Modern Architecture in Cornwall: My Five Favourite Buildings

Cornwall isn’t exactly renowned for modern architecture. While there are some stunning private homes scattered across the county, public architecture is relatively rare.

A few years ago, I was commissioned by Invest in Cornwall (now Cornwall Trade and Investment) to photograph the county’s best office spaces as part of a project to encourage businesses to relocate here. During the project, I discovered some remarkable buildings, mostly concentrated on Falmouth University’s Tremough Campus.

Most of these buildings were funded by the EU’s regional development fund, so it may be some time before we see protects of this scale again. Here are a few of my favourites:

1. Tremough Innovation Centre

Four innovation centres were built in Cornwall to support new and growing businesses, each with a different focus. Tremough Innovation Centre, designed by architects AHR, was designed for those in the creative industries. Positioned on a sloping site with wide countryside views to the rear, it features a roof terrace that takes full advantage of the landscape, enabling workers to meet or spend their lunchtimes there on fine days.

I particularly enjoyed photographing from the roof, experimenting with angles to capture both the terrace and the sweeping views.

The interior has some interesting features, including "pods" to encourage collaborative working. While photographing AIR, I had a fun time working with some of the PhD students, who were doing some fascinating work, including working on virtual reality game.

Exeter University’s Environment and Sustainability Institute sits just across from the Tremough Innovation Centre. It’s an imposing building with a BREEAM Outstanding rating, the highest classification under the BRE Environmental Assessment Method.

I was particularly struck by how the tiles on the exterior reflected the ambient light, which give the appearance that the building is semi-translucent.

4. Truro and Penwith College - Penwith Campus

Situated on a hillside near Penzance with stunning views of Mounts Bay and St Michael's Mount, this campus is home to some striking architecture. Of particular note is the restaurant with its vast windows taking full advantage of the view.

A mixture of forms - angular, non-straight uprights, rounded corners and a circular tower on one building may not to be everyone's taste but it certainly makes a statement.

In the middle of the campus sits an Edwardian stone-built building, forming an interesting juxtaposition with the angular modern forms.

5. Pool Innovation Centre – Contemporary Office building

The Pool Innovation Centre is a state-of-the-art, three-storey building offering flexible office space for growing businesses. Its bold, modern façade reflects the innovative work happening inside and provides plenty of visual interest for photography.

My approach

My photographic approach was to ensure that they were shot in the best possible light. I use an app, The Photographer's Ephemeris, that shows the angle of the sun at any date and time so that I could assess how the light would strike each building. It was then a matter of waiting for the sun to make an appearance.

I used a circular polarising filter on some of the images to control reflections, make the sky bluer and the clouds whiter — I love the way this filter really makes colours pop and the buildings stand out from the background, although I had to be careful to not go over the top with it.

Photographing these buildings was a real privilege, and it reminded me how modern architecture in Cornwall, though limited, can be striking and inspiring.

You can see more of these and other projects in my Cornwall architectural photography portfolio. If you’re interested in professional architectural photography services in Cornwall, I work with developers, architects, and builders to capture projects like these at their best.

If you’d like to showcase your project with professional architectural photography, get in touch to discuss your ideas.