Will Alsop

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Will Alsop bigraphy, stories - British architect

Will Alsop : biography

12 December 1947 –

Will (William) Allen Alsop, OBE RA (born 12 December 1947) is a British architect based in London. He is responsible for several distinctive and controversial modernist buildings, most in the United Kingdom. Alsop’s buildings are usually distinguished by their use of bright colour and unusual forms. While Alsop has won praise from some critics and fans of avant-garde architecture, he has also faced criticism from fellow architects and some segments of the general public.

Personal life

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

Alsop tries to relax as much as possible on weekends and also takes a month off in the summer to go painting in Majorca with his friend Bruce McLean. Alsop enjoys smoking and drinking. He is, according to an April 2007 article in The Observer, "obviously not a man familiar with gyms".

He has a twin sister who still lives in Northampton.

Notes

Major architectural projects

Image Information Awards and nominations

Cardiff Bay Visitor Centre Cardiff, Wales Completed 1991

Hamburg Ferry Terminal Hamburg, Germany Completed 1993 (with :de:Jan Störmer, Hamburg)

Hôtel du Département des Bouches-du-Rhône (Le Grand Bleu) Marseille, Bouches-du-Rhône, France Completed 1994

  • Stirling Prize nominee (1997)

North Greenwich Tube Station Greenwich, London, England Completed 1999

  • Stirling Prize nominee (1999)

Peckham Library Peckham, London, England Completed 2000

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

Muzinq Almere (nox), Doorworld and MediaMarkt Almere, Netherlands Completed 2002

Sharp Centre for Design, Ontario College of Art & Design Toronto, Canada Completed 2004

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

Fawood Children’s Centre Harlesden, North London, England Completed in 2004

  • Stirling Prize nominee (2005)

Ben Pimlott Building, Goldsmiths, University of London New Cross, London, England Completed 2005

Blizard Building, Barts and The London, Queen Mary’s School of Medicine and Dentistry Whitechapel, London, England Completed March 2005

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

Alsop Toronto Sales Centre for Westside Lofts (1151 Queen Street West) Toronto, Canada Completed 2006

Palestra, 197 Blackfriars Road, Southwark, London, England Completed 2006

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

Clarke Quay, Singapore Completed 2006

The Public, West Bromwich West Bromwich, West Midlands, England Part completed 2008

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

Stratford Docklands Light Railway Station Stratford, London, England Commissioned in 2003, completed in 2007

Yonkers Power Plant project Glenwood Waterfront, Yonkers, New York, United States Completion expected in 2008

Salford, Greater Manchester, England Completion due 2009

King West Village, Toronto, Canada Estimated completion date unknown

New Islington Manchester, England Completed 2010

1151 Queen Street West – 8 storey condo lofts (135 units) Toronto, Canada Estimated to be Spring 2012