Andy McDonald Black and White Photos

  The Building Opened in 1993 as the General Accident Life Headquarters and designed by Hurd Rolland Partnership, this building is situated adjacent Lendal Bridge on the banks over the river Ouse, opposite the 13th century Guild Hall. This site, containing archaeological remains, was previously occupied by industrial buildings and subject to a wide range of complex planning constraints. General Accident Life Developments Ltd. in consultation with the Royal Fine Arts Commission and Local Planning Authority invited three prominent architects to prepare designs for their new headquarters building. The winning design by Hurd Rolland Partnership is a composition in fine grained magnesium limestone, taking for its inspiration the rich limestone detailing of the mediaeval city. Rising from the riverside with tumbling pitched roofs in green slate and roof terraces overlooking the city , it provides accommodation for some 800 staff and includes two full-height atria. As the River Ouse is pr...

  The Building Liked by many. Hated by many. The Q-Park, Charles Street, opened in 2008, and the extraordinary steel cladding merited the ‘Cheesegrater’ name. The external envelope, painted green on the inside, was each manufactured from a single sheet of folded aluminium, cut to an angle on two sides, and hung in four different orientations, providing natural ventilation. By day, a varied monochromatic pattern of light and dark is achieved over each of the elevations, with each panel giving a different light reflectance from its surface.  Awards: RIBA National Award 2009, RIBA Regional Award 2009, RIBA White Rose Award 2009, Sheffield Design Awards Citizen's Award for Best Building 2009 The ten-storey car park was designed by architects Allies and Morrison, and constructed by Sheffield-based J.F. Finnegan  as part of the Heart of the City project, which also included the Peace Gardens, Winter Garden and Millennium Gallery. The Photograph I've had a few attempts at this b...

  The Building Opened in 2021, this state of the art building is home to the dynamic science, technology, health, engineering and medicine courses at Canterbury Christ Church University.  Designed by Hamilton Architects, this building is part of the £150m city campus development at Canterbury. The building has a complex façade characterised by vertical brick piers, establishing a strong connection between the building and its rich historic surroundings. The Photograph My passion for black and white fine art architecture photography started with a tour of university open days with my eldest daughter a couple of years ago. We are now touring universities with my other daughter as she looks at prospective courses. Canterbury Christ Church University was first on the list.  The picturesque campus itself is quite compact and mainly made up of buildings from (I think) the 1960s and 1970s. This is probably one of the newest buildings on campus and is mainly brick and glass, with...

The Building Designed by Zaha Hadid Architects and opened in 2011, this purpose built museum sits at the confluence of the River Kelvin and the Clyde. It is a sectional extrusion open at both ends, its outline encapsulating a wave or pleat, flows from the city to waterfront, symbolizing the dynamic relationship between Glasgow and the ship-building, seafaring and industrial legacy of the river Clyde. Clear glass facades allow light to flood through the main exhibition space. The Riverside Museum won the 2013 European Museum of the Year award. The Photograph The regeneration of the docks along the Clyde has resulted in some very impressive architecture, which I have been gradually featuring here on my website. We took the Subway from the city centre to Govan and crossed the Clyde via the newly opened Govan-Partick bridge (which will likely feature here at some point). The part of the museum facing the Clyde was obscured by building work when we visited, so I made sure that we took the t...

The Building The Advanced Research Centre (ARC) building is one of the many standout buildings on the University of Glasgow campus in the West End of the city. The building opened in 2022 and was designed by HOK Architects. HOK’s design expresses the research activities taking place inside the ARC while drawing inspiration from the University’s existing campus and masterplan and Glasgow’s historic buildings. The Photograph This is a building that I have photographed on all of the trips that I have made to Glasgow since the initial open day visit in June 2023. It is a very large building with lots of interesting shapes, which actually makes it quite difficult to capture. Both of the pictures I have (so far) published have been abstracts, concentrating on smaller parts of the building.  For this one, I was struck by the walkway with its sweeping curves and how the light hits the exterior.  This is a panoramic photograph made up of two images shot on the Laowa 15mm f/4.5 Shi...

  The Building The ASI was designed and built by GF Tomlinson and opened in 2024, as part of an expansion plan by Lincoln College to provide training to young adults for various roles within the aviation and space industries. It is a three storey building that accommodates a full-sized Airbus A318 for hands-on teaching experience. The initial brief was for just a section of the fuselage to be placed in the building, but through collaborative innovation it was possible to install the whole unit, enhancing the learning experience for the students. The Photograph I was in Newark for a couple of hours and took the opportunity to get some pictures. My plan was to photograph Castle House, the new ASI building and the Palace Theatre. Castle House was fenced off because the paving slabs in front had been lifted, whilst the Palace Theatre was surrounded by young children so in the end my only option was this building. I was testing out my new Leofoto G2 Geared Head, so for once I was shooti...