Talks & exhibitions
ROME XL Exhibition
16.10.2019—1.11.2019, Istituto Italiano di Cultura
The Istituto Italiano di Cultura in Toronto celebrates the work of past Waterloo Architecture Rome Program graduates in a new exhibition in Toronto. The exhibition includes student sketches by Alison Brooks seen alongside built work and new project influenced by her time in Rome.
The Istituto Italiano di Cultura in Toronto celebrates the work of past Waterloo Architecture Rome Program graduates in a new exhibition in Toronto. The exhibition includes student sketches by Alison Brooks seen alongside built work and new project influenced by her time in Rome.
RomaXL presents drawings by a selection of highly accomplished Waterloo graduates completed during their Rome term, together with examples of their built work. This juxtaposition reveals unexpected influences of Roman architecture, landscape architecture and urban design on Canadian architects today.
The exhibition features work by Alison Brooks, Johnson Chou, Jean Colonnier, Shelley Craig, Alexander Josephson, Chris Pommer and Lisa Rapoport, Paul Raff, Brigitte Shim and Howard Sutcliffe, John Shnier and others.
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BASE – Big Architecture and Sustainability
7.10.2019—7.10.2019, The Venue, De Montfort University
More than 700 Architecture and Arts students from De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) gathered for the first week of the academic year to take part in BASE (Big Architecture and Sustainability Event) where the discussed their future impact on sustainable design and communities. Alison Brooks presented a lecture on Experimental Sustainable Archetypes.
More than 700 Architecture and Arts students from De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) gathered for the first week of the academic year to take part in BASE (Big Architecture and Sustainability Event) where the discussed their future impact on sustainable design and communities. Alison Brooks presented a lecture on Experimental Sustainable Archetypes.
As well as the lectures, which also featured presentations by Matthew Barnett Howland, Oliver Wilton and Louise Palomba, a series of workshops involved students getting together in groups to think and work creatively, such as dreaming up a perfect building for a celebrity and designing the structure in miniature out of paper straws, or coming up with ideas of how society can work in a more sustainable way.
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Royal Academy Summer Exhibition
10.06.2019—12.08.2019, Royal Academy
Varnishing Day at the RA Summer Exhibition this afternoon. We are showing two models in the Architecture Room: Exeter College in Oxford, and The Smile. The collection was curated by Spencer de Grey this year, with a focus on design and sustainability.
Varnishing Day at the RA Summer Exhibition this afternoon. We are showing two models in the Architecture Room: Exeter College in Oxford, and The Smile. The collection was curated by Spencer de Grey this year, with a focus on design and sustainability.
“Alison Brooks uses structural cross-laminated and sustainably-forested Tulipwood in her Smile pavilion, resulting in a building with a negative carbon footprint.”
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Public Housing: A London Renaissance
16.05.2019—18.07.2019, NLA, The Building Centre
The opening of a new exhibition at the NLA this week at London’s Building Centre. A review of current trends in London Estate housing.
The opening of a new exhibition at the NLA this week at London’s Building Centre. A review of current trends in London Estate housing.
“This exhibition shows how London boroughs are working to deliver high-quality, pleasant and affordable homes on estates, smaller sites and large-scale areas of regeneration across London, to create places that can also support the sustainable growth of the capital.”
Alison Brooks Architects have contributed a number of our projects in Kilburn including Ely Court.
The exhibition will open from 16 May to 18 July 2019, at The Building Centre.
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Forest of Fabrication Symposium on ‘Re-Imagining Timber’
3.04.2019 14:00, The Building Centre
Alison presented our work in relation to the innovative use and the future potential of wood in architectural construction, alongside Alex de Rijke of drMM Architects and Amin Taha.
Alison presented our work in relation to the innovative use and the future potential of wood in architectural construction, alongside Alex de Rijke of drMM Architects and Amin Taha.
Other speakers included: David Venables of the American Hardwood Council, our client for The Smile project; and Johannes Rebhahn of specialist timber contractor Wiehag. Thanks to the host of the event, Vanessa Norwood of The Building Centre for facilitating such an interesting discussion that touched on wide ranging themes from technical design, the future of wood as a material in construction, well-being and the management of the world’s forests to provide a sustainable source of construction materials.
