Adams & Sutherland

The recent appointment of Adams & Sutherland to carry out one of the more important landscape/infrastructural projects connecting into the Olympic Park – the regeneration of the so called Greenway – should allay, at least for the moment, those fears.

Liz Adams and Graeme Sutherland founded their practice in 1997 after winning an international competition for a visitor and educational centre on the Medway Estuary just south of the mouth of the Thames. Sadly, this remains un-built. One suspects that the following practice description was not wrested from them easily, neither of them being particularly self-aggrandizing, but they are very clear-headed about what they are up to, and it is an honest description of their working method: 'Adams & Sutherland are interested in creating sensuous and careful places, which include both buildings and the spaces around them. We are adept at steering complex projects from the beginning of an idea to completion, and have won wide recognition for our tenacious and committed approach. In considering how people use places and what they desire we recognise that even where the result is simple the demands may be varied and conflicting. We are able to think strategically about large urban and landscape spaces and invest significant time in the careful observation and analysis of the existing historical situation of a project, including its physical and social context. Our approach is to develop an intelligent and accurate response to what we have found and to the specific needs of users, aiming to exceed client expectations and create somewhere which makes a real difference to the lives of those who use it, whether a piece of pavement or a public building.'