publications
13 Feb | Breaking Ground
February 18, 2021
This week’s Telegraph Luxury Magazine features Alison talking to Caroline Roux alongside other ground breaking female architects – Farshid Moussavi, Eva Jiricna, Stephanie Macdonald, Jee Liu and Sadie Morgan.
This week’s Telegraph Luxury Magazine features Alison talking to Caroline Roux alongside other ground breaking female architects – Farshid Moussavi, Eva Jiricna, Stephanie Macdonald, Jee Liu and Sadie Morgan.
“Last year Alison Brooks completed one of the UK’s most stunning private houses, in the Wye Valley. She added a black-clad extension to an 18th-century farmhouse, and inside has created the ideal setting for her client’s huge collection of tribal artefacts. ‘It’s been a 10-year project,’ she says. ‘It’s amazing to work so closely with a client, because you are telling their story. But I bring the same care to social housing. I’d never design anything I didn’t want to live in myself.’
Brooks has built theatres, galleries, and was the first woman to design a major addition to an Oxford college. The Cohen Quad at Exeter College, completed in 2019, is an extraordinary S-shaped building with internal cloisters composed of spruce fins.”…
Photographs by Tereza CERVENOVA Styling by Tara GREVILLE
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Alison Brooks Architects Named as One of Britain’s Top Ten Architects in this Month’s Avontuura
December 9, 2020
Alison Brooks Architects named as one of Britain’s top 10 architects in this month’s Avontuura alongside Adjaye Associates, Foster + Partners, Heatherwick, Zaha Hadid, and others.
Alison Brooks Architects named as one of Britain’s top 10 architects in this month’s Avontuura alongside Adjaye Associates, Foster + Partners, Heatherwick, Zaha Hadid, and others.
“There’s a timelessness to Alison Brooks Architect’s work that I find quite interesting. First and foremost, their designs are beautiful; but the creativity and research-driven aspect of their practice are what I find most interesting. Their buildings are sensitive to their place while speaking concurrently to their future, and each project has a sculptural quality to it that isn’t lost in detailing. Some of their more well-known work includes the Quarterhouse in Folkestone and Exeter College Cohen Quad in Oxford (pictured).”
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Wood Awards 2020: A Treasured Wooden Object
November 26, 2020
In celebration of the 2020 Wood Awards, Alison Brooks shared ‘A Treasured Wooden Object’ with Disegno Works.
In celebration of the 2020 Wood Awards, Alison Brooks shared ‘A Treasured Wooden Object’ with Disegno Works.
“These carved maple wood scrolls, each about 30cm long, hang as a pair on a wall in my living room. They formed part of my mother’s collection of 18th- and 19th-century “Canadiana”, which is the unassuming name for the art of Canada’s early settlers.”
Read the full article at the Wood Awards website.
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Alison Brooks Architects named Dezeen Architect of the Year 2020
November 24, 2020
We’re delighted to receive this recognition from Dezeen’s international jury and honoured to be in the company of NADAA, Studio Gang, MAD, Lever Architecture and Carl Fredrik Svenstedt Architect.
With huge thanks to all our clients and colleagues for supporting our work and practice ethos outlined in our statement.
With very best wishes!
Alison Brooks & the ABA Team
We’re delighted to receive this recognition from Dezeen’s international jury and honoured to be in the company of NADAA, Studio Gang, MAD, Lever Architecture and Carl Fredrik Svenstedt Architect.
With huge thanks to all our clients and colleagues for supporting our work and practice ethos outlined in our statement.
With very best wishes!
Alison Brooks & the ABA Team
JUDGES’ COMMENTS
The judges said that the practice is “conscious and questioning, and adopts a public interest approach and that this is the direction we want architecture to move towards”. They described Alison Brooks Architects as “a groundbreaking practice with great ethos – particularly the way that they question both norms and the profession itself.”
The Dezeen awards aim to identify the world’s best architecture, interiors and design, as well as the studios and the individual architects and designers producing the most outstanding work. This year the awards received more than 4,300 entries from over 85 countries across five continents.
