JO UNDERHILL / STRUCTURALEYE

     At the end of last year I was interviewed by MPB for their blog. I spoke to them about my architectural photography and the process of self publishing my book - Ode to Welbeck . It was lovely to talk to them regarding the kit I use and any tips as well as my journey of self publishing a photo book. The full interview is available to read here .

    In my second article as concrete correspondent for Umbrella Magazine I talk about photographing the little known brutalist gem of the Spiritualist Church, Brighton. An unusual designed building that really stands out, it was great to photograph and the church very kindly gave me permission to document the interior which is rarely seen. The full article and more photographs of this unique church can be seen here . The next column will be out next year!

    Oracle Time Magazine featured a lovely positive article about brutalist architecture in London in their June issue of the magazine and online.  Along with photographs from my ongoing personal project Beautiful Brutalism they also featured the work of photographers Simon Phipps and Hayley Goodwin. The online article can be read here .  

    I'm pleased to annouce that I will be working with Umbrella Magazine as a 'concrete correspondent'. In my column I will be talking about buildings I have photographed for my personal photography project - Beautiful Brutalism. My first column is about the wonderful National Theatre by Denys Lasdun in London and the article can be read here .  The next column will be published next month!

    During the first lockdown in March 2020, the 20th Century Society started a small project on Instagram asking people to pick their favourite C20 detail. I was thrilled to be asked to contribute and after much thought I decided to pick the iconic precast concrete 'diamonds' of Welbeck Street Car Park as my favourite detail from a twentieth century building. It soon picked up momentum and at the end of the year the project was published in this wonderful book celebrating details from all kinds of architecture and design from all over the world. Being one of the fifty contributors is fantastic. I'm hoping it introduces more people to the wonderful Welbeck design which is sadly now gone and other fabulous designs from this great era of architecture. For more details please visit here .

During the pause of lockdown these last few months I have been selling prints as part of the artist support pledge set up by Matthew Burrow Studio to help creatives through these difficult times. The pledge was once £1000 worth of prints were sold I would buy another artists work for £200. I want to say a big thank you to all who have bought prints and I purchased artwork from another artist, it was great to be able to share the support. I have wanted to set up a print sale page for over a year and after the success of selling prints through my Instagram account I have been working on a more permanent print sale page which is now live and can be found on my website structuraleye . I will be changing and updating this page a few times a year but if you see an image on my website that isn't featured on the print sale page you would like to purchase, please don't hesitate to get in touch for more information.

I have wanted to visit and add some brutalist playgrounds to my Beautiful Brutalism project for a long time. I remember playing on a concrete tube we called 'the saddle' at my old primary school and loved it. So have fond memories of these concrete playgrounds. Unfortunately not many have survived but last November I researched and visited a playground that was still standing down in South Clapham beneath Belgravia House tower block. This was a fantastic playground with a spiral slide and tunnels to run through the hill that housed the slide. It was great to see the playground was well maintained and looked like it was still used. I couldn't resist and have to say the slide was fantastic! The whole project can be seen here. Then earlier this year I visited the Aintree Estate playground in Fulham. The two tower blocks, Hartopp Point and Lannoy Point are due to be demolished this year so wanted to visit before access was difficult and the area the playground is sit...

Lovely to see my National Theatre photographs from my ongoing Beautiful Brutalism project featured on Divisare's January 17th journal and also featured in their Concrete Expressions collection . Divisare is a wonderful collection of architecture from all over the world with a focus on architectural photography and well worth checking out. The whole project on Divisare can be seen here.

Last month I photographed a beautiful attic extension designed by Coppin Dockray Architects and styled by Charlotte Buccerio . We wanted to focus on the materials used, texture, colour and the gorgeous light that filled the space in the morning and evening. To view the whole project please visit - structuraleye .

The Lookout is a new cafe, hide and facilities situated behind Holkham Beach, North Norfolk. It sits beautifully within the landscape of Holkham which includes sand dunes, pine forests and looks out to a beautiful nature reserve. It is a cylindrical form with the outer screen of fins made from Larch. It was a beautiful structure to photograph and I wanted to highlight the conversation it has with the landscape and those big skies of North Norfolk. It was designed by Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios and Lucas+Western Architects. The whole project can be seen at structuraleye .

