News
Cadence in King’s Cross has won the SFE Project of the Year award in the New Build (UK) category.
11.2025
The judges praised it as “a very well executed project,” particularly impressed by the bent aluminium window profiles set within precast arches.
The cladding features brick-faced precast concrete panels with punched windows, forming striking double-height arches in front of stick curtain walling at ground level along Canal Reach, as well as throughout the podium’s internal courtyard and crowning top floors.
This landmark mixed-use building brings a quietly flamboyant presence to the head of Lewis Cubitt Park, claiming pride of place within the King’s Cross Central Masterplan. With its idiosyncratic arched language, this ‘courtyard tower’ is not just one of the most memorable buildings but a demonstration project for offsite manufacturing techniques.
We extend our gratitude to the awarding body the Society of Façade Engineering (SFE), our client Related Argent and collaborators FMDC Ltd and Laing O’Rourke. Looking forward to celebrating more successes together.
Images by Matt Williams (FMDC)
Alison Brooks on Timber: Interview in Catalonia’s Leading Newspaper
11.2025
Alison Brooks’ latest interview by Antoni Ribas Tur in Ara, the most widely read newspaper written exclusively in the Catalan language, is now available online under the title “Exposed wood helps people feel better / La fusta vista ajuda la gent a sentir-se millor.”
The interview coincides with Brooks’ appearance in Forested Future, a documentary directed by Petr Krejčí and produced by The American Hardwood Export Council (AHEC) with Alison Brooks Architects, which recently featured at BARQ Festival, an international architecture film festival held in Barcelona, Spain. During the conversation, she shared her perspective on some of the pressing issues of our time. She also delves into the political challenges and innovation opportunities of timber construction, alongside the spiritual connection that the material elicits.
“Wood is one of the ways architecture gets closest to nature,” Brooks observes. She believes that working with wood, because of all its intrinsic qualities, brings a natural and emotional connection. “The way wood expresses growth and the passage of time through its grain connects us with something larger than ourselves: nature, the unmade world,” she adds.
Brooks also addressed the need to overcome the fire-risk stigma associated with mass timber. She referenced The Smile, the first project constructed using large-scale hardwood cross-laminated timber (CLT), as a demonstration of the economic viability and environmental sustainability of timber as a building material. She acknowledged that current trade restrictions also impede the broader adoption of timber construction.
However, as Antoni notes, Brooks sees a silver lining in these challenges. “Crises like this renew attention to local forests, ecosystems and cultures – and how we can make them more sustainable and productive,” she explains. “Working with wood is a way of life. It sustains communities – from forest managers to carpenters – and in the case of Indigenous peoples of North America, it reflects thousands of years of symbiosis with forests.”
London Premiere of ‘Forested Future’ at the Institute of Contemporary Arts
11.2025
Last night was a celebration of hope: that in an increasingly urbanised world of eight billion people, there remains a future that is forested.
The London premiere of ‘Forested Future’ took place at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, where the 90-minute documentary by award-winning Czech filmmaker Petr Krejčí and American Hardwood Export Council, traces the power and provenance of eastern forest hardwoods, through the architectural practice of Alison Brooks, exploring the stories that link us to these ancient forests and the people who depend on them for their livelihoods – from foresters, artisans and ecologists to the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin.
Brooks’s journey began with her mother’s love of the Arts and Crafts movement, which first sparked her interest in architecture. In the film, she traces the origins of the cherrywood used in her projects back to its source, elevating timber from mere building material to a medium for emotional and spiritual connection.
As the documentary observes: “Our connection with nature is fading. In the face of climate change, biodiversity threats and environmental decline, sources of optimism are increasingly precious.” In the spirit of optimism, the evening crescendoed with an electrifying performance by Van Wagner – forester, educator and musician also featured in the film – who had the entire venue stomping and singing along in unison.
The film continues its journey at the Barcelona International Architecture Film Festival (BARQ), with its premiere at Cinemes Girona on 6 November at 6pm, following its screening at the Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival in Prague at the end of October.
Alison Brooks Architects Shortlisted for ‘200-Block Banff Avenue Redevelopment’ Architectural Competition
10.2025
Alison Brooks Architects, in collaboration with Kumlin Sullivan Architecture, has been shortlisted along with five other international teams from an open call to design a new Visitor Centre, Mobility Hub and Residential Cluster.
This ambitious project aims to create world-class visitor facilities and open spaces for both residents and visitors, preserve important heritage buildings and address the town’s housing needs. Located at the heart of the Town of Banff – gateway to the Canadian Rocky Mountains UNESCO World Heritage Site and the world’s first national park, Banff Park Museum National Historic Site in Alberta – which is renowned for its dramatic mountain landscapes, pristine waterways, wildlife and historic townscape, Banff National Park attracts over four million visitors annually.
Organised by the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) and supported by Parks Canada, the competition seeks exemplary net-zero-carbon and environmentally sustainable design proposals that demonstrate design excellence, heritage conservation and adaptability.
Alison Brooks Architects is excited to enter the next phase of the competition with collaborators Kumlin Sullivan Architecture, Townshend Landscape Architects, The TULA Project, Âsokan Generational Developments and Arup. Phase II of the competition concludes in December 2025, followed by public engagement and jury deliberation.
We are honoured to be shortlisted alongside:
EVOQ Architecture + Ryder Architecture
KENGO KUMA & ASSOCIATES + Paul Raff Studio
KPMB Architects
Revery Architecture Inc.
STANTEC ARCHITECTURE AND ENGINEERING P.C.
Forested Future: A Petr Krejčí Documentary Featuring Alison Brooks
10.2025
This November marks the world premiere of Forested Future, a 90-minute documentary by Petr Krejčí that traces the power and provenance of eastern forest hardwoods, specifically the American Black Cherry, through the practice of architect Alison Brooks.
Born in Canada and one of the UK’s most influential and internationally acclaimed architects, Brooks’ architectural ethos bridges cultural memory and the future. From experimental houses and installations to landmark cultural institutions and large-scale mixed-use developments, her practice is known for architecture that weaves together community connections, material expression and environmental responsibility.
Beyond its environmental benefits and structural potential, Brooks elevates timber from a building material to a medium for emotional and spiritual connection. Her understanding of context as physical, cultural and spiritual stems from her dual Canadian-European education and her growing appreciation for North American indigenous peoples’ worldview. Tapping into animism – the belief that nature comprises beings with whom we can form relationships – she draws upon a profound reverence for the natural world, returning each summer to the Canadian wilderness that continues to shape her vision. Her selection of American black cherry timber serves as both a signature palette and a personal tribute to her mother, who instilled in her an appreciation for the grain and warmth of antique cherrywood furniture. It was also through her mother’s love of history and the Arts and Crafts movement that Alison’s interest in architecture was first sparked.
As the film itself observes: “In an increasingly urbanised world of eight billion people, our connection with nature is fading. In the face of climate change, biodiversity threats and environmental decline, sources of optimism are increasingly precious.”
Forested Future explores our complex relationship with trees and forests, following the individuals and communities working to restore the deep-rooted bond we share with nature. From foresters, artisans, and ecologists to the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin, this gently inspiring documentary gives voice to those whose sense of identity is inseparable from the forests of the Appalachian Mountains in which they live and work.
Barcelona Premiere: BARQ Film Festival, Cinemes Girona, 6th November – 6pm
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 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