Heong Gallery, Downing College
Cambridge, United Kingdom 2013–2016
Client: Downing College Developments Grade I listed setting
This project for a new gallery at Downing College in Cambridge, is Caruso St John’s most recent project for the College. The gallery is located close to the campus entrance gates, forming part of a new court that has transformed a complex and unsatisfactory situation at the College entrance. With the reorganisation of the entrance to Parker’s House student accommodation, a previously private service yard has become a new public space, First Court, whilst a modest maintenance building has been converted into a new public art gallery, the Heong Gallery.
The entrances to the two buildings are framed by generous glazed screens that are made in oak, and each foyer has a lot of natural light and is furnished. The intimate outdoor space is carefully enclosed by a low wall, made with reclaimed Cambridge stock bricks, and is paved in Roman concrete that turns up at its edges to form a continuous seat. With its oak benches and trees—exotic versions of indigenous species—First Court is a place not just for passing through, but also for lingering and even for celebrations, such as an opening at the Gallery, or Shakespeare plays in the East Lodge Garden.
The design for the gallery and its adjacent spaces makes reference to the qualities of Kettle’s Yard. The transformation of Jim Ede’s old house illustrates the possibility of a modest structure coexisting with the grand architecture of the Colleges, and housing a space where study, conversation and art naturally come together. The intention has been to make a place that is equally comfortable for people, as it is for art.
Drawings
Site plan
Floor plan
Long section
Cross section
Exhibition design
Dame Elisabeth Frink, Larger Than Life, 2017-2018
Related news
Exhibition
Heong Gallery
Hockney's Eye: The Art and Technology of Depiction
Cambridge, United Kingdom
15th March to 29th August 2022
The Heong Gallery at Downing College opens its new exhibition, Hockney's Eye: The Art and Technology of Depiction on the 15th of March 2022. The gallery designed by Caruso St John will host the contemporary artist's pioneering experiments in bringing the hand, eye, and optical instrument together inventively.
To celebrate its anniversary, the Heong Gallery has created a video looking back at the five years since its transformation from an Edwardian stable block into a public gallery showing modern and contemporary art.
Exhibition
Barbara Hepworth:
Divided Circle
Heong Gallery, Cambridge, United Kingdom
15 November 2019 – 2 February 2020
Designed by Caruso St John, the Barbara Hepworth exhibition Divided Circle opens today at The Heong Gallery at Downing College, Cambridge.
Exhibition
Dame Elisabeth Frink
Larger Than Life
Heong Gallery, Cambridge, United Kingdom
4 November 2017 - 6 February 2018
Caruso St John have designed an exhibition of the work of Dame Elizabeth Frink for the Heong Gallery at Downing College, Cambridge. Frink's archetypal bronzes are on show alongside multiple bird figures, small figure groups, drawings and prints.
Award
RIBA Awards 2017
Caruso St John's projects for the Heong Gallery at Downing College, Cambridge, and the refurbishment and extension of Liverpool Philharmonic Hall have won RIBA Awards.
The new art gallery designed by Caruso St John for Downing College opens to the public on 6th February 2016. The gallery will open with an exhibition of British Art from the Collection of Sir Alan Bowness, former Director of Tate and an alumnus of Downing College
Credits
Location
Cambridge, United Kingdom
Date
2013–2016
Client
Downing College Developments
Heritage
Grade I listed setting
Area
178 m²
Caruso St John Architects
Adam Caruso, Peter St John
Project architect
Timo Keller (2013-15), Paul Maich (2015-16)
Project team
Catija Christensson, Will Pirkis
Structural engineer
Philip Harvey Associates Ltd
Services engineer
WSP
Cost consultant
Robert Lombardelli Partnership Ltd
Landscape architect
Studio Karst GmbH
Graphic designer
John Morgan Studio
Main contractor
Downing Buildings
Photography
Ioana Marinescu
Awards
RIBA East Award
Related projects
Barbara Hepworth, Divided Circle
Heong Gallery, Downing College
Cambridge, United Kingdom
2019–2020
Darwin College
Cambridge, United Kingdom
2018–present
Lycée Hôtelier de Lille
Lille, France
2011–2016
Musée Cantonal des Beaux‑Arts Lausanne
Lausanne, Switzerland
2011
Dining Hall, Downing College
Cambridge, United Kingdom
2005–2009
Spike Island
