A collaboration with Arup and the American Hardwood Export Council, "The Smile" is an experimental building -- part pavilion, part sculpture -- designed to showcase the structural and spatial potential of a material that could transform the way architects and engineers approach timber construction.
"I think the potential of hardwood is yet to be discovered, it's the next step," Brooks says.
Tulipwood CLT is light but naturally strong, allowing the two ends of "The Smile" to soar into the sky.
"I think what's kind of amazing is how thin the walls and floor are," she adds. "Tulipwood has a tight grain and a really rich variation in color. It has a lot of warmth."
While steel and concrete have been used as structural materials in buildings for decades or even centuries, the use of timber has long been hampered by the fact that it did not come in panels large enough to be used in a building's fabric or structure, for instance in the core.
This issue has been resolved by the development of CLT.
"CLT is a really clever way of making very large panels from small trees," says Andrew Lawrence, timber specialist at Arup.
This is achieved by gluing planks together in layers. The planks in each layer are turned at right angles to the next in a crisscross effect.
"The Smile" is made of just 12 panels manufactured by German CLT pioneers Zublin-Timber, and held together by screws.
The largest panel is 14 meters (46 feet) long and 4.5 meters (15 feet) wide, a size that can compete with precast concrete.
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