about me
Paul Eis was born in Berlin in 1998. There he attended the humanistic school "Gymnasium Steglitz", which he graduated from in 2016. In the same year, he moved to Linz, Austria. Since then he has been studying architecture at the University of Art in Linz. In addition to his studies, he works for various architecture firms in Austria and abroad.
He completed his studies with a Master's degree in the summer of 2024.
Paul Eis has been working internationally as an architectural photographer since 2015. His work is at the intersection of photography, architecture and art. The project "a colourful makeover of architecture" attracted a lot of international attention. With more than 40,000 followers, it was repeatedly ranked by the press as one of the most important architecture channels on Instagram. In addition, the project was published by many renowned magazines such as Dezeen, Business Insider or Architectural Digest. The television broadcaster Deutsche Welle produced a television feature on Paul Eis in 2019. Most recently, "a colourful makeover of architecture" was part of various exhibitions, including in the USA and in Venice as part of the 2021 Architecture Biennale.
exhibitions
2018: BestOff18, Linz
2018: This is minimal photography, Berlin
2019: BestOff19, Linz
2021: Werkschau die architektur, Linz
2021: Here comes the Sun, Bridgeport Ct
2021: NOW Aktionstag, Linz
2021: BestOff21, Linz
2021: Time-Space-Existence, Venice
2022: ephemeral utopia, Bridgeport CT
2022: Jakarta International Photo Festival
2022: Berlin Photo Week
2022: Photopia, Hamburg
2023: Rotterdam Photo
2023: Schee/Schiach, AFO, Linz
2023: Stadtlabor, Nordico Stadtmuseum, Linz
2024: 380-780nm. Farbe in Architektur und Stadt, Baukultur NRW, Düsseldorf
2024: Lynkeus Dream, Kunstuni campus @ Ars Electronica Festival, Linz
2025: 9m2 für Visionen, AFO, Linz
About the project
"colourful makeover of architecture"
Excerpt of an interview with Shane Reiner-Roth from Archinect
What is your relationship to architecture?
How did @the_architecture_photographer begin?
I was interested in architecture since my childhood. I always had a fascination for towers, bridges and other spectacular buildings.
Later, when i discovered photography, I got more into architecture and the built environment around me.
In the summer of 2015, one year before I finished school, I started an Instagram account to present some of my photos of the building façades in Berlin - especially those of the socialist housing estates built in former East Berlin by the GDR government.
But after a short time and a few photos, I realized how monotonous those grey buildings actually were. It was at this point that I started to add new colors to the buildings façades with Photoshop and to make each of them look unique and give them a somehow "happy“ appearance.
After I received very positive feedback from the community about this idea, I started editing other modern and contemporary buildings. In the meantime, I started studying architecture in Linz, Austria.
How do you produce your imagery?
And how long does each image take to produce?
The production of any image starts with choosing a building. The building needs to have a clearly recognizable structure and obviously should not be hidden by any larger objects like trees. I normally photograph the buildings with a wide angle lens to have a spatial perception. In Photoshop I correct the perspective to give the building a neutral appearance. Then I cut the building out of its context and add a uniform blue background to make the image more abstract.
The viewer should only be focused on the building itself and not be distracted by anything on the background. The blue also works as a uniforming property to all of my images. The color choices are mainly based on the structure of the buildings and should amplify the effect of the structural elements.
It’s difficult to say how long I need for editing an image. That depends on how complex the structure is. from 20 minutes if I already had a initial idea and the structure is very easy up to a few hours if it’s complex and fragmented.
What have you hoped to communicate about architecture through your posts?
I want to show how also "normal“ buildings can be interesting and varied with the use of colors. I criticize the overuse of white in Architecture. It’s only a part of the problem that most of the contemporary architecture is focused on the lowest risk. That often results in a monotonous and uninspired built environment.
My images should not be understood as literal suggestions for buildings. They demonstrate how the use of color effects on 'rational' buildings can elicit joyful Architecture. The viewer should come away with an infatuation with Architecture and see it as something inspiring.
[...]
full interview here
