Laura Britton

Architect and Professor
Shigeru Ban Architects | The Cooper Union

Laura Britton is an architect, educator, and author. As an Associate at Shigeru Ban Architects, Laura has led and contributed to a diverse range of projects, including Kentucky Owl Park, a timber bourbon distillery campus; Terrace House, a hybrid mass timber residential tower; and Cast Iron House, an adaptive reuse of a landmarked 19th-century building.

Laura is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at The Cooper Union, where she recently taught a biogenic materials studio. She is collaborating with Professor Edward Becker (Virginia Tech) on a curricular development project to create free mass timber educational resources for architecture schools.

As an advocate for environmentally responsible approaches to mass timber, Laura has lectured widely on the benefits of interdisciplinary approaches to design and construction. Most recently, she presented at the American Institute of Architects’ International, Colorado, and NYC chapters, and the Skyscraper Museum. She serves on the Steering Committee for the International Mass Timber Conference and is a member of the Colorado Mass Timber Coalition.

Laura is the author-editor of Shigeru Ban: Timber in Architecture (Rizzoli, 2022). The book traces the evolution of 45 projects from concept through construction, demonstrating the challenges and merits of wood buildings through essays, technical drawings, and photographs.