Caruso St John Architects

Progetto Flaminio, Rome

February 2015
Practice Profile

Adam Caruso and Peter St John established their practice in 1990, and have gained an
international reputation for excellence in designing contemporary projects in the public realm.
The practice came to public attention with the New Art Gallery in Walsall, a commission won in
an international competition in 1995. From these origins in the visual arts, where a sensitivity to
experience and context is required, the practice has extended its expertise and now works on a
broad range of projects in the public and private realms. Current clients include the City of Lille,
Bremer Landesbank and the the housing developer Bayerisches Hausbau. Recently the practice
won the international competition to renovate and extend Gunnar Asplund’s Stockholm City
Library. Caruso St John aims to have a wide range of work at a variety of scales and want to resist
the trend of increased size and specialisation that dominates contemporary architecture.

The practice is interested in the emotional potential and physical qualities of construction. This
attitude has developed out of a fascination for materials, backed up with an involvement in
academic and office based research. Built projects incorporate this research and respond to their
physical context and brief in unexpected ways. The projects stand out by resisting off the peg
construction. Both the New Art Gallery, Walsall (2000) and the Brick House, London (2006) have
been short listed for the Stirling Prize, the UK’s most prestigious architecture award, in recognition
of this ambition. The practice is increasingly involved in urban-scale commissions, and is currently
working on urban projects in Zurich, Munich and Hamburg.

Adam Caruso and Peter St John are closely involved in the design of all projects, with one of
the partners attending client meetings and leading the project together with an architect project
leader. The practice is international in its outlook and in its make up, with many of the staff,
including the partners, involved in teaching in schools of architecture. The office of approximately
25 work in an open studio in a 1930s factory building in East London which the practice
converted to studio use for themselves. In 2010 a second office was opened by the practice in
Zurich.

Caruso St John Architects

Company Information

Biographies

Adam Caruso studied architecture at McGill University in Montreal. He worked for Florian Beigel
and Arup Associates before establishing his own practice with Peter St John in 1990.

He taught at the University of North London from 1990-2000, and was Professor of Architecture
at the University of Bath from 2002-2005. He has been Visiting Professor at the Academy of
Architecture in Mendrisio, the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University, the ETH Zurich,
and on the Cities Programme at the London School of Economics. In 2011 Adam Caruso was
appointed Professor of Architecture and Construction at the ETH Zurich.

Peter St John studied at the Bartlett School of Architecture, and the Architectural Association. He
worked for Richard Rogers, Florian Beigel, Dixon Jones, and Arup Associates prior to establishing
his own practice with Adam Caruso.

He taught at the University of North London from 1990-2000, and has been Visiting Professor at
the Academy of Architecture in Mendrisio, the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University,
and at the ETH Zurich. He is currently a visiting professor at London Metropolitan University.

Professional Registrations

Adam Caruso: ARB Registration 057487B, RIBA Membership No. 5056513

Peter St John: ARB Registration 055027B, RIBA Membership No. 4766677

Contact Person

Adam Caruso
+44 20 7613 3161
acaruso@carusostjohn.com

Offices

Caruso St John Architects LLP

1 Coate Street
London E2 9AG
+44 20 7613 3161
london@carusostjohn.com

Partners: Rod Heyes, Bernd Schmutz

Staff: 17 registered architects, 7 architectural assistants, 2 administrative staff

Caruso St John Architects

Räffelstrasse 32
8045 Zürich
+41 44 454 80 90
zurich@carusostjohn.com

Directors: Michael Schneider, Florian Zierer

Staff: 11 registered architects, 2 architectural assistants, 1 administrator

Caruso St John Architects

City and Sustainibility

Lycée Hotelier de Lille

France
2011-2016

Stockholms Stadsbibliotek
Sweden
2012-2020

Falconplein Zeemanshuis
Antwerp, Belgium
2014-2017

ZSC Lions Ice Hockey Arena

Zurich, Switzerland
2012 - 2020

Caruso St John Architects began in London, a famously complex and unplanned city where
ancient fragments sit alongside new development. From these origins our practice developed an
interest in the reality of places, in contingency and adjacency, and in the unexpected vitality of
diverse programmes and uses. In this sense we are anti-utopian with a belief that the existing city
provides a rich and surprising basis for new ideas. Our projects begin with an interpretation of the
existing context and an ambition to intensify existing qualities. We are frequently asked to work on
sites with special significance or where other architects have failed to make convincing proposals
that participate in the existing life of the city. Sometimes we have exported this sensibility to other
places in Europe. We are currently working on projects in Stockholm, Lille, Antwerp, Eindhoven,
Zurich, Bremen and Munich. We have previously worked in Paris, Rome, Kalmar and Basel.
Caruso St John Architects
Stortorget In Kalmar in southern Sweden we refurbished the existing Stortorget with the artist Eva Lofdhal.
Kalmar, Sweden By stripping away layers of twentieth century change we revealed the original eighteenth century
1999-2003
design for the town square and focussed on restoring the quality of the existing ground. We made
Veemgebouw a new setting for the baroque cathedral but also a tough working surface for a market six days a
Eindhoven, Netherlands week. A field of new lighting masts and subterranean fountains contribute to the atmosphere of the
2007-2016 Stortorget making a memorable communal space with a contemporary liveliness. The project won
the Siena prize for public space and received a special mention in the European Prize for Public
Space.

