News2 November 20262 min read
Photographing Al-Madina Municipality HQ
BEEAH Planners, Architects and Engineers asked us to photograph a building they designed: the headquarters of Al-Madina Municipality, opened in 2004.
A building like this does not fit in one picture. Outside, it is dark volcanic stone set in pale mortar, banded with light stone and broken by timber window boxes. Inside, it turns warm: red brick around an atrium under a white dome, timber balconies on every level, and stained glass in the drum of the dome.
So we shot it in layers. Drone flights for the plan and for the domes against the city. Work on the ground in low side light for the stone, where every face throws its own shadow. And the atrium, from the floor looking up and from the top gallery looking down.
The last set is the blue hour and after dark, when the lighting turns the stone gold and the domes glow over the lawn.
The full set is in the case study.
