PROJECT HIGHLIGHT: Bay Street office by Altius Architecture.
Lobby
révélateur recently completed the photoshoot of Bay street corporate offices for Altius architecture. It was an interesting challenge as this was the first time we shot corporate interiors. We brought on board 3 models as the client wanted the project to look a bit more lived-in and showcase people. Managing the talent and the logistics of the shoot at the same proved to be a bit of a challenge, but the results speaks for themselves and we are hoping to get more of these corporate shoots in the future.
Scroll down for more pictures.
Reception area
Cubicles with a view
Corner office
Hallway with kitchen to the left
Cubicles and offices
Kitchen / breakroom
Boardroom
FLASHBACK: Royal Saltworks | Saline Royale d'Arc et Senans
Entrance to the director's building | Entrée de la maison du directeur
Version Française ci-dessous
Back in February this year, I visited the Arc et Senans Royal Saltworks in the Franche-comte region of France. The complex was designed by Claude-Nicolas Ledoux in the late 18th century. It was intended as a salt processing facility for briny spring waters from the surroundings.
The complex was designed hierarchically in a semi-circular plan that was to form part of a larger city imagined by Ledoux, plan that never fully came about. It was completed at a time where traditional, labour and ressource-intensive means of production were starting to be replaced by thanks to the nascent industrial revolution, which made the saltworks obsolete almost from the beginning.
It never produced to the extent it was supposed to and about 100 year after opening, salt production permanently ceased, not being able to compete with cheaper sea salt brought by rail.
Nonetheless, Ledoux designed a very innovative complex for the time, rationalizing the organization of the salt production, housing all the workers on-site, essentially forming a self-contained community. Indeed, salt was then a very coveted commodity as it was used to preserve food and was heavily taxed by the Ferme générale. Housing all workers on-site was a way to control production and prevent the smuggling of salt outside of the facility.
Of note, at the Maison du directeur, are several architectural features that separate the building from the rest of the complex, to show its importance. The columns are made of square and cylindrical sections which create very photogenic shadow plays. The central location, unique architectural feature and the oversized oculus in the pediment makes it crystal clear how important is that building to the plan.
Ledoux’s legacy ended up being mostly made of unbuilt projects, the saltworks being on of the few built projects that still stand to this day and allows us to see how ahead of his time he was.
Director's building | Maison du directeur
Au mois de Février 2015, j’ai eu l’occasion de visiter la Saline Royale d’Arc et Senans, dans la region Franche-Comté. L’ensemble conçu par Claude-Nicolas Ledoux au 18eme siècle fut â l'origine une usine de production de sel, utilisant les sources saumâtres locales pour en extraire cette substance très précieuse.
Le projet a été conçu suivant un plan semi-circulaire ou toutes les fonctions sont hiérarchisées et placées en fonction de leur importance. Il fut conçu a l’origine comme faisant partie d’une ville conçue par Ledoux qui ne fut jamais complétée. Le complexe incorporait des méthodes de production proto-industrielles qui furent mises en place un peu trop tard, la revolution industrielle ayant commencé peu de temps après, ce qui rendit les salines obsolètes des le depart.
La saline ne produisit jamais autant que prévu et fût fermée tout juste 100 ans après sa creation, la concurrence avec le sel de mer, livré par chemin de fer, étant trop forte.
Ledoux néanmoins conçût un ensemble innovant pour son époque, rationalisant la production de sel, incluant des logements pour les ouvriers sur site pour créer une forme de commune autarcique. Le sel étant un denrée très convoitée a l’époque pour la preservation de la nourriture, il était logique de protéger les revenus de la Gabelle de la Ferme Générale en contrôlant l’accès à la saline et en limitant les allées et venues des ouvriers.
A noter, la maison du directeur qui occupe la place centrale de la Saline, comporte des éléments architecturaux qui la distingue du reste, tels que les colonnes a sections carrées et ronde ainsi que l’oculus démesuré au milieu du frontispice, mettent en evidence l’importance de cet edifice par rapport au reste du complexe.
