Meet us in Lisbon at…
Round one judging to be hosted in London by...
Congratulations to the winners of The Architectural Photography Awards 2022. As last year we have two Overall winners and two winners in each of the Portfolio and Mobile categories - those selected by our jury and those selected by the delegates of the World Architecture Festival (WAF).
GUO Zhe
in Buildings in Use
Pocket park, Shanghai, China | Architect: Atelier Archmixing
The overall winner of The Architectural Photography Awards 2022 is chosen from the four main categories. There is a separate portfolio prize, and a mobile photography category prize.
Images in ‘Exterior’ should show the outside of a building. Consider the form of that building, consider the materials and the quality of light. What is special about it? When only one shot of a building is selected for press it is usually the exterior. The challenge for this single exterior shot is for it to define the building.
Images in ‘Interior’ should show the inside of a building, effectively communicating the space. Interiors are made up of a series of spaces, punctuated by light and utilised for a purpose.
The ‘Sense of Place’ category should show buildings or spaces in their wider context and environment. Illustrate if the building blends or jars with its surroundings. Is the building typical of its location? Is the building in an atmosphere, a mist or rain?
‘Buildings in Use’ images should show occupied buildings and populated exteriors. Each building has a specific purpose and creates areas of activity. These images should combine the activity with the architecture and not distract from it.
This year's Portfolio and Mobile Photography categories have a total of $1250 USD in cash prizes to win, however they do not count towards the overall award.
Photos: Nee Deyie / Jiaxing Train Station by MAD Architects
4-6 images of the same building. A transport hub is a place where passengers and cargo are exchanged between vehicles and/or between transport modes. Public transport hubs include railway stations, rapid transit stations, bus stops, tram stops, airports and ferry slips and could extend to car parks, cycle and scooter facilities. The judges will be assessing the most powerful collective of between four and six images.
Photos: He Zhenhuan (2018 Mobile category winner) and Richard Bryant (Various)
Images must be taken on a mobile device – phone or tablet.
A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. Ancient or modern they are built to connect.
There are three awards in the competition – the Overall award, the Portfolio category award, and the Mobile category award – with two winners in each.
In the Overall award, the jury's chosen winner will take home $2,000, and the WAF delegates' winner will receive $1,000. The jury's winner will be invited onto the 2023 judging panel.
The jury's Portfolio winner will receive $750, and the WAF delegates' Portfolio winner will win $250.
In the Mobile category, the jury's favourite will win $150, with $100 going to the delegates' choice.
The awards will have exposure via the World Architecture Festival. After two virtual years, we anticipate a live event.
The winners will be announced during The World Architecture Festival, Lisbon, the evening of Friday 2nd December 2022.
Entries in The Architectural Photography Awards 2022 will be reviewed by a panel of architectural photography experts. The panel judges and the WAF delegates are architectural professionals, many being involved in the process of commissioning photography.
Property expert, writer & broadcaster Kunle Barker began his construction career whilst studying for a MA at the University of Leeds. In 2004, Kunle set up Illustrious Homes, an award-winning Construction and Design Management Company, specialising in delivering high profile projects. To date, Kunle has delivered over a thousand residential refurbishments, education and sports centre refits, and countless high-end private renovations. Kunle & Illustrious Homes have won many awards including ‘2018 Property Expert of the year’ and ‘Design & Build company of the year’. As one of the country’s leading construction and housing experts, Kunle has also consulted with the government, meeting with Secretary of State Matthew Hancock to discuss the countries construction challenges. From a broadcast perspective, Kunle’s expertise has seen him co-present high profile TV formats alongside Alan Titchmarsh and work with Sarah Beeny. He is also a regular host and speaker at Grand Designs & UK Construction week alongside Kevin McCloud and is part of the expert line up for Ideal Home Show with Charlie Luxton & Phil Spencer. Kunle writes a regular construction and building Q&A column for Grand Designs Magazine and is a monthly columnist at Architects Journal. He is also COO of Melt Property and the non-executive director of Studio Anyo. Most recently, Kunle has presented Grand Designs Live from Home, an Instagram Live show over 16 Episodes, alongside working with the team at Grand Designs live 2021 to curate the content for this year’s event. Kunle lives in North West London with his wife and two children.
