To lose three major projects, 50 staff and go into receivership in one year could finish many an architect, but for this man it鈥檚 simply a new beginning. He talks to us about his plans for the renamed Alsop & Partners.
2004 was not, all things considered, a particularly good year for Will Alsop. Three landmark projects, the Fourth Grace in Liverpool, the Millennium complex in Bangkok and a mixed-use scheme for developer Isis in east Manchester, were cancelled, and further schemes in London and Middlehaven were dogged by delay. As the cash began to dry up, the ebullient architect鈥檚 firm said goodbye to 50 staff, including three directors. Finally, in October, the eponymous Alsop Architects was forced into receivership, becoming the slightly-less-eponymous Alsop & Partners after venture capitalist R Capital parachuted in to take a 40% stake in the company.
All of which makes Alsop a current favourite of architect-watchers everywhere, eager to know which way the man who once proposed remodelling the town of Barnsley as a Tuscan hill fort will turn next. They also want to see whether, with an army of venture capitalists peering over his drawing board, he will be forced to tone down his more colourful ideas.
Chewing over the answers to such questions would cause palpitations of anxiety in lesser men, but Alsop seems perfectly relaxed as he settles back in a black leather armchair at his south London studio. If he wasn鈥檛 sombrely dressed all in black and wasn鈥檛 clearly concerned about what time his lunch was arriving, you could almost say he looked happy. But then, Alsop tends to view such questions of architectural control in a fairly clear-cut manner. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a free country,鈥� he grins. 鈥淚鈥檒l think whatever I like. It鈥檚 got nothing to do with money.鈥� No? 鈥淣o.鈥� Right then.
It is fair to say that Alsop seems to have dusted himself down and carried on regardless, with recent projects showing plenty of trademark irreverence. Chief among these has been the SuperCity exhibition in Manchester, a typically Alsopian vision that would turn the M62 from Liverpool to Hull into the high street of a giant metropolis, complete with multistorey vertical farms, high-rise villages for 5000 people and, apparently, teddy bears the size of large buildings. 鈥淚t has probably had more coverage and more interest from all sorts of media than most other things I鈥檝e done,鈥� Alsop says. He seems particularly pleased that the reaction has extended beyond the media village to the public at large, many of whom are clearly intrigued by the plans this London-based architect has hatched for their neck of the woods. 鈥淚t鈥檚 been a real mixed bag,鈥� he says. 鈥淪ome people think you鈥檙e mad and some think you鈥檙e OK. But I鈥檇 rather absolute love or absolute hatred than absolute indifference.鈥�
It鈥檚 been a real mixed bag. Some people think you鈥檙e mad and some think you鈥檙e OK. But I鈥檇 rather absolute love or absolute hatred than absolute indifference
Bouncing between absolute love and absolute hatred is a state that has often been associated with Alsop. When he won the commission to build the Fourth Grace on Liverpool鈥檚 waterfront, Sir Joe Dwyer, the chairman of regeneration agency Liverpool Vision, proclaimed: 鈥淚f this is to be a truly iconic building, it will either be loved or hated 鈥� there are no grey areas.鈥� In the end, of course, Liverpool Vision decided that grey areas might not be so bad after all. It is not hard to imagine that a venture capitalist with a 40% stake in the firm and more than a passing interest in the end-of-year figures might come to a similar conclusion. But Alsop remains unmoved. 鈥淲e have a board meeting once a month, and clearly there is an interest in running a profitable organisation. But there are all sorts of ways of getting a profit aren鈥檛 there?鈥� he says, not naming any specifically.
Alsop has never claimed to be a whizz with finances. It is intriguing to learn that, despite the delayed and cancelled projects and the rapidly diminishing staff, the realisation last autumn that he was going to have to call in outside investment was 鈥渇airly rapid 鈥� over a short period of time really鈥�. As he points out though, while lighting up a cigarette: 鈥淚 never personally managed financial affairs in the past. If I did, I couldn鈥檛 do the other things that I do.鈥� He then adds elusively: 鈥淐ertainly I trusted someone I shouldn鈥檛.鈥�
Alsop clearly blames last year鈥檚 travails on a lack of financial acumen within the firm. He says: 鈥淲hen I was in the position of having to look for some form of investment, it wasn鈥檛 through lack of work or anything else. It was basically through bad financial management 鈥� although the Fourth Grace didn鈥檛 help.鈥�
This concession is hardly surprising. The landmark scheme that would have been Alsop鈥檚 crowning glory had it not been pulled from beneath him last summer (for reasons that he still finds 鈥渁 bit obscure鈥�) had a price tag in the hundreds of millions. The hitherto relaxed and laconic Alsop is understandably hesitant to comment on the latest plans for the site. The thin white line of cigarette smoke that describes every hand gesture settles into a single, steadily rising column. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 want to say anything about the design. I just think it was sad that some architects entered the competition. Architects shoot themselves, and others, in the foot all the time. I remember when Zaha [Hadid] had her winning design for the opera house in Cardiff and it wasn鈥檛 done 鈥� no self-respecting architect would have entered that competition the second time round. I think it was sad in Liverpool that a few people I really would have expected not to, did.鈥� (For the record, the shortlist for the retendered Fourth Grace included Zaha Hadid, David Chipperfield, Austin Smith-Lord, Daniel Libeskind and the eventual winner Danish firm 3XN.)
I never personally managed financial affairs in the past. I certainly trusted someone I shouldn鈥檛
The smoke signals are restored as he turns to the future of the Cloud, the design that he provided for the Fourth Grace site and that is tipped to be built in different world locations, from Birkenhead to Toronto, on a weekly basis. 鈥淚 would like to build that building somewhere, but inevitably you can be criticised because you can鈥檛 just dump a building somewhere else. On the other hand, if you take the Cloud bit without the housing behind, you could put that in a number of places. Toronto waterfront is one because of the scale and robustness of what鈥檚 already there.鈥�
Alsop is clearly taken with the Canadian capital and, with an office of Alsop & Partners now installed in the city, it is one of three main focuses for the new-look Alsop outfit, the others being London and Shanghai. Indeed, Shanghai is also being considered for the Cloud design. 鈥淲e鈥檙e under construction in Shanghai right now, but it鈥檚 too late for that particular project to use it. But we鈥檙e in Shanghai, we鈥檝e got lots in Shanghai and we intend to stay in Shanghai,鈥� he says.
Wherever the Cloud finally settles, Alsop seems to have plenty to keep himself occupied. Two weeks ago Reg Marsh, the firm鈥檚 newly appointed managing director, business turnaround specialist, expressed plans to expand the business by one-third. Alsop says: 鈥淲e鈥檙e just working towards a period where we will be taking on some guys and girls.鈥�
In the meantime, the SuperCity exhibition continues until May and there are always plans to hatch for Toronto, Shanghai and, of course, this country. Indeed, one of his next schemes will see him return to the site of one of his finest hours, Peckham, to redevelop the square in front of his Stirling Prize-winning library. The plans involve one idea that will doubtless win him plenty of attention 鈥� a 10-m high public lavatory. 鈥淚 thought there should be one iconic bit and that would be the lavatory 鈥� a lavatory with a view, but the view is up. So you鈥檙e sitting there and if you鈥檙e very lucky you might see an aeroplane pass over.鈥� All in all, a very typical Alsop conceit: to paraphrase Oscar Wilde, even when he鈥檚 on the toilet, he鈥檚 looking up at the stars.
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