JO UNDERHILL / STRUCTURALEYE

RIBA has recently updated their photolibrary website and have a new Feature page which highlights noteworthy photographers, architects and collections. As my architectural photography archive is represented by RIBApix I'm very proud my Brutalist Photography has been chosen as one of the features on this new resource. To read more about myself and my photography highlighted by RIBA please visit their Features Page .

At the beginning of this month I had great pleasure working again with ceramic artist Amy Jayne Hughes photographing her new work which will be exhibited at London Design Festival and Britsih Ceramics Biennial . At the moment Amy is undertaking a residency at the V&A Museum and the ceramics workshop was the backdrop to the shoot which was a great space to photograph in and highlight the new work. The work explores the idea of the handmade with the 'factory-made' so we wanted to set the ceramics in-situ to where they had been made. It was a great shoot and I always really enjoy collaborating with Amy. The London Design Festival runs from 19-27 September and the British Ceramics Biennial in Stoke is on from 26 September - 8 November.

I am pleased to announce that prints of my work are now available to buy through TheHub. I have a selection of photographs from my on going Beautiful Brutalism project available to buy from my gallery here . A selection of my architectural photography is also available from my print gallery .

Last month I was back in Copenhagen for a few weeks enjoying celebrating Midsummer or St Hans day as it's called and photographing some interesting projects. It was great to see a lot of construction being undertaken within the city centre. One project by Olafur Eliasson a Danish-Icelandic artist, is a new pedestrian and cycle bridge called Cirkelbroen which spans Christianshavn Canal and will connect the Christiansbro area with Applebys Plads. The bridge consists of five staggered circular platforms of various sizes, each with its own mast which relates to the areas canal history. The bridge will offically open on 22nd August. The Bryghus designed by OMA construction was also well underway and is due to open in 2017. It is a multi purpose building that will house the Danish Architecture Centre, restaurants, homes, offices and playgrounds. It is situated on the harbour front close to Langebro and just up from the Black Diamond. I'm looking forward to going back and ...

One of the installations at this years Clerkenwell Design Week was created by Swiss-studio GRUPPE . Briefed to re-evaluate the boundries and gateways of Clerkenwell, GRUPPE found that it's shape resembled that of a Roman city. Using materials from Marley Eternit's EQUITONE facades range GRUPPE created a number of structures to mark the gateways' to Clerkenwell. I really enjoyed photographing this project and getting a sense of each different area of Clerkenwell the structures were placed in so I was really proud to see online architectural magazine Dezeen ran a story on this installation and a selecton of my images were used. The article and my photographs can be seen here . To view photographs from the whole project please visit my website .

This year I was pleased to be commissioned to be one of the official photographers for Clerkenwell Design Week. It was a fantastic few days and below are just a few highlights from the festival - To view more images, please visit my website .

This month Ceramic Review magazine has had a 45th Anniversary redesign and looks great. There is a really interesting feature on ceramicist Helen Beard which includes a portrait I took when I visited Helen in her studio in Craft Central, Clerkenwell. It was lovely meeting Helen and the shoot was really enjoyable so it's great to see my portrait being used. The layout of the feature is fantastic and my portrait really compliments the detail photographs. I still love it when I see my work in print!

This month is was great to see my photograph in a lovely new book by Oliver Dupon , Encore! The New Artisans which profiles over seventy artisans who craft handmade objects. The book features ceramicist and illustrator Amy Jayne Hughes who I have worked with as part of Manifold . I photographed Amy at work in the studio and below you can see the image used and the image in the context of the book. It's great to see my photography in such a beautiful book and so pleased it has a great feature on Amy who is a fantastic artist. To find out more about the book please visit Thames & Hudson Publishing.

The National Theatre is my favourite building to photograph and visit in London. Architects Haworth Tompkins have been refurbishing the theatre over the last few years, initially adding a new theatre space The Shed which opened in Spring 2013. They have recently finished opening up the interior space with new restaurants and bars being added, and the final part to be completed is the eduction centre and remodelling of the Cottesloe theatre. I was a little bit apprehensive of the new work as I was so fond of the original building and layout but the architects have done an amazing job to keep the feel of the original grandeur and brut of the building but bring it up to date and work in this day and age. With my photography I wanted to capture the exterior and details of the building with it's new areas that have been opened up and the new signage which is based on the original typography used. Below are a few photographs from the shoot and the rest of the project can be see...

I had a fantastic end to last year when I heard that one of my images of The National Theatre from my Beautiful Brutalism project had been sold through the RIBA Photolibrary and was used by New York based designers 2x4 to produce a wallpaper for the Prada epicenter store in NY and Dover Street Market. The wallpaper is called Brutalista and is a photo collage of fragments from notable mid-20th century buildings composed in such a way as to contradict the real geometries and perspectives of the space. The omnipresent concrete creates a uniform backdrop against which the collection stand out in vivid points of intense color. It's amazing to know that my image is on the wall of a Prada store in New York and brutalist architecture is gaining a few more fans. Now I just have to see if I can find a way of visiting NY and seeing it for myself! Part of my image can be seen on the right of the above photo and the rest of the Brutalista project can be seen here .

Unfortunately work has started today on demolishing John Madin's iconic 1974 brutalist gem, Birmingham Central Library . Although there have been many trying to oppose the demolition and give new life to this amazing building ultimately the developers and council have won. Aware that the old library was due for demolition I visited Birmingham in October last year to add it to my Beautiful Brutalism project. Having only seen it in photographs it was a joy to see in real life and to photograph it myself. It is a really impress building with great use of concrete, I spent about 3hours exploring and photographing the site. I was drawn in by the bold geometry and of course the famous inverted ziggurat, which I believe is/was the only example left in the world. The scale of the building is amazing and inside the open atrium, with the cantilevered floors of the library, was beautiful. After just 40 years to demolish this building is very narrow minded, it could have been re-use...