ABSTRACT
Central to Alsop’s all-embracing design approach is the quest for environmental diversity. For him, diversity represents the antithesis of urban dullness; it sustains interest and stimulates the full range of emotions. His antidote is to draw from an apparently unlimited vocabulary of form and a free expression of colour to induce continuous chromatic fluctuation. When colour meets form he enlists a wide yet distinctive colour palette, often involving fluorescent hues and complementary contrast to transform, animate or dematerialize the geometry of their surface. His resulting architecture can attract nicknames, i.e., names coined by users as their way of domesticating and familiarizing their shock of the new. The idea of a building being ‘christened’ in this way appeals to Alsop. It is a means of appropriation, a sign of affection, he says, a tribute to the fact that some like what you do.