The 1980s marked a key change in the visibility of the architect to the general public. Richard Bryant was the one photographer present to interpret the work of rising stars of architecture and to disseminate his pictures globally. Working around the world with architects such as Tadao Ando, Foster + Partners, Frank Gehry, von Gerkan Marg, Zaha Hadid, Richard Meier, Stirling & Wilford and Richard Rogers. Richard was the first photographer of architecture to be awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Institute of British Architects. In recent years Richard's clients have included Pentagram and extended to international brands including Armani, Bulgari and Gucci.
Photo: Lynne Bryant
Konrad Buhagiar is an executive director of award-winning architecture firm AP Valletta in Malta. He is the recipient of the 2021 President’s Prize of the Malta Architecture and Spatial Planning Award (MASP).
Konrad has been responsible for many restoration and rehabilitation works in historic buildings including St John's Co Cathedral in Valletta and urban sites. He has lectured at the University of Malta and internationally, including Canterbury University College of Creative Arts, U.K., the University of Aix-Marseille, France and at the University of Tor Vergata, Rome. He has published numerous historical and academic articles and is the chief editor behind AP’s ‘A Printed Thing’ and ‘Founding Myths of Architecture’ publications. Konrad has been Chairman of both the Heritage Advisory Committee and the Valletta Rehabilitation Committee.
Katy leads Foster + Partners’ Communications team, overseeing all aspects of the practice’s communications activity including PR and exhibitions, marketing, graphics, image archive, book and journal libraries and research. After gaining a degree in Communication Design in 1981 she joined the practice in the same year heading the communications team from 1983 when it started to enjoy global recognition. She was made partner in 2004, and senior partner in 2017.
Stewart Hicks is an Associate Professor of Architecture at the University of Illinois at Chicago and an Associate Dean of Physical Resources and Planning in the College of Architecture Design and the Arts. He is the co-founder of the practice Design With Company and creator of the YouTube channel Architecture with Stewart. The channel features weekly 10-15 minute videos that explore a wide range of architectural topics with curiosity and humor.
Farshid Moussavi, OBE, RA, is an internationally acclaimed architect and Professor in Practice of Architecture at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design, where she trained. Prior to founding FMA, her London-based practice, she was co-founder of Foreign Office Architects (FOA). She has published, with Harvard University : The Function of Ornament (2006), ...of Form (2009), and... of Style (2014). She was elected to the Royal Academy of Arts, London, in 2015, and was appointed Professor of Architecture in the RA Schools in 2017. In the Queen’s Birthday Honors of 2018 she was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for her services to architecture. She was the chair of the Master Jury of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 2004, and a member of its steering committee between 2005 and 2015. She has served as a trustee of several organizations, including the Whitechapel Gallery and The Architecture Foundation in London between 2009 and 2018, and, since 2018, the Norman Foster Foundation and New Architecture Writers (NAW), which focuses on black and minority ethnic emerging writers who are under-represented in design journalism and curation.
Photo: Anne Purkiss
Vicky Richardson is a London-based architectural curator with a wide range of experience in the UK and overseas. In April 2021 she joined the Royal Academy of Arts and has since curated the exhibitions ‘John Hejduk: London Masque’ and ‘Light Lines: the Architectural Photographs of Hélène Binet’.
Vicky was previously Head of Architecture, Design and Fashion at the British Council and Commissioner of the British Pavilion at Venice Architecture Biennale where she led an international programme. She has a great interest in China, and co-founded the Lantao UK Fellowship in 2019 to encourage cultural exchange between British and Chinese designers and architects.
Vicky began her career as a journalist and editor, and has also taught in UK schools of design and architecture. Previous roles include Associate Director of London School of Architecture, Honorary Treasurer at the Architectural Association, Editor of Blueprint and Deputy Editor of RIBA Journal. She is an Honorary Fellow of the RIBA and has been named by Debretts as one of 20 most influential people in British architecture.
Photo: Marco Kesseler
Renowned for his experience in brand strategy and visual identities, John Rushworth has worked for companies across a broad range of sectors including hospitality, luxury goods, finance, property, transport, education and start-ups. He has an in-depth approach to design, working closely with all of his clients to draw out a brand’s key attitudes, which form the basis of graphic solutions that are both strategically focused and visually compelling.
