Alan Ainsworth Photography: Recently Added Galleries and Collections

SLIDESHOW 6 CONTEMPORARY ARCHITECTURE

alan@alanainsworth.com (Alan Ainsworth Photography) — Mon, 27 May 2013 18:05:59 GMT

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SALFORD QUAYS

alan@alanainsworth.com (Alan Ainsworth Photography) — Wed, 22 May 2013 16:07:07 GMT

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SLIDESHOW 5

alan@alanainsworth.com (Alan Ainsworth Photography) — Wed, 22 May 2013 08:27:17 GMT

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BRUSSELS ART NOUVEAU

alan@alanainsworth.com (Alan Ainsworth Photography) — Thu, 16 May 2013 17:07:42 GMT

]]>Brussels is the largest site of northern Art Nouveau architecture in Europe. Buildings are well-preserved and many are open to visit.

GATESHEAD INTERNATIONAL JAZZ FESTIVAL 2013

alan@alanainsworth.com (Alan Ainsworth Photography) — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 07:40:13 GMT

]]>A few of the main acts from this year's jazz festival in Gateshead.

DEATH OF MARGARET THATCHER 'PARTY' IN TRAFALGAR SQUARE, 14 APRIL 2013

alan@alanainsworth.com (Alan Ainsworth Photography) — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 19:15:50 GMT

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BRISTOL JAZZ AND BLUES FESTIVAL, MARCH 2013

alan@alanainsworth.com (Alan Ainsworth Photography) — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 17:56:51 GMT

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STREET LIFE IN HUMAHUACA, ARGENTINA

alan@alanainsworth.com (Alan Ainsworth Photography) — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 22:55:57 GMT

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JAZZ ON A WINTER'S WEEKEND, SOUTHPORT, 2013

alan@alanainsworth.com (Alan Ainsworth Photography) — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 18:54:41 GMT

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FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT'S "CHILD OF THE SUN"

alan@alanainsworth.com (Alan Ainsworth Photography) — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 19:30:08 GMT

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DOROTHY ANNAN 'TECHNOLOGY' CERAMICS

alan@alanainsworth.com (Alan Ainsworth Photography) — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 09:13:09 GMT

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ART DECO

alan@alanainsworth.com (Alan Ainsworth Photography) — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 18:54:22 GMT

]]>EXAMPLES OF ART DECO ARCHITECTURE FROM AROUND THE WORLD

CONTEMPORARY ARCHITECTURE

alan@alanainsworth.com (Alan Ainsworth Photography) — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 12:22:45 GMT

]]>Examples of stunning contemporary design

RELIGIOUS ARCHITECTURE

alan@alanainsworth.com (Alan Ainsworth Photography) — Sun, 18 Nov 2012 21:23:58 GMT

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URBAN ABSTRACTS

alan@alanainsworth.com (Alan Ainsworth Photography) — Sat, 10 Nov 2012 22:43:02 GMT

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CLERKENWELL PEOPLE AND STREETS

alan@alanainsworth.com (Alan Ainsworth Photography) — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 18:12:26 GMT

]]>PEOPLE AND STREET SCENES IN CLERKENWELL, LONDON

STREET MARKETS

alan@alanainsworth.com (Alan Ainsworth Photography) — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 18:09:55 GMT

]]>Street markets around the world

URBAN CREATIONS

alan@alanainsworth.com (Alan Ainsworth Photography) — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 17:58:46 GMT

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NEO BANKSIDE, SOUTH BANK, LONDON

alan@alanainsworth.com (Alan Ainsworth Photography) — Sun, 04 Nov 2012 12:11:35 GMT

]]>Neo-Bankside, designed by Richard Rogers’ firm Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, exhibits his trademark bright colours, engineered external structure, lift-shafts borrowed from commercial development, glass and careful detailing. Completed in 2012, the development comprises four diamond-shaped residential pavilions and a fifth corner block behind Tate Modern on London’s South Bank. Neo Bankside is Rogers addition to the continuing development of London’s South Bank at Southwark; alongside there are 18th-century almshouses set around a formal landscaped garden, CZWG’s 16-storey loft development and Allies and Morrison’s Blue Fin building.

The diagonal structural bracing is external so that the internal floorplates are flexible; as a result massive pieces of engineered steel are placed across apartment windows. RSH+P has established a diagonal walkway grid reinforcing the existing roads and giving form to the footprint of the pavilion structures. By spreading accommodation across five buildings and moving the blocks east new views towards the Tate are opened up from the south. A new strip of soft landscaping will also be developed, running north-south alongside the almshouses.

