Intern Rachel Caul has received a RIBA Bronze Medal Commendation for her final year project, Reclaiming the Ruin. Rachel studied in Studio 2, led by Caruso St John Director, Rod Heyes.
The RIBA President's Medals are international awards presented annually by the Royal Institute of British Architects to architecture students or recent graduates and are regarded as the most prestigious prizes in architectural education.
Reclaiming the Ruin proposes a possible future for Bacton Gas Terminal on the Norfolk coast. The project explores the 'worked example' of repurposing the previously fossil fuel site into a vineyard.
The proposals consist of a supporting infrastructure accommodating positive new uses for the site as it evolves and the ground rehabilitates. A new landscape infrastructure isolates healthier plots, creating sheltered microclimates for young vines to thrive. An architecture of stable stone walls and large timber spans emerges – a culmination of themes of reuse, growth and spatial diversity. Construction uses Norfolk flint, timber from thinning Bacton Wood, existing foundations and reclaimed materials from gas exploitation. Ultimately, the site is returned harmlessly to nature, contributing to coastal protection, becoming a habitat for wildlife and a fundamental part of the local ecosystem.
Related news
Intern Nabil Haque has won a RIBA Bronze Medal Commendation for his final year project, Mono no Aware. Nabil studied in Studio 2, led by Caruso St John Director, Rod Heyes.
The RIBA President's Medals are international awards presented annually by the Royal Institute of British Architects to architecture students or recent graduates and are regarded as the most prestigious prizes in architectural education.
Rod Heyes has been appointed Visiting Professor of Architecture at TU Wien for the 2020 summer semester.
Lecture
Rod Heyes at MULTISTORY*
Canterbury School of Architecture, Canterbury, United Kingdom
21 March 2019, 6pm
Rod Heyes will be giving a lecture at the Canterbury School of Architecture on 21st March 2019 as part of the MULTISTORY* lecture series.
Lecture
All Buildings Are Beautiful
Museum of Contemporary Art in Warsaw
Warsaw, Poland
5th January 2025
Adam Caruso will give a lecture on the practice's recent work with existing buildings, and how the contemporary necessity for architecture to embrace circularity requires that we find new kinds of beauty in the world around us.
Rod Heyes will be leading the Architectural Association's new Conservation and Reuse Diploma Studio alongside Amendine Kastler of Oslo-based Kastler Skjeseth Architects.
As part of the IEA Practice What we Teach? Lecture Series at ETH Zurich, Adam Caruso will discuss Caruso St John's long history of working with existing buildings, from its modestly scaled early work to large-scale recent projects.
In conversation
Florian Zierer
Berlin International University of Applied Sciences
Berlin, Germany
8th October 2024
Florian Zierer will be in conversation at the Berlin University of Applied Sciences on 8th October 2024, introducing the practice's recent projects with existing buildings.
St Pancras Campus
Architecture Foundation
Summer School 2024
London, United Kingdom
11th – 15th September 2024
The Architecture Foundation is staging a summer school for architects and architecture students at Caruso St John's newly completed St Pancras Campus mixed use development.
Rod Heyes will give a talk at the Architectural Association as part of a symposium focusing on adaptive reuse. The symposium brings together a group of leading architects to present their projects, with the intention of stimulating discussion around their lessons for education, practice, and policy.
This year Unit 12, led by Peter St John, investigated the theme of Second Life, in the context of the design of buildings. Based on the belief that almost everything can have a second life, the project intends to address London's pressing need for more housing and the complex solutions for the shortage of land. The proposals for the reuse and densification of existing post-war housing stock in South London show how this can be a better solution than redevelopment.
Project review
Building in Hamburg
In a talk for the Architecture Foundation, Associate Ben Speltz presents Caruso St John's work in Hamburg over the past decade, focusing on the practice's approach to working within the urban fabric of the city centre and introducing two recently completed projects, the Gortz Palais and Grosser Burstah Office Building.
Lecture
Casabella Lectures
Adam Caruso in conversation with Federico Tranfa
Milan, Italy
8th May 2023
Adam Caruso will be in conversation with Casabella’s editor Federico Tranfa at the Theatro Milano for the magazine’s annual lecture series. The discussion will focus on the design process, exploring projects like the recently completed Swiss Life Arena.