Richard Rogers, one of the most important architects of the second half of the 20th century, died on December 18. He was the recipient of the Pritzker Prize, one of the most important awards for architects. Rogers was considered one of the most influential architects, at the same time his designs were capable of stirring controversy.
Richard Rogers was born in 1933 in Florence. He came from an English-Italian family. In the 1950s he studied at the Architectural Association School of Architecture and later at Yale University. He took his first steps in architecture at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill in New York. He then founded the Team 4 studio with Norman Foster, Su Brmwell and Wendy Cheesman, which they disbanded after a few years. In the 1970s, Richard Rogers will begin the most important collaboration of his career. Together with Renzo Piano and Gianfranco Franchini, they designed the main building of the Centre Pompidou. Following this collaboration, he founded the Richard Rogers Partnership office, which was later renamed Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, where he worked until 2020. Two years after Rogers' departure, his name is to be removed from the studio's name - the architects want to avoid a situation in which the studio bears the name of a long out of practice or deceased person.
In addition to his design work, the architect has advised London mayors, contributed to The Architecture Foundation, and written books popularizing sustainable architecture issues. In 1991, he received a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II. He was an award-winning architect, and received the Pritzker Prize in 2007.
Centre Georges Pompidou
photo by Jeff & Brian, © CC BY-SA 2.0
architecture
Rogers' work to postmodern architecture and the trend of so-calledhigh-tech architecture - a direction that introduces elements of modern technology and materials into architecture. The most groundbreaking building in his work was the Centre Georges Pompidou, which houses the Museum of Contemporary Art and a library. The body of the building highlights the structural elements and the technical part. All the installations that lead outside have been painted in different colors corresponding to the function, making it possible to distinguish electrical, water or air-conditioning systems. Centre Pompidou has stirred up a lot of controversy.
Lloyd's building
photo by Loco Steve, © CC BY-SA 2.0
An important building was the skyscraper of the Lloyd's insurance company in London, where the architect wanted to highlight modern materials such as aluminum, glass and steel. Richard Rogers also designed the Senedd building - the Welsh Parliament, the Millennium Dome, or the skyscraper 3 World Trade Center, built on the site of the complex destroyed in the 9/11 attacks.
