Curved details of the architecture at the National Museum of Qatar, Doha

Through the lens: photogenic architecture

Destinations
By Christopher Beanland
April 18, 2023

Skip the obvious tourist spots and head to these camera-friendly landmarks.

Visitors relaxing by the brutalist architecture of the Barbican in London

Barbican, London

Bold, beautiful and never boring, the Barbican is a design classic at the heart of the City of London, and home to many a designer and architect. A symphony in concrete, its raw urban gutsiness is tempered by cascading water gardens. The complex includes an arts centre, with a world-leading theatre and gallery, a lakeside plaza with restaurants, and hundreds of 1960s apartments. Skip the futile attempts to get a satisfying photo of the London Eye and instead try capturing your own images of the Barbican’s Brutalist splendour, ideally in black and white.


Stay at Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, London  

The Art Deco buildings of South Beach, Miami

South Beach Art Deco District, Miami

Pastel power! Pinks, yellows and greys bring the Art Deco architecture of South Beach to life, and the perpetual Florida sun shining against the buildings shows them in their best light. The 1930s and ’40s buildings looking out over South Beach might be familiar as backdrops that have featured in myriad movies, including classics such as Scarface. Today, the district is fertile ground for your ’gram stories.


Stay at Mandarin Oriental, Miami

The tranquil canopied area next to one of the pools at Mandarin Oriental, Marrakech

Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris

Sales of Moët Champagne and Louis Vuitton handbags helped fund this museum, which houses the art collections of the LVMH Company and its boss, Bernard Arnault. They include pieces by Basquiat, Koons and Gilbert & George, but the building itself is a work of art you’ll also want to capture. The 2014 complex was designed by Frank Gehry, who made his name with languid lines of the Guggenheim Bilbao. Here, he sets jagged rooflines against the cool, swaying greenery of the Bois de Boulogne – an ensemble that begs to be photographed.


Stay at Mandarin Oriental, Paris 

The innovative architecture of the National Museum of Qatar, Doha

National Museum of Qatar, Doha

With its complicated shapes, redolent of flying saucers, this striking new museum at the heart of Qatar’s cultural offering was dreamt up by ‘starchitect’ Jean Nouvel, and inspired by a desert rose. The venue opened in 2019 as a grand new attraction in the capital, encompassing Sheikh Abdullah bin Jassim Al-Thani’s original palace. Photograph the exterior as you approach (though you’ll never fit it all in one frame), then step inside, where gallery spaces are set around cool courtyards. The undulating wooden walls of the gift shop are another attraction in their own right.


Stay at Mandarin Oriental, Doha

The 1950s-built Palace of Assembly building at Chandigarh, Punjab

Chandigarh, Punjab

Legendary Swiss-French architect and designer Le Corbusier’s grandest vision is one that few Europeans and Americans see in person. Punjabis are rightly proud of Chandigarh – a capital for the state which was needed after the partition of India and Pakistan. Le Corbusier’s plans for the capital, built in the 1950s, included public art, parks, ponds and striking government buildings finished off in primary colours. Show the world you’ve been here by taking and sharing your best pics.


Stay at The Oberoi Sukhvilas Spa Resort, New Chandigarh  

All offers and experiences available at time of publication. Please contact the relevant hotel team for more information.

Christopher Beanland
About the Author
Christopher Beanland
Chris is an author and journalist specialising in architecture, whose books include Concrete Concept and Lido.