London-based Canadian architect Alison Brooks looks at the current state of architecture from a European perspective and questions what is going on — Brooks contends that the field gains new relevance and formats, typologies, and hybrids as the continent’s design culture continues to evolve from the dogma of 20th-Century Modernism into more pluralistic practices — ones that include social anthropology, relationships and networks, and politics and iconography. She will describe how these notions have informed Alison Brooks Architects’ work in urbanism and the arts, including her Folkstone Performing Arts Centre and plans for a third quadrangle for Exeter College at the University of Oxford, scheduled for completion for the college’s 700-year anniversary in 2014.