Caruso St John, Architects, Building, Images, English Design Studio, English Projects

Caruso St John, England, UK : Architecture

Contemporary British Architect Practice

Caruso St John - Recent Design News Liverpool Philharmonic Hall Building 15 Jun 2012 - Caruso St John win £10m redevelopment of Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, England. Museum of Childhood: Refurbishment - V&A, Bethnal Green, east London 2007 photo © Adrian Welch Museum of Childhood - photographs by Adrian Welch, taken on 17 Sep 2011. Unusual design with hints of a Postmodern style but done in a simple, restrained way. Tate Britain, London, UK 2010- photo © Nick Weall Caruso St John - latest design - Renewal : Permission Approval News Tate has submitted the planning application for an exciting project to transform its original London gallery, Tate Britain. Transforming Tate Britain aims to conserve the beautiful fabric of Sidney Smith's 19th-Century building and carry out a major upgrade to the galleries, enabling Tate to show more of its Collection in conditions suitable for a wider range of art media. The project will remodel and renovate core visitor areas - opening up the stunning domed atrium at the heart of the gallery - while creating much-needed learning studios and public spaces in order to meet growing demand. This phase of Tate Britain's development will span 2010 to 2013 and is budgeted at £45 million, half of which has been raised already. Chiswick House Gardens Cafe, London, England 2010 photo © Hélène Binet Chiswick House Gardens New café designed by Caruso St John Architects as part of the £12 million restoration of Chiswick House Gardens in London, a site of international importance both as the birthplace of the English Landscape Movement, and as the setting for one of the most beautiful houses in London. The regeneration of the gardens is a result of many years of campaigning, four years of fund-raising and two years of work on the site. Caruso St John - Key Projects Designs by Caruso St John, alphabetical: Ascona Centre for Tourism & Culture, Switzerland 2006 Architecture Competition win Barbican Hall: Acoustic Canopy + Ceiling, Barbican centre, City of London, UK 2001 Brick House, London - Centre for Contemporary Arts Nottingham - Lace Market, Nottingham, England 2009 image : Hélène Binet Caruso St John Architects : English building - RIBA Award 2010 Chiswick House Garden Café, west London 2007- Deepo - gallery proposal, Bus Shed, Cardiff, Wales - Escher-Wyss Platz - proposal, Zurich, Switzerland 2007- Kalmar town square, Sweden - Spike Island Studio + Exhibition space, Bristol, Avon, southwest England 2007 Walsall Gallery, England, UK - More design projects by Caruso St John online soon Wallsall building image: Hélène Binet, from RIAS re Convention

Caruso St John Practice Information

Architect office based in London, UK

Caruso St John Architects : London Architect Studio

Caruso St John led by Adam Caruso and Ian St John

Chiswick House Gardens Cafe:

photo © Hélène Binet

Brick House - Caruso St John Architects : Stirling Prize - Shortlist 2006

Caruso St John award - RIBA Awards 2006:
North London: Gagosian Gallery, Britannia Street, WC1
West London: New classrooms at Hallfield School, London, W2
West London: Brick House, London W2

Caruso St John Architects - Lecture Review

Adam presented a delicate figure on the stage as he warmed up and tried to ignore technical hitches. He showed three Caruso St John projects and declared himself to be ‘more interested in ideas….once finished you get a bit bored of showing’. As we tuck into the first project it seems that art rather than transport is the aspect of ‘Connections’ in the Convention title.

Adam gave us plenty of theoretical introspection: ‘our work is really interested in construction…I’m not very interested in how a plan works…if it’s good nobody really notices…architects use construction to make form’. His introductions to the context of Walsall was blunt but charming - ‘in Walsall you come to expect less’. Despite Caruso St John being ‘known for doing quiet architecture, dull if you like’ the tower plays a rhetorical role in the town.

On construction, Adam stated ‘I’m not a fan of suspended ceilings’ and referred to a Kahn quote denying buildings with suspended ceilings the title of ‘architecture’. More powerful references with the previously-aired opinion that the varied section of Walsall was a ‘bit like the Adolf Loos house (Praha) blown up in scale’. He went on to say that the gallery ‘concrete is good, you can do it even in England, you just need a good specification and be tough, yeh’. Their precast beam structure to the soffit ingeniously hides the various kit. Adam ended the Walsall section with ‘I’m not into touchy feely architecture, I’m into tough architecture’.

Over to Kalmar in Sweden, what we at the Bartlett would call a ‘bottom-up’ approach, subtle remoulding by Caruso St John of a historic town square. ‘Stones come together in an unmediated way’ - no edgings; both ideas and craftsmen pushed and commercial builders eschewed.

Finally to the ‘deepo’ or Depot, a gallery proposal for a Cardiff bus shed. First Caruso St John have created a photographic record and a book. An analysis ‘like an atlas’ was created for interested artists/curators. Adam used to teach my wife, the last time I saw him I was playing guitar in his Islington house at a student party, so I particularly see him as a teacher more than an architect. Of course you can be both, he is, but Caruso St John exude a thinking that is rooted in theory and discourse, considered buildings on all levels. More Scottish architects should teach at Schools and we may see some further rekindling of spirit.

RIAS Convention - Caruso St John Review by Adrian Welch, architect: 05.05.03

Caruso St John house : Brick House London

Involved in Venice Biennale 2006



London Architecture : news + key projects

photo © Adrian Welch

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Caruso St John Architects - page : adrian welch / isabelle lomholt

Website: www.carusostjohn.com

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