Iwan Baan: Contemporary Architectural Photographs

Photo: Sue Barr

The exhibition showcases recent architectural photography by the young and increasingly influential Dutch photographer Iwan Baan.

He has pioneered a 3D interactive photographic technique featuring finished buildings and scale models as well as commissions by leading international architects to photograph a wide range of the world's most exciting contemporary architecture.

Photo: Sue Barr

For the last three years Baan has documented the construction of OMA's China Central Television (CCTV) building, alongside Herzog & de Meuron's Olympic Stadium and other 2008 Olympic projects in Beijing.


Photo: Iwan BaanChina Central Television (CCTV) under construction

Photo: Iwan BaanOlympic Stadium under construction

This first solo exhibition dedicated to Baan's work highlights the rich and idiosyncratic nature of his oeuvre, with an emphasis on recent Asian assignments. Based at any given time in London, Amsterdam, Paris, Beijing or New York,

Baan's modus operandi redefines the traditionally static relationship between the architectural photographer and his subject (the immovable building, and the equally unmoving photographer behind the ground glass screen of a 5x4 plate camera) with an approach borrowed more from reportage photography - transient, animated, fast-paced. The resulting unique documentary quality of his architectural photographs, which entertain as much as they mesmerize, also resonates with the extraordinary qualities of a wide range of recent buildings.


Photo: Iwan BaanHouse N - Sou Fujimoto ArchitectsOita, Japan 2008

Photo: Iwan BaanThe School of American Ballet at the Lincoln CenterDiller Scofidio + Renfro ArchitectsNY, New York 2007

Photo: Iwan BaanKAIT Kobo - Kanagawa Institute of Technologyjunya.ishigami+associatesKanagawa, Japan 2008

Photo: Iwan BaanMikimoto - Toyo ItoTokyo, Japan 2006

Photo: Iwan BaanBibliotheca Espana - Giancarlo MazzantiMedellin, Colombia 2008

Baan's perspective on recent works by OMA, SANAA, Steven Holl, Sou Fujimoto, Toyo Ito, Zaha Hadid, Michael Maltzan and Diller Scofidio + Renfro, a number of which feature in this show, has given scope for new interpretations. His photographs are published and collected internationally.


Photo: Iwan BaanICA - Diller Scofidio + renfroBoston, Massachusetts

Photo: Iwan BaanJinhua Architecture parkJinhua, China

Steven Holl ArchitectsSliced Perosity ParkChengdu, China