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Alison Brooks Interview for The Davidson Prize
November 23, 2020
Alison Brooks is honoured to be judging The Davidson Prize 2021, along with fellow judges Thomas Heatherwick (Heatherwick Studio), Michelle Ogundehin, Narinder Sagoo (Foster + Partners), and Sonia Solicari (Museum of the Home).
Alison Brooks is honoured to be judging The Davidson Prize 2021, along with fellow judges Thomas Heatherwick (Heatherwick Studio), Michelle Ogundehin, Narinder Sagoo (Foster + Partners), and Sonia Solicari (Museum of the Home).
Each year entrants are asked to consider a different aspect of the home, starting with future ways of working. Amanda Baillieu (Archiboo Awards, Developer Collective) asked Alison how architects should rethink housing design. Read the interview on the link.
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Atoll Spa Hotel at the BauNetz magazine
November 20, 2020
Alison Brooks Architect’s Atoll Spa Hotel has been selected by design magazine BauNetz as one of the Best Hotels and Restaurants in the World from the last 20 years.
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Alison Brooks Architect’s Atoll Spa Hotel has been selected by design magazine BauNetz as one of the Best Hotels and Restaurants in the World from the last 20 years.
The Helgoland hotel is featured alongside ten other magnificent places to add to the post lockdown to-do-list, including Philippe Starck’s Sanderson Hotel in London; ‘Under’, Snøhetta’s underwater restaurant; and Hotel Puerta America, Madrid, where each floor was designed by luminaries such as Zaha Hadid, Norman Foster, David Chipperfield or Ron Arad.
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Read Alison Brooks’ Interview with the University of Waterloo Magazine
02.11.2020
University of Waterloo magazine has published an interview with Alison Brooks where she talks about her book ”Ideals then Ideas” and how the COVID-19 pandemic has underscored and reinforced her studio’s ultimate purpose, which is ”improving the quality of life for everybody.”
University of Waterloo magazine has published an interview with Alison Brooks where she talks about her book ”Ideals then Ideas” and how the COVID-19 pandemic has underscored and reinforced her studio’s ultimate purpose, which is ”improving the quality of life for everybody.”
”At the end of the day, it’s about trying to make the world a better place. In architecture, we are physically forming the places where people will live, work and play, and so there is a responsibility in that. You must bring joy, bring your ideals and bring that magic to solving problems that impact a lot of people.”
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Open City – Common Cause
10.06.2020
Alison Brooks is a Trustee of Open City, a charity dedicated to the idea that architecture and urban design must make our built environment more accessible and inclusive to everyone. In this article, she discusses the post-covid 19 period with optimism.
Alison Brooks is a Trustee of Open City, a charity dedicated to the idea that architecture and urban design must make our built environment more accessible and inclusive to everyone. In this article, she discusses the post-covid 19 period with optimism.
https://open-city.org.uk/blog/common-cause
The reset button being pushed by the pandemic is a chance for human culture to change for the better. “Times of crisis can bring out the best in people. Inevitably, they make us see the world through a new lens. This coronavirus pandemic is perhaps the first time humanity is seeing the world through a common lens. Suddenly we’re all on the same side, acutely conscious of our interdependence.”
In an interview with Dezeen published last month, Alison Brooks also states that coronavirus is forcing architects to reconsider the importance of amenities like balconies and terraces, as well as space in general. “Whether or not there’s a pandemic, it’s really important to have those outdoor spaces,” she told Dezeen’s Marcus Fairs. “I think there’s going to be a value shift.”
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Virtual Design Festival – Alison Brooks interview
01.05.2020
Alison speaks to Dezeen in this live discussion with Marcus Fairs, as part of their Screentime interview series sponsored by Enscape, for the 2020 Viritual Design Festival.
Alison speaks to Dezeen in this live discussion with Marcus Fairs, as part of their Screentime interview series sponsored by Enscape, for the 2020 Viritual Design Festival.
https://www.dezeen.com/2020/05/01/live-interview-alison-brooks-vdf/
In her discussion with Dezeen founder and editor-in-chief Marcus Fairs, discusses the history of her practice, and the studio’s past and current projects. She answers questions relating to work and life during the coronavirus lockdown, housing in London and the politics of good design, and timber construction and embodied carbon.