Over the past three decades John has created major projects for Kings College London, Craft’s Council, Krug, Coutts, Ten Trinity Square, One & Only Resorts, Bulgari, World Chess, Dorchester Collection, Armani Hotels, Café Royal, Marbella Club, Great Western Railway, Index Ventures, Canal & River Trust, Rathfinny Estate and Harrods.
John’s fusion of commerce and aesthetics has led him to form long relationships with his clients to support the worldwide management of their brands. These include Polaroid Corporation, The Savoy Group, Bertazzoni and Rocco Forte Hotels.
John graduated from the Preston College of Art and started his career at Conran Design Group before joining Pentagram in 1983. In 1987 he became Pentagram’s first associate and in 1989 was the first employee to be invited to become a partner of the firm.
John is a prominent figure in the design community. He has been member of the Alliance Graphique Internationale (AGI) since 1994 and a Director of the Outset Contemporary Art Fund since 2012. His work has been exhibited worldwide and has received many international awards including a gold medal at the Lahti Poster Biennale and multiple D&AD silver pencils. He has been an external assessor at Falmouth College of Art and the University of Lancashire.
Patrik Schumacher is principal of Zaha Hadid Architects. He studied philosophy, mathematics and architecture in Bonn, Stuttgart and London and received his PhD at the Institute for Cultural Science in Klagenfurt. In 1996 he founded the Design Research Laboratory at the AA in London where he continues to teach. Since 2007 he is promoting Parametricism as epochal style for the 21st Century. In 2010/12 he published “The Autopoiesis of Architecture” in two Volumes and recently guest-edited AD - Parametricism 2.0, emphasizing the societal relevance of Parametricism. His current research and design interest is focused on the metaverse and the integration of real and virtual communication spaces.
Learn moreLiu Xinghao is an architectural photographer based in Chongqing, China. He is the founder of INSPACE studio, with an aim to reveal "the reality and delight of Architecture through my lens." In 2021 he was the overall winner of the Architectural Photography Awards, with his image of Raffles City, Chongqing, by Safdie Architects.
Photo: GUO Zhe / Architect: Atelier Archmixing
View the resultsPhoto: Liu Xinghao / Architect: Safdie Architects
View the resultsPhoto: Laurian Ghinitoiu / Architect: Bjarke Ingels Group
View the resultsPhoto: Pawel Paniczko / Architect: Atelier Deshaus
View the resultsPhoto: Terrence Zhang / Architect: Atelier Li Xinggang
View contestThere are 6 categories to enter:
Exterior
Interior
Sense of Place
Buildings in Use
Portfolio – Transport Hubs
Mobile – Bridges
The Architectural Photography Awards 2022 is an international award, and welcomes photographers of all nationalities.
Any entrant under 18 on the date when they enter must gain the permission of a parent or guardian to enter the competition. People under the age of 13 are not permitted to register on the Photocrowd platform and therefore unfortunately are not able to enter the Architectural Photography Awards 2022.
Awards open - 1st June 2022
Submissions close - 28th August 2022, midnight UK time
Shortlists announced - 31st October 2022. Please note that the portfolio category shortlist will be announced at the same time as the winner is announced on 2nd December 2022
Winners announced - 2nd December 2022
All photographers can enter up to 6 images in each of the 6 categories.
In the ‘Portfolio – Transport Hubs’ category, there is a minimum requirement of 4 (four) images, maximum 6 (six) images.
The cost is based on the number of images you want to enter. Entries are bought in advance and can then be used at any time before midnight (UTC+1) on 28th August 2022. The following entry bundles are available, and entries can be used across any of the 6 categories:
1 image - £8 (£8 per image)
6 images - £30 (£5 per image)
36 images - £72 (£2 per image)
A discount on the price of entry bundles of 10%, 20% or 30% is available for Photocrowd Challenger, Pro or Master subscribers, respectively. Find out more about Photocrowd subscriptions here.
Multiple bundles can be purchased (eg. 3 x 1 image bundles = 3 total entries) but the maximum number of entries that can be made across all 6 categories is 36 (6 images per category).
There are three awards in the competition – the Overall award, the Portfolio category award, and the Mobile category award – with two winners in each.
One of the winners in each award will be selected by the Architectural Photography Awards jury.
The second winner in each award will be voted for by delegates of the World Architecture Festival (WAF), who will vote on images in a shortlist decided by the judging panel.
WAF will be taking place in Lisbon on 30th November - 3 December 2021. The Awards will have exposure via the World Architecture Festival.
