Being able to capture the essence of an architectural project is, perhaps, one of the most incredible challenges for those working in photography. Because capturing the best of spaces, without overlooking their situation, is not a task for everyone. That’s why Studio Julien Lanoo stood out and was named the World’s Best Photography Studio in 2021 at the Architizer A+Firm Awards. Throughout his career Julien Lanoo has performed works in the field of architecture, design, social integration and urban transformations.
Julien Lanoo’s photographic work is the portrayal of a documentation of the built environment, looking at the architectural world as a deep understanding of its history, in addition to the connection between nature, light and materiality. The artist’s work has already been seen at the Venice Architecture Biennale, the Chicago Architecture Biennale, the Cité de l'architecture et du patrimoine, in Paris, and the Deutsches Architekturmuseum, among others. Together with Julien de Smedt, Julien Lanoo is the co-author of the book Built Unbuilt and, most recently, photographs of his have appeared in The Vitra Campus: Architecture Design Industry.
The relentless quest for the relationship between the human and their surroundings has been the main theme of his photographic work. In 2018 he also exhibited an extraordinary work, a monography, In [Cognitus], at WAAO in Lille, France. Lanoo sees "architectural photography as a way of capturing a very specific moment in time, aspiration and problematics, in a human combination.” Because this is how he tells stories, through photography. Each image seeks to be a narrative of the place, of the people who designed or built it, or even of the people who will inhabit that space. Photography shares, tells and shows, to the naked eye, what we see in the spaces we pass through, and this is also the case with architectural photography, where the play of light composes the perfect canvas, because architecture is ephemeral.
TOGETHER WITH JULIEN DE SMEDT, JULIEN LANOO IS CO-AUTHOR OF THE BOOK BUILT UNBUILT.
Lanoo’s photographs seek to bring the ideal connection with reality to the eyes of those who look and observe them, capturing passing moments, brought by stories that remain. Architecture, built for a social, economic or political purpose, should be seen as a union between man and his intellect, which has evolved over the years. Architecture is this, it is seeing beyond the people who will inhabit it, or the people who will just pass by. Architecture is time, it is being ahead of evolution, marking history. At the Architizer A+Firm Awards, the jurors expressed their admiration for the "evolution of the work of firms at the forefront of contemporary design. The A+ Firm Awards reveal that forward-thinking innovation and design need not exclude thinking surrounding sustainability, access and equity,” juror Charles Renfro said.
Julien Lanoo is a young photographer from Belgium, who documents built environments, his works are known for their "humanistic” approach, where the human and architecture are the prominence of everything. And one thing is certain, Julien Lanoo will continue to record every moment, every space, every project, with the same passion as always, because it is through photography that he tells stories.
Julien Lanoo’s photographic work is the portrayal of a documentation of the built environment, looking at the architectural world as a deep understanding of its history, in addition to the connection between nature, light and materiality. The artist’s work has already been seen at the Venice Architecture Biennale, the Chicago Architecture Biennale, the Cité de l'architecture et du patrimoine, in Paris, and the Deutsches Architekturmuseum, among others. Together with Julien de Smedt, Julien Lanoo is the co-author of the book Built Unbuilt and, most recently, photographs of his have appeared in The Vitra Campus: Architecture Design Industry.
The relentless quest for the relationship between the human and their surroundings has been the main theme of his photographic work. In 2018 he also exhibited an extraordinary work, a monography, In [Cognitus], at WAAO in Lille, France. Lanoo sees "architectural photography as a way of capturing a very specific moment in time, aspiration and problematics, in a human combination.” Because this is how he tells stories, through photography. Each image seeks to be a narrative of the place, of the people who designed or built it, or even of the people who will inhabit that space. Photography shares, tells and shows, to the naked eye, what we see in the spaces we pass through, and this is also the case with architectural photography, where the play of light composes the perfect canvas, because architecture is ephemeral.
TOGETHER WITH JULIEN DE SMEDT, JULIEN LANOO IS CO-AUTHOR OF THE BOOK BUILT UNBUILT.
Lanoo’s photographs seek to bring the ideal connection with reality to the eyes of those who look and observe them, capturing passing moments, brought by stories that remain. Architecture, built for a social, economic or political purpose, should be seen as a union between man and his intellect, which has evolved over the years. Architecture is this, it is seeing beyond the people who will inhabit it, or the people who will just pass by. Architecture is time, it is being ahead of evolution, marking history. At the Architizer A+Firm Awards, the jurors expressed their admiration for the "evolution of the work of firms at the forefront of contemporary design. The A+ Firm Awards reveal that forward-thinking innovation and design need not exclude thinking surrounding sustainability, access and equity,” juror Charles Renfro said.
Julien Lanoo is a young photographer from Belgium, who documents built environments, his works are known for their "humanistic” approach, where the human and architecture are the prominence of everything. And one thing is certain, Julien Lanoo will continue to record every moment, every space, every project, with the same passion as always, because it is through photography that he tells stories.
