黑洞社区

In the 1949 film version of Ayn Rand鈥檚 novel The Fountainhead, Howard Roark, the arrogantly idealistic anti-hero architect played by Gary Cooper, booms, 鈥淚 don鈥檛 build in order to have clients; I have clients in order to build.鈥� Alan Stanton and Paul Williams, founders of 2012 Stirling prize winning practice Stanton Williams, would respectfully disagree.

鈥淵ou have to recognise the ambitions of the client,鈥� says Williams. 鈥淟ike many architects, we鈥檝e always said we鈥檙e looking for the enlightened patron, clients who believe that the quality of architecture can improve our lives. When we and the client are heading in the same direction from day one with shared ambitions and aspirations it makes the design process that much more uplifting.鈥�

This strong client relationship is at the core of Stanton Williams鈥� design approach and it suggests a humility and pragmatism that is reflected in their personalities as well as their work. As does their generous acknowledgement of the 鈥渃rucial鈥� role played by the client in the evolution of their .

Unsurprisingly, the pair confess to being 鈥渆xtremely delighted鈥� at their Stirling victory and Stanton views it as 鈥渞ecognition of all the effort that鈥檚 been put in over the past 27 years鈥� since the pair founded the north London-based practice. For Stanton, the building鈥檚 function is also significant. 鈥淥f course it isn鈥檛 a publicly accessible building unlike some of the other shortlisted projects. It鈥檚 not an Olympic stadium, it鈥檚 not an art gallery, it鈥檚 not a theatre. So for us to have won with a building which is essentially a working building, a research institute, was especially pleasing. It was great to have that quality recognised.鈥�

The win certainly capped off a momentous year for the 60-strong practice. Its impressive new campus for the University of the Arts London at King鈥檚 Cross Central was also on the Stirling shortlist and its Hackney Marshes Centre, a diminutive but elegantly robust football pavilion with a cafe and terrace, was on the longlist.

It also completed the permanent London 2012 hockey and tennis venue at nearby Eton Manor park and is working on major residential, academic and cultural projects in London, Oxford and Nantes. Yet more high-profile publicity is promised next year when its mighty King鈥檚 Cross Square replaces the terminus鈥� ridiculous seventies concourse shed, arguably constituting the most significant addition of public space to central London since the redevelopment of Trafalgar Square in 2003.

The Stanton Williams way

So what do the principals attribute their practice鈥檚 astonishing recent success to? 鈥淲ell, it has actually been a very long and very slow growth; we certainly didn鈥檛 suddenly arrive,鈥� says Williams. 鈥淏ut over that time we like to think that we can put our hand to any design problem regardless of sector and not be pigeon-holed. That kind of diversity keeps you sharp and it means you consistently have to think creatively.鈥�

The Stanton Williams portfolio certainly reveals work across a broad range of sectors including arts, retail, research and commercial. It also features projects that have developed into new typologies. These include the Millennium Seedbank laboratories in West Sussex (2000), a conceptual forerunner to Sainsbury in the sense that the scientists and their work are on public display, and Birmingham鈥檚 Four Brindleyplace (1999), the first development outside London to win the British Council for Offices鈥� Office of the Year Award.

Stanton expands on this cross-sector theme. 鈥淲e have had several clients who have had the confidence to come to us and say 鈥榦ne of the reasons we have chosen you to do this is because you鈥檝e never designed one before鈥�. It is then possible to bring in the best specialised technical advice and expertise and this enables us to ask important, basic questions such as 鈥榳hy is this done this way?鈥� and 鈥榳hy can鈥檛 it be done another way鈥�. It鈥檚 this process that can lead to interesting and successful design solutions.鈥�

Of course, a big part of Stanton Williams鈥� appeal and success - although naturally they are too modest to admit it directly - is that design quality. The practice鈥檚 buildings are characterised by a rigorous, angular simplicity, often achieved by a layered massing of streamlined horizontal or vertical elements to form a sculpted, geometric whole.

As the ideological spats between Prince Charles and Richard Rogers show, style is a toxic term for most architects and there is barely a practice in the world that would openly admit to implementing a 鈥渉ouse鈥� or 鈥渟ignature鈥� style, even though most clearly do. While both Stanton and Williams are equally reluctant to identify a prescriptive design style they pursue, they concede that inevitably, a consistent architectural language has developed over time across their work.