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Building Design: Alison Brooks gets OK for biggest project yet
17.12.2019
Architect’s 38-storey Vancouver regeneration scheme clears key planning hurdles. The residential-led mixed-use development in Vancouver includes a 38-storey tower as well as mansion-block and point-block elements.
Architect’s 38-storey Vancouver regeneration scheme clears key planning hurdles. The residential-led mixed-use development in Vancouver includes a 38-storey tower as well as mansion-block and point-block elements.
The practice’s The Passages scheme, earmarked for the Canadian city’s Surrey district, will deliver 90,000 sqm of new space – including 1,126 homes, 2,700 sqm of amenity space, and 1,683 sqm of retail and commercial space.
Brooks said Surrey city centre had a desire to create a high-density, transport-oriented and walkable downtown core to address “critical housing need”, and that the character of tall buildings and how they merged to form a beautiful skyline with “humane and diverse streetscapes” had been a key design driver.
“The proposal for The Passages on Whalley Boulevard is for an open city block, with free-flowing public space at its heart, lined by a mix of uses which aim to serve its residents and the wider city of Surrey,” the practice said.
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In Conversation with Alison Brooks, Parlour Magazine
21.11.2019
Parlour Magazine have published an in-depth interview with Alison Brooks, in which she discusses a range of topics including her early career, the value of professional recognition, urban housing project work, the challenge of balancing work and motherhood, and the future of the profession.
Parlour Magazine have published an in-depth interview with Alison Brooks, in which she discusses a range of topics including her early career, the value of professional recognition, urban housing project work, the challenge of balancing work and motherhood, and the future of the profession.
“I started studying architecture at the University of Waterloo in Canada in 1981 and graduated in 1988. It was a long education, because the Waterloo program involved working every other semester after the first year, so that stretches out the program by about two years. It means that you’re very skilled up and switched on by the time you graduate….”
In Conversation With Alison Brooks
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Architects’ Journal: Alison Brooks Lands York Castle Museum Redevelopment Job
February 19, 2019
Architects’ Journal have announced Alison Brooks Architects appointment as Lead Architect and Masteplanner of the multi-million-pound redevelopment of York Castle Museum
Architects’ Journal have announced Alison Brooks Architects appointment as Lead Architect and Masteplanner of the multi-million-pound redevelopment of York Castle Museum
‘York Museum Trust has appointed the London-based practice, working with Richard Griffiths, Purcell and Todd Longstaff-Gowan Landscape Design to draw up concept work and a masterplan for the ‘reimagined museum’.
The practice was chosen from a shortlist which included Stanton Williams; Purcell Architecture; Simpson and Brown; and Wilkinson Eyre.’
“For us, Alison Brooks Architects were the ideal choice despite never working on a museum project before. We felt that they had brought together a great team and, more than anyone else, they understood the site and our approach to the project.” Reyahn King, Chief Executive, York Museums Trust
To read the full article, click here.
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Building Design: Alison Brooks lands York Castle Museum redevelopment
February 19, 2019
Building Design has published the announcement of our appointment as Lead Architect & Masterplanner for the York Castle Museum redevelopment.
Building Design has published the announcement of our appointment as Lead Architect & Masterplanner for the York Castle Museum redevelopment.
“The practice will work with Richard Griffiths Architects, Purcell Architecture and Todd Longstaff-Gowan Landscape Design, Real Studios, BDP, Appleyard and Trew, and BuroHappold Engineering on the project, described by the museum as multimillion pound.
York Castle Museum had shortlisted five practices for interview to lead the project: Alison Brooks, Purcell Architecture, Simpson & Brown, Stanton Williams and Wilkinson Eyre.”
To read the full article, click here.
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Architizer: 19 Women Architects to Watch in 2019
February 19, 2019
Alison Brooks has been named in Architizer’s ’19 Women Architects to Watch in 2019′.
Alison Brooks has been named in Architizer’s ’19 Women Architects to Watch in 2019′.
