level

Accompanying a profile of DCM’s John Denton in WISH, a magazine supplement to the nationally distributed The Australian, were three images of John’s recently completed house in the Yarra Valley outside Melbourne.

According to Wikipedia, “Sustainability is the capacity to endure. For humans, sustainability is the long-term maintenance of responsibility, which has environmental, economic, and social dimensions, and encompasses the concept of stewardship, the responsible management of resource use. In ecology, sustainability describes how biological systems remain diverse and productive over time, a necessary precondition for the well-being of humans and other organisms.

Human sustainability interfaces with economics through the voluntary trade consequences of economic activity. Moving towards sustainability is also a social challenge that entails, among other factors, international and national law, urban planning and transport, local and individual lifestyles and ethical consumerism. Ways of living more sustainably can take many forms from controlling living conditions (e.g., ecovillages, eco-municipalities and sustainable cities), to reappraising work practices (e.g., using permaculture, green building, sustainable agriculture), or developing new technologies that reduce the consumption of resources.”

I’ve lost count of the requests I get from magazines seeking to educate and inform the public on the popular topic of sustainable architecture. We simply love your images but as “we’re a not-for-profit publication” I’m afraid we don’t have a budget for licensing content we publish. So can you just give them to us for nothing? Of course we’d like you to sign this release to allow us use of the images for our printed edition, our electronic edition and also for the downloadable subscription edition archived on our website. Then there’s our Flickr pool, our Facebook page and our Twitter feed. We’ll even credit you!

So tell me, I ask, do you get your electricity for free, did the telephone company just hook up the line you’re calling me from, does the printer donate the paper and his time, does the delivery guy get by on fresh air? Are you working there for nothing? (awkward sound of crickets chirping on the end of the line…)

Because that is exactly what you’re asking me to do.

Like any business, photographers have operating costs too. We’re not making any profit until we meet those basic operating costs. Sending out our work for use by others, particularly when that use generates income (whether directly through sales, or indirectly through advertising click throughs) for somebody else, is tantamount to financial suicide. Strangely, a photo credit doesn’t curry much favour with my banker.

In a practical sense, I wonder how this business model would be greeted at the local grocery store?

Publisher – “I’ll have that carton of milk please”

Grocer – “That’ll be $2.50 thanks.”

Publisher – “Tell you what… I’ll just take it for nothing, shall I? But rest assured, I’ll tell everyone I meet where I got the milk. It’ll be such great exposure for you”

Grocer – “Are you out of your fu%#@*g mind?”

By way of illustration, I was recently forwarded this book cover by an architect client, asking if I’d licensed this usage. Neither the architect or the project, which was photographed seven years ago, had been credited and he was quite understandably bothered by this omission. While I had been credited with the image, I’d not been contacted about the use and of course, had received no compensation for the use on the cover. Further investigation revealed that the image had been passed from one publisher to another (and possibly to another). My feeling is that the architect may have signed a release for a single use several years ago that has somehow been exploited by the original publisher.

Private Residence, Inverness, California             Studios Architecture

Don’t get me wrong. I’m all for supporting the notion of green technology, of environmentally responsible design, of a better and mutually beneficial world. I just don’t think I should be the only one subsidizing it. So when people tell me that they are pursuing the idea of sustainable architecture, I’ve taken to responding that I’m pursuing the idea of sustainable architectural photography.

In my own modest way, I too, am going for green.

Nearing completion in Kuwait City is the 50 story United Towers, designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox. Drawing references from the sea and the sand, the gracefully curved facades are striking against the otherwise (mostly) rectilinear skyline.

At one point in time, Raha Beach, stretching eastward along the Arabian Gulf from Abu Dhabi, was nominated as the largest construction site on the planet. Projects such as Ferrari World and the Yas Island Formula One Grand Prix Circuit justifiably captured the the world’s attention. While several other projects have since completed, when driving around the area recently, it soon became apparent that many of the cranes were either stationary, or gone altogether.

The remarkable Aldar HQ Building challenges the imagination but is still surrounded by great swathes of raw earth. Add a strong crosswind, raining punishing showers of grit and grime upon all in its path and you begin to wonder whether it’s all a strange mirage.

Rubbing your eyes and getting closer to the building only heightens the sense of the surreal.

After a brief weather delay in Orange County (which roughly translates to there being a cloud in the otherwise endlessly blue sky), we squared off against the newly opened John Wayne Airport Terminal C.

As the existing terminals, designed by Gensler in 1990′s, were exceeding capacity, the firm was again commissioned to create an addition in keeping with the original. Six new commercial passenger gates, security screening checkpoints, three baggage carousels and two commuter passenger hold rooms were incorporated into the project. While keeping outward appearances consistent, David Loyola, Design Director at Gensler’s Newport Beach office, introduced new, more efficient lighting systems, daylight-filled connector links and a cleaner color palette, serving to contrast against  the new airport concessions.

In their December 2011 issue, San Francisco Magazine ran a ten page profile on the work of our client Ogrydziak Prillinger Architects. The article included images of the much awarded Gallery House, honighaus, 100foot House and Sonoma Skyspace projects.

While shooting a series of developments in Dongguan City, I kept seeing this poster for VW Golf’s. When the opportunity arose I couldn’t help but offer some practical advice to the wayward photographer in the jacket. Seems he couldn’t focus accurately with the sunglasses on.

At least he looked cool.

I was explaining the annoying stereotyping of the photographer to my amused Chinese hosts, hoping that they wouldn’t expect to see me the next day in a cream sports jacket.

“And what car do you drive Mr Giff”, they inquired.

“Erm…..,” I mumbled, …… a Golf.

Despite my general distrust of advance meteorological knowledge, the forecast low cloud for Shanghai was indeed coming true. Still, it made for some impressive views from the hotel room while waiting for more favorable conditions. Here, the Jin Mao Building and Shanghai World Financial Center dance majestically in and out of the passing clouds.

Thirty minutes by fast train south-east of Beijing is the rapidly expanding city of Tianjin. The tallest building in that city, for the moment at least, is the recently opened Jinta Tower, designed by Skidmore Owings & Merrill. Arriving into the city, the tower looms over the lower scale buildings along the river front.

Also known as The Tianjin World Financial Center, the 75 story tower  is situated in the heart of the city’s historic district.

Clad in a pleated glass exterior wall that recalls the structure and lightness of Chinese paper arts, the tower’s uniquely folded surface catches light and maximizes views for occupants. Given that Tianjin is a center for the production of sheet steel materials, the structure of this super-tall building was based on the use of steel plates. The core was designed as a steel-plated wall system, the columns were designed with steel plate “sections,” and the floor framing was designed with steel beam sections.

The structure is the tallest steel plated shear wall building in the world.

It’s just a construction mark, right?