L’heritage de Ledoux reste composé principalement de projets non-construits, la saline étant un des rares complexes qu’il a pu voir bâti. Après la chute de l’ancien regime, Ledoux se concentra sur la conception de villes idéales et de projets spéculatifs, car ayant été un architecte disposant des faveur du roi, il sombra dans l’obscurité, jusqu’a ce qu’il fut redécouvert bien plus tard, au vingtième siècle.
Covered porch of a production building | Colonnade d'un bâtiment de production.
Georgian Bay Boathouse in Azure
PROJECT HIGHLIGHT: Lycée Terrail High-School, Atelier Métis
Crepuscule / Dusk
English version below.
Ce projet d’extension d’un Lycee a Pontcharra, pres de Grenoble, consiste en l’addition de 14 salles de classes sur un niveau RDC. Les 4 batiments sont en bois modulaire 3D installes en forme de “U" atour d’un jardin des poetes. Cette typologie caractérise l’ambience introvertie et apaisée du lieu, créant un environement propice a l’enseignement.
Le jardin des poètes / The poet's garden
Le cote simple et sans prétention du complexe est très appreciable, ou la qualité de l’experience des usagers prend le pas sur les gestes architecturaux. C’est un projet élégant par sa simplicite et son efficacité, sans fioritures.
Avancée de toiture principale / Main roof overhang
La toiture metallique apporte une touche d’elegance et permet d’augmenter la durée de vie des bâtiments, tout en améliorant le confort d’été et réduisant la consommation énergétique. Les larges ouvertures contribuent à la qualité des intérieurs par leur abondant apport en lumière naturelle, ainsi qu’à la transparence des bâtiments qui confère a l’ensemble une impression d’ouverture, très a propos pour des bâtiments scolaires.
Cour / Courtyard
J’ai pris beaucoup de plaisir a photographier ces lieux, d’une part car c’est un project architecturalement intéressant et d’autre part car le cadre montagnard est absolument magnifique.
Allée + Entrée d'une salle de cours / Walkway + Classroom doorway
English Version:
révélateur had the privilege to shoot this extension for a high-school in Pontcharra, near Grenoble, France. The four buildings comprise 14 classrooms on one level, a "poet garden" courtyard and are prefabricated wood structure, manufactured in a plant and assembled and finished on-site.
The unpretentious atmosphere is very pleasant, as it is the user experience that takes precedence over grandiose architectural gestures. It is an elegant project du to its simplicity, functionality and well-chosen materials.
The steel roof, though not functionally indispensable, brings visual elegance to the ensemble and summer comfort as am oversized sunshade that contributes to reducing the energy footprint of the building. The oversized windows contribute to the feeling of transparency, literally and figuratively, which is perfectly appropriate for an educational building.
I truly enjoyed shooting this project as it is both architecturally competent as well as set in a mountainous landscape that provides the perfect backdrop.
FLASHBACK: Boathouse by Weiss AU
Overall view at dusk
This past fall révélateur was commissioned by Kevin Weiss, principal of Weiss AU, to shoot a pretty exceptional project, if not in size, at least in quality and originality.
Interior of the boathouse
The boathouse, located on a private island in Georgian Bay, near Parry Sound is a beautiful object in and of itself, that also manages to blend in its natural element seamlessly. Unapologetically contemporary, it proudly stands among the trees on the shoreline of this island.
The dock
Though it is decidedly contemporary in form, its materials are a nod to traditional Canadian cottage architecture. The colours are neutral (mainly grey) and the predominant cladding and structural material is wood, which contributes to making this project at home in cottage country.
Sunrise view from path leading to main cottage
From the dock
Detail of outdoor living room
Annex residence in the Globe and Mail
John Bentley-Mays wrote a great article on Audax's project and concept of human architecture. I discovered things I did not know about this really cool project.
Read it here.
révélateur in Dolce Magazine
Weiss AU's boathouse was featured in the Spring 2015 edition of the magazine. Kevin Weiss' design deserves the kind of attention it's been getting lately and we hope to see more of his work published in the future.
Stay tuned for future publications of our images.
Flashback: Do you like Le Corbusier? | Aimez-vous Le Corbusier?