Neo Bankside embodies the kind of remaking of London as a civilised public spaces surrounded by beautiful buildings which Rogers has advocated for some time. Neo Bankside seems consistent with his vision: brownfield, dense, permeable, mixed use, near to the riverfront and transport hubs and built to high standards.

WALT DISNEY CONCERT HALL, LOS ANGELES

alan@alanainsworth.com (Alan Ainsworth Photography) — Sat, 03 Nov 2012 02:10:35 GMT

]]>With its exquisite stainless steel exterior and complex postmodern style the Walt DIsnet Concert Hall is a remarkable building. With sleek curves and intricate structural patterns matched by no other similar function building in the United States, Disney Hall possesses genuine architectural merit.

The architect, Frank Gehry, is known for using warped forms in his designs. Gehry rebels against the idea that form follows function. Reflections of L.A. sunlight off of the matte finish and informal contour add to the aesthetic quality. Home to the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra and Los Angeles Master Chorale, Disney Hall's acoustics played a major role in its construction. The walls and ceiling are finished with Douglas-fir wood, and the floor is made out of authentic oak. Reverberation time within the 2265 seat hall is approximately two seconds while occupied. The concert organ is one of the hall's most unusual features; Gehry and organ designer Manuel Rosales created an instrument with curved wooden pipes.
From the outset, Gehry envisioned a 367,000 square foot concert hall that would cover one square block of land and a donation of fifty million dollars by Lillian Disney, widow of Walt Disney, made this possible. Construction of the hall began in 1992 and by the time the structure was completed in 2003, project costs exceeded $270 m.

THE GETTY CENTRE, SANTA MONICA, CALIFORNIA

alan@alanainsworth.com (Alan Ainsworth Photography) — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 20:35:00 GMT

]]>The Getty Centre, Santa Monica, California

The new Getty Centre is composed of many unique design elements, beautiful gardens and open spaces. Perhaps the most important element is its hilltop site in the Santa Monica Mountains, offering a panoramic view of the Pacific Ocean, the San Gabriel Mountains and the vast street-grid of Los Angeles. Inspired by this interplay, architect Richard Meier sought to design the new complex so that it highlights both nature and culture in an organic whole.

The modernist complex appears almost to grow from the 110-acre hillside. Computer-operated trams transport visitors to the hilltop site. The campus, clad largely in cleft-cut Italian travertine and organized around a central arrival plaza, offers framed panoramic views of the city. Curvilinear design elements, like the circular Museum Entrance Hall and the canopy over the Auditorium entrance are Baroque-inspired. There is also a bright openness and horizontality to the complex reminiscent of the work of Southern California modernists like Rudolf Schindler, Richard Neutra and Frank Lloyd Wright.

Richard Meier took many of his cues for the design from the site itself and the Getty Center’s six buildings follow a natural ridge in the hilltop. Working with this natural topography, galleries, offices and the Auditorium lead out to courtyards and terraces; all offices receive natural light. Because the Getty’s neighbors requested that the complex be no more than two stories above grade, all of the buildings extend underground and are linked with subterranean corridors that facilitate the moving of artwork and other materials.

The use of 1.2 million square feet of stone is one of the most remarked-upon elements of the complex. This beige-colored, cleft-cut, textured, fossilized travertine catches the bright Southern California daylight, reflecting sharply during morning hours and emitting a honeyed warmth in the afternoon.

The 16,000 tons of travertine used in the project were quarried 15 miles east of Rome. Split along its natural grain with a rough textured finish, travertine panels cover not only the retaining walls and the bases of all buildings,but also serve as paving stones for the arrival plaza and Museum courtyard, and on indoor walls in transitional spaces between galleries. For the non-public buildings, and the curvilinear elements of the Museum, off-white, enamel-clad aluminum panels have been used as the exterior surface.

Natural lighting is another of the Getty Center’s most important architectural elements. Many of the Center’s exterior surfaces are made of glass, allowing the brilliant Southern California sunshine to illuminate the interiors. Using a computer-assisted system of louvers and shades that adjust the intensity and quality of light, the paintings galleries on the Museum’s upper level are all naturally lit, with special filters to prevent damage to the paintings.

