‘CARUSO ST JOHN’

On 2 October, A+ and BOZAR will be pleased to invite the UK practice Caruso St John, curators of the British pavilion at the Venice Biennale of Architecture, to give a lecture on their work. 

The Caruso St John architecture practice was founded in London in 1990 by Adam Caruso and Peter St John. This British practice has since developed an architecture of place in which context is essential and the point of departure in generating the form. The ideas interact directly with the environment in which the architects intervene carefully, embracing the ‘found’ place as well as the humble and the everyday.

Renowned for the rigorous quality of construction, the practice pays careful attention to the refinement of details and choice of materials, thereby creating a sophisticated architecture that is sensitive to the particular atmosphere.

The Caruso St John projects are rooted in the physical and historical context of the architecture. Traditions and references have a key role in their creations, bringing a richness of expression. The references used are drawn from different times, places and natures, thus freeing their architecture from a specific form or ideology.

Their portfolio consists of diverse projects, in terms of scale and programme and including both new constrictions and renovations. Together with the Brussels practice 51N4E, they recently participated in the competition to convert the former Citroen garage in Brussels into a modern art museum. A current project is an apartment building on Falconplein in Antwerp.

In 2018 they were the curators of the British pavilion for the ‘Freespace’ at the Venice Biennale of Architecture with a project titled Island. For this same Biennale they were invited, by the Biennale curators Grafton, to present their work at the Italian pavilion.