Nottingham Contemporary was designed by the architects Caruso St John, based in London’s East End.

Caruso and St John were selected to design Nottingham’s new Centre for Contemporary Art through an international competition in 2004.

The artistic ambition of the project, encompassing object based visual art and time based performance art, has its origins in the artist run spaces of down town New York in the late 1960s, and in the work of artists like Gordon Matta Clark and Trisha Brown, whose work was directly engaged with the spaces of the city. The site for the new building is in a part of central Nottingham called the Lace Market, whose history and built form has parallels with the cast iron district of New York, giving the Centre a loose cultural connection to its site. In our design, we set out to offer a wide range of interiors that will have the variety and specificity of the found spaces of a factory or warehouse, within a new building: rooms that will challenge the installation and production of contemporary art and offer new ways for performers and audiences to interact.

The exterior of the Centre takes its inspiration from the amazing 19th century buildings of Nottingham, and in particular, from the impressive façades of the Lace Market.

At over 3,000 square metres, Nottingham Contemporary is one of the largest contemporary art centres in the UK. It has four galleries - lit by 132 skylights – a performance and film Space, a Learning room, The Study, The Shop and Café.Bar.Contemporary. The building appears larger on the inside than outside, since much of its north end is sunk into the sandstone cliff that runs the length of the city centre. At the same time it is a remarkably open building: large windows offer direct views from the street into the galleries, shop, café and offices.

CREDITS

Architec.- Caruso St John Architects / Adam Caruso, Peter St John.
Collaborators.- Mouchel, Jackson Coles , Jackson Coles , Tim Lewers , David Bonnet Associates , Arup , Jackson Coles , Arup , Arup , Arup, Elliot Wood (external works) , John Angus, University of Derby, Textile Studios (Lace surface development), Matthew Brannon, Pablo Bronstein, Nathan Coley, Sarah De Bondt, Mark Gubb.

Project Manager: Segue Consultancy. Services & Civil Engineer: Ove Arup & Partners. Structural Engineer: Ove Arup & Partners, Elliottwood Partnership. Quantity Surveyor: Jackson Coles. Access Consultant: David Bonnet Associates. Acoustic Consultant: Tim Lewers. Artists: Matthew Brannon, Pablo Bronstein, Nathan Coley. Graphic Design: Sara De Bondt. Theatre Consultant: Charcoalblue. Archeology: Mills Whipp Projects. Surveyor: Tower Surveys.

Location.- Nottingham Contemporary, Weekday Cross. Nottingham NG1 2GB. Nottingham, UK.
Client.- Nottingham City Council.
Main Contractor: Sol Construction


Gross internal floor area 3,400m2
Total cost £12.3 million
Cost per m2 £3,620
Annual CO2 emissions 58kg/m²
Area: 3,500 sqm
Project Status.- Built.
Dates.- 2004–2009. Opening.- 2010.

Awards.-

  • 2010 RIBA Award Winner.
  • 2011 European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture Mies van der Rohe Award Selected Work.
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Caruso St John Architects established their practice in 1990. The office of approximately 30 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.

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, at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University, at 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 began his architectural studies at the Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London, completing them at the Architectural Association in 1984. He worked for Richard Rogers, Florian Beigel, Dixon Jones, and Arup Associates prior to establishing his own practice with Adam Caruso.

Peter taught at the University of North London from 1990-2000. He was a Visiting Professor at the Academy of Architecture in Mendrisio, Switzerland from 1999-2001, and Visiting Professor in the Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering at the University of Bath from 2001-2004. In 2005 he was a visiting critic at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University. From 2007 to 2009 he was a visiting professor at ETH in Zurich. He is currently an external examiner at the Scott Sutherland School of Architecture in Aberdeen and Cardiff School of Architecture.

Rod Heyes studied architecture at Cambridge University and the University of North London (now London Metropolitan University). He joined Caruso St John in 1998 and was made a senior associate in 2005. He plays a major role in the management of the practice, dealing specifically with resourcing and programming. He was project architect for the Brick House, the refurbishment of the Barbican Concert Hall, Spike Island in Bristol and Chiswick House Cafe. Rod is currently leading the practice's work at Tate Britain. He has taught architecture at the University of Bath and at London Metropolitan University and has led Diploma Unit 4 at Kingston University for the last three years. He has lectured widely in the UK including Plymouth Univeristy, the Univerity of Greenwich and Edinburgh University.

www.carusostjohn.com

Address:

London
1 Coate Street
London E2 9AG
+44 20 7613 3161

Zürich
Räffelstrasse 32
8045 Zürich
+41 44 454 80 90

Act.>. 01/2013 - 06/2016

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Published on: January 29, 2013
Cite: "Nottingham Contemporary by Caruso St John Architects" METALOCUS. Accessed
<http://www.metalocus.es/en/news/nottingham-contemporary-caruso-st-john-architects> ISSN 1139-6415
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