V&A: Death Spiral

It looks increasingly as though Daniel Libeskind’s Spiral addition to the Victoria & Albert Museum won’t get built after all. “In theory its striking tumbling-boxes look is not the issue. But from the moment the Spiral was chosen over seven competing designs in 1996, it has stirred passionate debate here, dividing traditionalists from those eager to see London embrace avant-garde architecture. And inevitably this controversy has shadowed the museum’s arduous search for financing.”