An abandoned scenery workshop in BBC Television Centre (TVC) is captured by photographer Manuel Vazquez, who was commissioned to document the building before it closed. He wanted to capture the feeling of someone having recently left and not returned. Compiled by Carla Parks, BBC Ariel.
"You try to portray those traces of the passing of time," says Vazquez. Of the scenery workshop, which had been closed for several years, he adds: "The floor was full of photographs and paint and references... there were tea cups and things like that." The workshop is a favourite of his.
The entrance to studio TC5 almost looks like the set of a science fiction movie from the 1960s. Vazquez captured yellows, greens and purples. "It's like stopped in time," says the photographer, who started off studying economics and then switched disciplines.
This is the TVC restaurant block with a view to the mural at the end. The colour palette and architecture serves as a reminder of its age. Vazquez started with a commission of Bush House and has now photographed Broadcasting House (old and new) and has just completed Maida Vale.
The artist says the studios were "very interesting" because of the challenges of trying to light them. This is a view of the Pointless set in studio TC1.
"I used the studios themselves as a prop," explains the artist. Lighting is very important to him: "I always use my lighting to create a different mood to what we see with the naked eye."
This image of studio TC3 is very dark, which is intentional. Vazquez wanted to start from black because studios "always start from black and then things are created there". He approached photographing the studios in the same way production teams approach the creation of content. The effect, he believes, is more theatrical.
The famous BBC Three mascots appear to be having fun amid the old office furniture. "Things were piled in a corner," says Vazquez. "A lot of the technology is analogue, which is not in use any more."
The Blue Peter garden has been the setting for numerous weather forecasts.
Studio 6 looks like a portal into another world.
Through the looking glass - a new view of Studio 7.
The transporter trolley could be like a metaphor for the building, ponders Vazquez. It had worked very hard, was built to last and now is being retired.
Alfred Hitchcock strikes a dignified pose in 5 live's old production offices. "When you leave a building it's more about what you need to take with you," argues Vazquez. Which is why he believes much of the building had an air of hasty abandonment - people didn't care what it looked like once they had left.
