Richard Rogers (architect) short biography

Daimler Chrysler Building
by Arch. Richard Rogers

British architect Richard George Rogers was born in 1933 in Florence, Italy. In 1938 he migrated with his family to the UK. He went from 1951 to 1953 at the Architectural Association School in London and received his degree in Architecture. During the years '61 -'62 he studied at Yale University in the School of Architecture in New Haven, Connecticut. In '62 he obtained his Master of Architecture degree. When he came back from America he worked from 1965-1968 at Team 4, an architectural firm with Norman and Wendy Foster and his wife Su Rogers. Hereafter Richard Roger teamed up with Renzo Piano (1971 to 1977). With Renzo he realized projects such as the Centre Pompidou (also called the Palais Beaubourg) in Paris.

The structural components, the technical provisions and the opening of Centre Pompidou are arranged on the outside and painted in bright colors.

These architectural features are reflected in Lloyd's headquarters in London (1978-1986), which consists of several office towers that enclose a seventy meter high atrium.

After this collaboration Richard Rogers Partner Ship was founded. Rogers believes that if an organization wants to achieve success, the organization must have an open mind for change. In the years after Lloyd's RRP Richard went through an evolution. They went expand their clientele base. Past successes made of RRP a contender in major public projects: the Tokyo Forum, the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg and the new court in Bordeaux for example.

At the same time, the firm turned to the changing world of commercial architecture. The gap between commercial and 'good' architecture was smaller. Rogers thinks that the British architecture after the war, didn't lost the essence of the architecture, it came aesthetic deficiency but the project lost its impact on people and environment.

Richard Rogers don't want to be associated with high-tech. This is to avoid being pigeonholed.

High-tech is an attempt to technological spirit of early modernism to re-ignite. In other words, modern architecture should reflect the technology of an era. It is based on modernism, but defects such as drafts and overexposure are extracted. Besides looks and style that only mattered to the modernists, comfort is also not forgotten.

His later projects such as the renovation of the Billingsgate Fish Market in London to offices (1986-1989) and the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg (Strasbourg, 1989 ff.), Have a less aggressive look than his early work.

In 1999, in the French city of Bordeaux the robust courthouse is ready. Large areas colorless glass give the building a democratic character, but they are only one element in a variety of building materials. The huge, undulating metal roof, the huge wood-clad conical courtrooms, and in particular the all Exposed construction are more decisive image.

Rogers also designed the Millennium Dome in Greenwich, with a domed roof an area of 100 000 m² spans.