School of Mathematics@Sapienza University of Rome

I composed this shot knowing it would live or die by its symmetry. The rationality of the architecture demanded nothing less. Sapienza’s School of Mathematics sits like a theorem etched in stone—precise, functional, stripped of excess. Guido Castelnuovo’s name anchors the frame, a reminder that mathematics is not only numbers, but legacy.

The format is tight, frontal, and unforgiving. Every vertical and horizontal line had to be clean. A small tilt would’ve betrayed the sense of order. I waited for the man to step into the doorway—not to animate the structure, but to punctuate it. His relaxed stance, paper in hand, slightly breaks the formalism of the façade. A human term in a geometric equation.

Shot in monochrome to avoid the distraction of colour, the tonal range is intentionally constrained. The marble’s soft midtones, the glass’s darker contrast, and the bright façade read almost like the gradient of a pencil sketch. Light was flat and even, no dramatic shadows or depth, which suited the mathematical clarity I wanted. Exposure was balanced for the stone—not the figure—allowing the building to remain dominant in the composition.

The result is austere, maybe even cold. But then again, mathematics rarely panders to warmth. It just asks to be understood.