News
Rubicon wins RIBA East Award
05.2026
We’re proud to announce that Rubicon has won a RIBA East, Regional Award.
Rubicon is an operational net zero carbon, 186-dwelling residential development in Eddington conceived for our clients, the University of Cambridge and Hill Group UK. Situated at the at the southern edge of the 150-hectare Eddington urban extension, the scheme integrates cycling, community spaces and shared landscapes – forming a threshold between the neighbourhood and the wetlands beyond. Combining warehouse-loft typologies with the collegiate court model, the scheme offers a coherent approach to high-density, low-rise living. Drawing upon 19th-century mill typologies traditionally found in rural settings, the scheme’s hand-glazed bricks, curved corners and undulating roofline echo the Cambridgeshire landscape.
We’re grateful to the jury for taking the time to engage with the buildings as they are lived in and experienced. They commended the project for “how rigorously both architect and client stewarded the project’s core design ambitions…” They described the result of ABA’s perseverance as “impeccably detailed and executed and spatially generous,” ultimately commenting on the outstanding impression it provides as a first encounter with the Eddington – North West Cambridge Development neighbourhood in Cambridge.
Previously, ABA’s Knights Park, also part of the Eddington development, has won a Regional RIBA East award.
First Public Release for University of Toronto Project
04.2026
We are excited to share the first public release of our designs for the revitalisation of the Claude T. Bissell Building at the University of Toronto.
The project, developed in collaboration with Executive Architects Adamson Associates, proposes a comprehensive reimagining of the Brutalist icon at the heart of the St. George Campus, opening up its cellular interior, creating a new pavilion-style entrance on Sussex Avenue, and establishing a genuine social heart for the Faculty of Information.
The University of Toronto has both announced the project and launched a dedicated page where you can follow the progress of the revitalisation. Visit it here.
TC 163 – Alison Brooks Architects: Architecture 2004 – 2024
12.2025
Our new practice monograph, Alison Brooks Architects: Architecture 2004–2024, is out now.
Published by international architectural magazine, TC Cuadernos, this dual English and Spanish edition (TC 163) captures two decades of our work. The 386-page monograph charts 18 built works completed in the past 20 years, extensively documented with descriptive texts, photographs, drawings and emblematic construction details that illuminate each project’s tectonic and conceptual intent.
The portfolio showcases Alison Brooks Architects’ ethos, demonstrating how the practice fuses an endlessly inventive architectural imagination with a profound sensitivity to the diverse cultural and natural histories that form each project’s provenance.
Contributors
Introduction by Ricardo Meri de la Maza, ‘On the Essence of Alison Brooks’ Architecture’
Interview between Jose Maria de Lapuerta with Alison Brooks
Alison Brooks Architects
Publisher
TC Cuadernos
English, Spanish
386 Pages, Paperback
ISBN: 978-84-17753-60-3
Also available for purchase at your local independent bookstore.
Knights Park Wins Architecture Masterprize ‘Best of Best’
12.2025
We are thrilled to announce that Knights Park in Eddington, North West Cambridge – in collaboration with Pollard Thomas Edwards – has won an Architecture Masterprize ‘Best of Best’ award from submissions spanning over 72 countries.
Named ‘Best of Best’ in the Residential Architecture Multi-Unit category, this new neighbourhood features ‘through’ houses spanning street to mews, ‘palazzo’ apartments that carry forward the tradition of set-piece urban architecture, and garden-access blocks. A shared design language unifies both architects’ contributions, merging civic sensibilities across the development and generous green infrastructure.
We are honoured to be recognised alongside works by Álvaro Siza Vieira, Kengo Kuma, Zaha Hadid Architects and Shigeru Ban, and are especially proud to have delivered the net-zero carbon development of 249 homes within the University of Cambridge and The Hill Group’s 150-hectare Eddington urban extension.
RIBA Roundtable on Housing Quality and Design
12.2025
Alison Brooks participated in a roundtable hosted by the Rt Hon Sir James Cleverly MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government – which was focused on delivering high-quality housing.
Joined by housing experts, the conversation explored securing local support for new homes, raising design standards and tackling barriers to high-quality development. She was joined by Chris Williamson, Jennifer Dixon, Adam Khan, Alex Ely, Annalie Riches, Katie Clemence-Jackson, David Stronge, Félicie Krikler, Jessam Al-Jawad, Lloyd Preston-Allen, Alice Brownfield, Simon Bayliss and Tom Bloxham.
Brooks continues to support RIBA’s engagement with MPs and peers across the political spectrum to influence built environment policy and promote positions on building safety, well-designed homes and places, net zero, as well as international trade.
Photo from RIBA.
First Look: 405 Sherbourne, Toronto, Canada
12.2025
First look at 405 Sherbourne – a collaboration between Alison Brooks Architects and architectsAlliance – that will add 300 units of affordable housing for singles, couples and families to St. James Town for CreateTO and Toronto Community Housing.
Positioned within a diverse urban context ranging from low-rise homes to mid-rise apartments, the neighbourhood is set to transform with recently approved towers exceeding 40 storeys along the Sherbourne corridor – supported by close proximity to Sherbourne subway station and Downtown Toronto’s PMTSA network.
The project’s split floor plate maximizes corner units and dual-aspect homes, while supporting a deliberate unit mix: 19% three-bedroom family homes, 50% one-bedroom and 30% two-bedroom units – promoting generous, high-quality living spaces for a broad community.
Stretching from Sherbourne Street to Bleecker Street, the scheme prioritizes the public realm at ground level, enhancing green space, improving cycling amenities and parking and strengthening connections to Sherbourne Street’s primary cycling network.