Architype: Photography & Architecture

Leigh Simpson

Friday 28th October – Sunday 27th November. Monday to Saturday 10am – 8pm; Sunday 11am – 2.30pm.

Photographs by Leigh Simpson of a selection of Architype’s built projects. The exhibit includes a number of contact sheets revealing a process of observation over a period of time. Some sequences appear cinematic and imply movement, as the angle and position of the camera changes.

‘The main problem that a photographer has to overcome is the fact that a building is the ultimate three-dimensional object and a photograph is the definitive two-dimensional one. Either way, the photographer will loose or at best only be able to tell part of the story. To make matters worse a building is not just an external surface it also contains internal spaces that can be accessed in a different order, via different routes and with different purposes in mind.'

It is the photographer's task to make up for this lost dimension, by planting suggestions in the viewers mind that allow him to gain an overall impression of the building and its purpose. This can be done in a similar way as to when one reads a book and the individual snippets of information about a person, described by the author, lead to an image in the readers mind of what that character is like.

To accompany the Courtyard exhibition, Architype will be inviting people to visit their converted Barn in Upper Twyford to view a more didactic display of the use of photography in architectural production. This will include photographs relating to the process of architectural delivery, from recording of site, presentation of ideas and initial concepts, photomontage, material investigation, consultation workshops with clients, recording site construction through to the delivered building. Some examples of published projects will show how the photographs appearing in the Courtyard are selected by editors to represent the buildings.

Architype are a firm of architects who have an Office in London and Hereford. The Hereford office transformed a derelict barn complex in Upper Twyford owned by the Duchy of Cornwall into stunning contemporary offices for the practice. The design was undertaken with maximum attention to sustainability.

Leigh Simpson is a photographer who specialises in location photography, he has a wide range of clients mainly in the design world he has been photographing Archityp's buildings for over 8 years.