Richard Rogers - 10 Buildings and Projects

Centre Pompidou, Paris, 1977

The Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris (1971-1977) revolutionized museum design and changed the careers of two future Pritzker Laureates — Rogers and his business partner at the time, the Italian architect Renzo Piano.

Museums of the past had been elite monuments. In contrast, the Pompidou was designed as a busy center for social activities and cultural exchange.

With support beams, duct work, and other functional elements placed on the exterior of the building, Centre Pompidou in Paris appears to be turned inside out, revealing its inner workings. Centre Pompidou is often cited as a landmark example of high-tech architecture.

Leadenhall Building, London, 2014

Richard Rogers' Leadenhall Building has been nicknamed the Cheese Grater because of its unusual wedge shape. Located at 122 Leadenhall Street in London, the pragmatic design lessens the sightline to Sir Christopher Wren's iconic St. Paul's Cathedral.

The style of the 2014 building has been called "structural expressionism" by some. By others, it's an office building of style. The tapered design was specific to the location, to make the modern showcase the iconic buildings of London.

At an architectural height of 736.5 feet (224.5 meters), the 48 floors of the Leadenhall Building has become one of the top properties for businesses worldwide.

Lloyd's of London, 1986

Set in the heart of London, England, Lloyd's of London established Richard Rogers' reputation as a creater of large urban buildings. Architectural Expressionism is the term often used by critics when they describe Rogers' distinctive style. For Lloyd's building, Rogers designed an immense open interior not anticipated by looking at the nooks and crannies of the exterior. Bathrooms, elevators, and mechanical equipment hang on the exterior of the building, allowing the work of underwriter insurance trading to take place in what was known as "the Room."

The Senedd, Cardiff, Wales, 2006

Home of the National Assembly for Wales, the Senedd is designed to suggest transparency while being sustainable and secure.

The Senedd (or, the Senate, in English) is an earth-friendly waterfront building in Cardiff, Wales. Designed by the Richard Rogers Partnership and built by Taylor Woodrow, the Senedd is constructed with Welsh slate and oak. Light and air enter the debating chamber from a funnel on the roof. Water collected on the roof is used for toilets and cleaning. An energy-efficient Earth Heat Exchange system helps maintain comfortable temperatures inside.

Although the structure has a Japanese pagoda look to it on the outside, inside is a huge funnel rising to above the roof, making the working area interiors unworldly and space age — a sea of red cedar on display in a box of glass.

Terminal 4, Madrid Barajas Airport, 2005

Richard Rogers' design for Terminal 4, Barajas Airport in Madrid has been praised for its architectural clarity and transparency. Estudio Lamela for AENA airport operators and Richard Rogers Partnership won the 2006 Stirling Prize, Britain's highest prize in architecture, as co-architects. The largest terminal in Spain is covered with a wavy roof accentuated by strips of Chinese bamboo on the interior and wells of natural light.

Terminal 5, Heathrow Airport, London, 2008

Richard Rogers' aesthetic suits large, open, public areas such as airport terminals. Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners won the competition for T5 in 1989, and it took nearly twenty years to design and build.

Millennium Dome, Greenwich, England, 1999

The 1999 Millennium Dome was built to celebrate the new millennium. Its location in Greenwich near London is very appropriate as much of the world measures time from the location; Greenwich Mean Time or GMT is the starting time zone for time zones around the world.

Now called The O₂ Arena, the dome was supposed to be a temporary structure, like many other buildings designed as tensile architecture. The fabric structure is more sturdy than developers believed, and today the arena is part of the The O₂ entertainment district of London.

Maggie's Center, West London, 2008

Maggie's Centers thoughout the United Kingdom provide cancer families with healing architecture. Since the first center opened in 1996 in Scotland, the organization founded by Maggie Keswick Jencks has enlisted world class architects such as Frank Gehry and Zaha Hadid to design havens of comfort, support, and calm. For Rogers' design, the kitchen is the heart of the building — perhaps because Ruth Rogers is a well-known chef in the architect's world. Unlike other designs, Rogers' Maggie's Center is not transparent or complicated — simple concrete walls are colored in calming, bright colors, and clerestory windows give privacy and light to the occupants. The hanging roof is typical of many buildings designed by the British architect.

Creek Vean, Feock, Cornwall, U.K., 1966

The house built for Marcus and Rene Brumwell was a project of Rogers' first partnership, Team 4. Along with his first wife Su Brumwell and future Pritzker Laureate Norman Foster and his wife, Wendy Cheesman, the young Team 4 group began their careers in modernity with concrete blocks, Welsh slate, and lots of glass.

3 World Trade Center, New York City, 2018

Rebuilding Lower Manhattan after the 2001 terrorist attacks was complicated, contentious, and continued for nearly twenty years. Rogers' design for Tower 3 was one of the first to be accepted and one of the last to be built. Characteristic of a Rogers' design, 3WTC appears modernly mechanical — but it works just fine.