New 'sample' rooms at Hoxton Hotel by Project Orange, Suzy Hoodless and Adrian Kilby

I was recently asked to shoot three 'sample' rooms at the Hoxton Hotel, each created by a different designer. The designers – Project Orange, Suzy Hoodless and Adrian Kilby – were all commissioned to create a room with an East London theme while making best use of extremely tight 15 sq m spaces.

What's perhaps most interesting is how different the three interpretations of the brief are, in particular Project Orange's solution, which reconfigures the space with an exhibitionist's shower separating the sleeping area from bathroom.

Project Orange:







Suzy Hoodless:









Adrian Kilby:

Zaha Hadid's Brixton school on front page of this week's Building Design

It has generally been a hopeless week for architectural photography, what with the torrential rain. However, I did manage to sneak down to South London to grab some shots of Evelyn Grace School for the latest issue of Building Design.

It's Zaha's first building to be completed in England, and is replete with her trademark swoops and crazy angles. I'm sure it's all meant to look very dynamic and exciting, but under grey cloud it takes on a rather oppressive and sinister tone.

Read the story in BD here>

Images of Dartington Primary School by White Design

As promised, here is a selection of images from my recent shoot for Building Design. I was really impressed with the design of Dartington Primary School, which features plenty of eco-friendly features and seemed to be going down a storm with teachers and pupils alike.

Designed by White Design, the £6m school resembles a village rather than single school building, with clusters of timber classroom buildings arranged around courtyard gardens. The roofs feature large rooflights as well as photovoltaic panels. Other sustainablity initiatives include rainwater recycling and high levels of insulation.

Read all about it in BD and on White Design's website, but in the meantime, enjoy the photos!

New public spaces in Sheffield

I was recently commissioned by CABE to photograph new elements of Sheffield's Gold Route, a key public realm improvement project that links together a number of outdoor spaces from the mainline railway station, through the city centre, to Devonshire Green. Some parts have been complete for quite a while, such as the EDAW-led design for Sheaf Square, which fronts Sheffield Station and includes the 81m long 'Cutting Edge' sculpture by Si Applied and Keiko Mukaide. 

However, other elements are brand spanking new, including Tudor Square (above and main picture), which improves the setting of buildings including the Crucible Theatre that was recently refurbished by Burrell Foley Fisher. 

At the far end of the route, Devonshire Green attempts to bring a bit of Gaudi-esque Barcelona to Sheffield. On a hot day it is packed with students - shouldn't they be indoors writing essays or something??!!!

Photo of Dartington Primary School makes cover of latest BD Reviews magazine

I was recently commissioned by Building Design to shoot Dartington Primary School, a new sustainable school building designed by Bristol-based White Design.

The project was published in the BD Reviews special on sustainability, and was selected for the cover.

You can read about the project in Pamela Buxton's article here>

I will post further images of the school in the near future, so watch this space!

Information about the AOP Summer Exhibition

One of my seaside images has been selected for the Association of Photographer's Summer Exhibition, which is being held in their gallery space in Shoreditch from 27 July to 11 August.

The exhibition takes summer as its theme, with contributing photographers asked to submit images that evoke the season. Other exhibitors include Simon Norfolk, so I'm in good company.

My image is one of the more downbeat, showing a derelict holiday chalet in Jaywick, Essex. This is one of the most deprived areas of the UK, and there are many empty or ruinous building plots which add to the forlorn atmosphere that hangs over the resort. Despite this, it's a fascinating place – a good example of an early 20th century plotlands development – and well worth a day trip. The nearby community arts centre at Jaywick Martello Tower is also one of the venues for Fleet: Art in the Haven Ports, which has been led by artist Gavin Turk and runs throughout this summer.

Opening times of the AOP Summer Exhibition are monday to friday, 10am to 6pm. The private view takes place on thursday 29 July from 6.30pm to 8.30pm. The AOP Gallery is at 81 Leonard Street, EC2A, tel: 020 7739 6669.

More information on the show can be found here, and selected work viewed here. Enjoy the show!

Exhibitions are like buses

Cripes! With all the excitement that I had been selected for the AOP Summer Exhibition, I had totally forgotten that my photos had also been included in a photography exhibition at the Mall Galleries, which was held as part of this year's London Festival of Architecture.

50 years of London Architecture 1960-2010 included my photos of projects by Project Orange and Barbara Weiss Architects. It's just a shame that I missed it.

Mental note to self: Exhibitions are good things, and it's worth visiting them and also telling others about them. Preferably before they take place, not afterwards.