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.

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 .

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 .

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

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.

The Latest issue of Parking Review (September 2017) has published a lovely feature on my Ode to Welbeck photography project. Welbeck also made the front cover which is great to see! I'm so glad the demolition of this beautiful car park is getting so much coverage and to see how much love it has. Still can't believe it can't be saved, disgraceful. You can view a snippet of the article here . Or to view the whole photography project please visit my website .

I'm really pleased that my new photography project Ode to Welbeck has been featured on the brilliant online design and architectural magazine The Spaces. Earlier in the year they wrote an article on my ongoing Beautiful Brutalism project and have been great champions of my photography. To read the article and find out a bit more about my thoughts behind the project and my photography please visit The Spaces .

"In summary the existing car park building has no particular aesthetic or historic value, and detracts from the setting of nearby heritage assets by virtue of it's bland and uninspired elevational treatment" KM Heritage Consultant 2017 The inevitable has happened and yesterday, Thursday 10th August, Westminster Council approved the demolition of Welbeck Street Car Park. Although it has been on the table for a long time it's such a shame that yet another stunning piece of brutalist architecture will be destroyed to make room for a bland, non-descript hotel with no particular aesthetic value. I still can't understand how Historic England and the heritage consultants used can't see it's aesthetic quality or structural ingenuity and therefore listing it so it might survive just a bit longer. It will be a great loss! I have been shooting the last few months of it's life since March and hope to undertake a few more...

Great to see my photographs of Welbeck Street Car Park, part of my Beautiful Brutalism project featured on Divisare Journal this week. To view the project please go to Journal 160 .

I photographed Carr Saunders Hall when I first started my Beautiful Brutalism project back in 2012 and since then could never resist visiting and taking a few photos on my phone if I ever walked past or was in that part of town. I felt my first visit didn't really do the building justice and I wanted to add it to the project so last week I went back to capture it. The full series of photos can be seen on my website . I have been unable to find out much about the building and not sure who the architect is. If anyone has any more information about the building and designer I would be very grateful to learn more about it. The rawness of the concrete is stunning and I'm pleased to finally add it to my brutalist project.

Lovely to see that a few projects from my ongoing Beautiful Brutalism photography work have been featured on Divisare a unique archive of contemporary architecture on the web with emphasis on great design and photography. My images of the National Theatre, Murray Edwards College and Leatherhead Theatre were published on their Journal 158 , please scroll down to title Beton Brut to view. Prince Street Car Park, Leatherhead Theatre and Murray Edwards College were featured on their homepage. Prince Street Car Park, Bristol was also featured on their Instagram feed too! The site boasts some of the great architectural photographers working today so feel very proud my photographs are amongst them.