Collection: Iwan Baan

Photographer Iwan Baan is primarily known for images that narrate the life and interactions that occur within architecture. With no formal training in architecture, he mirrors the questions and perspectives of the everyday individuals who give meaning and context to the architecture and spaces that surround us. This artistic approach has given matters of architecture an approachable and accessible voice. Before Baan’s emergence into photographing architecture, there was historically an absence of human presence in architecture and design photography. Early on, Baan posed a simple question: Where are the people who actually use these structures?

From that point on, Baan acquired a host of clients (OMA, Herzog & de Meuron, Zaha Hadid Architects, Sou Fujimoto, SANAA, Toyo Ito, Diller Scofidio & Renfro, SO-IL to name a few) who wanted to ask the same question, and document the answer in the photographs of their buildings. Subsequent to his commissions, Baan develops his own research and art projects centered on informal cities and communities.