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University of Manitoba
21.03.2019 18:00, John A. Russell Building
Alison Brooks is providing a lecture titled ‘Ideals, then Ideas: Authenticity, Generosity, Civicness and Beauty’ at the University of Manitoba on 21 March 2019.
Alison Brooks is providing a lecture titled ‘Ideals, then Ideas: Authenticity, Generosity, Civicness and Beauty’ at the University of Manitoba on 21 March 2019.
In her talk she will discuss her practice philosophy, architectural approach and the ideals of ‘authenticity, generosity, civicness and beauty’ relating her current and recently completed projects. These include the new Cohen Quadrangle for Exeter College, Oxford University and new models for urban housing such as Ely Court, shortlisted for the 2017 Mies Award for Contemporary European Architecture.
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Farrell Review: 5th Anniversary Event
21.02.2019 13:30–19:30, Royal Institute of British Architects
To celebrate the 5th Anniversary of the Farrell Review of Architecture and the Built Environment Alison will be taking part in a panel discussion, reflecting on its recent achievements.
To celebrate the 5th Anniversary of the Farrell Review of Architecture and the Built Environment Alison will be taking part in a panel discussion, reflecting on its recent achievements.
Some of the Farrell Review’s main achievements include;
- Architecture moving from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) to the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG)
- The House of Lords establishing the first ever Select Committee on the Built Environment
- The Government recruiting a Chief Architect
- The Greater London Authority (GLA) and LB Croydon setting up PLACE Review panels
- Public Practice placing architects and urban designers into local authority planning departments
- More than 15 Urban Rooms throughout the country, where anyone can go to find out about the past, present and future of their place
- The Place Alliance being established as a movement campaigning for place quality
- The London School of Architecture creating a new model for architectural education
- The National Arts and Place Consortium promoting the role of the arts in the built environment
The half day conference will be held at the Royal Institute for British Architects on Thursday 21st February, tickets can be purchased here.
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Surface Design Show: PechaKucha Evening
6.02.2019 18:30–20:30, Business Design Centre
Alison Brooks will be presenting at the Surface Design Show’s PechaKucha evening on the subject ‘Identitites and Boundaries – Site Specific Responses to Modern Architecture’.
Alison Brooks will be presenting at the Surface Design Show’s PechaKucha evening on the subject ‘Identitites and Boundaries – Site Specific Responses to Modern Architecture’.
The evening hosted by Chris Dyson will include: Lucia Berasaluce, Hantic Architects; Ben Cousins, Cousins & Cousins Architects; Simon Fraser, Hopkins Architects; Soraya Khan, Theis and Khan Architects; Nigel Ostime, Hawkins Brown; Stuart Piercy, Piercy and Co and Alex Scott-Whitby, ScottWhitbySTUDIO.
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University of Toronto: Home and Away Lecture Series
21.11.2018 18:30–20:00, John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design
Alison Brooks has been invited by the University of Toronto to provide a public lecture as part of the Daniels’ Home and Away lecture series.
Alison Brooks has been invited by the University of Toronto to provide a public lecture as part of the Daniels’ Home and Away lecture series.
Engaging broad, timely topics the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design’s Home and Away lecture series connects the wealth of expertise within the Daniels Faculty community with an international, multidisciplinary network of designers, scholars, artists, and curators.
In Alison’s guest lecture she will be joined by Brigitte Shim, Professor at John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture and Principal of Shim-Sutcliffe Architects, widely regarded as one of the most innovative and successful architectural practices in Canada.
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PRACTICE: Outside In | Inside Out
12.10.2018 14:00–18:00, Harvard GSD, Gund Hall Piper Auditorium
Alison Brooks is taking part in Harvard GSD’s public symposium on ‘Building Practice: Ethics, Agency, and Labour’.
Alison Brooks is taking part in Harvard GSD’s public symposium on ‘Building Practice: Ethics, Agency, and Labour’.
The symposium will consider discourse on contemporary issues of design practice in two parts: the external pressures of economic, environmental, and political systems, and internal forces of tools, techniques, and strategies for design.