Images should be saved as jpegs at the highest quality available, with a colour profile attached. Either the RGB or sRGB colour profiles are recommended. Digital scans from film are also eligible providing they meet these technical guidelines.
It is strongly advised that you upload the largest file size that you have available. Images will be viewed at 100% by the judges, and larger file sizes will therefore be at an advantage. Whilst no image sizes will be rejected at upload, winning images may be required to be printed, and so must be of sufficient quality to allow this. As a minimum it is advised that images measure at least 2,500 pixels on the shortest side after any cropping. Where images submitted are smaller than this, it will be assumed that this is the largest image size available to the photographer, and will affect that image’s chances of winning.
There are Photoshop and other image software tutorials online that show you how to best resize an image.
We advise photographers to include as detailed a description as possible of their work during the upload process, including (when known) the name of the architect of the building(s) in the shot. This is a great way to tell a story or other interesting facts about your image, and the judges will be able to read this while rating to give them insight into the image.
It is also advised to include a title for all submitted images, and these titles will be presented alongside winning images on the Awards website and in press releases and elsewhere.
We would advise all entrants to add copyright information in the metadata of all submissions.
Images exhibiting watermarks, copyright or authorship information or other information overlaid over the image will not be considered by the judging panel.
Yes, images can certainly be retouched, but it is critical to the integrity of the awards that entries must not deceive the viewer or attempt to disguise or misrepresent the reality of a scene. Therefore some restrictions on the use of digital manipulation of images apply.
Images submitted to the Architectural Photography Awards 2021 must essentially show the scene and subjects as they were shot and must not combine multiple different elements into one frame. Entries that use fundamentally different subjects or backgrounds brought together into one image are not allowed, even if you have shot all the components yourself.
Examples of what is not allowed:
- the use of sky replacement packs and software
- incorporating other elements into a scene that were not in the original shot, including (but not limited to) people, animals and other objects.
Photographers may make reasonable use of digital darkroom techniques which enhance quality but do not distort the photograph. Major alterations should be avoided, although the cloning out/removal of elements in an image is allowed, so long as this does not fundamentally change the likely interpretation of the scene.
Adjustment to levels, curves, colour balance, colour saturation, dodging and burning, selective adjustments using layers and blemish and dust spot removal are all examples of acceptable manipulation.
You may crop your image in the interests of composition, correcting horizons, etc. but your cropped image must be at least 2,500 pixels on the shortest side as we will ask for files at least this size should your image win and be selected for any printed material or exhibition coming out of the awards.
Excessive sharpening, noise reduction and color saturation techniques should be avoided. We appreciate that entrants will attempt to prepare their entries to optimise appearance and appeal on screen, and this may include these techniques.
Excessive use of any or all of them can result in an entry that will be unsuitable for printed media and therefore become invalid as a result.
A copy of the original camera file and a screengrab of your indexing software showing other images from the same shoot may be requested for all images that are included in the shortlist for each category. We reserve the right to eliminate entries where such a request is ignored or where it is suspected that the rules have been infringed.
Yes, the same image can be entered into multiple categories, if you consider that it fits the brief for each category you enter it into.
Each entry to a category counts as one entry, for the purposes of payment.
To enter the ‘Portfolio - Transport Hubs’ category you must submit between 4 and 6 images, which will then be judged as a series, rather than as single images. It is up to each entrant whether they enter 4, 5 or 6 images to this category. Entering more images will not necessarily increase your chances of winning.
Each photographer can enter the awards once, using one Photocrowd account. More than one image bundle can be purchased, but there is a maximum of 36 images that can be entered by each photographer – 6 into each of the 6 categories.
All entries must have been taken in the last 5 years. Any images shot before 1st June 2017 are not eligible.
No images that were shortlisted or won a prize in a previous Architectural Photography Awards can be entered into the Architectural Photography Awards 2022. Images that were not shortlisted in previous years can be re-entered in 2022 if the photographer wishes to do so.
No, if your photo has previously won or been commended in a photo award, it is not eligible in The Architectural Photography Awards. This does not include standard Photocrowd contests.
If the awards are still open for entries then at any time you can remove an entered image and enter a different one in its place. Once the deadline for entries has passed, and judging is underway, images cannot be removed or swapped out for other images.
