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Lorenzo Zandri

Architectural Photographer
London/Paris

«I decided to not build things, but images.»

Please, introduce yourself…

I’m Lorenzo Zandri, a photographer and artist with a background in architecture, currently based between London and Paris.

I focus my research on documenting the built environment and urban transformations, using photography as the main tool to represent and depict the surrounding man-made and natural landscapes.

In 2012, I also co-founded ROBOCOOP, an experimental and research art duo project with deep roots in the architectural world, expressing an on-going research through collages, installations and urban visions.

How did you find your way into the field of Architecture and Photography?

During my studies in architecture between Rome and Paris, I discovered photography is a great tool to design, study, research and make architecture. It is universal and sometimes it doesn’t require any other means of communication, although there is a fundamental study and research process behind producing an image.

After working as an architect, I decided to dedicate myself to photography, starting to document the built environment and landscape through the lens, encompassing natural and artificial scenarios. Basically, I decided to not build things, but images.

What does your working space look like?

At the moment, my working space is itinerant. My notebook and my sketchbook are my points of reference and are strictly related to my way of working.

When I travel for work, my office becomes a crowded road in Paris or a small town in the countryside near Amsterdam; in those moments, my safe space is my camera suitcase: everything has to be in a specific place, corresponding to my mind-set.

Working Space Lorenzo Zandri by rebbe

What is the essence of architecture for you personally?

The essence of architecture is narrating the story of our time through the built and the unbuilt space.

London, 2018-2019, 'On the riverside' series, a visual research exhibited at the London Festival of Architecture 2019

I’m interested in the unbeaten and underrated side of the city and more generally of the urban landscape, looking at the beauty of places and buildings where a common way of beauty has not recognised it.
My investigation sometimes swings between documenting the built environment and creating a fictional atmosphere of it.

In researching this, the topic of the time is crucial: preserving a unique and unforgettable moment, photography helps to narrate a story about a building, fictional or not.

Project