A joy of the new grows from appreciation of the original ideas
Caruso St John Architects for Royal Liverpool Philharmonic
Contract value: £8.5m
GIA: 6,800m²
This grade II* auditorium building, designed by Herbert Rowse, has undergone a thoughtful, sensitive and welcome restoration. All the detail has been carefully researched and beautifully crafted in an exemplary job which resolves the building’s deficiencies in a manner that you feel Rowse would have enthusiastically approved of. What makes the project special is how a new creative force can contribute to the cultural value of the existing.
Unusual skill and wit is needed to attach new variations set by the theme of the original. A positive ambiguity is achieved in which a joy of the new grows from appreciation of the original ideas and a wish to extrapolate them into a new era. It is an elaboration and amplification achieved with subtlety and confidence.
See the RIBA Journal's review of Liverpool Philharmonic