The Museum is comprised of five interconnected two-story pavilions; visitors can explore the collections chronologically or of move in and out of the pavilions freely aking time to enjoy the exterior courtyard spaces with the three fountains and Mexican Cypress trees and the cactus garden to the south. Throughout the Museum, there is a freedom of choice, with routes that are fluid and criss-crossing. The Getty Research Institute occupies a circular building on the western edge of the campus. Reference works, book stacks, and reading areas wrap around a dramatic central courtyard. A ramp creates concentric circulation paths, linking the activities of this open plan and promoting interaction among the scholars and staff. In the subterranean reading room, a skylight pulls light into the heart of this research center.

AMERICAN ROADSIDE ART DECO - U DROP INN, SHAMROCK, TEXAS

alan@alanainsworth.com (Alan Ainsworth Photography) — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 22:05:57 GMT

]]>This unusual building was one of many commercial structures built during the early 1930s along the new US Route 66. When it became clear that the newly established Route 66 would cut through the north end of Shamrock, the owners of the prime corner lot at the new crossroads of the Del Rio Canadian Road and Route-66 agreed to sell the land and in return have a custom designed building constructed on the site for their own use. The Tower Conoco was designed by Pamper architect J.C. Berry and built by local entrepreneur J.M. Tindall in 1936. It is one of the best examples of a 1930s gas station/diner and shows many art deco influences particularly in the geometric detailing, glazed ceramic wall tiles, curves and neon lighting.
The original building combined the Tower Conoco gas Station, the U-Drop Inn Cafe and a retail store, never used as such but soon used as a ballroom and overflow dining room. The building fell into decline and reached its nadir in the 70s when it wa s painted red-white-and-blue and converted to a FINA station, finally closing completely in the mid 1990s. The Shamrock Chamber of Commerce has now restored the building and the cafe is to be reopened.

HELIOS HOUSE, LOS ANGELES

alan@alanainsworth.com (Alan Ainsworth Photography) — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 00:23:28 GMT

]]>The Helios House is a gas station in Los Angeles. It is designed as a green station with special features and is considered to be the "station of the future." It is the first gas station in the United States to be submitted for LEED certification. The gas station was designed by Office dA in Boston and Johnston Marklee Architects in Los Angeles. The purpose of the design was to reinvent the gas station.
The station's roof is designed of triangles made from recycled stainless steel and contains cacti and 90 solar panels. This reduces the energy consumption of the station by 16%. The station's roof is drought tolerant and collects water for irrigation. Built in 2007, it is seen as a Los Angeles landmark. It started out selling BP branded gasoline, but in 2010 switched to ARCO.
Helios House is made of cradle to cradle recyclable stainless steel with a farmed wood facade. CO2 reducing landscaping and grass is planted on roof to reduce the need for mechanical heating or cooling; catch basin prevents runoff into ocean and canopy collects rainwater used for on-site irrigation and to meet station's water needs. LOW-VOC paint is used in back of building and signage is made from recycled material. Energy saving features include: canopy lighting uses up to 20% less energy than traditional gas stations with LED lighting throughout the station, using low amounts of energy to achieve the same brightness. The roof contains 90 solar panels, which can produce the energy needed for 2-3 average American homes and photocells and timers help customize energy needs to time of day and amount of light.

THE NEW PHILADELPHIA SKYLINE

alan@alanainsworth.com (Alan Ainsworth Photography) — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 23:32:02 GMT

]]>An informal understanding, dating back to the 1950s, restricted the height of new buildings in Philadelphia so as not to overshadow the 491 foot tower of City Hall (on which stands the statue of William Penn). However, an office building boom in the 1980s led to approval for a number of new towers and the rule was eventually removed.
These new buildings include the two towers comprising Liberty PLace, the Blue Cross Tower, BNY Mellon Centre, the Comcast Centre and One and Two Commerce Square.

ROUTE 66: TUCUMCARI TO SHAMROCK

alan@alanainsworth.com (Alan Ainsworth Photography) — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 11:54:57 GMT

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ROUTE 66: SANTA FE TO TUCUMCARI

alan@alanainsworth.com (Alan Ainsworth Photography) — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 01:05:14 GMT

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ROUTE 66: MCLEAN TO OAKLAHOMA CITY

alan@alanainsworth.com (Alan Ainsworth Photography) — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 00:46:35 GMT

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BLUE SWALLOW MOTEL

alan@alanainsworth.com (Alan Ainsworth Photography) — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 14:30:39 GMT

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ROUTE 66: GALLUP TO SANTA FE

alan@alanainsworth.com (Alan Ainsworth Photography) — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 03:03:58 GMT

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ROUTE 66: FLAGSTAFF TO GALLUP

alan@alanainsworth.com (Alan Ainsworth Photography) — Sun, 21 Oct 2012 13:53:06 GMT

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