While nothing can compare to stepping inside a beautifully made building, a brilliantly composed photograph can sometimes be the next best thing toward relieving that desire for design. Architectural photography has the power to inspire and transport viewers to places where great architecture flourishes. Great images allow you the chance to ponder what it would be like to walk through a pure-white, cavernous interior that stuns visitors with its surprising twists and turns, or wade through an oversized aquamarine pool set against the wide-open ocean.
Through February 28, the Sto Werkstatt Museum in London is exhibiting the winners from The Arcaid Images Architectural Photography Awards 2014. The winners were selected during the World Architecture Festival in Singapore and represent last year’s best Building Images — as the exhibition is so aptly named.
The show is divided into four categories: Building in Use, Interiors, Exteriors and Sense of Place. This division gives viewers insight into each structure’s individual and contextual importance. While not all of the images are particularly striking, they capture an essence of beauty that we sometimes have a hard time seeing at first glance. Here is a sneak peak at a selection of photographs from the exhibit.
All images courtesy of Arcaid Images
The top prize went to Hufton + Crow Photography for their series on Zaha Hadid’s A+Award-winning Heydar Aliyev Center in Baku, Azerbaijan. The winning architectural photograph of the year (not shown here) was an interior of Hadid’s sweeping staircase and a man engulfed by the design.
Danish Maritime Chairs
Category: Interiors
Photographer: David Borland
Architect: Bjarke Ingels Group
Location: Elsinore – Denmark
© Tim Van de Velde Photography
Electricity Transformation Station
Category: Exteriors
Photographer: Tim Van de Velde
Location: Antwerp – Belgium
© Pawel Paniczko Architectural Photography
Mountain Dwellings Pawel Paniczko
Category: Sense of Place
Photographer: Pawel Paniczko
Architect: Bjarke Ingels and JDS Architects
Location: Copenhagen – Denmark
© Kilian O'Sullivan
Long Gallery Strawberry Hill House
Category: Interiors
Photographer: Kilian O’Sullivan
Architect: Horace Walpole restored by Peter Inskip & Stephen Gee
Location: Twickenham – UK
© Sonia Mangiapane
Vrijloopstal Hartman
Category: Building in use
Photographer: Sonia Mangiapane
Architect: Architectenbureau K2
Location: Heibloem – Netherlands
See all of the winners here. Can’t get enough architectural photography? Check out our recent posts on Hedrich Blessing and Phaidon’s Shooting Space, as well as our tips for shooting like a pro.