French version below | Version Française ci-dessous
Chapel viewed from the South | Chapelle vue côté sud.
During my last trip to France, back in February, I was lucky to visit the famed Chapelle de Ronchamp by Le Corbusier (Wikipedia).
I had the opportunity to snap a few photos, which hardly do the building justice. Le Corbusier has a knack for designing religious buildings that generate uplifting and highly spiritual experiences, even to the non-religious. His buildings are always best experienced in person as the space, light and materials are difficult to convey in photographs.
I took these shots on a freezing, sunny winter morning, which resulted in beautiful deep-blue skies that frame the white and grey building really well.
The property contains additional annex buildings (such as the maison du pèlerin, pictured above) in addition to a new convent for the local Clarisse Sisters chapter designed by Renzo Piano.
Piano’s building is well integrated in the hill and hardly visible from anywhere, in deference to the master’s chapel. It is nonetheless a very sensible project that is very well executed in typical Piano fashion.
La maison du pèlerin
Au cours de mon dernier séjour en France, j’ai eu l’honneur de visiter la chapelle de Ronchamp par le Corbusier (Wikipedia)
J’y ai pris quelques photos, qui rendent difficilement justice a cet édifice d’exception. Corbu savait concevoir des bâtiments religieux générateur d’expériences spirituelles fabuleuses, accessibles à tous, y compris les personnes non-religieuses. Il est recommandé de visiter ses bâtiments en personne, car la lumière, les espaces ainsi que la matérialité de ses projets difficile a représenter en images.
J’ai pris ces photos un jour d’hiver ensoleillé mais également très froid, ce qui m’a permis de capturer ce ciel très bleu qui encadre la chapelle blanche et grise et contribue a la mettre en valeur.
Les bâtiments annexes (comme la maison du pèlerin, ci-dessus) sont assez peu connus parmi l’oeuvre de Corbu et sont cependant de petits dépendances architecturalement intéressantes, bien que formellement simples et initialement conçues pour abriter le curé ainsi que les pèlerins.
Renzo Piano a récemment conçu un nouveau bâtiment qui s’intègre dans le programme existant. Il s’agit d'un couvent pour les Soeurs Clarisses, ainsi qu’un centre d’accueil et d'exposition (Porterie), qui s’intègre très bien dans la pente et n’est presque pas visible de puis le haut de la colline. Le parti architectural, a la fois discret et efficace, rend hommage a la chapelle du maître sans jamais essayer de lui voler la vedette. La lumière et les matériaux en font un projet typiquement Piano.
révélateur in Dwell
révélateur wins best of Houzz 2015 award
révélateur studio of Toronto Receives Best Of Houzz 2015 Award
Press release:
révélateur studio of Toronto Receives Best Of Houzz 2015 Award
Yorkville residence by Audax.
Over 25 Million Monthly Unique Users Rated Top-Rated Home Building, Remodeling and Design Professionals in Canada and Around the World
Toronto, Canada, January 19, 2015 – révélateur studio of Toronto has been awarded “Best Of Houzz” for Customer Satisfaction by Houzz, the leading platform for home remodeling and design. The architectural photography studio was chosen by the more than 25 million monthly unique users that comprise the Houzz community from among more than 500,000 active home building, remodeling and design industry professionals.
The Best Of Houzz award is given in two categories: Design and Customer Satisfaction. Design award winners’ work was the most popular among the more than 25 million monthly users on Houzz, known as “Houzzers.” Customer Satisfaction honors are determined by a variety of factors, including the number and quality of client reviews a professional received in 2014. Winners will receive a “Best Of Houzz 2015” badge on their profiles, helping Houzz users around the world who discover and love a professional’s work to learn even more about that business’ popularity and satisfaction rating among their peers in the Houzz community.
"It is a tremendous honour to be recognized as a top professional in the industry, especially after all the hard work we have put in the company in our first year of business. It means we are bringing value to our clients and are looking forward to what new and exciting projects 2015 will bring to the business." said Arnaud Marthouret, Founder of révélateur studio.