For several years we have been working with the Dutch developer Trudo on proposals to refurbish
and transform the former Phillips manufacturing site in Eindhoven. The existing urban grid is
studded with inter-war manufacturing and warehouse buildings which are no longer required for
electronics. This project is concerned both with imaginative ways to refurbish buildings designed
for specific programmes, and with a mix of uses and that can invigorate this city quarter over a
number of years. We are introducing some provisional uses including designer furniture outlets, car
parking, food markets etc. which will alter the perception of this part of the city and prefigure the
introduction of substantial residential and offices uses.

Caruso St John Architects

Europaallee Baufeld E
Zurich, Switzerland
2007-2013

Paulaner Housing
Munich, Germany
2012-2018

Caruso St John recently completed a mixed use building in Europallee, Zurich. The project
completes an avenue of new buildings on former railway lands close to the central station. Our
building creates a new public space at one end of the site – held under the building and sheltered
from the generous scale of the street and demanding openness of the remaining railway tracks.
By mixing office accommodation and residential towers the building is active throughout the day.
The facades make a monumental architecture that provides a cohesive identity for a big shopping
street. Pieced together from massive precast concrete components, the building envelope
combines contemporary environmental performance with an archaic trabeation.

Our latest project is for two major city blocks in Munich. We are developing proposals for
40,000m2 of apartments that enclose public courtyard gardens. The urban plan restructures
the former Paulaner brewery site and responds to the prevailing scale of Munich with consistent
eaves heights and strong, repetitive facades. On the courtyard side the elevations are softened
by wide curved balconies that result in a billowing surface. The buildings reinterpret familiar
apartment typologies with frequent staircases and generous double aspect flats. By stepping back
at the head of the site the building creates a small square that gives the block an identity and an
address. Restaurants, a kindergarten, a nursery and different dwelling types occupy the ground
floor. The scheme contains a significant component of social housing which is integrated without
differentiation.
Caruso St John Architects
Tate Britain, Millbank Project
London, United Kingdom
2006-2013
Caruso St John Architects
Caruso St John’s particular interest in the city results in a resistance to wholesale demolition and
a preference to retain existing structures that can be reintegrated into a new urban whole. In our
proposal for Maxxi in Rome we put forward a range of spaces for art that re-used some of the
existing factory buildings on the site and invented new forms that reacted to the industrial context
to make galleries on a big scale. Reusing historic fabric reduces the need for new materials
and the environmental costs associated with extraction and processing. Construction sites are
energy intensive places and generate high levels of waste. While these processes can be actively
managed, a presumption that existing buildings can be re-used makes best use of embodied
energy and is less likely to adversely affect biodiversity. This attitude goes beyond simplistic ideas
of sustainability that focus only on short-term technological solutions.
Caruso St John have become expert in working with existing fabric in sensitive places to deliver
projects where sustainability is a high priority. In 2013 we finished work on the refurbishment
of Tate Britain where we introduced entirely new systems of environmental control to listed
construction from the 1890s. By enormously improving insulation and efficiency we reduced
annual energy consumption by 187,000 kWh while meeting the client’s expectations for
temperature and humidity control. We are currently working on a new mixed use building in
Antwerp which is designed to reach BREEAM Outstanding. We are excited about the opportunity
to extend this expertise to larger sites and a whole city quarter.
Grosser Burstah
Hamburg, Germany
2014 - 2018

Cities are increasingly diverse - public organisations, commercial spaces, and civic space overlap
in new and complex ways. Caruso St John work to combine buildings and city space with
imagination. Twentieth century urbanism suggests that landscape could influence city design so
that health, quality of life and openness are more important than highways, fixed institutions and
social hierarchies. We have acted with city authorities all over Europe to advocate for projects and
balance commercial needs, architectural ambitions and the feeling of the city.

In Hamburg we have just won a competition for a new city building at a key junction. The
architecture exploits the triangular site to make valuable office space with a very flexible plan. But
it also responds to Hamburg’s architectural inheritance drawing on projects by Fritz Hoger whose
bold Expressionist brick buildings gave Hamburg a new identity in the 1920s and reinforced
connections with Chicago and New York.

Caruso St John are interested in ways of curating the city – of marshalling new and existing
buildings, spaces and atmospheres and creating new places as an amalgum. This way of seeing
the city reduces the short-termism and tabula rasa urbanism that are no longer sustainable. The
problem for Europe is how to process the historic city and foster more contemporary ways of
living.

