Richard Rogers

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Richard George Rogers, Baron Rogers of Riverside (23 July 1933 – 18 December 2021) was a British-Italian architect noted for his modernist and constructivist designs in high-tech architecture. He was the founder at Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, previously known as the Richard Rogers Partnership, until June 2020. After Rogers' retirement and death, the firm rebranded to simply RSHP on 30 June 2022.

Rogers was perhaps best known for his work on the Pompidou Centre in Paris, the Lloyd's building and Millennium Dome, both in London, the Senedd building, in Cardiff, and the European Court of Human Rights building, in Strasbourg. He was awarded the RIBA Gold Medal, the Thomas Jefferson Medal, the RIBA Stirling Prize, the Minerva Medal, and the 2007 Pritzker Prize.Template:TOC limit

Early life and career

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The Lloyd's Building in London at night

Richard Rogers was born in Florence, Tuscany, in 1933 into an Anglo-Italian family. His father, William Nino Rogers (1906–1993), was Jewish, and was the cousin of Italian Jewish architect Ernesto Nathan Rogers. His Jewish ancestors moved from Sunderland to Venice in about 1800, later settling in Trieste, Milan and Florence. In October 1938, William Nino Rogers came back to England,<ref name="RR">Template:Cite book</ref> having fled Fascist Italy and anti-Jewish laws under Mussolini.

Upon moving to England, Richard Rogers went to St John's School, Leatherhead. Rogers did not excel academically, which made him believe that he was "stupid because he could not read or memorise his school work"<ref name="Yale"/> and as a consequence, he said, he became "very depressed".<ref name="Yale"/> He could not read until he was 11,<ref name="NY">Template:Cite web</ref> and it was not until after he had his first child that Rogers realised he was dyslexic.<ref name="Yale"/> After leaving St Johns School, he undertook a foundation course at Epsom School of Art<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> (now the University for the Creative Arts) before going into National Service between 1951 and 1953.<ref name="RR"/>

He then attended the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London, where he gained the Architectural Association's Diploma (AA Dipl) from 1954 until 1959, subsequently graduating with a master's degree (M Arch) from the Yale School of Architecture in 1962 on a Fulbright Scholarship.<ref name="Yale">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="CV">Template:Cite web</ref> While studying at Yale, Rogers met fellow architecture student Norman Foster and planning student Su Brumwell.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

After leaving Yale he joined Skidmore, Owings & Merrill in New York City.<ref name="NY"/> On returning to England in 1963, he, Norman Foster and Brumwell set up architectural practice as Team 4 with Wendy Cheesman (Brumwell later married Rogers, Cheesman married Foster).<ref>Ian Lambot (Ed.), "Norman Foster: Buildings and Projects Volume 1 1964–1973", Watermark Publications (1991), pp. 14–15, Template:ISBN.</ref> Rogers and Foster earned a reputation for what was later termed by the media high-tech architecture.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

By 1967, Team 4 had split up, but Rogers continued to collaborate with Su Rogers, along with John Young and Laurie Abbott.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In early 1968 he was commissioned to design a house and studio for Humphrey Spender near Maldon, Essex, a glass cube framed with I-beams. He continued to develop his ideas of prefabrication and structural simplicity to design a Wimbledon house for his parents. This was based on ideas from his conceptual Zip-Up House.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Rogers subsequently joined forces with Italian architect Renzo Piano, a partnership that was to prove fruitful. His career leapt forward when he, Piano and Gianfranco Franchini won the design competition for the Pompidou Centre in July 1971, alongside a team from Ove Arup that included Irish engineer Peter Rice.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Later career

After working with Piano, Rogers established the Richard Rogers Partnership along with Marco Goldschmied, Mike Davies, and John Young in 1977.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> This became Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners in 2007. The firm maintains offices in London, Shanghai, and Sydney.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Rogers devoted much of his later career to wider issues surrounding architecture, urbanism, sustainability, and the ways in which cities are used. One early illustration of his thinking was an exhibition at the Royal Academy in 1986, entitled "London As It Could Be", which also featured the work of James Stirling and Rogers's former partner Norman Foster. This exhibition made public a series of proposals for transforming a large area of central London, subsequently dismissed as impractical by the city's authorities.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

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The Pompidou Centre in Paris

In 1995, he became the first architect to deliver the BBC's annual Reith Lectures. This series of five talks, titled Sustainable City, were later adapted into the book Cities for a Small Planet (Faber and Faber: London 1997, Template:ISBN). The BBC made these lectures available to the public for download in July 2011.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 1998, he set up the Urban Task Force at the invitation of the British government, to help identify causes of urban decline and establish a vision of safety, vitality, and beauty for Britain's cities.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> This work resulted in a white paper, Towards an Urban Renaissance, outlining recommendations for future city designers.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Rogers also served for several years as chair of the Greater London Authority panel for Architecture and Urbanism.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He was chair of the board of Trustees of The Architecture Foundation.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":2">Template:Cite web</ref>

From 2001 to 2008, he was chief advisor on architecture and urbanism to the then Mayor of London Ken Livingstone. In 2008, he was asked to continue on in his role as an advisor by the then new mayor Boris Johnson. He stood down from the post in October 2009.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Rogers also served as an advisor to two mayors of Barcelona on urban strategies.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

