When the subjects of the visual, still medium of photography are people, it ought to convey their raw realities, hopeful dreams and the beautiful complexities of life itself, often presenting them as moments of existence and memories preserved in time. However, one’s reality is definitively shaped by a more often than not man-made construct such as our immediate and wider built environments, where this everyday life unfolds in the houses, neighbourhoods and cities of the world. When architecture becomes the primary subject of photography, beyond documenting its aesthetic beauty and its state of existence in time, it is bound to make one ponder over the lives lived (or not lived) and the endless possibilities therein.

Laden with that metaphysical thought and delving into the shared ethos of architecture and its documentation—its near cryogenic preservation—through photography, STIR looks at the best of architectural photography projects from 2024 that capture the realities of the past and the present of humanity and architecture, along with imagining the alternate realities and possibilities of a not-so-distant future.

1. Sacred Modernity: The Holy Embrace of Modernist Architecture by Jamie McGregor Smith

Photographer Jamie McGregor Smith’s book Sacred Modernity: The Holy Embrace of Modernist Architecture documented the dramatic shift in the aesthetics of ecclesiastical architecture through 139 photographs of over 100 churches. Starting from the 1960s, the book examines how the religious architecture of churches went from a traditional, gothic style to adopting a brutalist aesthetic due to affordable concrete in post-war Europe, eventually paving the way for structural expressionism in modern architecture. The book was accompanied by an introduction by Smith and architect Ivica Brnić’s essay Gravity and Grace, which emphasises the interrelationships among religion, culture and modernity. The conclusion of the book featured writer and journalist Jonathan Meades’ idiosyncratic essay The Absentee Landlord, which depicts the post-war modernist church architecture as a result of ‘god’s long-term absence’ and describes them as a ‘choreography of emptiness’.

2. Photo City: How Images Shape the Urban World by V&A Dundee

V&A Dundee’s exhibition Photo City: How Images Shape the Urban World showcased photographs, films and other paraphernalia from the institution’s archives, to highlight the relationship between the objective perceptions of photography and the realities of the cities. The exhibition featured works by several renowned architectural photographers, architects and artists that conveyed the history of cities over the decades and thus, photography itself. From measuring parameters such as scale and evolution to gathering information and surveillance for photojournalism, the photographs showed how the cities and the lives of the residents have transformed in the modern age.

3. Carlo Scarpa: The Complete Buildings by Prestel

Published by Prestel, Carlo Scarpa: The Complete Buildings featured photography by Turkish architectural photographer Cemal Emden and texts by art historian Jale N. Erzen, narrating the poetic quality in the works of renowned Italian architect and designer Carlo Scarpa. An appreciator of the art of poetry and a collector of several books on it, Scarpa designed buildings with sensibility and detail, being mindful of every element used, as Erzen stated. Along with the photo essay, STIR also examined accompanying excerpts from the book that evaluate the nature and contribution of the architect’s work in the history of architecture.

4. Brutalism in Colour by Christopher Hope-Fitch

STIR covered the photography exhibition Brutalism in Colour by Christopher Hope-Fitch as a part of the London Festival of Architecture's (LFA) 20th edition, featuring over 100 locations of brutalist architecture that Fitch documented over a course of seven years. Staying true to the LFA’s theme Reimagine, Fitch presented these grey buildings as a kaleidoscopic collection of colourful planes and surfaces, imagining an alternate reality for the inhabited 'concrete jungles', through digital photography captured at night, enhancing the images to produce bold and bright colours during the post-production process. The exhibition featured a variety of buildings in London, including several brutalist housing complexes and the iconic Barbican Centre.

5. Brutalist Plants by Olivia Broome

The Brutalist Plants photo book, created by Olivia Broome, features a collection of eco-brutalist built environments including housing, institutional buildings and hotels along with sculptures and urban infrastructure captured by a multitude of photographers. The lush green landscapes existing around and intertwining with the grey of the brutalist architecture created a striking visual and metaphorical narrative. The book, showcasing concrete architecture adorned with vegetation—both as a natural reclamation and introduced from an aesthetic point of view—hoped to spark further discourse on humanity’s perception and practice of sustainability. Upon looking at several abandoned structures overtaken by greenery, one could not help but imagine a future where architectural interventions would outlive the men who made them.

6. Underground House by Alastair Phillip Wiper

British photographer Alastair Phillip Wiper, who is known for capturing realities stranger than fiction through his architectural photography, documented the 1978-built Underground House as a part of his ongoing project How We Learned to Stop Worrying, seeking to open a dialogue on nuclear technology’s influence on modern culture and politics. As Wiper’s inspiration for the project stemmed from the paradoxical and satirical nuclear age film Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, STIR examined the layers of paradoxes surrounding the theme of the Underground House and the project as a whole. In a conversation with STIR, Wiper shared his experiences and learnings of the 15,000 square feet Kitsch-style residence, which stands out as one of the world's most intriguing luxury fallout shelters.

STIRred 2024 wraps up the year with curated compilations of our expansive art, architecture and design coverage at STIR this year. Did your favourites make the list? Tell us in the comments!