William Allen Alsop (12 December 1947 – 12 May 2018) was a British architect and Professor of Architecture at University for the Creative Arts's Canterbury School of Architecture.

He was responsible for several distinctive and controversial modernist buildings which are usually distinguished by their use of bright colours and unusual avant-garde forms. In 2000, Alsop won the Stirling Prize, the most prestigious architecture award in the United Kingdom, for the Peckham Library in London.

Biography

Alsop always wanted to be an architect, even before he really knew what architects did; when he was six years old, he designed a house for his mother to live in – its most striking specification was that it had to be built in New Zealand. When he was 16 his father, an accountant, died, and being bored with school, at the private Eaglehurst College he left to work for an architect, doing his A-levels at evening classes.

thumb|Will Alsop's apartment block at New Islington, Manchester (2009), is situated alongside the Ashton Canal, and the facades feature the names of local waterways. 9 storeys high, the building has been said to look like three potato chips on top of each other.

He was greatly influenced by his drawing tutor, Henry Bird while at foundation course at Northampton Art School.</blockquote>

Alsop then studied at the Architectural Association School of Architecture where at 23 he entered the competition to design the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris and came second to the eventual winners, Richard Rogers & Renzo Piano.

After a short period with Roderick Ham, in 1981 Alsop set up a practice, Alsop & Lyall, with his classmate John Lyall in Hammersmith. Jan Störmer later joined the practice and a decade later, in 1991, the practice was renamed Alsop & Störmer after Lyall's departure.

Alsop's first major commission was a swimming pool for Sheringham in Norfolk in 1984, followed by a visitor centre for Cardiff Bay. Thereafter he worked on a number of projects in Germany, including the Hamburg Ferry Terminal. In 1992, Alsop came first, against competitor Norman Foster, in the competition to design the Hôtel du département des Bouches-du-Rhône (the county government office of Bouches-du-Rhône) in Marseille, France. The building, now considered a major work of late 20th century architecture and a Marseille landmark, nicknamed Le Grand Bleu, with the completed building externally clad in Yves Klein blue glass, with one elevation formed of a 1,200 m<sup>2</sup> artwork by Clarke screenprinted in ceramic glaze onto the facade. Alsop and Störmer divided into separate practices in 2000, with Alsop renaming the practice Alsop Architects.

Alsop admitted to never being very good at handling finances, and his practice went through several difficult periods, including the cancellation in June 2004 of plans to build a "Fourth Grace" to be built on Liverpool's Pier Head waterfront. Since 2001–2002, three historical buildings at the Pier Head in Liverpool have been known as the "Three Graces": they are the Royal Liver Building (1908–11) by Walter Aubrey Thomas, the Cunard Building (1914–16) by Willinck & Thicknesse with Arthur J. Davis, and the Port of Liverpool Building (1903–07) by Briggs & Wolstenholme with Hobbs & Thornely – the so-called "Cloud Building" – officially because of rising costs and unrealistic design.

In early 2006, Alsop sold his practice to a design conglomerate called the SMC Group to concentrate on architecture.

After leaving ARCHIAL (formerly Alsop Architects, then SMC Alsop), he joined RMJM's London Headquarters as International Principal on 1 October 2009. The office's name was "Will Alsop at RMJM". Alsop's latest practice was called All Design and had practices in London and Chongqing. Alsop's London office was located in Battersea.

Alsop was a tutor of sculpture at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London for several years, and held many other academic posts, among others at the Vienna University of Technology, Universities of London and Hannover, and actively promoted the artistic contribution to built environments.

In 2013, Alsop became Professor of Architecture at the University for the Creative Arts's Canterbury School of Architecture.

Alsop was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE), and was elected to the Royal Academy on 18 May 2000. His avant-garde, modernist buildings are usually distinguished by their vibrant use of bright colour and unusual forms. Before Alsop begins to work on a new project, he uses painting to clear his mind, think freely and create an uncontaminated design approach. <blockquote> "One of the reasons for painting is that you are not really in control of what you are doing – and that interests me a lot. Instead of having a specific starting point, which perhaps, in architectural terms, would lead through to a series of logical thoughts working towards a designed building, you can start anywhere."</blockquote>

For him, the act of painting together with working closely with the client and the local community are necessary ingredients in urban design and architecture. the Supercity has its critics.

Alsop featured significantly in Iain Sinclair's book Ghost Milk (2011), especially the chapter "In the belly of the architect". The book is a critique – written using the literary technique of psychogeography – of the capital used to drive through vanity planning projects such as the London Olympics, and Alsop's unbuilt planning projects in the north of England, such as Supercity, are seen as typical of these, where the architect fantasizes about how architectural design solves social and economic problems.

