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.
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.
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.
Adam Caruso and fellow guests Jan De Vylder, Elke Krasny and Astrid Staufer will attend a 'Supercrit' and panel discussion on conversion in architecture, to mark the end of an exhibition of student work at TU Wien.
Peter St John will give a lecture entitled, Transformation and Resources, at the University of Nottingham's Department of Architecture and Built Environment, on the 21st of February. The talk will explore the recent work of the office that focuses on the transformation of existing buildings.
Lecture
Design by Thinking of
Resources, Material and Transformation
Amsterdam, the Netherlands
25th January 2023
Peter St John will give a lecture at the Tolhuistuin, Amsterdam, discussing several of the practice's recent projects with a focus on the themes of Resources, Material and Transformation.
Students from Studio Adam Caruso at ETH Zurich present their final projects to a panel of guest critics including Anne Femmer, Peter Fischli, Marina Olsen and Florian Summa.
Peter St John's London Met Unit will investigate the theme of Second Life. The term comes from the artist and social activist Theaster Gates, who states that almost everything can be reused. This is evident in his work which has involved collating discarded objects and materials, as well as salvaging and refurbishing whole buildings.
Students will look at the question of how to renew buildings; how construction can be less energy-demanding and creating systems where buildings are indivisible components in a regenerating ecological system.
Students in studio Adam Caruso at ETH Zurich will spend their Autumn semester working on a group of structures around Helvetiaplatz in Zurich. Through model-making and drawing students will engage with not only the adaptive reuse of existing buildings, but also how we can reframe the cultural value of them.
Peter St John's studio at London Metropolitan University hosts their summer exhibition next week.
Students from Studio Adam Caruso at ETH Zurich present their final projects to a panel of guest critics including Céline Bessire, Maria Conen, Fredi Fischli, Françoise Fromonot, Tine Milz, and Niels Olsen.
Director Rod Heyes and Project Architect Paula Schilliger present the practice’s masterplan for Hospitalfield House in Arbroath, Scotland, as part of the Architecture Foundation's series of talks exploring the typology of the artist's studio.
Lecture
History and its Opposite
L’École Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture et de Paysage de Lille
12th May 2022
Adam Caruso will give a lecture entitled History and its Opposite for the Tools Conference at the L’École Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture et de Paysage de Lille.
Adam Caruso is taking part in the Institut für Entwurf und Architektur One Building lecture series at ETH Zurich. His lecture, You cannot take risks without failing, will take place at the ONA building Fokushalle on 15th March, 18.00 hrs.
Lecture
Reuse, Recycle
Lessons in Sustainable Architecture
Eindhoven, The Netherlands
10th February 2022
Peter St John is taking part in TU Eindhoven's lecture series, Lessons in Sustainable Architecture. His talk, Reuse, Recycle will discuss the practice's renovation projects with a focus on their sustainability and design process.
Students in studio Adam Caruso at ETH Zurich will spend their Spring semester exploring the protestant churches of Zurich; spiritual, social and spatial public resources that are underused in the city.
Peter St John presents a lecture on the work of James Stirling, as part of Second Floor, a new series in partnership with Metropolitan Architecture Student Society (MASS) at London Met. The series includes lectures by each of the school's unit tutors, in which they present the work of an architect that has influenced their practice.
Students from Studio Adam Caruso at ETH Zurich present their final projects to a panel of guest critics including Oliver Lütjens, Tine Milz, Li Tavor, Matthias Winter.
Caruso St John director Rod Heyes will be giving a 'small talk' for Newcastle University's Architecture Society. He discusses ideas of intention and realisation, the value in existing situations and building's constant states of change; referring to the work of Robert Smithson, Edgar Degas, Atelier Bow-Wow and Paul Serusier.
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.
Students from Studio Adam Caruso at ETH Zurich present their projects to a panel of guest critics including Marianna Charitonidou, Fredi Fischli and Niels Olson.
Peter St John will be giving a lecture entitled, Converting office buildings into mixed-use buildings, as part of the Real Estate Society of Antwerp's symposium, The impact of corona on the office market.
To mark the opening of Sigurd Lewerentz: Architect of Death and Life at ArkDes, Adam Caruso will be giving a lecture on the exhibition's design process, alongside his own relationship to Lewerentz and his legacy today.