News
Rubicon wins Best Design for Four Storeys or More at the Housebuilder Awards 2023
11.2023
We’re pleased to share that our Rubicon project at Eddington, North West Cambridge has won ‘Best Design for Four Storeys or More’ at the Housebuilder Awards 2023.
Congratulations to Hill Group and their construction team. ABA are proud to have delivered design, planning and construction documents for this project after our 2025 developer/architect competition-winning bid. Thanks to all our collaborators and individuals who made this project a success!
To learn more about the award-winning project click here.
New Practice Leadership
11.2023
We are delighted to announce two new additions to our Practice Leadership. Please join us in congratulating Michael Mueller for his new position as Board Director and Juliana Rocha, promoted to Associate.
Michael’s new role is a testament to his unflagging commitment to our practice ethos demonstrated by his motivational and inclusive management approach, mastery of technical challenges and consistently brilliant client service. He has led our practice’s high-profile projects in the UK and abroad, at all stages of design and construction. His notable built projects include the Cohen Quad in Oxford; sixty residential buildings across three sites at Eddington, Cambridge; and Cadence, ABA’s landmark arched towers in King’s Cross. Michael builds lasting client and team relationships that extend beyond the world of work to create a supportive practice culture.
Juliana Rocha is one of ABA’s most experienced architects and a dynamic force in our organization. She co-leads our BIM Management team and is ABA’s Timber Construction Lead. Her achievements range from successful competition designs to detailed construction packages. Recently, she has stewarded our mass timber, net-zero carbon Homerton College Entrance Building project through construction documentation. Her collaborative spirit, combined with technical know-how and yoga-infused energy, are a fantastic asset for our practice.
To find our more about our Team and Practice please click here.
ABA at The British School at Rome
10.2023
Last month Alison Brooks Architects sponsored our architect Chen Man to attend the The British School at Rome’s new Architecture & Urbanism summer school. Led by Sheila O’Donnell and John Tuomey (O’Donnell + Tuomey) and joined by architects from 10 other practices, the week’s study ‘A Moment in Rome’ offered students the chance to explore the wonders of the city and the BSR’s archives.
A week-long study of in between spaces in Rome, focusing on moments, thresholds, and transitional passages. The week kicked off at San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane, sketching in the pocket spaces of Borromini’s masterful work. Navigating our way through Rome using the Nolli Map, we explored Rome’s public spaces and examined the intricate urban filigree all the while admiring Nolli’s accuracy. A collective ‘Moment’ in Rome, for the group, was experiencing the Pantheon from inside it’s brick walls, observing the brick construction then stepping into the central space. The weeks analysis culminated in a model, synthesising our key takeaways from the trip and how our observations in Rome can influence our work in practice. My piece reflected on the void spaces formed by the spatial adjacency of cornices, arches and vaults that beautifully frame the city of Rome.” – Chen Man
Knight’s Park Reconnaisance @Eddington Cambridge
08.2023
Last week Director Michael Mueller and Communications Manager Castana Arango went on a reconnaissance mission to check our multiple buildings nearing completion at Eddington, Cambridge.
Knight’s Park is at its final phase under construction; our second project, Rubicon, on Eddington’s southern edge is finishing soon. Of Rubicon’s five buildings, two are already home to 68 University key workers. It’s great to see the UK’s first net-zero masterplan in action. First stop was our new Knight’s Park neighbourhood of 124 homes, 55 by ABA and its avenues, mews and exemplar car-free Green Street.
‘It’s interesting to see how the inhabited bridge works to connect two of ABA’s three fan-shaped Palazzo apartment buildings. The spaces between these three buildings create differentiated passages into the neighbourhood. Beyond the Palazzos our terraced house & villas mansard roofs with our trademark splayed dormers convey an identifiable domestic character. Along each street our house and block designs are complemented by PTE’s terraced courtyard houses in scale and material. So there are similarities with Accordia but Knights Park has a more intimate semi-rural scale.’
We could see that the Green Street has come into its own, with its footbridges and seating areas, but also its fully functional reedbeds for rainwater filtering and storage benefitting residents, Cambridge’s flood management plan and wildlife. The neighbourhood really delivers our intention of bringing sensory delight, biodiversity, and healthy living to resident’s everyday experience. We are thrilled to see how, as the project reaches completion, first residents have started to care and nurture its green spaces. We’re onside with Alexis Butterfield of Pollard Thomas Edwards, the scale and texture of Knight’s Park is super successful!
Next stop Rubicon…
Home Ground @ABA for the London Festival of Architecture 2023
07.2023
This June, the office welcomed visitors to experience our Home Ground installation. After being exhibited at the 2021 Venice Architecture Biennale ‘How will we live together?’ and then travelling to Germany in 2022 for the Biennale Meets Roma exhibition, our installation finally found a home at our studio in Kentish Town.
As part of the festival, we held an event where Alison Brooks and Associate Ceri Edmunds discussed the role of the Biennale in architectural culture, the ideas behind our installation and the projects it represents.
Alison Brooks and Associate Ceri Edmunds discussed our approach to the installation, the process of making it during Covid-19 times, and the projects it presents. We finalised the evening with a conversation about the role of the Biennale in the making of architectural culture.
One of our initial intentions for the installation was to generate a space for discussion. It brings us much joy to see the exhibition’s continued significance.
Architects, not Architecture Keynote Speech
06.2023
Alison Brooks spoke of her Canadian upbringing and architectural inspirations in a unique London event that prohibits speakers from talking about their practice’s work.
Watch the full keynote speech by clicking here.