The Monthly interviews Ross Cunningham about La Roche House – Part 1 – From Art to Architecture to CGI and Animation

Are there any early memories of being attracted to painting?

I have fond memories of going up to my Nanny’s house in Belfast when I was a young boy (I grew up in Bangor), and she would always take me to the Ulster Museum. The real treat at the time was getting a little toy dinosaur at the end of the visit, but I think, with hindsight, the building itself, and the art on display, made a strong impression.

The building was impressive for its brutalist architecture—big concrete volumes and cantilevers—like nothing I had ever seen, and then somewhere after the skeletons and bones and mummies, there were these big colourful pieces of modern art on display. Even though I wasn’t going there intentionally to experience the art, or the building, somehow the visual language of it all makes its way into your psyche. I’m not sure you can ever understand how that happens, but those trips are certainly fixed in my memories.

What was the art you experienced at that period?

The paintings I saw on those trips in the mid 80’s, would have been by international modern artists like Jean Dubuffet, Helen Frankenthaler, Victor Pasmore, Bridget Riley, Karel Appel and Kenneth Noland. It was significant work of great acclaim, and the museum was probably hitting above its weight to have such a great collection. Living near the museum now, I go back and look at these paintings quite often. I wouldn’t have appreciated them in the same way back in the 80’s of course, or even known the artists’ names, but something of the scale and colour must have excited me even then.

Were there any other experiences which pointed you in the direction of art and painting?

My parents and grandparents would have encouraged me to draw and paint. I guess they could see I enjoyed it, so I was kept conveniently busy with pastels and crayons from a young age!

What did you draw and paint?

At that age, mostly dinosaurs—abstract expressionism came a bit later! I did art at school and was excited enough by it to consider doing Fine Art at University.

Did you get support at school?

I was encouraged at school right through to A-level, but I’m not sure there was much connecting the dots with viable career paths.

What happens then?

Back then, at least in our school, when you did A-level Art you had to do History of Art at A-level as well. As part of that syllabus I also studied the history of modern architecture.

I recall being very excited by images of buildings like ‘Falling Water’ by Frank Lloyd Wright, and ‘Habitat 67’ by Moshe Safdie for the Montreal Expo. I loved that kind of modernist architecture from an early stage and, since I was also studying Maths and Physics at A-level, Architecture seemed like a natural fit.

Do you go on to study architecture?

I went to Nottingham University to study Architecture. I did the full 3 years Bachelor of Arts, had my 1st year of practical training back here, working for Kennedy Fitzgerald Architects in Belfast, before returning to Nottingham to complete my Diploma in Architecture with another 2 years study.

I studied Architecture at a transitional period because, in the first 3 years of study everyone was sitting together in a studio on big physical drawing boards, but when I returned to do my Diploma, half the class was sitting at home on personal computers trying to figure out AutoCAD. This changed the landscape radically.

I was pretty fortunate to get access to some software and the right kit, and was an early adopter in a relatively new field that became the CGI and Animation industry. So when I left University, I took a job in a design studio in London that was doing exactly that kind of work.

It sounds like it was a good time to be going into the workforce?

This was an exciting period for me because I loved my degree, and in many ways, this new field of work was much closer to what I was doing as an architect student than many of my degree friends who entered more traditional architectural practice.

I joined a really young studio with a couple of ex-Nicholas Grimshaw & Partners architects who were pioneering this new field of CG imaging. We worked mostly for architects and property developers to promote and help get planning for significant schemes. Some of the highlights were doing the CG imagery for the Gherkin, and all the campaign imagery for the London 2012 Olympic bid.

What we realised quite quickly was that design agencies would come up with a name and brand all the marketing material for these buildings, and we would often work as a CG production house for those kind of companies. Over a period of years, we developed our business into a broader spectrum design agency, producing brand identities, print material, websites and digital marketing ourselves. It started in the property industry but quickly moved into design work for multiple sectors, and all across the world.

I left the business in 2016 when I returned to Belfast, but I still do that type of work today as my main form of commercial work. I enjoy the range of work—I’ve recently created new brand identities for a beauty product, a vasectomy clinic, an engineering firm, as well as still creating brands for commercial buildings. And of course when we set our house up as a destination space, I had the dubious privilege of being my own client and creating the brand identity for La Roche… I think I was probably the most demanding client I’ve ever had!