Letter: Quality, not fashion, is the V&A goal

GAVIN STAMP ("All rise for the superstar architects", 22 November) laments that the V&A Spiral represents a triumph of image over function, writing that all the mattered to the V&A was "the name, the label, the designer". As the person ultimately responsible for choosing Daniel Libeskind's design, I have to report that at the time we made the choice I had never heard of him.

The V&A was set up to promote the best of modern design and we chose Libeskind because we believed in the quality of his scheme, which fulfilled our brief better than any other proposal. To suggest that we were merely following fashion is deluded.

ALAN BORG

Director, Victoria and Albert Museum