Bristol, United Kingdom
2003–2006
Gagosian Heddon Street
London, United Kingdom
1999–2000
Hallfield School
London, United Kingdom
2001–2005
Kunsthalle Bielefeld
Bielefeld, Germany
2024–present
Riverside Project, Magdalen College
Oxford, United Kingdom
2022–present
Gagosian Burlington Arcade
London, United Kingdom
2022
Latvian Museum of Contemporary Art
Riga, Latvia
2016
University of Basel Department of Biomedicine
Basel, Switzerland
2015–2018
Gagosian Grosvenor Hill
London, United Kingdom
2012–2015
Blain Southern Gallery
London, United Kingdom
2010–2013
Sir John Soane's Museum
London, United Kingdom
2009–2012
Gagosian Paris
Paris, France
2009–2010
Gagosian Hong Kong
Hong Kong, China
2010–2011
Tate Britain
London, United Kingdom
2007–2013
Gagosian Rome
Rome, Italy
2006
Gagosian Davies Street
London, United Kingdom
2006
Centre for Tourism and Culture
Ascona, Switzerland
2004
Newport Street Gallery
London, United Kingdom
2004–2015
Nottingham Contemporary
Nottingham, United Kingdom
2004–2009
Gagosian Britannia Street
London, United Kingdom
2002–2004
Rome Centre for Contemporary Arts
Rome, Italy
1999
New Art Gallery Walsall
Walsall, United Kingdom
1995–2000
Gagosian Gallery
1999–present
AXA Office Building, Binnenalster
Hamburg, Germany
2024
Kallmorgen Office Building
Hamburg, Germany
City Nord Office Building
Hamburg, Germany
Urban Villa, Mühlebachstrasse
Zurich, Switzerland
2023–present
Düngerbau
Uetikon am See, Switzerland
2022–present
Office Building, Stampfenbachstrasse
Zurich, Switzerland
2020–present (under construction)
Sigurd Lewerentz, Architect of Death and Life
ArkDes
Stockholm, Sweden
October 2020 – August 2022
Royale Belge
Brussels, Belgium
2019–2023
Warehouse, Wiedikon
Zurich, Switzerland
2019–2021
Into the Night: Cabarets and Clubs in Modern Art
Barbican
London, United Kingdom
2019
Gladstone's Library
Hawarden, United Kingdom
2018–2020
Trix and Robert Haussmann: The Log-O-Rithmic Slide Rule
Nottingham Contemporary, ETH Zurich
2018
Peterloo Memorial
In collaboration with Jeremy Deller
Manchester, United Kingdom
2018–2019
The Façade is the Window into the Soul of Architecture
Central Pavilion, Venice Biennale
Venice, Italy
2018
Island, British Pavilion, Venice Biennale
In collaboration with Marcus Taylor
Venice, Italy
2018
The Triple Folly
In collaboration with Thomas Demand
Ebeltoft, Denmark
2017–2022
Museum for a Roman Villa
Pully, Switzerland
2017
Picasso: Minotaurs and Matadors
Gagosian, Grosvenor Hill
London, United Kingdom
2017
United Kingdom Holocaust Memorial
In collaboration with Marcus Taylor and Rachel Whiteread
London, United Kingdom
2016–2017
Schulhaus, Neuhausen
Neuhausen am Rheinfall, Switzerland
2015–2020
Canterbury Cathedral Organ Loft
Canterbury, United Kingdom
2016–2020
House in the Mountains
Tschiertschen, Switzerland
2015–2017
Görtz Palais
Hamburg, Germany
2017–2022
Stockholm City Library
Stockholm, Sweden
2014–2019
Defining Beauty: The Body in Ancient Greek Art
The British Museum
London, United Kingdom
2014–2015
Hospitalfield Arts
Arbroath, United Kingdom
2013 – present
Damien Hirst, Relics
QM Gallery, Al Riwaq
Doha, Quatar
2013–2014
Ozeanium, Basel Zoo
Basel, Switzerland
2012
Liverpool Philharmonic Hall
Liverpool, United Kingdom
2012–2015
Swiss Life Arena
Zurich, Switzerland
2012–2022
Bremer Landesbank Headquarters
Bremen, Germany
2011–2016
St Gallen Cathedral Chancel
St Gallen, Switzerland
2011–2013
House for an Artist
Berlin, Germany
2010–2013
Thomas Demand, Nationalgalerie
Neue Nationalgalerie
Berlin, Germany
2009
Veemgebouw
Eindhoven, The Netherlands
2007–2022
Nagelhaus
In collaboration with Thomas Demand
Zurich, Switzerland
2007–2010
The Return of the Gods: Neoclassical Sculpture
Tate Britain
London, United Kingdom
2008
Chiswick House Café
London, United Kingdom
2006–2010
Arts Council England National Offices
London, United Kingdom
2006–2008
Education Centre, Rainham Marshes Nature Reserve
Essex, United Kingdom
2003
V&A Museum of Childhood
London, United Kingdom
2002–2007
Turner and Venice
Tate Britain
London, United Kingdom
2003–2004
Medicine Man: The Forgotten Museum of Henry Wellcome
The British Museum
London, United Kingdom
2002–2003
Barbican Concert Hall
London, United Kingdom
2000–2001
Thomas Demand, Fondation Cartier
Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain
Paris, France
2000–2001
Kalmar Stortoget
In Collaboration with Eva Löfdahl
Kalmar, Sweden
1999–2003
Studio House, North London
London, United Kingdom
1993–1994
Thomas Demand, Palazzo Pitti
Galleria d’Arte, Palazzo Pitti
Florence, Italy
2001