Graduate Alice Brownfield wins MJ Long Prize
15 March 2021
WSA Graduate and Peter Barber Architects Associate Director Alice Brownfield has been announced the winner of the MJ Long Prize for Excellence in Practice, part of the AJ/AR’s W Awards 2021.
Alice was handed the award, named in memory of inspirational architect, lecturer and writer Mary Jane (MJ) Long, at a virtual event held on Tuesday 9 March 2021. She was commended for her ‘incredible’ work on Kiln Place, a local authority-backed infill housing project on a London council estate.
Carefully adding to the 1960s housing estate in Camden, Alice and the team worked with the council to create 15 new homes: seven let to council tenants and eight for private sale, with the surplus from the sale going to subsidise the cost of the council homes and estate improvements.
The team, led by Alice, created new, low rise, intimately scaled streets to improve connectivity across the estates, overlooking of public space and security. They also retained the majority of existing homes on the estates, allowing residents and their established community to stay put, refurbishing existing well-loved homes to provide much needed improvements to heating, plumbing and drainage, as well as creating a series of beautiful new streets through the estates.
When asked about the award Alice said:
" I am honoured to have been awarded the MJ Long Prize for Excellence in Practice 2021 and to be recognised for my work in housing at Peter Barber Architects and my wider advocacy for equity in our profession and design of the built environment.
My time at the WSA, fostered a deep interest in the ethical function of architecture, the social aspects of design and the agency of the architect. I am grateful to have had incredible female role models as tutors and heads of year too, and thankful for the continued support from many staff at the WSA who, all these years on, continue to be a great source of inspiration."
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