Will Alsop sold his office

Last Thursday, the architectural office of one of the most playful British architects of today was sold for 1.8 million pounds. Alsop's office was in a loss of 690 thousand pounds last year, and it was the SMC Group that rescued it from financial distress, which will rename the office to SMC Alsop. Otherwise, nothing should change dramatically. Alsop and his two other partners, Colin Gilmore-Merchant and Stephen Pimbley, will remain the chief architects for at least the next three years. Additionally, they can embark on larger projects, as they will be part of a conglomerate that can compete in size with Foster & Partners (which also reported a half-million loss last year). In recent months, SMC has acquired two other architectural firms with a total value of 4.1 million pounds. Info>