“Houzz provides homeowners with a 360 degree view of home building, remodeling and design industry professionals, empowering them to engage the right people and products for their project,” said Liza Hausman, vice president of industry marketing for Houzz. “We’re delighted to recognize révélateur studio among our “Best Of” professionals as judged by our community of homeowners and design enthusiasts who are actively remodeling and decorating their homes.”
Follow révélateur studio on Houzz.
About révélateur studio:
révélateur studio is a Toronto-based photography studio specializing in architecture and art-directed interior photography.
About Houzz
Houzz is the leading platform for home remodeling and design, providing people with everything they need to improve their homes from start to finish - online or from a mobile device. From decorating a room to building a custom home, Houzz connects millions of homeowners, home design enthusiasts and home improvement professionals across the country and around the world. With the largest residential design database in the world and a vibrant community powered by social tools, Houzz is the easiest way for people to find inspiration, get advice, buy products and hire the professionals they need to help turn their ideas into reality. Headquartered in Palo Alto, CA, Houzz also has international offices in London, Berlin and Sydney. For more information, visit www.houzz.com
Yorkville Residence on the cover of Designlines Magazine
révélateur is proud to announce its first magazine cover! Our shoot of the Yorkville residence by Audax Architecture was featured in the the Spring 2015 issue of Designlines magazine.
Spring 2015 cover
Interestingly, this is our first ever commissioned project and turned out to be a client favourite from day one. This reno of a 70's modern house turned a very dated dwelling into a sleek, contemporary, state of the art dwelling that reflects the personality of its owner, a 30-something successful entrepreneur from Toronto.
Click here for full article.
révélateur in Award magazine
Our shoot of the Buckingham Arena by WGD Architects was featured in a recent issue of Award magazine.
The article covers the story of the PPP process the various stakeholders had to go through in order make this project a success. Read full story below.
Buckingham arena by WGD architects
Front entrance
Earlier this summer révélateur shot the brand new Buckingham Arena in Downsview Park, Toronto. This was an interesting challenge for us as we had never shot this type of facility before.
WGD Architects designed a four-rink arena for local leagues and events. Based on our scouting shoot, our studio was commissioned to take 10 images of the project. We had our eyes open for the money shots and luckily, the cool, somewhat industrial and utilitarian aesthetic of the building lent itself well to getting great shots.
Main Lobby
We set out to shoot at the end of the day as we knew this was when the arena was going to be the busiest, giving us plenty of opportunities to introduce the human element in our images. Without people, such a large building would end up looking very empty and cavernous.
Lucky for us, there were hockey games going on during our shoot so we seized the opportunity to include some motion to the rink photographs by shooting additional frames a slow speeds so we would get the proverbial motion blur that makes architectural shots much more dynamic and is particularly fitting to shooting a hockey arena.
Main Entrance
We learned a lot from this shoot as we were given minimal instructions from the client and had the opportunity to explore some more creative angles, some of which ended up being picked by the architect.
We later on shot another arena for the same client that will be featured here in the coming weeks.
Typical rink (1 of 4)
Little Trinity by DTAH
Earlier this summer, Revelateur was commissioned to shoot DTAH's little trinity project. This is constitutes a good example of adaptive reuse in the city of toronto. This was a fun shoot as it was all about showcasing the interplay between the old and the new.
Facade on King St. East (at Parliament).
DTAH has a summary of their project here:
"The Little Trinity Church community, founded in 1844 near the corner of King Street East and Parliament Streets in Toronto, developed a building expansion study to investigate the renovation and redevelopment of the three buildings on their site to maximize community worship, social services, and recreational uses in response to the future West Don Lands development immediately south of their property.
Back of building from garden.
DTAH redeveloped the derelict 19th century townhouses at 399 King Street into the Little Trinity Annex, a new administrative centre and multi-purpose hall for the church community. Renovations in the school house building included the basement multi-purpose hall and ground floor child care spaces to maximize Sunday School capacity and functionality."
Multi-purpose hall.
Although a small project, it was a fun shoot as adaptive reuse presents challenges that are not necessarily evident when shooting other kinds of projects.