鈥淚t鈥檚 very much intuitive,鈥� says Williams. 鈥淚t has to feel right for us both and there is a strong sense of the appropriateness of proportions. We鈥檙e also passionately interested in materials, particularly natural materials and we鈥檙e not obsessed with preventing surfaces from weathering. Quite the opposite, that kind of change over time has to be cherished.鈥�

Stanton identifies another strong design consistency. 鈥淭he kind of creative language we use is similar to that of a sculptor, carving or folding planes. Architecture can in some ways be seen as large-scale sculpture that you can inhabit and walk through. Much of our inspiration comes from artists, sculptors and painters, such as Barbara Hepworth and Eduardo Chillida.鈥�

鈥淚t鈥檚 definitely not about a style or a look, we don鈥檛 impose a shape or a simplistic single idea. Every time we start a new project we鈥檙e essentially faced with a blank sheet of paper. The design evolves from the brief, the client and the context and our creative ideas spring from this.鈥�

Williams goes even further. 鈥淐ommon elements to our designs are the physical quality of interior spaces, to study how they are lit with natural and artificial daylight and to understand how people move through that sequence of spaces.鈥�

Both openly attribute this preoccupation with spatial experience to their early work in retail and exhibition spaces. The mechanics of how people 鈥渆ncounter spaces鈥� as well as the intimacy of enclosure intrinsic to these smaller environments evolved into core design concerns that have coloured their work ever since. It is also evident in their studio鈥檚 fondness for physical model-making, with models used extensively as both a communication tool for clients and a means to explore the spatial characteristics of their proposals.

Sense of history

Two other key concerns throughout the body of Stanton Williams鈥� work have been public spaces and conservation, and intriguingly their philosophy in these areas overlaps. For Williams, you 鈥渃annot separate the public realm from the building鈥�, and Stanton makes reference to their long experience of placing 鈥渃ontemporary insertions within historic buildings鈥�. In both regards, the pair admits to being heavily influenced by the Carlo Scarpa methodology of 鈥渞ough against smooth鈥�.

At their Tower Hill Environs scheme (2004) where honed, laser-cut landscaping forms an assuredly contemporary public square beside the 930-year-old Tower of London, Stanton maintains that 鈥渢he richness of the past adds to the quality of the public realm鈥�. And there is a scintillating sense of drama in the interplay between old and new at the University of the Arts London. This scheme in particular is a pulsating ode to an approach that Williams summarises passionately: 鈥淭he strength of historic buildings can be brought out by their juxtaposition with new contemporary design elements. What touches, what doesn鈥檛 touch, it鈥檚 all sensuous stuff and that鈥檚 what really turns us on.鈥�

The issue of conservation ties in with another area that Stanton is keen to stress is a contingent of their work: sustainability. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a very loaded word and can apply to anything from transport to the maximisation of natural light that we spoke about earlier. But fundamentally, if a building is well designed and built and sufficiently flexible to be able to last and adapt over time to unknown uses in the future then that building represents real sustainable value. You can see that in good buildings from hundreds of years ago that are still in use today.鈥�

Williams expands by describing sustainability as being 鈥渢otally embedded into the process and thinking from day one. It鈥檚 not about adding on solar panels or windturbines later on, it鈥檚 as strong a consideration as anything else鈥�.

The bleak spectre of the recession actually provides the pair with an opportunity to reaffirm the core approach to architecture that has guided them throughout their careers. 鈥淒esign quality is not simply about spending lots of money. Good design is about real value and about creating buildings that respond extremely well to a particular set of needs and requirements which can include extremely limited budgets. Good architects bring intelligence as well as creativity.鈥�

Williams enthusiastically drives the point home. 鈥淭here鈥檚 nothing wrong with buildings that just do their job. 黑洞社区s don鈥檛 have to shout and don鈥檛 have to have glitzy finishes; we don鈥檛 have to constantly reinvent the wheel. If a good, simple, contemporary, modernist way of doing things, as well as common sense prevails, then there should always be an appropriate type of architecture to handle both good and harder times.鈥�

What touches, what doesn鈥檛 touch, it鈥檚 all sensuous stuff and that鈥檚 what really turns us on

Paul Williams

These pronouncements go to the heart of Stanton Williams鈥� design philosophy and can arguably stand as an explanation for their success. For all the intellectual enquiry that informs their architecture, it is ultimately grounded by a pragmatic and rational approach that prioritises the experience of the end user. In a profession not unfamiliar with bluster and hyperbole, such humility is refreshing.

As is the poignancy and candour with which they speak of a process that affects us all. 鈥淎s I get older I increasingly find myself incredibly moved by so many things other than architecture,鈥� reflects Williams. 鈥淎rt, filmmakers, music, sound, touch, even the feel of my hand rubbing against brickwork or stone.鈥�

Stanton agrees and neatly summarises the sensory awareness that resonates throughout their work. 鈥淎rt puts us in touch with our humanity and the material world around us. Everybody needs that.鈥