News
Alison Brooks Architects and Feix&Merlin Win the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) 61 Aldwych Architectural Competition
10.2025
We’re delighted to announce that Alison Brooks Architects and Feix&Merlin have won the international competition to transform 61 Aldwych Crescent into a pioneering academic hub for the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).
Our design will breathe new life into the historic 17,600m² building on the corner of Aldwych and Kingsway, within the Strand Conservation Area in central London. Previously home to the Air Ministry, Television House and later ExxonMobil headquarters, the new scheme will provide LSE with a new “front door,” enhancing its central London campus with generous teaching, research and social learning spaces.
The competition process included a public exhibition and consultation on five shortlisted proposals, where the Alison Brooks Architects and Feix&Merlin scheme also unanimously won the public vote.
We were honoured to be shortlisted alongside four other talented teams:
Ennead with 10 Design
Studios Architecture with Ayre Chamberlain Gaunt and Miltiadou Cook Mitzman
Beyond Space with Allies and Morrison
3XN with Adamson
Alison Brooks responded: “We’re thrilled to be working with LSE and Feix&Merlin to create an inspiring new teaching and research hub at 61 Aldwych. Our vision will transform the existing inward-looking monolith into an open, outward-facing campus threshold filled with organically connected convening spaces, light and greenery. We’re collaborating with a fantastic project team to ensure this project supports LSE’s sustainability goals and world-leading academic mission.”
Tarek Merlin, co-founder and director of Feix&Merlin Architects, said: “We’re so proud to announce that Alison Brooks Architects and Feix&Merlin have been selected as the winning team for the reinvention of 61 Aldwych (61A) for LSE. This is a landmark moment for us – our biggest project to date. Our vision for this major heritage retrofit and next-generation learning environment was shaped through the lens of biophilic design – could this be LSE’s greenest building yet?”
According to Julian Robinson, LSE’s Director of Estates, the team’s “genuinely collaborative” dynamic and holistic approach to biophilic design principles stood out: “The commitment to re-use and a relatively light but impactful intervention into the fabric, was appreciated – not just in terms of economy but also sustainability. The wholehearted embrace of integrated biophilic design, using specialist consultants, was distinctive and convincing and will create a new typology for social learning space at LSE.”
Robinson also praised the scheme’s ‘well-considered link through to LSE’s Old Building and the suggestion of additional links on the upper floors.’
The project is scheduled to start on site in autumn 2027, with completion expected in 2028.
Competition Team:
Architects: Alison Brooks Architects and Feix&Merlin
MEP, Sustainability, Fire, Acoustics, AV, Vertical Transport, Lighting: Arup
Structural Engineer: AKT II
Design Manager: Plan A
PD Advisor: Gleeds
Biophilic & Wellbeing Consultant: Oliver Heath Design
Published Articles:
Architects’ Journal – ‘Feix & Merlin with Alison Brooks Triumph in Latest LSE Contest’
Richard Neutra’s Lovell Health House: Book Launch and Panel Discussion
10.2025
Yesterday we joined forces with the Twentieth Century Society, to celebrate the launch of a significant addition to scholarship on the origins of the Modern Movement in America – ‘Richard Neutra and the Making of the Lovell Health House, 1925–35’.
Edited by Edward Dimendberg, it tells the story of the Lovell Health House in Los Angeles, designed and built by Richard Neutra from 1927 to 1929, from its inspiration through its construction to its impact.
It was a ‘demonstration house’: widely documented and written about in leading architectural journals when it was built. These publications elevated the house to the status of an icon in the history of modernism and an essential work of the international modern movement, from Berlin to Tokyo and Paris to Milan, at the high point of its influence and fame.
Held at the Alan Baxter Gallery, London, the event featured a conversation moderated by Ingrid Schröder with Nicholas Olsberg, Edward Dimendberg, William Mann and Alison Brooks. Together, they explored the making of the Lovell Health House and its lasting significance for contemporary architecture, pedagogy and criticism.
The Lovell Health House helped to launch the international career of one of the central figures of 20th-century architecture, pioneered the use of concrete and steel in the dwelling, radically advanced the ideals of hygienic, carefree and open-air living, and explored new relationships between space, structure, the natural world and physical and psychological well-being – all of which were touched upon in the debate in the room. The book includes new texts by Edward Dimendberg, Crosby Doe and Nicholas Olsberg, a chronology by Thomas Hines, historic texts by Willard D. Morgan and Richard Neutra, and specially commissioned colour photographs by Grant Mudford.
A huge thank you to our co-hosts for the event, Lund Humphries and the Twentieth Century Society. Copies of the book are available now on the Lund Humphries website here.
Jury Member for the 58th Canadian Architect Awards of Excellence
10.2025
At this year’s Canadian Architect magazine Awards of Excellence jury, Alison Brooks discussed a fantastic array of projects with co-jurors Kelly Buffey OAA FRAIC, Sonia Gagné and photographer Salina Kassam.
From cultural centres to cabins, across a territory of thousands of square miles, the jury reviewed an astonishing range of work – remarkable in scale, diversity and quality – emerging across Canada. Bravo to the designers and the commissioning clients!
Thank you to Elsa Lam and Canadian Architect for orchestrating a rigorous judging process and to Akb Architects for their generous hosting. Alison joined the 58th Canadian Architect Awards of Excellence, continuing a tradition since 1967.
For more information on the award, click here.
Constructing Realities Lecture Series at UCL East Marshgate
10.2025
Michael Mueller, Director at Alison Brooks Architects, presented ‘Making Architecture in Context’ as part of the Constructing Realities Lecture Series at UCL East Marshgate, kicking off the first studio for MEng Engineering and Architectural Design students.
Hosted by The Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment and supported by the student society SEAD, the Constructing Realities series invites speakers to explore the design and making of our built environment, examining how invention, creativity, collaboration, and technology are shaping the future of the spaces we live in.
Join Our Expanding Studio
10.2025
We are looking for Part 2 Architectural Assistants and Architects to join our London studio and work on exciting projects across the UK and internationally.
We are seeking creative, collaborative and motivated people who want to contribute to an ambitious and inventive design culture.
Find out more and apply via our Careers page or please email your CV, portfolio and a short letter (PDF, max 12MB) explaining why you would like to join us to: careers@alisonbrooksarchitects.com
Five Teams Shortlisted for Latest LSE Development
09.2025
The project to revitalise 61A Aldwych Crescent for teaching and research will help consolidate the university’s London campus.
Alison Brooks Architects are delighted to be collaborating with Feix&Merlin Architects in this competition for The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).
Five design teams are in the running for the LSE competition to overhaul an Edwardian office building in Holborn, central London. Located on the corner of Aldwych and Kingsway, the 110-year-old block once hosted the Air Ministry before becoming home to television stations (when it was known as Television House) and later ExxonMobil.
We are happy to be shortlisted alongside Allies and Morrison, STUDIOS Architecture with Ayre Chamberlain Gaunt Ltd, Ennead Architects with 10 Design, and 3XN/GXN with Adamson Associates Architects – good luck to all.
Read the write up on the Architects’ Journal here.