Cast of Characters

Narrator
Stranger
Flaneur
Smoker
Extrovert

The urban 'cast of characters' has been drawn up as a device to enhance our understanding of those who populate our city. Recognising the inherent subjectivity of architectural design, and therefore the pitfalls in a brief that encourages us to begin with people, we are seeking to extend our reach beyond the self, and beyond our collaborative selves, to examine the topology of a multiplicity of perspectives. Using the literary and filmic device of a cast, which claims to be neither complete nor mutually exclusive, we hope to find a way to achieve a deeper understanding of the meaning and relevance of house, common room and archive.

“Our practice has always made work that is related to things that we have seen before. We are interested in the emotional effect that buildings can have. We are interested in how buildings have been built in the past and how new constructions can achieve an equivalent formal and material presence. We are confused by the laissez-faire state of contemporary architecture. We feel more comfortable than we did to follow these traditions quite closely... It is only by understanding and reflecting the past that architecture can continue to be a relevant social and artistic discipline.”

Adam Caruso, The Feeling of Things, p.25

An example of a 'statement of intent' in the context of an architectural collaboration (Caruso St.John)