Alison Brooks will be on the first panel discussion, addressing the current systems of value in contemporary design practice for the management and creation of labour, the evaluation of risk, and the mediation of underlying economic and social dynamics in the design of the built environment. Focusing on the duties of the designer in the current culture of production, this will be a critical discussion on the external forces affecting practice and the growing crisis of the marginalisation of the design disciplines. The evolution of practice will be examined through historical, ethnographic, and other qualitative lenses, revealing complex systems of relations between key players in the creation of the built environment.
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Melbourne School of Design: Dulux Dean’s Lecture Series 2018
2.10.2018 19:00–20:00, Melbourne School of Design
Alison Brooks has been invited by the Melbourne School of Design to give a public lecture at the University of Melbourne.
Alison Brooks has been invited by the Melbourne School of Design to give a public lecture at the University of Melbourne.
Titled “Ideals, then Ideas: Authenticity, Generosity, Civicness, Beauty” Alison’s talk will feature the new Cohen Quadrangle for Exeter College, Oxford University; a new Maggie’s Cancer Care Centre; and new models for urban housing such as Ely Court, shortlisted for the 2017 Mies Award for Contemporary European Architecture.
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ReCasting at 100% Design ReCasting
21.09.2018 14:00–15:00, Olympia London
Associate Michael Mueller will be presenting ‘ReCasting’ our large scale, immersive installation for the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale at 100% Design.
Associate Michael Mueller will be presenting ‘ReCasting’ our large scale, immersive installation for the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale at 100% Design.
Presenting alongside our collaborators Benchmark and Arup, the session will explore this immense project both visually and through conversation. From its initial abstract conception, they will discuss the process of realising this installation and bringing methodologies of furniture making to an architectural scale.
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Harvard University Graduate School of Design Public Lecture
17.09.2018 18:30–20:00, Harvard GSD, Gund Hall Piper Auditorium
Alison Brooks is providing a public lecture at Harvard GSD, Boston on “Model Building Model: Making Oxford’s New Collegiate Architecture”.
Alison Brooks is providing a public lecture at Harvard GSD, Boston on “Model Building Model: Making Oxford’s New Collegiate Architecture”.
During her lecture Alison will discuss the recently completed Exeter College Cohen Quadrangle and her design methodology that transforms archetypal social, pedagogical and architectural ‘models’ into new tectonic and spatial paradigms. She will also present our large scale installation ‘ReCasting’ which acts as a sensorial model of our built work.
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Living Accordia: 10 Years on Accordia Sky Villas Accordia Brass Building
11.09.2018 15:00–18:30, Accordia, Cambridge
To celebrate 10 years since winning the the RIBA Stirling Prize, Projects Director Michael Woodford provided a public walking tour and lecture of Accordia alongside Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios and Maccreanor Lavington.
To celebrate 10 years since winning the the RIBA Stirling Prize, Projects Director Michael Woodford provided a public walking tour and lecture of Accordia alongside Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios and Maccreanor Lavington.
This event organised by the Cambridge Association of Architects in conjunction with RIBA East, returned to the award winning housing scheme in Cambridge to consider its success and the project’s impact on housing both locally and nationally.
“This is high density housing at its very best… The whole scheme is about relationships: between architect and developer / contractor / client; between three very different firms of architects; and between private and public external spaces” – Stirling Prize judges, 2008
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Alison Brooks, John T. Dunlop Design Critic in Architecture, Harvard GSD
Alison Brooks will be teaching a Master in Architecture Design Studio ‘New Formations for the Social Metropolis’ at Harvard University, Graduate School of Design this Autumn.
Alison Brooks will be teaching a Master in Architecture Design Studio ‘New Formations for the Social Metropolis’ at Harvard University, Graduate School of Design this Autumn.
Her studio will explore housing architecture’s latent potential to transform the global project of urbanisation to one of productivity, inclusivity, hybridity and resilience. Students will explore an emerging condition of urban re-industrialisation where new methods of creative production, distribution and exchange are diffused and reconfigured through virtual and spatial networks.
