London

Will Alsop

The first thing I’d do to improve London would be to make an area of land, roughly half a square mile, into a planning-free zone. People could go and build whatever they wanted to there. Anyone who has the money could put up what they like or make changes to their homes without constraint (apart from safety regulations, of course). Feature continues

After a few years, this area would turn out to be the most vibrant part of London. There is a danger we are becoming too regulated in our building. There have been increasing constraints imposed on architects since the changes in planning regulations that took place in 1967. There are far too many bodies, advisors to the Mayor of London and that sort of thing, who oversee what a building should look like, and our architecture is under increasing threat from the ‘taste police’. It is time to try something different that might add some spark to the system. If I could build anything I wanted in this zone, I would build a hospital, but make it look and function more like a resort hotel.

Will Alsop is the architect behind the acclaimed Peckham Library.