Architectural Photography

architectural-photography
The stairs at the Mechanics’ Institute, San Francisco

Architectural Photography

Photographing the spiral staircase

There’s something about the corkscrew-like pattern of the spiral staircase that attracts photographers. Almost every portfolio of architectural photography has at least one.

Last week I photographed one of the best examples I have come across to date in the Mechanics’ Institute in San Francisco https://www.milibrary.org/about. This comparatively modest neoclassical building can be found on Market Street, in the centre of the city’s bustling financial district. Building started in 1909, three years after the great San Francisco earthquake, under the direction of architect Albert Pissis.

We may live in the age of the lift and escalator, but this hasn’t stopped architects using beautiful staircases as a means of adding value to spaces. These creative souls never saw ‘the stairs’ just as humdrum routes up or down but as a vehicle for conveying the character of the areas they grace. And it wasn’t just architects who loved them: French fashion designer Coco Chanel designed her very own and even added mirrored and lacquered walls to surround it.

architectural-photography
The stairs at the Vatican Museum

I want to share with you some I have photographed over the last few years. Among my own personal favourites is the beautiful example in the Vatican Museum, designed by Giuseppe Momo in 1932. This staircase, like the original it replaced, is a double helix, having two staircases allowing people to ascend without meeting people descending; as with the original, the main purpose of this design is to allow uninterrupted traffic in each direction.

architectura-photography
The Tulip Staircase at the Queen’s House, Greenwich

Another is the Tulip Stairs in Inigo Jones’s beautifully designed Queen’s House in Greenwich https://www.rmg.co.uk/see-do/we-recommend/attractions/tulip-stairs. This ornate, wrought iron structure was the first geometric self-supporting spiral stair in Britain.

architectural-photography
The staircase at the Kempinski Hotel, Berlin
architectural-photography
Old stairs in the former Jewish Quarter, Budapest

You can see more of my photographs of the built environment at https://www.robertmullan.com/Architecture/The-Built-Eviornment

I feel I must give the last word to Samuel Johnston:
“The world is like a grand staircase. Some are going up and some are going down.”

 

Architectural Photography Bilbao

The Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, photographed at dusk
The Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao. Photo by Robert Mullan

Architectural Photography Bilbao

Mention Architectural Photography in Bilbao and one building springs to mind: the Guggenheim Museum. https://www.guggenheim-bilbao.eus/en/It has become the city’s ‘avatar’ since it opened nearly 20 years ago.

I was lucky, it had rained most of the day but by evening the weather shaped up for a nice twilight shot. It was crucial that I used the small window between sunset and darkness to get the effect I wanted. You can see many of my ‘golden-hour’ images here: https://www.robertmullan.com/Architecture/The-Built-Eviornment

If ever a building turned a struggling industrial city into a cultural metropolis it was this one. In fact, you could it say the expression ‘the Guggenheim effect’ was coined because of it. Designed by ‘starchitect’ Frank Gehry, it changed the fortunes of this Basque city. The region was once known as a former powerhouse of heavy industries like shipbuilding and coal and steel production.

Failing to embrace modern technology, one by one, outdated dockyards and warehouses had to close. Workers and their families deserted the city, leaving in their wake a ‘rust belt’ of abandoned factories and shipyards. Passionate art lovers were thin on the ground in Bilbao, so when plans for the ambitious cultural project were revealed, many assumed it was a bad joke. It was no joke! In all, 20 million visitors have contributed to giving the city a new life. The Guggenheim effect, also known as the Bilbao effect, has turned into the symbol of how art and culture can boost the struggling economy.