Hélène Binet (born 1959) is a Swiss-French

architectural photographer Early architectural photographers include Roger Fenton, Francis Frith (Middle East and Britain), Samuel Bourne, Inclined Studio (India) and Albert Levy (photographer), Albert Levy (United States and Europe). They paved the way for the modern specia ...

based in London, who is also one of the leading architectural photographers in the world. She is most known for her work with architects

Daniel Libeskind Daniel Libeskind (born May 12, 1946) is a Polish–American architect, artist, professor and set designer. Libeskind founded Studio Daniel Libeskind in 1989 with his wife, Nina, and is its principal design architect. He is known for the design a ...

Peter Zumthor Peter Zumthor (; born 26 April 1943) is a Swiss architect whose work is frequently described as uncompromising and minimalist. Though managing a relatively small firm and not being a prolific architect, he is the winner of the 2009 Pritzker Pri ...

and

Zaha Hadid Dame Zaha Mohammad Hadid ( ''Zahā Ḥadīd''; 31 October 1950 – 31 March 2016) was an Iraqi-born British architect, artist, and designer. She is recognised as a key figure in the architecture of the late-20th and early-21st centuries. Born ...

, and has published books on works of several architects. Binet was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the

Royal Institute of British Architects The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three suppl ...

in 2008 and the Julius Shulman Institute Excellence in Photography Award in 2015. Her work is held in the collections of the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

in New York and the

Carnegie Museum of Art The Carnegie Museum of Art is an art museum in the Oakland (Pittsburgh), Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The museum was originally known as the Department of Fine Arts, Carnegie Institute and was formerly located ...

in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Biography

Binet was born in 1959 in

Sorengo Sorengo is a municipality in the district of Lugano in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland. History Sorengo was first mentioned in 1189 as ''Sourengo'' when the S. Lorenzo Cathedral in Lugano acquired the right to collect tithes. In the Late ...

, Switzerland to Swiss and French parents. She studied photography at the

Istituto Europeo di Design The Istituto Europeo di Design (IED) is a private design school in Italy founded in 1966 by Francesco Morelli. Alberico Guerzoni is the director of its flagship location in Milan. The school is organized into four disciplines: Design, Fashio ...

in Rome, where she grew up. She worked as a photographer at the

Grand Théâtre de Genève Grand Théâtre de Genève is an opera house in Geneva, Switzerland. As with many other opera houses, the Grand Théâtre de Genève is both a venue and an institution. The venue is a majestic building, towering over Place Neuve, officia ...

, an opera house in Geneva, Switzerland, where she photographed various performances for two years, before turning to architectural photography, encouraged by architect,

, who believed, "she exposes architecture’s achievements, strength, pathos and fragility." Binet works exclusively with

photographic film Photographic film is a strip or sheet of transparent film base coated on one side with a gelatin photographic emulsion, emulsion containing microscopically small light-sensitive silver halide crystals. The sizes and other characteristics of the ...

. She has worked with Raoul Bunschoten,

Caruso St John Caruso St John is a London-based architectural firm established in 1990 by Adam Caruso and Peter St John. Practice Caruso St John gained international recognition for its designs of public spaces. The practice came to public attention with Th ...

David Chipperfield Sir David Alan Chipperfield, , (born 18 December 1953) is a British architect. He established David Chipperfield Architects in 1985, which grew into a global architectural practice with offices in London, Berlin, Milan, Shanghai, and Santiago d ...

Tony Fretton Tony Fretton (born 17 January 1945) is a British architect known for his residential and public gallery buildings, as well as other British and international design work. He graduated from the Architectural Association (AA) and worked for vario ...

Zvi Hecker Zvi Hecker (; 31 May 1931 – 24 September 2023) was a Polish-born Israeli architect. His work is known for its emphasis on geometry and asymmetry. Biography Zvi Hecker was born as Tadeusz Hecker in Kraków, Poland. He grew up in Poland and Sam ...

John Hejduk John Quentin Hejduk (July 19, 1929 – July 8, 2000) was an American architect, artist and educator from New York City. Hejduk studied at the Cooper Union School of Art and Architecture, the University of Cincinnati, and the Harvard Graduate Sc ...

