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The winning projects for the 2012 International Architecture Awards for the Best New Global Design have just been announced.

The awards, recognizing excellence in international architectural achievement and cutting-edge design, are selected by an international panel of distinguished architects and educators from a list of entries submitted from around the world. It is administered by the European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies and the Chicago Athenaeum.

Among the winners were two projects we recently photographed.

The Burj Khalifa Gatehouses in Dubai, designed by Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture.

The OZ House in Silicon Valley, designed by Swatt I Miers Architects.

The August issue of Architectural Record  features the stunning Denton Corker Marshall’s View Hill House. Surrounded by almost 80 acres of vines, the house sits atop a granite hill with views extending in every direction to the foothills and peaks of the Great Dividing Range.

To best capture the very graphic nature of the design, we took the air, skipping over the autumnal colors of the vineyards in the valley below. As the site fell away sharply to the east and with a tip of the headset to the great piloting, we were able to get level with the house for a perfect elevation.

One of the most satisfying rewards for an architectural photographer lies in helping our clients expose their design skills to their professional peers and to the world at large. Whenever they succeed with recognition and accolades for their work, we, in some small way, succeed too.

At the recent AIA East Bay’s 2012 Exceptional Residential: Bay Area Regional Design Awards, Leddy Maytum Stacy’s Merritt Crossing project was recognized with an Honor Award. The high-density, affordable apartments service low income seniors in Oakland’s Chinatown neighborhood. The sustainable elements incorporated into the design have kept the project on target to achieve a LEED Platinum rating.

Also garnering some well deserved recognition this week were Auerbach Glasow French who received two Awards of Merit at the Illuminating Engineering Society’s 2012 Illumination Design Awards. This wares is one of the highest honors for the profession presented every year to projects demonstrating “ingenuity and originality in lighting design”.

The first project honored was the University of California, Berkeley School of Law South Addition, with architecture by Ratcliff

The second was the Oakland Museum of California, with architecture by Mark Cavagnero Associates.

Nearing completion in Guangzhou, the Pearl River Tower designed by Gordon Gill while at the Chicago office of Skidmore Owings & Merrill, is billed as “a high performance instrument shaped by the sun and the wind”. The east facades are curved to push the prevailing winds through wind turbines located at two different levels of the seventy one story building. The process could be likened to a set of lungs drawing breath to provide life to the interiors. In addition, solar collectors, photovoltaic cells, radiant heating and extensive energy conservation measures make this arguably, one of the most environmentally friendly buildings in the world.

But while the building itself may be friendly, the surrounding environment could certainly do with a clean. Judging by the layers of grime that still coat the glazed facade, it will be a challenge keeping those solar panels sparkling. Harder still to draw the lung analogy when the owner of the building is listed as the China National Tobacco Corporation.

People are starting to talk.

For the third year running, I have garnered First Prize in the Fine Art – Architecture category at the annual  PX3-Prix de la Photographie in Paris. The winning entry received a Gold Award for a trio of images captured on a recent residential project in Australia.

In an effort to simplify the record keeping process in Paris, I also prevailed once more in the Advertising – Architecture category, securing a Gold Award for a photograph documenting new developments in Dubai.

According to Camera Arts magazine, “PX3 is Europe’s biggest and most prestigious photography competition”

World Financial Center(s) in Shanghai and  Beijing

International Commerce Center in Hong Kong

Global Financial Center in Tianjin

Beijing Financial Street

International Financial Center(s) in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Guangzhou

Marina Bay Financial Center and Ocean Financial Center in Singapore

That’s a lot of Financials and they’re just the one’s I’ve photographed! With so many of these things scattered around the planet, one wonders why we’re in such a mess.

Client – “We’d like a soaring, light-filled atrium that is so spacious it feels like you could land a plane in it.”

Architect – “Perfect. I totally get it..”

Hovering like some mythical white mirage in the middle of a manmade lake in Shenzhen is the OCT Hua Club, designed by Richard Meier & Partners. The private Hua Club forms the centerpiece of the OCT Harbor project, consisting of various retail, entertainment, hospitality and residential developments. The club itself offers multiple function rooms, high-end dining, gallery space, indoor and outdoor swimming pools, a large fitness center, tennis courts, a cigar lounge and health spa.

While Richard Meier & Partners has secured other commissions in China, the OCT Hua Club is the first of those to reach completion. The firm has previously completed other projects in Kuala Lumpur and in Singapore where it is currently in construction on the expansive Capitol Development.

In my experience, the morning after a big night out often provides an opportunity for reflection.

Each year, the Australian Institute of Professional Photographers honours a selected few members whose actions, usually over a prolonged period, are deemed worthy of recognition as a valuable contribution to the Australian photographic community. At a gala event last evening, in the gloriously restored deco splendor of  the Regent Ballroom in central Melbourne, I was humbled to have been inducted as a Fellow of the Institute by friend and colleague Greg Hocking.

At the same gathering, the results of the 2012 Canon Australian Professional Photography Awards were announced. With two Gold and two Silver with Distinction results for my portfolio of four images, I was pleased to once again, be named Australian Architectural Photographer of the Year and unwittingly perhaps, increase my hand luggage by a few pounds for the flight home.