Photography as a tool for architectural criticism: Iwan Baan's photographs of CCTV and Heydar Aliyev Centre

Since its invention, photography has been a key tool for documenting, educating, and disseminating architectural developments and knowledge of architecture, promoting specific styles, or highlighting the unique characteristics of an architect's work. The representative quality of architectural photography has been a subject of discussion regarding how the photograph portrays architecture. There is an ongoing debate about whether architectural photographs truly represent the buildings they depict. While factual accuracy remains up for discussion, it's clear that each photograph reflects the photographer's interpretation, adding an extra layer of meaning beyond simple depiction. Given that architecture is a multifaceted profession that affects people in various ways, the way it is photographed holds utmost importance for the discourse on architecture, especially considering the limited possibility of actual encounters with the architecture. This thesis argues that architectural photographs can serve as more than mere representations of buildings. They possess the ability to convey subtle critiques and commentary on the built environment. The study analyzes the photographic frame as the principal element in establishing the meaning, through the rhetorical understanding of frame and the historical establishment of subject and observer, which can be employed to produce architectural criticism. Two photographic series of Iwan Baan, CCTV and Heydar Aliyev Center are examined in support of this claim. They have been selected because of Baan's unique interpretation and renowned status of the project's architects.