News

Alison Brooks appointed as Chair for the Design South East Expert Panel

We are delighted that Alison Brooks has been appointed as Chair for the Design South East Expert Panel. After many years as a Design Review Panel member and Design Council Ambassador, Alison’s new role underscores her commitment to improving the design and quality of buildings and public spaces across the UK.

Design Council’s expert panels deliver constructive guidance that fosters dialogue and collaboration between Planning Authorities, Clients and Architects, to help ensure that design proposals respond positively to their context and maximise benefit to the communities that they serve; values exemplified by ABA projects such as Quarterhouse Performing Arts Centre, Exeter College’s Cohen Quad, Oxford, and our ‘palazzo’ apartment buildings at Knight’s Park, Eddington; frontispiece for this emerging, net-zero operational carbon neighbourhood.

Declan Walker

Rubicon wins Best Design for Four Storeys or More at the Housebuilder Awards 2023

We’re pleased to share that our Rubicon project at Eddington, North West Cambridge has won ‘Best Design for Four Storeys or More’ at the Housebuilder Awards 2023.

Congratulations to Hill Group and their construction team. ABA are proud to have delivered design, planning and construction documents for this project after our 2025 developer/architect competition-winning bid. Thanks to all our collaborators and individuals who made this project a success!

To learn more about the award-winning project click here.

 

Declan Walker

New Practice Leadership

We are delighted to announce two new additions to our Practice Leadership. Please join us in congratulating Michael Mueller for his new position as Board Director and Juliana Rocha, promoted to Associate.

Michael’s new role is a testament to his unflagging commitment to our practice ethos demonstrated by his motivational and inclusive management approach, mastery of technical challenges and consistently brilliant client service. He has led our practice’s high-profile projects in the UK and abroad, at all stages of design and construction. His notable built projects include the Cohen Quad in Oxford; sixty residential buildings across three sites at Eddington, Cambridge; and Cadence, ABA’s landmark arched towers in King’s Cross. Michael builds lasting client and team relationships that extend beyond the world of work to create a supportive practice culture.

Juliana Rocha is one of ABA’s most experienced architects and a dynamic force in our organization. She co-leads our BIM Management team and is ABA’s Timber Construction Lead. Her achievements range from successful competition designs to detailed construction packages. Recently, she has stewarded our mass timber, net-zero carbon Homerton College Entrance Building project through construction documentation. Her collaborative spirit, combined with technical know-how and yoga-infused energy, are a fantastic asset for our practice.

To find our more about our Team and Practice please click here.

Declan Walker

ABA at The British School at Rome

Last month Alison Brooks Architects sponsored our architect Chen Man to attend the The British School at Rome’s new Architecture & Urbanism summer school. Led by Sheila O’Donnell and John Tuomey (O’Donnell + Tuomey) and joined by architects from 10 other practices, the week’s study ‘A Moment in Rome’ offered students the chance to explore the wonders of the city and the BSR’s archives.

A week-long study of in between spaces in Rome, focusing on moments, thresholds, and transitional passages. The week kicked off at San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane, sketching in the pocket spaces of Borromini’s masterful work. Navigating our way through Rome using the Nolli Map, we explored Rome’s public spaces and examined the intricate urban filigree all the while admiring Nolli’s accuracy. A collective ‘Moment’ in Rome, for the group, was experiencing the Pantheon from inside it’s brick walls, observing the brick construction then stepping into the central space. The weeks analysis culminated in a model, synthesising our key takeaways from the trip and how our observations in Rome can influence our work in practice. My piece reflected on the void spaces formed by the spatial adjacency of cornices, arches and vaults that beautifully frame the city of Rome.” – Chen Man

Declan Walker

The Architects Series – A Documentary on Alison Brooks Architects

We’re thrilled to announce that The Plan Magazine’s Architects Series covering the studio has been released. We hope that watching it gives you a deeper insight into our architectural journey and the principles that guide our practice.

Earlier this year, we welcomed the cameras of The Plan into our studios in London for filming. The documentary includes interviews with Alison Brooks along with our team, presenting the ideas and thoughts behind our day-to-day practice and key architectural projects. A specific focus has been places on sustainability for this episode.

Presented by THE PLAN magazine for Iris Ceramica Group, the 31st instalment of the series premiered on Thursday September 14 at the Iris Ceramica Gallery in Clerkenwell, London.

To watch The Architect Series documentary click here.

 

Source
The Architects Series
Declan Walker

Knight’s Park Reconnaisance @Eddington Cambridge

Last week Director Michael Mueller and Communications Manager Castana Arango went on a reconnaissance mission to check our multiple buildings nearing completion at Eddington, Cambridge.

Knight’s Park is at its final phase under construction; our second project, Rubicon, on Eddington’s southern edge is finishing soon. Of Rubicon’s five buildings, two are already home to 68 University key workers. It’s great to see the UK’s first net-zero masterplan in action. First stop was our new Knight’s Park neighbourhood of 124 homes, 55 by ABA and its avenues, mews and exemplar car-free Green Street.

‘It’s interesting to see how the inhabited bridge works to connect two of ABA’s three fan-shaped Palazzo apartment buildings. The spaces between these three buildings create differentiated passages into the neighbourhood. Beyond the Palazzos our terraced house & villas mansard roofs with our trademark splayed dormers convey an identifiable domestic character. Along each street our house and block designs are complemented by PTE’s terraced courtyard houses in scale and material. So there are similarities with Accordia but Knights Park has a more intimate semi-rural scale.’

We could see that the Green Street has come into its own, with its footbridges and seating areas, but also its fully functional reedbeds for rainwater filtering and storage benefitting residents, Cambridge’s flood management plan and wildlife. The neighbourhood really delivers our intention of bringing sensory delight, biodiversity, and healthy living to resident’s everyday experience. We are thrilled to see how, as the project reaches completion, first residents have started to care and nurture its green spaces. We’re onside with Alexis Butterfield of Pollard Thomas Edwards, the scale and texture of Knight’s Park is super successful!

Next stop Rubicon…

 

Declan Walker