Kristopher Grunert recently returned to his little house on the prairies from the first phase of his self assigned World Arch Tour. His itinerary included Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Macao + Hong Kong. This project is another example of how Kristopher chooses to harmonize his personal and commercial work and position himself as a sought after collaborator to international firms and corporations.
“I sent personalized letters to my list of “architectural dream clients” letting them know about my upcoming trip to China. All were well received, but the timing was perfect for Pei Partnership Architecture who responded with interest. I was stoked, anyone who knows architecture knows the name Pei. After speaking with Sandi (son of I.M.) it was clear he wanted me to capture the spirit of his projects. I knew exactly what he meant. If you’ve experienced truly great architecture, you understand it holds a great amount of energy. The moment you set your eyes on it you can feel the energy move through you. It was amazing, I experienced this in all the PPA projects I visited during this trip.”
Kristopher was honored to photograph PPA’s Industrial + Commercial Bank of China headquarters in Beijing (largest bank in China), Bank of China headquarters in Beijing (2nd largest bank in China), the Macao Science Centre and last but certainly not least the House of Dancing Water which is a billion dollar production by Franco Dragone (creator of the O Cirque du Soleil show in Vegas). All these projects and more will be featured on an upcoming personal newsletter which will be devoted to the China tour. If you are not already on his personal mailing list, you may want to sign up. http://www.grunertimaging.com/mailinglist
Kristopher also photographed the National Theatre by French architect Paul Andreu and Steven Holl’s Linked Hybrid in Beijing, KPF’s World Financial Centre in Shanghai and as seen here, Zaha Hadid’s Opera House in Guanghzhou. He also created several new series for his fine art editions (which will first be seen by those who pre-paid for prints prior to his departure)
“Phase one of my tour was a bit of an experiment. I wanted to prove a new business model that is based around what I call “dream projects”, going where I know I have to go, photographing the things I know I have to photograph, working for my dream clients. With this I can harness my curiousity and creativity to attract great clients and produce work that everyone is proud of. It worked. I’m very excited! Stay tuned for phase 2 later this year – Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Qatar perhaps.