Building from garden.
Photography + Styling = Killer Images
Styling is the art of making a space look like it’s lived in, often in a subtle and discrete fashion. Ideally it is something that not consciously noticeable because it looks natural. This effortless look requires a lot of planning and production work, but the results are often far beyond what a professional photographer alone can offer.
Kitchen
Révélateur studio always strives to improve the quality of its offerings and client satisfaction. This is why we are pleased to announce a partnership with professional stylist Laurie Clark. Starting immediately we are offering styled photography packages. By offering these packages, we take the headache out of shooting professionally styled quality photography, while delivering incredible value as these images will make you look fresh and professional.
Main entrance and lounge
Laurie Clark of GH Styleworks is a master stylist with a background in art direction and graphic design. She has an eye for the killer accent that is going to bring a photograph together. Our own architectural and photography background complements Laurie’s skill set perfectly and we can together deliver images of exceptional quality.
Dressing room
Since a picture is worth a thousand words, the images included in here a few example of images that came out of a shoot we did with Laurie (Project: Taylorwood, Build: Rose Barroso | Barroso Homes, Design: Urbanscape | Ali Malek-Zadeh). Feel free to contact us for further information on these packages.
Main entrance
Stafford Development projects
We have been working with Stafford Developments to shoot some of their completed projects to showcase on their new upcoming website. Below are some shots that we did for them:
The Rushton Residences, 743 St. Clair W.
530 St. Clair W.
500 St. Clair W.
Film District Towns
Stay tuned for more cool shots to come...
2014 TSA year-end Bash
Revelateur Studio will be in attendance at the Toronto Society of Architects annual Year-end Bash on November, 26th 2014. We are proudly sponsoring the event and will be photographing the party throughout the night. Feel free to come say hello to us during the party, don't be shy!
The event is hosted at the beautiful and new Fort York visitor center designed by Patkau Architects.
Fort York visitor center by Patkau Architects
Hoggs Hollow Residence by Makow Associates
Backyard
This beautiful home was designed by Makow Associates of Toronto, completed in 2014.
Do not let the traditional exterior fool you, it is a very contemporary house inside, filled with luxurious materials and the latest in home automation technology.
Upper level foyer
We had the opportunity to work with the Toronto-based stylist Carmen Maier who styled most of the interior shots shown here. Carmen is a dedicated stylist with an eye for details and her expertise was instrumental in bringing out the soul of the house in the photography.
Entrance / foyer
The centerpiece of the house, the foyer is a beautiful double-height space lit from above that ties the whole house together and contributes to not making it feel so large as it has a direct connection to all the living spaces on the first and second floors.
Master bedroom
It is flanked by an open staircase that makes the transition from first to second floor and enjoyable experience as the views are constantly changing as one goes up the stairs.
Kitchen
The result is a very large home that does not feel overwhelming but rather homely and inviting, in part due to the abundance of natural light and lightly colored materials.
Master Bath
We certainly enjoyed shooting this house and are hoping to do more of these in the future.
Front Facade
Tips for hiring an architectural photographer #10
This is post 10 of 10, in a series detailing important aspects to hiring an architectural photographer while avoiding the most common pitfalls.
10. DO IT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME.
Some shoots will require specific equipment and skills to be done properly. Do not skimp out on the expense if it gives you the images you need. Equipment rental and consultants are sometimes necessary to get the job done well. You photographer will be able to make appropriate recommendations.
Webster PS, Kohn Shnier Architects, Toronto
Little Portugal fixer-upper by Downey Design
This project was featured on our blog a few months back, when we shot the interiors for the Designer. We have recently returned to shoot the exterior of the building upon completion of the landscaping.
Main facade
Home to Arts & Labour home-studio, the renovation turned an old factory into an airy, bright space that appears to be much bigger than it actually is.
Main Entrance
Although the renovated building may appear mundane at first glance, it is the simplicity of the elegant materials and solid detailing that makes it come to life in an understated fashion. It is first and foremost a very livable space as evidenced by the spatial and light qualities one finds throughout the project.
Landscaped courtyard