RA AADipl

It is with the greatest sadness that we learn of the death Will Alsop, one of the AA’s most notable alumni and former tutors, and winner of the 2000 Stirling prize, who has passed away aged 70.

Will Alsop graduated from the AA in 1973 before going on to teach from 1975 to 1989 with David Greene, John Lyall and artist Bruce McLean, among others.

He worked briefly for Maxwell Fry and Jane Drew, before joining Cedric Price for four years and then later setting up practice with his contemporary John Lyall in 1981, who remembers Will as ‘exceptionally talented and always having a unique view of architecture’.

Will met his wife Sheila at the AA when she was AA General Studies Coordinator and they married in 1972. Among his former students at the AA are Amanda Levete, Steve Christer of Studio Granda, and current AA Interim Director Samantha Hardingham.

Appointed OBE in 1999, the following year would prove to be momentous for Will as he established Alsop Architects, was elected to the Royal Academy, and won the Stirling prize for Peckham Library, a building that redefined what libraries could be in the 21st-century.