Alsop's architectural talents may be the subject of controversy built up an international reputation and a degree of celebrity and professional recognition, described by the Observer as "number three in the hierarchy of British architects after Lords Rogers and Foster".

  • RIBA Civic & Community Architecture Award (1995)
  • Palmarés Award for Architecture (1995)

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North Greenwich tube station<br />

Greenwich, London, England<br />

Completed 1999

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  • Stirling Prize nominee (1999)

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Peckham Library<br />

Peckham, London, England<br />

Completed 2000

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  • Stirling Prize (2000)
  • Civic Trust Award (2003)

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Düsseldorf, Germany<br />

Completed 2001

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Urban Entertainment Center Mixed-use complex with a hotel, shops and a casino<br />

Almere, Netherlands<br />

Completed 2003

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Sharp Centre for Design, Ontario College of Art & Design<br />

Toronto, Ontario, Canada<br />

Completed 2004

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  • RIBA Worldwide Award (2004)
  • City of Toronto Urban Design Award (2006)

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Fawood Children's Centre<br />

Harlesden, North London, England<br />

Completed in 2004

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  • Stirling Prize nominee (2005)

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Ben Pimlott Building, Goldsmiths, University of London<br />

New Cross, London, England<br />

Completed 2005

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Blizard Building, Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry<br />

Whitechapel, London, England<br />

Completed March 2005

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  • Civic Trust Award (2006)
  • RIBA Regional Award (London) (2006)

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Alsop Toronto Sales Centre<br /> for Westside Lofts (1151 Queen Street West)

Toronto, Ontario, Canada<br />

Completed 2006

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Palestra, 197<br />

Blackfriars Road, Southwark, London, England<br />

Completed 2006

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  • RIBA Regional Award (London) (2007)
  • Private Eye magazine Sir Hugh Casson Award for the Worst New Building (2006)

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Quay Redevelopment project<br />

Clarke Quay, Singapore<br />

Completed 2006

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The Public, West Bromwich<br />

West Bromwich, West Midlands, England<br />

Part completed 2008

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  • Private Eye magazine Sir Hugh Casson Award for the Worst New Building (2008)

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Stratford Docklands Light Railway Station<br />

Stratford, London, England<br />

Commissioned in 2003, completed in 2007

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Yonkers Power Plant project<br />

Glenwood Waterfront, Yonkers, New York, United States<br />

Completion expected in 2008

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KingTowns<br />

King West Village, Toronto, Ontario, Canada<br />

Estimated completion date unknown

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New Islington<br />

Manchester, England<br />

Completed 2009

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Westside Gallery Lofts<br /> 1151 Queen Street West – 8-storey condo lofts (135 units)

Toronto, Ontario, Canada<br />

Completed 2012

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Raffles City<br /> Apartment Hotel

Beijing, China<br />

Completed 2009

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  • 2008 Cityscape Asia Awards, Best Future Mixed-Use Development and honorary doctorates at Ryerson University and OCAD University.
  • 1997-Ongoing Professor, Technical University of Vienna
  • 1997 Professor, The London Institute
  • 1990 Visiting professor, University of Hanover
  • 1988 Unit Master, Architectural Association
  • 1986 Visiting professor, Bremen Academy of Art & Music
  • 1984 Visiting professor, Royal Melbourne Institute Design
  • 1984 Visiting professor, New South Wales Institute of Technology
  • 1982 The Davis Professor, Tulane University, New Orleans
  • 1977 Visiting professor, San Francisco Institute of Art
  • 1977 Visiting professor, Ball State University, Indiana
  • 1973 Tutor in Sculpture, St Martin's School of Art

Exhibitions

Alsop was known to be constantly drawing and painting either for his architectural work or for his own sake.

Alsop was a patron of the charity , which uses the arts to enhance the environment in hospitals, and has exhibited his paintings in a London hospital under the auspices of this charity. Alsop also conducted a series of workshops with psychiatric patients at London's St Charles, Chelsea and Westminster hospitals, creating large communal artworks.

Personal life

Alsop and his wife lived between an Edwardian mansion flat in London and a converted stable block in Norfolk. They have three adult children.

Notes

References

Further reading

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Articles

  • Bissell, Gerhard, "Alsop, Will", in: Allgemeines Künstlerlexikon (Artists of the World), Suppl. I, Saur, Munich 2005, p.&nbsp;252 (in German).

Books

  • Official website of Will Alsop
  • Will Alsop at the British Council website
  • Will Alsop at the "From Here to Modernity" website on Open2.net, the online learning portal from the Open University and the BBC
  • Will Alsop at the Royal Academy of Arts website
  • Radio interview of William Alsop on 4 April 2005 at the A Palaver website (available as stream)
  • Interview with Will Alsop (video)