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MCH: Master in Collective Housing
2.07.2018—6.07.2018, Universidad Politécnica of Madrid
Alison Brooks taught a one-week workshop “Ideal Formats for Future Urban Life” as part of the Master of Architecture in Collective Housing (MCH) in Madrid.
Alison Brooks taught a one-week workshop “Ideal Formats for Future Urban Life” as part of the Master of Architecture in Collective Housing (MCH) in Madrid.
The postgraduate professional program of advanced architecture design, presented by Universidad Politécnica of Madrid (UPM) and Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) focuses on housing, city and energy studies.
Alison’s brief used an existing City masterplan and a central site in Madrid where students were required to design an urban housing regeneration scheme embedding productive, creative or cultural uses: new formats for Collective Urban Life.
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Norwood Property Lunch
29.06.2018, London Hilton, Park Lane
Alison Brooks was part of a panel discussion at Norwood’s 19th Annual Charity Lunch which raised £550,000.
Alison Brooks was part of a panel discussion at Norwood’s 19th Annual Charity Lunch which raised £550,000.
Alison Brooks alongside AHMM and Coffey Architects discussed the key problems and opportunities facing London’s residential and commercial sectors.
Norwood is the largest Jewish charity in the UK supporting vulnerable children and their families, children with special educational needs and people with learning disabilities and autism. Their annual charity lunch is one of the UK’s largest charity networking events in the property industry. This year the event saw over 750 guests come together to celebrate industry leaders while raising vital funds for the community-based charity.
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York Festival of Ideas: Technology & Transport Ely Court Kilburn Quarter East Parkside Audi Urban Future Initiative
17.06.2018—17.06.2018 12:00–13:30, York
Alison Brooks provided the keynote lecture at the York Festival of Ideas on the subject ‘Technology & Transport’.
Alison Brooks provided the keynote lecture at the York Festival of Ideas on the subject ‘Technology & Transport’.
The theme of the event “re imagining the city” focused on how architecture, technology and transport underpin urban living and how they impact on the environment, our lives, health and happiness. Within Alison’s keynote speech, she addressed the theme using our estate regeneration and large scale housing projects London including Ely Court, Kilburn Quarter, King’s Cross and Greenwich Peninsula.
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Royal Academy of Arts – 250th Summer Exhibition
12.06.2018—19.08.2018, Royal Academy of Arts
Alison Brooks Architect’s exhibited a unique architectural model at the Royal Academy of Arts’ 250th Summer Exhibition.
Alison Brooks Architect’s exhibited a unique architectural model at the Royal Academy of Arts’ 250th Summer Exhibition.
The model, crafted using cherry wood and copper is of our private residential project ‘Mesh House’ in London. Nearing completion, Mesh House is an organic, crystalline form that wraps itself around an outdoor court yard. Each plane of its faceted copper surface – wall and roof planes, are tailored to allow sunlight from the south to reach every room in the house, to allow maximum light into neighbour’s windows, and to maintain the overall rhythm and form of the local streetscape.
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‘ReCasting’ opens at the 2018 Venice Biennale ReCasting
26.05.2018—25.11.2018 10:00–18:00, Arsenale, Venice
Alison Brooks Architects have been invited by the 16th International Architecture Exhibition curators Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara of Grafton Architects to respond to this year’s theme of ‘Freespace’ by addressing the subject of housing and urban dwelling.
Alison Brooks Architects have been invited by the 16th International Architecture Exhibition curators Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara of Grafton Architects to respond to this year’s theme of ‘Freespace’ by addressing the subject of housing and urban dwelling.
We have created a large-scale, site specific installation that simulates the critical freespaces of their work in housing as four inhabitable ‘totems’: Threshold, Inhabited Edge, Passage, and Roofspace. The totems invite exploration, emerging from a unifying plinth to frame an amphitheatre and collective gathering space. Each totem offers a particular spatial, emotional and sensory experience, harnessing the Corderie’s specific qualities of light and volume. It has been this practice’s mission to reveal housing architecture’s civic role and its potential for meaningful, subjective experience.
ReCasting will be on public display in the Corderie, Arsenale at the 16th Venice Architecture Biennale from Saturday 26 May until 25 November 2018.
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