Our residential courtyard-tower, Cadence, at King’s Cross for Related Argent was given special mention in this Sunday’s Guardian/Observer Newspapers. Rowan Moore highlighted Cadence via a thoughtful retrospective, as a key feature in the King’s Cross masterplan.

We applaud Camden Council, Related Argent and the countless talented individuals from various fields who have contributed to the overall project’s success. With over two decades of evolution, King’s Cross has been rightfully submitted for this year’s RIBA awards program.

“Alison Brooks’s building, standing at the end of a long vista, offers some of the vivacity that other buildings lack. It consists of a conjoined pair of red brick towers, one tall and central, the other off-centre and angled away from the prevailing right angles, with jiggered rhythms of windows and recessed balconies. Irregular arrays of arches appear at top and bottom, and at one or two places halfway up, that follow not purely circular Bézier curves, which have an ancient-futuristic, Saharan-Star Wars feel. They have a mannered bounciness, palpably not carrying much weight. In the foyers and on some of the upper floors, arches extrude into vaults, which with the twists in the plan and a small courtyard create intriguing layers of inside and outside space. It’s not that every building need be as complicated as this, but it brings a welcome sense of adventure.” – Rowan Moore

Photographs captured by Edmund Sumner

Source

‘Nervous of its own boldness’: the (almost) radical rebirth of King’s Cross

We’re thrilled announce that our award-winning higher education project is receiving critical acclaim on the North American Continent.

To read the full article, click here.

Our first practice monograph is now available for purchase! We’re proud to be collaborating with leading architectural publisher, TC Cuadernos, on their first monograph of a woman-led practice.

“The work of Alison Brooks Architects fuses an endlessly inventive architectural imagination with profound sensitivity to the diverse cultural and natural histories that form each project’s provenance. This ethos underpins the extraordinary array of nuanced and joyful works illustrated in this book, collectively described by Alison Brooks as ‘experimental archetypes’. This 386-page monograph charts eighteen 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 private houses in this book define Brooks’ early career and continue to be a test bed for experimentation. They illuminate her ability to conjure deeply human architectures of plasticity and informality. Organic geometries and expressive roof forms loosen cartesian boundaries to offer indeterminate spaces: these simultaneously act as a canvas for daily life, workplaces, or private art collections.

As the practice’s work has grown in scale, their urban housing schemes have been motivated by Brooks’ foundational belief that the architect’s duty to the city, and society, is to provide beautiful, sustainable, and accessible housing for all as a framework for individual and community well-being. This book reveals residential projects characterised by spatial generosity and a uniquely sculptural approach to form and material.

Alison Brooks Architects’ more recent educational and cultural projects emphasise architecture as a celebration of time, space, and light. Here Brooks interweaves spatial narratives with structural and material invention, exhibiting ever more sophisticated architectural languages and environments to engender new forms of social exchange.”

Order your copy here.

Alison Brooks is honoured to be writing the Foreword for this essential book: a much-needed project to publicly acknowledge, disseminate and celebrate the work of great women architects in practice.

RIBA Bookshop:
‘Through illustrated interviews, each woman shares how they are responding to a profound disconnect between architecture and the people and landscape it serves. Their visions, methods and models of leadership are essential to connecting the needs of humans and the planet.’

Available for pre-orders now, order your copy here.

The Smile was the cover feature and first project to be explored in Archdaily’s article covering the ‘Meteoric Rise of Cross-Laminated Timber’.

The article referenced the landmark fully timber project made in collaboration with the American Hardwood Export Council (AHEC), Arup, and the London Design Festival. Showcasing the structural and spatial potential of cross-laminated American tulipwood The Smile uses CLT’s structural capacity to cantilever visitors in its 34m-long curve, up to three meters above the ground, without additional support.

Read the full Archdaily article here.

Source

The Meteoric Rise of Cross-Laminated Timber Construction: 50 Projects that Use Engineered-Wood Architecture

Ben Flatman of BD praised the Exeter College Cohen Quad in his recent building study, stating that, “(the) Cohen Quad is a living manifestation of what the contemporary, inclusive, Oxford college has become.”

To read the full commendatory article, click here.

The Exeter College Cohen Quad was featured in the May / June issue of achitektur fachmagazin.

“Mithilfe von Licht und Transparenz, hochwertigen Materialien und diversen informellen Treffpunkten realisierten die Architekten rund um Alison Brooks einen Campus, der für weit mehr als nur akademische Leistung steht. Sie hoffen, dass die nächsten Generationen den Bildungsbau nutzen, um eine Zukunft voller Menschlichkeit, Inklusion und Empathie zu schaffen. Nun liegt es an den künftigen Hochschülern der Eliteuniversität, diese Vision in die Tat umzusetzen – der architektonische Grundstein scheint mit Cohen Quad erfolgreich gelegt zu sein.”

English translation:

“With the help of light and transparency, high-quality materials and various informal meeting places, Alison Brooks Architects created a campus that stands for much more than just academic achievement. They hope that the next generations will use the educational building to create a future full of humanity, inclusion and empathy. Now it is up to the future students of the elite university to put this vision into practice – the architectural foundation stone seems to have been successfully laid with Cohen Quad.”

Subscribe to Austrian magazine, or read the online article here.

“Culturally, we still expect women to bear the primary role of childcare and running a home.” – in conversation with FT, Alison Brooks reflects on the career-structure problem for women architects. →

“One of the most exciting and innovative contemporary architectural practices, Alison Brooks Architects is the subject of an upcoming exhibition at Clare Hall.” – Azure →

A celebration of domestic life shared with an extraordinary collection of art, our house impressed the judges as a “complete piece of architecture – beautifully executed and considered.” →

Alison Brooks Architects was named as one of House & Garden Top 100 Interior Designers & Architects. →

“From its big, sheltering roof to its little desk windows, Alison Brooks Architects’ new quad for Exeter College, Oxford is a tour de force that puts people first.” — Rowan Moore for the Observer →

Alison Brooks is featured in Monocle reflecting on ‘Kitchen Stool’, a collaboration with Felix de Pass for the 2014 London Design Festival. Manufactured by Benchmark, the design in solid American Cherry was partly inspired by Alison’s childhood in Ontario.

For the ‘Building London’ episode, Alison Brooks joined Eric Parry (Eric Parry Architects) and presenter Laurence Scott to discuss the development of London, as part of the London Festival of Architecture.

Follow the link to revisit the episode → https://bbc.in/3xM70oF

Alison Brooks is pleased to be featured in Randy Deutsch’s new book “Adapt As An Architect: A Mid-Career Companion” (RIBA Publishing, 2021).

Drawing insights from various international practices, the publication aims to support the growth of architects in the developing stages of their careers. → https://bit.ly/3y633w2

Delighted to have Cadence, King’s Cross featured in NLA London‘s annual Tall Buildings Survey. Released today, the report presents new data and reflects on the impact of the pandemic on London’s tall buildings pipeline. Explore the full report →