Will Alsop has been practicing as architect and designer for over 30 years. Alsop put himself on the map advising Hamburg local authority on the master planning of their docks in the 1980s. He re-invented Cardiff Bay with his barrage design, built the striking award-winning HQ for the French government in Marseilles and the Stirling Prize-winning library at Peckham amongst other projects in the 1990s.

Today, Alsop is International Principal of global architectural firm RMJM, sits on the Thames Gateway Design Committee and the Kensington and Chelsea Architectural Advisory Board. He has also recently sat on the Yorkshire Forward Urban Renaissance Panel and was chairman of the Architecture Foundation.

For Alsop painting is an integral part of designing, helping to discover and explore the ideas which become forms. Function and construction may not exactly be afterthoughts, but their relationship to form is mediated through two processes which were not part of modernist practice. Recent advances in digital technology have helped to make it possible to build shapes which could not have been constructed with traditional means, a capability which has allowed architecture to transcend its traditional relationship with construction.

Digital technology has also helped to redefine the relationship between form and function through sophisticated and realistic ways of representing buildings before they are constructed. Especially in a series of design studies for regenerating cities in England’s industrial north, Alsop has used new imaging and film-making techniques to engage the local population in dialogue, allowing their aspirations and ideas to become part of the creative process. Technology becomes the vehicle for both representing and achieving these visions.

Alsop stands in a dynamically critical position against architectural tradition. Acknowleding the social commitment, technological possibilities and new artistic visions of the modernists, he reconfigures them around unleashed individual creativity.

He has recently built award-winning buildings in London, Manchester, Toronto, Shanghai, Beijing and Singapore. He is currently working on projects in Spain, Abu Dhabi, London, Paris, Greece, Hong Kong and Bratislava.

Will Alsop at RMJM has also recently opened Testbed1- an art space in Battersea which has recently seen artist Bruce Mclean give his first performance in many years
and plans to host theatre, music and arts events over the summer and beyond.

:: Profile at ArchiTravel >
http://www.architravel.com/architravel/architects/341

:: Photo information and credits:

1 >Blizard Building, Queen Mary University
Credit: By Will Alsop for Alsop Architects, part of the Archial Group
Photographer: © Morley Von Stornberg

2 > Chips, Manchester
Credit: by Will Alsop for Alsop Architects, part of the Archial Group
Photographer: © Christian Richters

3 > Clarke Quay, Singapore
Credit: By Will Alsop for Alsop Architects, part of the Archial Group
Photographer: © Jeremy San

4 > Edessa Museum, Greece
No credits

5 > En Route exhibition, Royal Academy
Photographer: © Kate Goodwin

6 > Gaoyang, Shanghai International Cruise Terminal
Credit: by Will Alsop for Alsop Architects, part of the Archial Group

7 > La Fosca, Spain
No credits

8 > Palestra, London
Credit: by Will Alsop for Alsop Architects, part of the Archial Group
Photographer: © Christian Richters

09 > Zhuhai Museum, China
No credit

10 -11 > La Doneira, Spain
Credit: by Will Alsop for Alsop Architects, part of the Archial Group
Photographer: © Rod Coyne

12 > Xiamen Hotel, China
Credit: by Will Alsop for Alsop Archietcts, part of the Archial Group

> Profile Photo ©Antonio Olmos