Building Images

"I like to make connections with the audience when I take a photo of a building."

This was the first time Zhang took part in the Architectural Photography Awards.

Among the 12 images he submitted, the shot of the swimming pool is his favorite - "the light is perfect and the building is designed by Chinese".

Wang Zhenfei, an architect and photographer, also made the list of finalists with his photo of Tianrenheyi Museum in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, which he himself helped design.

Another Chinese photographer was among the finalists - Yao Li, with his photo of the Dongzhuang-Building Museum of Western Regions in Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

Adam Letch's photo of a chapel built on Bosjes farm in Ceres, Cape Town, won the exterior category, and Tom Roe's Messner Mountain Museum Corones, Bolzano, Italy, won "sense of place".

Amy Croft is one of the judges and curator at Sto Werkstatt, the cultural headquarters of the Sto Group in London. She says the 2017 entries were remarkable in their global reach: from the Burning Man festival in the Nevada desert to a housing estate in Beijing, from an art museum in Denmark to a chapel in Cape Town.

"This truly global view the prize offers us stands as a reminder of the skill of architectural photography to communicate not only the image of buildings but evoking their atmosphere, usage and social and cultural contexts," says Croft.

Chen Li, founder and chief architect of Cendes Architecture, was the first and only Chinese on the judging panel.

The entries of all 20 finalists are exhibited at the TruSpace gallery in Beijing through Dec 25.

Cao Jian, founder of TruSpace, says he aims to showcase the importance of photography in the way that people experience and connect with space.

"I want to bring more high-level art exhibitions and show more Chinese artists' works to the world," Cao says.

The finalists' works will also be shown at Sto Werkstatt from Feb 8. Zhang will be presented with his prize and $3,000 at the opening of the London exhibition, titled Building Images.

Wang Yi, a professor at Tsinghua University's School of Architecture, says architecture and photography are two different art forms.

"Zhang's photo of the swimming pool is not mainly presenting the structure of the building, but it's an artwork that combines color, light and composition," Wang Yi says.

Photography translates the sophistication of architecture into something that's easy for people to engage.

"Photos cannot replace architecture, but they are channels to present architecture."