Coop Himmelb(l)au Coop Himmelb(l)au (a pun meaning '' Coop Sky Building'' and ''Coop Sky Blue'') is an architecture, urban planning, design and art firm founded in 1968 by Wolf D. Prix, Helmut Swiczinsky and Michael Holzer in Vienna, Austria. History Coop Hi ...

, the architect

Peter Cook Peter Edward Cook (17 November 1937 – 9 January 1995) was an English comedian, actor, satirist, playwright and screenwriter. He was the leading figure of the British satire boom of the 1960s, and he was associated with the anti-establishmen ...

, Sauerbruch Hutton,

, and

Josef Paul Kleihues Josef Paul Kleihues (11 June 1933, Rheine – 13 August 2004, Berlin) was a German architect, most notable for his decades long contributions to the " critical reconstruction" of Berlin. His design approach has been described as "poetic rationalist ...

among others, besides publishing books on buildings by

Le Corbusier Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (6 October 188727 August 1965), known as Le Corbusier ( , ; ), was a Swiss-French architectural designer, painter, urban planner and writer, who was one of the pioneers of what is now regarded as modern architecture ...

Alvar Aalto Hugo Alvar Henrik Aalto (; 3 February 1898 – 11 May 1976) was a Finnish architect and designer. His work includes architecture, furniture, textiles and glassware, as well as sculptures and paintings. He never regarded himself as an artist, see ...

Sigurd Lewerentz Sigurd Lewerentz (29 July 1885 – 29 December 1975) was a Swedish architect. Biography Lewerentz was born at Sandö in the parish of Bjärtrå in Västernorrland County, Sweden. He was the son of Gustaf Adolf Lewerentz and Hedvig Mathil ...

, and Dimitris Pikionis.

Personal life

Binet had a house on

Osea Island Osea Island (, "Osyth's island"), formerly also Osey, is an inhabited island in the Blackwater Estuary, estuary of the River Blackwater, Essex, East England. It is approximately in size and is connected to the north bank of the river by a caus ...

in the River Blackwater Estuary in Essex. She is married to Raoul Bunschoten, and the couple live in London with their two children, Izaak and Saskia Ada.

Publications

* ''The Inns of Court''. with Jill Allibone, David Evans. Black Dog Publishing Limited, 1996. . * ''Helene Binet: Seven Projects'', with Zaha Hadid, Daniel Libeskind, Mark Rappolt, Shine Gallery. Guiding Light, 2002. . * ''Photographs''. Phaidon Inc. Ltd, 2009. . * ''Helene Binet: Composing Space: The Photographs of Helene Binet''. Phaidon Press, 2012. . ; For architects * ''A passage through silence and light'',

, Raoul Bunschoten. Black Dog, 1997. . * '' The House of the Book'',

, Zvi Hecker, John Hejduk. Black Dog, 1999, * ''Architecture of

in photographs'' (with Hubertus von Amelunxen), Lars Müller, 2000. * ''Holocaust Mahnmal Berlin: Eisenman Architects'', Hanno Rauterberg, Lukas Wassmann. Müller, 2005. .

Awards

*1997: Redaksjonell Fotografi from

Visuelt The National Norwegian Graphic Design Awards () in an annual ceremony which gives tribute to the professionals working with visual communication in Norway. Established in 1993, the Visuelt has gradually grown to become the most important competitio ...

*2004: Wissenschaft fur Leben Scholarship, from the Olympus Europa Stiftung *2006: Forum AID Award *2008: Honorary Fellowship of

*2015: Julius Shulman Institute Excellence in Photography Award

Collections

Binet's work is held in the following permanent collections: *

, New York *

, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Binet, Helene 1959 births Living people 20th-century Swiss photographers Architects from Ticino Swiss people of French descent Swiss emigrants to the United Kingdom Architectural photographers Fellows of the Royal Institute of British Architects 21st-century Swiss photographers 20th-century Swiss women photographers 21st-century Swiss women photographers 20th-century French women photographers 20th-century French photographers