yyzer
Senior Member
from today's Star.....
Underdog Ryerson nets star architect
Aug 14, 2009 04:30 AM
Christopher Hume
Will Alsop's excellent Toronto adventure is about to get even more excellent.
The peripatetic English architect – best known here for his flying tabletop addition to the Ontario College of Art and Design on McCaul St. – will be spending much more time in Toronto starting next year, when he takes up a teaching position in the architecture department at Ryerson University.
Signing Alsop marks something of a coup for Ryerson. Most observers would have expected him to go with the University of Toronto, which has more prestige and is better known.
"Let's put it this way," says the unconventional architect/painter, "if Harvard were to ask me to do something, I'd probably say no."
As the man who always cheers for the underdog explains it, "I like the graduate department at Ryerson because it's fairly young, it's only been around for a few years, and I like things that are new."
Alsop also insists he will reopen an office in Toronto; though he put out a shingle in 2005, he closed it two years later.
This has been a season of change for the affable Alsop, who won the United Kingdom's highest architectural award, the Stirling Prize, in 2000.
Though he has run his own practice for 30 years, he sold it in 2006 to a large British architectural firm now called Archial. The purchase saved Alsop from bankruptcy, but there were tensions. Alsop's Toronto office, which Archial shut to cut costs, was an example.
Now Alsop has announced he is quitting Archial. The reason, he has said, is because he needs more time "to pursue (his) painting." He has also made it clear, however, that he won't be leaving architecture any time soon. Indeed, he says he will remain with Archial as a consultant. But, Alsop warns, "Don't believe everything you read in a newspaper."
Despite not having a Toronto office, Alsop has been busy since last December doing two subway stations on the TTC's University-Spadina line extension. The stops – Keele and Finch – are still in the early stages of design, but Alsop hopes that the first drawings will be made public some time this fall.
In the U.K., he is well-known for his design of North Greenwich tube station. "When it comes to infrastructure projects," Alsop says, "it doesn't matter whether you're working in London, Toronto, Shanghai or Moscow. There's a lot of politics and a lot of sensitivity regarding cost. But we know how to play the game."
Alsop has always admitted to having a warm spot for Toronto. His OCAD addition made him popular with architectural aficionados, and he's exhibited his paintings here. "I plan to spent more time in Toronto," he says. "Toronto is a good hub. And the natives are nice – usually."
Widely considered the U.K.'s most colourful architect, Alsop is one of those rare practitioners unafraid to take risks. Though this tendency has left him vulnerable to criticism, especially from other architects, he has a worldwide following. As the OCAD project makes clear, he is capable of turning a modest assignment into an iconic building that captures imaginations around the globe.
He is also interested in the relationship between architecture and urban renewal. Some of his largest commissions are from cities such as Manchester, the former manufacturing powerhouse now trying to reinvent itself. Toronto's no Manchester, of course, but there's still plenty of room for Alsop.
Underdog Ryerson nets star architect
Aug 14, 2009 04:30 AM
Christopher Hume
Will Alsop's excellent Toronto adventure is about to get even more excellent.
The peripatetic English architect – best known here for his flying tabletop addition to the Ontario College of Art and Design on McCaul St. – will be spending much more time in Toronto starting next year, when he takes up a teaching position in the architecture department at Ryerson University.
Signing Alsop marks something of a coup for Ryerson. Most observers would have expected him to go with the University of Toronto, which has more prestige and is better known.
"Let's put it this way," says the unconventional architect/painter, "if Harvard were to ask me to do something, I'd probably say no."
As the man who always cheers for the underdog explains it, "I like the graduate department at Ryerson because it's fairly young, it's only been around for a few years, and I like things that are new."
Alsop also insists he will reopen an office in Toronto; though he put out a shingle in 2005, he closed it two years later.
This has been a season of change for the affable Alsop, who won the United Kingdom's highest architectural award, the Stirling Prize, in 2000.
Though he has run his own practice for 30 years, he sold it in 2006 to a large British architectural firm now called Archial. The purchase saved Alsop from bankruptcy, but there were tensions. Alsop's Toronto office, which Archial shut to cut costs, was an example.
Now Alsop has announced he is quitting Archial. The reason, he has said, is because he needs more time "to pursue (his) painting." He has also made it clear, however, that he won't be leaving architecture any time soon. Indeed, he says he will remain with Archial as a consultant. But, Alsop warns, "Don't believe everything you read in a newspaper."
Despite not having a Toronto office, Alsop has been busy since last December doing two subway stations on the TTC's University-Spadina line extension. The stops – Keele and Finch – are still in the early stages of design, but Alsop hopes that the first drawings will be made public some time this fall.
In the U.K., he is well-known for his design of North Greenwich tube station. "When it comes to infrastructure projects," Alsop says, "it doesn't matter whether you're working in London, Toronto, Shanghai or Moscow. There's a lot of politics and a lot of sensitivity regarding cost. But we know how to play the game."
Alsop has always admitted to having a warm spot for Toronto. His OCAD addition made him popular with architectural aficionados, and he's exhibited his paintings here. "I plan to spent more time in Toronto," he says. "Toronto is a good hub. And the natives are nice – usually."
Widely considered the U.K.'s most colourful architect, Alsop is one of those rare practitioners unafraid to take risks. Though this tendency has left him vulnerable to criticism, especially from other architects, he has a worldwide following. As the OCAD project makes clear, he is capable of turning a modest assignment into an iconic building that captures imaginations around the globe.
He is also interested in the relationship between architecture and urban renewal. Some of his largest commissions are from cities such as Manchester, the former manufacturing powerhouse now trying to reinvent itself. Toronto's no Manchester, of course, but there's still plenty of room for Alsop.
