Richard Rogers + Architects: From the House to the City

“For two architects in their 30s, to win the Pompidou Centre competition was like winning the lottery! We had shared a vision of what the building should be — both in social and architectural terms — a place for people of all ages, all creeds, for young and old. At the heart of the project is the public domain, extending from the great piazza at the front of the building and continuing up the face of the building with its ‘streets in the air’ and escalators snaking up the façade. The mechanical services were placed on the opposite side of the building, allowing the creation of uninterrupted floors and offering maximum flexibility for change over time.” British architect Richard Rogers has been described as the last humanist, a recognition of his ambition to create public spaces that allow for the diversity and complexity of the contemporary world. This weighty monograph takes a look at the work of Rogers and his partners, from his early career in the 1960s and 1970s, to his famous collaboration with Renzo Piano on the design of the Pompidou Centre (1971-77), to numerous projects up to the present day, through his architectural practice, Richard Rogers Partnership (now Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners). Rogers and his team often deploy new materials and innovative techniques to build structures that are lightweight, environmentally friendly and transparent; a signature strategy has been to expose those parts of a structure that have traditionally been concealed, such as water, heating and ventilation ducts, situating them instead on the outside of the building, leaving the internal spaces uncluttered and open. In this book, projects executed by Richard Rogers and his partners are presented in sections devoted to each of the architectural keywords that define his work: legible; transparent; lightweight; systems; green; urban; public; together with sections on both early work and work in progress.