The little known Brutalist gem the Spiritualist Church, Brighton was built in 1965 and designed by Bev Pike of Overton & Partners Architects. It was a beautiful building to photograph and the church very kindly gave me permission to photograph inside which was fascinating. It consists of kidney and oval shaped sections connected by a lower rectangle corridor which forms the main entrance. There are no windows at the front so light is drawn into the two halls by skylights. There was a vast library of books on mediumships and seances which I have always been fascinated with. The building is a great addition to my Beautiful Brutalism project. To view the whole project please visit structuraleye .

I recently photographed the beautiful new exhibition by ceramicist Jennifer Lee at Kettle's Yard, Cambridge. It is her first UK show since 1994 and it shows work spanning 40 years. The exhibition was designed by Jamie Fobert Architects and after several visits to Lee's studio they decided the space of the studio should also be shown in the exhibition. They decided a single surface the exact height of Jennifer's workbench would be 'a powerful yet minimal response.' To learn more about the inspiration behind the design of the exhibition please visit Jamie Fobert's website. To view the whole project please visit my website.

Unfortunately Welbeck Street Car Park has been completely covered so demolition can start. After 2 years photographing this stunning building my project has sadly come to an end. So it's lovely to see the project featured on Dezeen . The whole article can be seen here .

Lovely to see the beautiful St Teresa's Sixth Form Centre designed by IF_DO Architects which I photographed last year recently featured on Dezeen. The whole feature can be seen here .

Ceramicist Matt Raw is running a series of ceramic workshops at the Barbican inspired by it's brutalist architecture. I have worked with Matt in the past photographing past exhibitions and his working processes so was thrilled when he contacted me to say he took some inspiration from the photographs I have posted on Instagram of the Barbican for the workshop. The classes look great so if you're a fan of brutalism and ceramics check it out . For updates from Matt check out his Instagram page . To see past collaborations with Matt please check out - Manifold in Progress Manifold - This is how to Live 60/40 - Manifold Unfold

It was great to start the new year with a bit of time to work on my personal project, Beautiful Brutalism and add the very elegant National Theatre Studio to the project. Designed by Lyons, Israel & Ellis in 1958 it was built to house the scenery workshops, painting studio, wardrobe and offices for The Old Vic which later became the National Theatre. It is one of the earliest and purest examples of 'New Brutalism' which emerged from corbusian aesthics of raw, expressed shuttered concrete. It is the only architect-designed theatre workshop ever built in Britain so was Grade II listed in 2006 and carefully refurbished in 2008 by Haworth Tompkins Architects . To view the rest of the images from this project please visit - structraleye

Last week I photographed the wonderful Sound of Silence. It is a site specific exhibition between painter Alessandra Taccia and ceramicist Akiko Hirai in the beautiful St Peter's Church, Cambridge in conjunction with Flow Gallery , London. The exhibition groups the work of two different artists working in different mediums but exploring the same themes, the idea of pausing, looking and the connection between object and environment. A moment to stop time. The church has a wonderful calming energy to it and the artwork looked as though it was a permanent fixture within the church. It was an amazing project to photograph and so lovely to work with the artists and Flow Gallery. The whole project can be viewed here and the exhibition runs until 12th May 2018.

At the end of last year Divisare , who have been great supports of my photography, featured my recently completed Thamesmead project on their Homepage . They are a great online directory of fantastic architectural projects from all over the world and definitely worth a look!

In October I finally photographed Chichester Festival Theatre for my Beautiful Brutalism project. I had wanted to visit and photograph it since 2011 when the project first started and I wasn't disappointed! It's an extremely elegant theatre and the geometric details in the foyer were beautiful. The new work can be seen here . My photography of Chichester Festival theatre was also featured on Divisare's homepage last week along with my National Theatre photography.

Last week I had the great pleasure of being interviewed by Archinect an online publication that aims to bring architects and designers together. I spoke about my processes and thoughts on architectural photography. To read the whole feature please visit In Focus .