John Ward Pawson CBE, RDI (born 1949, Halifax, England)[3] is a British autodidact architect whose work is known for its minimalist aesthetic.
[2] After a period in the family textile business Pawson left for Japan in his mid-twenties, moving to Tokyo during the final year of his stay, where he visited the studio of Japanese architect and designer Shiro Kuramata.
In 2013, the Architectural Registration Board (ARB) of UK asked Dezeen magazine not to refer him as architect although this was criticised by the publication.
[4] Whilst private houses have remained at the core of the work, projects have spanned a wide range of scales and building typologies, from the Sackler Crossing across the lake at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, a flagship store for Calvin Klein and major commissions for Ian Schrager, to ballet sets, yacht interiors, a new Cistercian monastery in Bohemia and a Second World War telecommunications bunker in Berlin.
London's Cannelle Cake Shop, several Calvin Klein stores; such as the ice palace on Madison Avenue,[8] work for Jigsaw (clothing retailer), New Wardour Castle apartments (2001), the Nový Dvůr Monastery,[9] Abbaye Notre-Dame de Sept-Fons, Czech Republic (2004), Hotel Puerta America, Madrid (2005), Medina House in Tunis, and the Sackler Crossing, a walkway over the lake at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (2006).