“Alison Brooks’ The Smile – a 2017 A+Award Jury Winner in the Pavilions category — is one of those projects that seems to be everywhere, its image proliferating in both print and social media years after its construction. Conceived as a “habitable arc poised on the horizon,” the engineered wood structure was created as a pavilion for the 2016 London Design Festival. The building quickly garnered international attention, and has been viewed online — by one estimate — over 290 million times, a testament to the fact that great design still has the power to make an impact.!” Julia Gamolina, Architizer
To read more, click here.
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University of Melbourne School of Design: Interview with Alison Brooks
December 12, 2018
During her visit to the Melbourne School of Design in October, Alison Brooks was interviewed by Professor Donald Bates.
During her visit to the Melbourne School of Design in October, Alison Brooks was interviewed by Professor Donald Bates.
In her interview, Alison discusses her career beginnings, practice philosophy, and award-winning works including Exeter College Cohen Quadrangle, The Smile and VXO House.
To read the full interview, click here.
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Planning Permission Granted for Tottenham Hale Regeneration Scheme
December 12, 2018
The London Borough of Haringey have granted planning permission for a major mixed-use regeneration scheme in Tottenham Hale, London.
The London Borough of Haringey have granted planning permission for a major mixed-use regeneration scheme in Tottenham Hale, London.
Alison Brooks Architects’ 183 unit mixed-use scheme Ashley Road East is one of six residential buildings by Argent Related on the Tottenham Hale masterplan site which features more than 1,000 homes along with retail, co-working and office space as well as a new health centre.
Located on the North Eastern section of the masterplan Ashley Road East will comprise of two podium mounted residential blocks formed around a central courtyard with ground floor retail, office and leisure spaces, and will play a key role in defining the new identity and quality of Argent Related’s redevelopment of Tottenham Hale.
The transformational redevelopment also includes schemes from AHMM, Pollard Thomas Edwards and RUFF Architects.
To read the full press release from Argent related, click here.
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Evening Standard: Homes & Property
November 28, 2018
Alison Brooks was interviewed by the Evening Standard on her life in Queens Park, her Victorian semi-detached house, her decor and her favourite furniture.
Design Council: Leading Women in Design
November 20, 2018
Alison Brooks is featured in Design Council’s ‘Leading Women in Design’ series. The series celebrates the 100th Anniversary of the Representation of the People Act 1918 which for the first time, granted some women the right to vote in the UK.
Alison Brooks is featured in Design Council’s ‘Leading Women in Design’ series. The series celebrates the 100th Anniversary of the Representation of the People Act 1918 which for the first time, granted some women the right to vote in the UK.
To mark this anniversary Design Council feature a series of ‘Leading Women’ who have each made invaluable contributions to shape the world that we live in today over a course of twelve months.
In her interview Alison explains why the UK should take a leaf out of Canada’s book when it comes to secondary school education, and why complex problems should always be tackled with simple solutions.
“Alison Brooks is a woman on a mission. Flying to and from Boston to lecture at Harvard, creating an experiential installation for this year’s Venice architecture Biennale, being named as one of London’s most influential people in 2018 by the Evening Standard – there is a non-stop energy in the air. ”
To read the full article, click here.
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Arch Daily: 30 Most Influential Architects in London ReCasting The Smile East Parkside
October 25, 2018
Alison Brooks has been named by Arch Daily’s as one of the 30 most influential architects in London.
Alison Brooks has been named by Arch Daily’s as one of the 30 most influential architects in London.
“The founder of Alison Brooks Architects has been praised for her installation at the Venice Architecture Biennale, while also overseeing major works such as The Smile, and the first high-rise for the Greenwich Peninsula in London.”
To read the full article, click here.
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New London Quarterly
10.2018
Alison Brooks Architect’s scheme Ashley Road East features in this Autumn’s NLA Quarterly.
Alison Brooks Architect’s scheme Ashley Road East features in this Autumn’s NLA Quarterly.
“The application [to redevelop central Tottenham Hale] encompasses five pieces of land, with six buildings delivering 1,036 new homes,15 retail spaces, co-working and office space, a health centre and open space, created by practices AHMM, Alison Brooks Architects, Pollard Thomas Edwards and Grant Associates.”
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