Only the chosen few can walk the ‘starchitect’ tightrope

David Rudlin_index

To succeed, an audacious idea needs to be sold with charm and executed with self-confidence, says David Rudlin. And often that is still not enough

The tide of criticism that has greeted MVRDV’s Marble Arch Mound illustrates the perils of iconic architecture.

Many years ago I was fortunate to be part of a team led by Daniel Libeskind working on what turned out to be an unsuccessful competition entry for the Allerton Bywater Millennium Village in Leeds. We spent a few happy weeks in Berlin – this was before they relocated to New York – at the time when the office was preparing for the opening of the city’s Jewish Museum, which is still the most sublime building I have ever experienced.

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