Yes, there’s a simple signup process to register on Photocrowd, which will then give you full access to The Architectural Photography Awards.
Yes, images can be taken on any device capable of producing a digital image of sufficient size for entry. For full guidelines on minimum image requirements see above - ‘How should I prepare my images for submission?’
Only images taken on a mobile phone or tablet can be entered into the ‘Mobile - Bridges’ category.
No, The Architectural Photography Awards is an international competition and you may enter photographs taken anywhere in the world.
The Architectural Photography Awards 2022 competition is hosted on Photocrowd.com, and Photocrowd’s Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy apply.
In addition please note the following in relation to the Architectural Photography Awards 2022:
The competition promoter is The Architectural Photography Awards.
The competition is global and open to people of all ages and nationalities.
Any entrant under 18 when they enter the competition must gain the permission of a parent or guardian to do so. People under the age of 13 are not permitted to register on the Photocrowd platform.
It is the responsibility of each entrant (or the entrant's parent or guardian) to ensure that they have read and will abide by these rules and Photocrowd’s terms and conditions. By submitting an entry, each entrant (or the entrant's parent or guardian) agrees to these rules, that their entry complies with these rules, and that they will be liable to the Promoter and their licensees in respect of any damages or losses incurred as a breach of the rules.
Employees or agents of Photocrowd, their families or other persons connected with this promotion (excluding the sponsors) are not eligible to enter.
Proof of eligibility must be provided upon request. Use of a false name or other false details will result in disqualification.
All entries must be submitted via the Photocrowd online platform. No entries will be accepted by email or post.
Images (including similar images taken from the same series of photographs) that have previously won a national or international photography award (including winner, runner-up or highly commended) or are entered into a competition where the results are pending, are not eligible for entry. This excludes standard Photocrowd contests.
All images should be the result of a single image. Photographers may make reasonable use of digital darkroom techniques which enhance quality but do not distort the photograph. Any major alterations should be avoided.
Full guidelines on permissible image sizes and types, and what image manipulation and retouching is allowed are provided in the FAQs above.
The Promoter reserves the right to request from the entrant a copy of the original camera file and a screengrab of their editing software showing other images from the same shoot, and to eliminate entries where such a request is ignored or where it is suspected that the rules have been infringed.
The Promoter and Photocrowd reserve the right, in their sole discretion, to disqualify or remove any entry that does not comply with the rules or the spirit of the awards, at any stage of the awards.
Please refer to the prizing section above for details of prizes.
Once the entry period has closed, the panel of judges will convene to determine their shortlist.
The expert-judged shortlists will be announced on 31st October 2022.
The overall Award, runners up, and the winners of the portfolio category and mobile category, will be judged from the shortlist by a) the panel Judges and b) delegates of the WAF. The Award winners will be announced at The World Architecture Festival (WAF) in Lisbon on Friday 2nd December 2022.
All imagery MUST be the exclusive work of the submitting photographer and may not include any element that is the copyright of another. The Copyright for each image entered will remain with the submitting photographer. By entering the Competition and submitting your photograph(s), you hereby grant the Promoter, its sponsors and their hosting partner Photocrowd a non-exclusive, irrevocable license to use your photograph(s) for any purpose connected with the Competition, including (but not limited to), promoting the Competition within printed and online media, the inclusion within printed and digital versions of any Competition book, the inclusion within printed and digital versions of any Competition calendar or other merchandise, display at exhibitions, use in press, promotional and marketing materials, social media networks and for the promotion of any future photographic competition in both print and online media.
You agree to participate in related publicity and to the use of Your name and likeness for the purposes of advertising, promotion and publicity without additional compensation.
The promoter and Photocrowd are excluded from liability for any loss, damage or injury which might occur to any of the winners arising from their acceptance of the prizes. Entrants indemnify the Promoter for all liabilities, including legal costs, in relation to any action or complaint taken by any third party against the Promoter in relation to the entrant’s photograph(s).
The promoter and Photocrowd reserve the right to cancel this Competition, in which case any entry fees paid will be refunded.
The promoter and Photocrowd reserve the right to amend these Terms and Conditions. These Terms and Conditions shall be governed by English law. When a photograph is submitted and the entry date has passed, the entry cannot be changed or withdrawn. No refunds will be given. Entry to the Awards shall be deemed full and unconditional acceptance of the terms & conditions.