WHO?
Adam Sharr Architects is a small architecture, design and urban design practice.
We like to work closely with clients and users because we believe in tailoring architecture very directly to people's needs, and to the specifics of the site. We believe that thoughtful design can make a real difference to people's lives and that architecture doesn't have to be expensive to be good. We like materials that age well – timber, brick, steel – which have dignity. We believe that architecture has long- and deeply-understood cultural codings whose subtleties should be employed wisely, from a contemporary perspective.
We have specialist expertise in houses and housing; work with historic buildings; education; galleries; urban design; and furniture.
Adam, the practice principal, is an architect, writer and academic. Alongside the practice, he works as Professor of Architecture at Newcastle University, UK, and is an editor of arq: Architectural Research Quarterly, published by Cambridge University Press.
Designers recently working with Adam include: Tom Brigden, James Longfield, Yasser Megahed and Chloe Sambell.
Selection of Projects
Books and Catalogues
Research Papers
Research Activities
Teaching
SELECTION OF PROJECTS
Alterations to Building Science building, Newcastle University
(collaborators: Design Office & Estates Support Service, Newcastle University; Summers Inman Construction and Property Consultants, Newcastle)
Alterations to Armstrong Building, Newcastle University, Phases 1, 2 and 3
(collaborators: Design Office & Estates Support Service, Newcastle University; Summers Inman Construction and Property Consultants, Newcastle)
Design study for integrating sustainable technologies into Hexham Abbey, Northumberland
(collaborators: Newcastle University, Chris Wilkins, Rachel Witham)
New house at Ingoldingen, Oberschwaben, Germany
(collaborator: Gapp und Gapp, Warthausen)
exhibited: Washington-Alexandria Architecture Center, USA, 2010
exhibited: Welsh National Assembly, 2009
Field Study Centre for Schools and Colleges, Powys
Creative Industries Business Units, Aberyswyth Arts Centre, Aberystwyth University
(collaborator: Design Research Unit, Welsh School of Architecture
New House at Llethr, Newbridge-on-Wye, Powys
(collaborator: Ian Standen)
shortlisted RIBA Awards 2007
exhibited Welsh National Eisteddfod 2006
published: Thinking Practice, 2007 and Touchstone, Summer 2007
Repairs and Extensions, Cottages at Wixford, Warwickshire
Alterations and Extension to a Villa at Windsor Terrace, Penarth
published: Touchstone, Summer 2005
Housing at Drancy, Paris, Europan 2004
(collaborator: Andrew Carr)
published: Europan 7: Results France 2005
Alterations and Extensions to houses in:
Moseley, Birmingham
Honor Oak Park, London
Pontcanna, Cardiff
Victoria Park, Cardiff
Newport, Shropshire
Pontypridd, Rhondda Cynon Taf
PREVIOUS PROJECTS
Adam working at Wright & Wright Architects:
Law Department for London Guildhall University
published: Architects Journal, February 2006
The Womens' Library, London
published: Architectural Review, January 2002
Rehousing the RIBA Special Collections at the V&A
published: RIBA Journal, January 2002
Housing at Varndell Street, London
Adam working at Dean Hawkes Architect, Cardiff and Cambridge:
Alterations to Golden House, Dottery, Dorset
published: RIBA Journal, June 1999
Adam working at Carden and Godfrey Architects, London:
Alterations to Crosby Hall
published: Experimental Houses, 2000
Conservation Masterplan: Waltham Abbey Royal Gunpowder Mills
published: Architects' Journal, July 1997
Re-Ordering, Church of St. Winefride, Wimbledon
published: Church Building, August 1997
BOOKS AND CATALOGUES
Sharr A. (ed.), Reading Architecture and Culture: Researching Buildings, Spaces and Documents (London: Routledge, 2012)
Dutoit A., Odgers J. and Sharr A. (eds), Quality Out of Control: Standards for Measuring Architecture (London: Routledge, 2010)
Sharr A., Heidegger for Architects (London: Routledge, 2007)
shortlisted: RIBA President's Medals for Outstanding Architectural Research, 2008
reviews: Architectural Review, Architectural Record, Building Design, Architectural Theory Review
translations: Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Turkish
Sharr A., Heidegger's Hut (Cambridge MA: MIT Press, 2006)
reviews: Los Angeles Times, TLS, Bookforum, Cultural Politics, Chronicle of Higher Education (US), Wilson Quarterly.
radio interview with ABC National Radio Australia.
