ABSTRACT
Similarly, what we see of Alsop’s completed work is also only a small fraction of his endeavours. Indeed, although having realized around fifty major projects during the first phase of his career, critics seem to enjoy constantly reminding him that only 10 per cent of his projects have actually come to fruition. However, this achievement is all the more remarkable because it has been produced in the face of an increasingly complex minefield of bureaucracy and risk aversion that seems to inhibit what he describes as the erstwhile straightforward ‘triangle of relationship’ between client, architect and builder. He is critical of the process, especially in the UK, that now finds itself riddled with a new breed of hampering client advisors, planning bodies, regional development agencies and the recurring spectre of design codes – imposed rules and restrictions that he describes as the ‘kiss of death’. The upshot is that architects, i.e., those who did not leave to do their best work abroad, are dragged through the mire of a process that is unnecessarily protracted, drawn-out and expensive.
