Iwan Baan

Photographer Iwan Baan captures the many ways people shape their shared built environment — from high-architecture to handmade homes. His interest in human connection is reflected in his ability to shift from architectural photographer to documentarian. In his photos of informal communities around the world, he shows how vernacular architecture and placemaking serve as examples of human ingenuity. His photography is a window into the world around us.

Burj Khalifa Dubai 2010

Trained in photography at the Royal Academy of Arts in The Hague, with no formal training in architecture, Baan’s perspective mirrors the questions and perspectives of the everyday individuals who give meaning and context to the architecture and spaces that surround us, and this artistic approach has given matters of architecture an approachable and accessible voice. Today, architects such as Rem Koolhaas, Herzog & de Meuron, Zaha Hadid, Diller Scofidio & Renfro, Toyo Ito, SANAA, Steven Holl and Morphosis turn to Baan to give their work a sense of place and narrative within their environments.

Aerial photography has, over the years, become an important element in Baan’s visual language. He believes that architecture should not be treated as a stand-alone object or symbol, as each piece of architecture sits within the story of a particular city or neighbourhood. Baan illustrated the power of an elevated perspective when he photographed New York City from the sky in 2012, just hours after Hurricane Sandy left most of Manhattan in complete darkness.

Vernacular housing north Ghana 2013

In addition to the many awards and recognitions he has received, Baan was the winner of the inaugural Julius Shulman Award in 2010, and two years later, he went on to receive the highly esteemed Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale for his work on the Torre David. Baan is the recipient of the AIA Stephen A. Kliment Oculus Award and holds a RIBA Honorary Fellowship.
Baan has an extensive, longstanding relationship with many influential newspaper and magazine publications where his work is frequently published, including The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Guardian, Architectural Record and Architectural Digest, to name a few.

Alongside his ongoing projects, Baan has a long list of recently completed books.

Building monographs play an important role in the communication of a particular site, hence Baan has been commissioned to create many bodies of work where he studies as a single, specialised subject.

The following respected institutions have acquired Baan’s work: Museum of Modern Art, New York; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Carnegie Museum of Art. In addition, his works remain a part of many private collections.

Selection of books:
Dudok by Iwan Baan (Nai010 Publishers 2021),
Two Sides of the Border: Reimagining the Region (Lars Muller Publishers 2020),
Balkrishna Doshi: Architecture for the People (Vitra Design Museum 2019),
Baku | Oil & Urbanism (Park Books 2018), Landscape of Faith | Architectural Interventions along the Mexican Pilgrimage Route (Lars Muller Publishers 2017),
Bengal Stream: The Vibrant Architecture Scene of Bangladesh (Christoph Merian 2017),
African Modernism; Architecture of Independence (Park Books 2015);
Insular Insight: Where Art and Architecture Conspire with Nature (Lars Muller Publishers 2011),
Torre David: Informal Vertical Communities (Lars Muller Publishers 2012),
Brasilia & Chandigarh – Living With Modernity (Lars Muller Publishers 2010).

Selection of exhibitions:
‘Kiruna Forever’ – ArkDes, Sweden’s National Centre for Architecture and Design, Stockholm, Sweden (2020),
Balkrishna Doshi: Architecture for the People – Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein, Germany (2019),
‘Stadsbeelden’ – Museum Flehite, Amersfoort, The Netherlands (2019),
‘Bengal Stream. The Vibrant Architecture Scene of Bangladesh’ – Swiss Architecture Museum S AM, Basel, Switzerland (2018),
‘Western Sahara Pavilion’ with Manuel Herz at the Architecture Biennale in Venice, Italy (2016),
‘2015 Chicago Architecture Biennial: The State of the Art of Architecture’ – Chicago, US (2015),
‘Constructing Worlds: Photography and Architecture in the Modern Age’ – Barbican, London (2014)

Solo exhibitions:
Iwan Baan: 52 Weeks, 52 Cities, Exhibited in Montpellier (2016), Copenhagen (2015), Hamburg (2015), Herford (2013),
Iwan Baan: The Way We Live, Perry Rubenstein Gallery, Los Angeles, US (2013),
Iwan Baan, 2010 autour du monde, journal d’une année d’architecture, Hyères, France (2011),
Iwan Baan – Recent Works – Contemporary Architectural Photographs, Iwan Baan, Recent work, AA London, UK (2008),
2008 Building China Five Projects / Five Stories, New York, US (2008).

Iwan Baan

Iwan Baan

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