The Sharp Centre at the Ontario College of Art and Design in Toronto was designed by Will Alsop, known for his unusual buildings. (Alsop Architects/arcspace.com)

Will Alsop, the bad-boy British talent who designed Toronto's Sharp Centre for Design, has announced he is giving up architecture.

Alsop said he will instead take up painting and devote some time to teaching, including teaching in Toronto this year.

"I just want to do this other stuff for a while," he told the Times of London. "Who knows? I might find that the painting is terrible. I just want to do it with serious intent. I want to say, 'I'm going to work, and I'm going to be painting.'"

Alsop's practice went into receivership in 2004 and he had to sell it to a venture capital firm. But he insists he has a good relationship with the company and will continue as a consultant, although he'll quit day-to-day architecture.

'Whatever age you are, you shouldn't be afraid to make changes.'—Will Alsop

Winner of the prestigious Stirling prize and one of Britain's best-known architects, Alsop designed the North Greenwich Tube station and the Peckham Library in the U.K.

His Sharp Centre, designed for the Ontario College of Art and Design in Toronto, looks like a black-and-white toy box balanced on pencils, painted in bright colours. It has taken years for the unusual building to be accepted in the city.

Alsop lists several other projects in Toronto, including the Alsop Toronto Sales Centre, a condo sales centre peppered with multi-coloured holes.

Alsop is known for his unusually shaped buildings and for disdaining the conservative planning principles that hold up projects in most municipalities.

"I love architecture, but one of the things that gets up my nose, particularly in London, is that doing anything is like pulling teeth," he told the Guardian newspaper.

It is believed the recession may also be reducing the potential for his bold and unusual designs.

At 61, he should be reaching the height of his powers as an architect, as are other senior architects such as Jack Diamond and Frank Gehry.

Alsop characterizes his departure as a "serious inquiry into painting," saying he wants to paint at least two days a week.

"This will make me happier. Whatever age you are, you shouldn't be afraid to make changes," he said.