Caruso St John Architects

Selected Projects & Competitions

Stockholms Stadsbibliotek
Date: 2012-2020
Location: Stockholm
Client: Stockholms Stad
Budget: €50m
Status: Competition, first prize; Ongoing project
Major renovation and extension of Gunnar Asplund’s masterpiece

Paulaner Munich
Date: 2012-2018
Location: Munich
Client: Bayerische Hausbau
Budget: €55m
Status: Competition, first prize; Ongoing project
40,000sq m mixed use building on the site of the Paulaner Brewery

ZSC Lions Ice Hockey Arena

Date: 2012-2020
Location: Zürich
Client: ZSC Lions
Budget: 180m CHF
Status: Competition, first prize; Ongoing project
A new ice hockey arena for the city of Zurich

Grosser Burstah 3
Date: 2014-2019
Location: Hamburg, Germany
Client: Quantum Immobilien AG
Budget: €40m
Status: Competition, first prize; Ongoing project
12,000 sq m office building at a key junction in the city

Falconplein Zeemanshuis
Date: 2014-2017
Location: Antwerp, Belgium
Client: Construction & Investment Partners NV
Budget: €8.4m
Status: Competition, first prize; Ongoing project
9,600 sq m Residential building. Part of a masterplan by Rapp + Rapp

Bremer Landesbank, Bremen

Date: 2011–2016
Location: Bremen, Germany
Client: Bremer Landesbank
Budget: €33m
Status: Competition, first prize; Under construction
A new bank headquarters on Bremen’s historic Domshof square

Lycée Hôtelier de Lille

Date: 2011–2014
Location: Lille, France
Client: Mairie de Lille et Région Nord-Pas de Calais
Budget: €44m
Status: Competition, first prize; Under construction
The establishment of a Lycée Hôtelier within former factory structures.

Caruso St John Architects

 Veemgebouw, Strijp S
Date: 2007-2015
Location: Eindhoven, Netherlands
Client: Trudo
Budget: €18m
Status: Invited competition, first prize; Under construction
Conversion of the former Philips factory to provide parking for 600 cars
and the addition of two floors of apartments at roof level.

Tate Britain, Millbank Project

Date: 2006-2013
Location: London
Client: Tate
Budget: £23m
Status: Built
Long term commission for the development of Tate’s Millbank site

Europaallee Baufeld E
Date: 2007-2013
Location: Zurich
Client: SBB Imobilium
Budget: 100m CHF
Status: Competition, first prize; Built
30,000 sq m of apartments and offices in a mixed use building

Zurich Oerlikon
Date: 2013
Location: Zurich
Client: SBB Imobilium
Budget: 60m CHF
Status: Competition, finalist
18,000sq m, 22 storey office tower

Zollstrasse Zurich
Date: 2013
Location: Zurich
Client: SBB Imobilium
Budget: 60m CHF
Status: Competition, second prize
15,000 sq m apartment buildings in Zurich West

St Gallen Wiesental
Date: 2012
Location: St Gallen, Switzerland
Client: HRS Real Estate AG
Budget: 30m CHF
Status: Competition, first prize; Ongoing project
8 storey mixed use building on a site west of central St Gallen

Oberes Kandergrien
Date: 2011
Location: Spiez, Switzerland
Client: Bayerische Hausbau
Budget: N/A
Status: Invited planning study
130,000 sq m masterplan for a lakeside housing development
Caruso St John Architects
 Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts, Lausanne
Date: 2011
Location: Lausanne, Switzerland
Client: Canton de Vaud
Budget: 75m CHF
Status: Competition, second prize
Conversion of the SBB locomotive halls into a 8,000 sq m art museum

Nottingham Contemporary
Date: 2004–2009
Location: Nottingham, UK
Client: Nottingham City Council
Budget: £14m
Status: Competition, first prize; Built
3,500 sq m centre for contemporary art and performance

Cultural and Tourist Centre, Ascona

Date: 2004
Location: Ascona, Switzerland
Client: Council of Ascona
Budget: 60m CHF
Status: Competition, first prize
New building providing a 1200 seat concert hall and art museum

Stortorget, Kalmar
Date: 1999-2003
Location: Kalmar, Sweden
Client: Municipality of Kalmar
Budget: £1m
Status: Competition, first prize; Built
Renovation of the Cathedral Square in the centre of Kalmar

Office Building, Kings Cross Central

Date: 2003
Location: London
Client: Argent
Budget: £20m
Status: Invited study
Office building at the western side of Kings Cross railway station

New Art Galley Walsall

Date: 1995-2000
Location: Walsall, UK
Client: Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council
Budget: £16m
Status: Competition, first prize; Built
A new 5,000m2 building to accommodate the Garman Ryan collection

Centre for Contemporary Art, Rome

Date: 1999
Location: Rome
Client: Centro per le Arti Contemporanee, Roma
Status: Competition, finalist

Caruso St John Architects