Pratt Institute
Department of Film/Video
What is now the new home of the Department of Film/Video used to be a nondescript retail box. Pratt charged Think! Architecture and Design to keep the steel-framed, long-span container but transform its contents. Shrouding the existing structure in black, the designers focused on expressing the newly inserted program as a series of free-standing volumes, separated from each other for technical reasons and architectural effect. Interstitial spaces became social areas, carved by strong forms.
The exterior surfaces of new production spaces received perforated metal screens with patterns designed by the artist and Pratt professor Haresh Lalvani. Each pattern is derived from abstracted representations of the function of the space it envelops, such as sound waves for the recording studio.
We focused on photographing the variety of spaces in use, from students interacting in the double height social spaces, to classes and workshops using the theater, green screen and recording studio.
Photographed April 2015.
Architect: Think! Architecture and Design
Owner: Pratt Institute, Department of Film/Video
Design of Perforated Metal Panels: Haresh Lalvani
Builder: Legacy Builders
Theater Consultants: Charcoal Blue
To capture the cavernous main production studio, we staged what we've titled our ââ¬ÅLight Stand Opera,ââ¬Â using lighting equipment instead of actors as our subject matter.
I love the built environment. My photographic practice is anchored by my fascination with design, urbanity and the tactile experience of our surroundings. I believe that our built environment is in tension between intentionality and circumstance, the whole made more powerful by the nature of its duality. My passion is creating photographic representations at the intersection of design, implementation, and context.
I believe in telling stories. Great photography creates narrative strings that enhance our understanding of the built environment. I use my experience to highlight, finesse, contextualize the ideas embedded in each project. My goal is to explore implementations of great design, distilling and connecting photographic vignettes that offer insight into the ideas that shape our world.
I began my career as an architectural designer and refined my focus to the representation of architecture. My interest is in built work - the physical manifestation of design. Through scouting, planning, photographing and all the steps that come after, I refine the representation of each project to best reflect the goals of my clients.
I hold a Bachelor of the Arts in Architecture from Columbia University and a Master of Fine Arts in Photography from the School of Visual Arts. I am based in Manhattan and available for assignments worldwide.
You can reach me at info@alexanderseverin.com