Roland Halbe, Architecture Photographer
Born in Karlsruhe, Germany, Roland Halbe has been a freelance architectural photographer since the 1988. A graduate of the Istituto Europeo di Design in Cagliari, Italy, he is also co-founder of the Artur Images platform, an online library of architectural photography archives in Europe. In 2017, he was the official photographer for the Louvre Abu Dhabi (Ateliers Jean Nouvel) and works with agencies from all over the world such as Zaha Hadid Architects, Shigeru Ban, Jakob+MacFarlane and Benedetta Tagliabue – EMBT Architects. His work regularly makes the front pages of specialist magazines, including AA.
How would you describe your work?
I see my work as a mediator, who tries to transmit architecture to the interested audience in a positive way. Apart from documenting the nature of a project my aim is to capture the essence of architecture, when I am exposed to it. Everything then has its influence on my photographs: light, time, weather, mood etc. There is no strict scheme – a lot just happens in my subconscience.
SANAA, Louvre Lens, Lens, France, 2013. ‘I was fascinated by the ethereal spirit.’
Mayr Ludescher, DKFS, Lady Herkomer bridge, Landsberg am Lech, Allemagne. ‘ The fog helps to unite the bridge with nature.’
What is your relationship with architecture?
Architecture makes me curious. I want to see how it reacts to light and ideally to the people who use it or what it does to the people who use it or live in it.
Max Nuñez Arquitectes, MUSEAT, Copiapó, Chili. ‘A building looks like more than just a building.’
Atelier Jean Nouvel, Rosewood Hotel Cidade Matarazzo, Sao Paulo, Brésil, 2023. ‘The abundance of vegetation in Brazilian cities.’
What projects are you working on at the moment?
Different projects: I just finished to photograph a museum in Korea by Meier& Partners, a beach front promenade in Rimini/IT by EMBT and 2 houses by Mathias Klotz in Uruguay. One of my coming projects is a library in Avignon by Jakob+MacFarlane.
Sou Fujimoto, Serpentine Gallery Pavilion, Londres, Grand-Bretagne 2013. ‘Escher at the Serpentine – an infinite space.’
Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos, private house, 2023. ‘Could be Magritte.’
More photographs of Roland Halbe on his website.
