Adam Caruso contributes an article to the October Issue of Domus, outlining how on the failure of architecture to address the imbalances of contemporary life has motivated him to look again, in practice and with students at the ETH, at the ideological and programmatic promises of modernism.
The article includes work by students from Studio Adam Caruso at ETH Zurich.
Main image:
Network = Networth
by Milena Buchwalder, Samira Lenzin, Meghan Rolvien and Edoardo Signori. A series of hypothetical gifts that might have been exchanged in the process of developing the Maag Areal in Zurich, a research project undertaken in the mode of Taryn Simon.
Images below, from left to right:
The Worth of Things: Catalogue of Spatial Elements
by Juan Barcia Mas and Xenia Strohmeyer. A series of re-made interiors in Zurich’s Toni Areal, drawing on a catalogue of spatial elements, found objects and past stories that bring back the vibes and uses of the legendary Toni Molkerei and other lost bohemian haunts of Zurich’s golden age of squatting
Donna Haraway: Staying with the Trouble
by Frederik Möst, Luca Riggio, Xenia Strohmeyer and Meret Heeb. A critical reading/performance of Donna Haraway’s seminal text narrating a possible future where plants,animals and humans strike a balance on our shared Earth. The author describes a difficult world called the Chthulucene which requires sympoiesis or making-with. During the reading, the students become hybrid beings mixed with the butterflies with which they share their land
Archiactor—The act of architecture
by Toja Coray, Leo Graf, Daria Ryffel and Anina Schmid. A live and recorded performance in the mode of Andrea Fraser presenting a rigorous and often hilarious critique of institutional failure in the project to convert the Toni Areal in Zurich into a home for the art school. The entire text comes from on-site interviews, studio discussions and term documents
The Whole Maag Catalogue
by Livia Cerfeda and Natalie Klak. A catalogue of the buildings, possessions and inhabitants of the Maag Areal in Zurich, turning what was meant to be private into something collective and giving everyone more space so that they can do more
Related news
Caruso St John have previously collaborated with the artist Rachel Whiteread, together with Marcus Taylor, on proposals for the Holocaust Memorial in Victoria Park Gardens.
Recently, Rachel Whiteread made a cast in concrete of the steel staircase designed by the practice at the Gagosian Gallery, Kings Cross. The gallery in Kings Cross opened in 2004, and closed last year after moving to Mayfair.
To coincide with the Flanders Architecture Institute's exhibition As Found, director Dennis Pohl will chair a panel discussion on experimental approaches to the transformation of existing buildings in Belgium and the UK. The discussion will feature Peter St John and Johan Anrys of 51N4E in conversation with exhibition co-curator Hülya Ertas. Register for tickets here
Royale Belge has won plaudits at the annual MIPIM real estate fair in Cannes. The project was shortlisted in two categories at the MIPIM Awards, Best Conversion and Best Mixed-use, and triumphed in both.
Exhibition
What if?
Unbuilt Architecture in Switzerland
SAM Basel
25th November 2023 – 7th April 2024
Two competition-winning projects by Caruso St John feature in What if? Unbuilt Architecture in Switzerland. The exhibition at Schweizerisches Architekturmuseum Basel offers a glimpse of an alternative Switzerland with a showcase of significant unbuilt projects from across the country.
Tate Britain features prominently in the BBC's trailer for the 2023 series of its Saturday night dance show, Strictly Come Dancing.
Exhibition
The Whole City
Hamburg Competitions and Procedures 2017–2023
Hamburg, Germany
23rd June – 14th July 2023
Several designs by Caruso St John feature in an exhibition by Hamburg's Department of Urban Development and Housing, presenting architectural competitions and procedures undertaken in the city from 2017 to 2023.
The first volume of Caruso St John's Collected Works is published this month by Mack Books. The publication covers the first fifteen years of Adam Caruso and Peter St John's partnership, following a thematic course shaped around key phases and aspects of their thinking, and offering a detailed reflection on the practice’s activities between 1990 and 2005. Through a chorus of voices including critics, clients, and artists, it narrates Caruso St John's early emergence and development through to the international recognition which came with projects such as Nottingham Contemporary, the New Art Gallery Walsall, and the Brick House.
Book launch, Milan
Caruso St John: Collected Works
Volume 2, 2000–2012
Spazio, Milano
7th December 2023
Milan's Spazio gallery and bookshop hosts an event to celebrate the publication of Caruso St John's Collected Works Volume 2. Adam Caruso will discuss the themes explored by the book, notably how the practice's work has been influenced by the architecture of 20th century Chicago and Milan.
Lecture and book launch, London
All buildings are beautiful
Collected Works Volume 2
Royal Academy, London
29th November 2023
Adam Caruso and Peter St John mark the launch of Caruso St John: Collected Works Volume 2 with a lecture at the Royal Academy.
The partners will discuss their experience of working with existing structures, from modestly scaled early work, to substantial projects such as Tate Britain and the Newport Street Gallery in London, Veemgebouw in Eindhoven and Royale Belge in Brussels.
Book launch, Zurich
Caruso St John: Collected Works
Volume 2, 2000–2012
Escher Wyss Platz, Zurich
19th November 2023
The launch of Caruso St John: Collected Works Volume 2, 2000–2012 will be marked with an outdoor launch event beneath the canopy of 301 Hardstrasse. The office building, designed by Caruso St John, stands in close proximity to Escher Wyss Platz, the intended site of the Nagelhaus, the public art project by Caruso St John and Thomas Demand, whose collaboration is one of the themes explored in the book.
Peter St John is joined by Dirk Sommers of Bovenbouw Architectuur for a talk on the practices' newly completed renovation of the Royale Belge insurance headquarters. The event is organised by Urban Brussels as part of the Urban Lunch series and features presentations of three milestone projects that have recently been undertaken in the city.
Adam Caruso will be speaking on the theme of ‘Semper and Material Culture’, as part of the book launch for A New Agenda for Gottfried Semper. Alongside Elena Chestnova, Murray Fraser, Michael Gnehm, and Sonja Hildebrand, Adam will discuss the mid-nineteenth century’s emphatic interest in material history against the backdrop of the precariousness of a life in exile confronted with a globalised world.