s comment: “Rugged textured cable pipes ran over my head at a train station in New York, creating a trance-like, frightful pattern. They ran from the edge of the entrance to an infinite end. It looked nothing less than a scary man-made cave.”
Comments
Comments are closed.
Eye of the Tower gets my vote…it is the most “real” looking and yet so dramatic. All of them are very thought provoking.
Was hard to choose one –
but in the end I’m going for ‘From the Carpet to the Throne’ –
as it attempts to span the virtual bridge from Earth (and ordinary) to Heaven (and sublime).