translated into Spanish as Sharr A., La Cabana de Heidegger: Un Espacio Para Pensar (Barcelona: GG, 2008)
Sharr A., Sassi P. & Heath T. (eds.), Green Houses (Nottingham: University of Nottingham, 2002)
RESEARCH PAPERS
Sharr A., 'Mildendo and Masdar: A Tale of Two Cities' in Adler G., Brittain-Catlin T. and Fontana-Giusti G. (eds.), Scale: Imagination, Perception and Practice in Architecture (London: Routledge, 2012)
Sharr A., 'Burning Bruder Klaus: Towards an Architecture of Slipstream' in Armitage J. (ed.), Virilio Now: Current Perspectives in Virilio Studies (London: Polity, 2011)
Sharr A., 'The Sedimentation of Memory', Journal of Architecture, 15:4 (2010), 499-515
Sharr A., 'Selective Memory: Contesting Architecture and Urbanism at Potsdam's Stadtschloss and Alter Markt', German Life and Letters, 63:4 (2010), 398-416
Sharr A., 'Leslie Martin and the Science of Architectural Form' in Dutoit A., Odgers J. and Sharr A. (eds), Quality Out of Control: Standards for Measuring Architecture (London: Routledge, 2010)
Sharr A., 'Drawing in Good Faith', Architectural Theory Review, 14:3 (2009), 306-321
Sharr A., 'Building to Think About Dwelling: A New House in the Wye Valley' in Temple N. and Bandyophay S. (eds.), Thinking Practice (London: Black Dog, 2007).
Sharr A., 'Space Plus Something: Martin Heidegger's View From Todtnauberg', Defining Space, UC Dublin, October 2007
Sharr A., 'Primitive and the Everyday: Sergison Bates, Lefebvre and the Guilt of Architectural Expertise' in Odgers J., Samuel F. and Sharr A. (eds.), Primitive: Original Matters in Architecture (London: Routledge, 2006).
Sharr A., Forster W. and Coombs S., 'A Plywood Soane', made, 3 (2006), 90-91
Sharr A., 'Pigeons, Angels and Problems of Taste', made, 1 (2004), 72-73
Sharr A., 'The Professor's House: Martin Heidegger's House at Freiburg-im-Breisgau' in: Menin S. (ed.), Constructing Place (London: Routledge, 2003)
Sharr A., '"Yer" de Yerlesmek: Heidegger'in Todtnauberg'deki kulübesi', trans. Bolak-Hisarligil B., TOL: Mimarlik Kültürü Dergisi, 2:3 (2003), 61-67
Wood A., Samant S., Sassi P. and Sharr A., 'Where Will We Put Them All? Practical Strategies for Dealing with Increasing Student Numbers in Architectural Design Studio' in: Newton R., Bowden A. and Betts M. (eds.) Proceedings: CIB W89: International Conference on Building Education and Research BEAR 2003 (Salford: University of Salford, 2003), pp. 902-913.
Sharr A., 'Our Very Own Theory: Acts of Classification in Anthropologies of Place', Expertise: Conoisseurs, Consulants and Con Men, Harvard Design School, September 2002
Sharr A., 'The Professor's House: Martin Heidegger's House at Freiburg-im-Breisgau' in Menin S. (ed.), Constructing Place (London: Routledge, 2003)
Sharr A. with Unwin S., 'Heidegger's Hut', arq, 5:1 (2001), 53-61
RESEARCH ACTIVITIES
Professor of Architecture, Newcastle University, 2010-date
Editor-in-Chief (with Richard Weston), arq: Architectural Research Quarterly, published by Cambridge University Press
Series Editor, Thinkers for Architects, published by Routledge.
Editorial Board Member, Critical Studies in Architecture Series, published by Routledge.
Editor, made (Materials: Architecture Design Environment, published by the Welsh School of Architecture), 2004-2008
Invited International Lectures: University of La Coruña, Spain (2009); Virginia Tech, USA (guest speaker at Virginia Tech conference Constructing Imagination) (2010), Université de Montreal, Canada (2010).
Invited Design Critic/Invited Lecturer: Universities of: Cambridge; Bath; Liverpool; Nottingham; UCD Dublin; Robert Gordon, Aberdeen; London Metropolitan; West of England.
Awards Assessor: RIBA Presidents' Awards for Research, 2012.
Awards Assessor: RIBA Awards, Wales, 2009.
Awards Assessor: RIBA Presidents' Medals Dissertation Prizes, 2005.
External Examiner: MSc in Architecture, University of Ulster 2009-2011.
External Examiner: MA in Architectural History, Bartlett, UCL, 2011-2013.
Founder Member and Steering Group Member, AHRA (Architectural Humantities Research Association), 2004-date
TEACHING
Adam teaches architecture in his capacity as Professor of Architecture at Newcastle University, UK. He previously held academic posts in Britain, at the Welsh School
of Architecture, Cardiff University and Nottingham University. He has taught design studio to architects, mainly at final year (RIBA pt.2) and second year (RIBA pt.1).
He has taught architectural history, architectural theory and architectural technology, and supervised dissertations at undergraduate, postgraduate, MPhil and PhD level.
He has also taught urban design, town planning and architectural engineering students.
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