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Amidst this extra-curricular activity, Rogers continued to create controversial and iconic works. Perhaps the most famous of these, the Millennium Dome, was designed by the Rogers practice in conjunction with engineering firm Buro Happold and completed in 1999. It was the subject of fierce political and public debate over the cost and contents of the exhibition it contained; the building itself cost £43 million.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In May 2006, Rogers's practice was chosen as the architect of Tower 3 of the new World Trade Center in New York City, replacing the old World Trade Center which was destroyed in the September 11 attacks.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Rogers resigned his directorship of Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners on 30 June 2020.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The Rogers name was removed from the practice by 2022 as was required by the founding constitution,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> however the practice was renamed RSHP in June 2022, retaining Rogers' initial.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Selected projects

Team 4

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Richard and Su Rogers Architects (with John Young and Laurie Abbott)

Piano + Rogers

The Richard Rogers Partnership

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Madrid-Barajas Airport terminal 4

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RSHP (previously Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners)

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Criticisms

Like Frank Lloyd Wright's and Le Corbusier's, some of Rogers's buildings have had problems resulting from their design. The Lloyds Buildings's much-vaunted design innovation of routing the service pipes outside the walls in fact led to such costs caused by weathering and maintenance that Lloyds considered vacating the building in 2014. Lloyds's former chief executive Richard Ward stated: "There is a fundamental problem with this building. Everything is exposed to the elements, and that makes it very costly."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2014 Rogers faced a £5m legal claim over problems at the Oxley Woods estate designed by the firm. Residents complained of water seepage through cladding panels and windows on the prefabricated terraced housing.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Palestine controversy

In February 2006, Rogers hosted the inaugural meeting of the campaigning organisation Architects and Planners for Justice in Palestine (APJP) in his London offices. At that time his practice had secured a number of projects in New York, including the redevelopment of the Silvercup Studios site, a masterplan for the East River Waterfront and a commission for a $1.7 billion expansion of the Jacob K. Javits Convention Centre in Manhattan. Rogers, however, publicly dissociated himself from the group within weeks, following an outcry from generally pro-Israeli New York voters and politicians, which threatened him with the loss of prestigious commissions including projects in New York and abroad.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He announced his withdrawal with the statement, "I unequivocally renounce Architects and Planners for Justice in Palestine and have withdrawn my relationship with them."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Personal life

Rogers was married to Ruth Rogers, chef and owner of The River Café restaurant in west London. They had two sons together, Roo and Bo (deceased 2011).<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Rogers also had three sons, Ben, Zad and Ab, from his first marriage to Su Brumwell. He had fourteen grandchildren and a younger brother, Peter William Rogers, a property developer and co-founder of Stanhope.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2015, he was named one of the "50 best-dressed British men" by GQ magazine.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

He died in London on 18 December 2021, at the age of 88.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Honours and awards

Exhibition on Richard Rogers at the Centre Beaubourg in Paris (2008). Zip Up House model.
Exhibition on Richard Rogers at the Centre Beaubourg in Paris (2008). Zip Up House model.

Rogers was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in the 1991 Birthday Honours for services to architecture.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref><ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> He was created Baron Rogers of Riverside, of Chelsea in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea on 17 October 1996.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> He sat as a Labour peer in the House of Lords; having not attended a proceeding in the 2019–21 session, his membership of the House of Lords expired on 11 May 2021.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Rogers was appointed a Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour (CH) in the 2008 Birthday Honours list for services to architecture.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> However, he was a republican.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Rogers was awarded the RIBA Royal Gold Medal in 1985. He was twice honoured by France, first as a Chevalier, L'Ordre National de la Légion d'honneur in 1986, and later as an Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 1995.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He received a Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the 10th Mostra di Architettura di Venezia.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2006, the Richard Rogers Partnership was awarded the Stirling Prize for Terminal 4 of Barajas Airport,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and again in 2009 for Maggie's Centre in London.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Rogers won the Gold Medal for Architecture at the National Eisteddfod of Wales of 2006 for his work on the Senedd building of the Senedd (Welsh Parliament).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He was also appointed an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering<ref name="raenglist">Template:Cite web</ref> in 2005. In 2007 Rogers was made Laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize – architecture's highest honour.<ref name="pritzker_nyt">Template:Cite news</ref> He was awarded the Minerva Medal by the Chartered Society of Designers in the same year. In 2012, Rogers was among the British cultural icons selected by artist Sir Peter Blake to appear in a new version of his most famous artwork – the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover – to celebrate the British cultural figures of the last six decades.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Rogers was awarded honorary degrees from several universities, including Alfonso X El Sabio University in Madrid, Oxford Brookes University, the University of Kent, the Czech Technical University in Prague and the Open University. In 1994, he was awarded an Honorary Degree (Doctor of Science) by the University of Bath.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Rogers is mentioned (along with fellow architect Philip Johnson) in the song "Thru These Architect's Eyes" on the album Outside (1995) by David Bowie.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Rogers is mentioned in the song "Anti-Everything" by British band Mansun, from the album Six (1998).Template:Citation needed

Publications

Rogers wrote several books during his career, including:

References

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