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Richard George Rogers, Baron Rogers of Riverside (23 July 1933 – 18 December 2021) was a British architect noted for his
modernist
Modernism is both a philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new forms of art, philosophy, an ...
and
functionalist designs in
high-tech architecture
High-tech architecture, also known as structural expressionism, is a type of late modernist architecture that emerged in the 1970s, incorporating elements of high tech industry and technology into building design. High-tech architecture grew fro ...
. He was a
senior partner
A partner in a law firm, accounting firm, consulting firm, or financial firm is a highly ranked position, traditionally indicating co-ownership of a partnership in which the partners were entitled to a share of the profits as "equity partners". The ...
at
Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners Rogers may refer to:
Places
Canada
*Rogers Pass (British Columbia)
* Rogers Island (Nunavut)
United States
* Rogers, Arkansas, a city
* Rogers, alternate name of Muroc, California, a former settlement
* Rogers, Indiana, an unincorporated communit ...
, previously known as the Richard Rogers Partnership, until June 2020.
Rogers was perhaps best known for his work on the
Pompidou Centre
The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the Centre national d'art et de culture Georges-Pompidou ( en, National Georges Pompidou Centre of Art and Culture), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English, is a complex building in the Beaubourg area of ...
in Paris, the
Lloyd's building
The Lloyd's building (sometimes known as the Inside-Out Building) is the home of the insurance institution Lloyd's of London. It is located on the former site of East India House in Lime Street, in London's main financial district, the City of ...
and
Millennium Dome
The Millennium Dome was the original name of the large dome-shaped building on the Greenwich Peninsula in South East (London sub region), South East London, England, which housed a major exhibition celebrating the beginning of the third millenn ...
, both in London, the
Senedd building
The Senedd building () in Cardiff houses the debating chamber and three committee rooms of the Senedd (Welsh Parliament; , formerly the National Assembly for Wales). The Senedd building was opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 1 March 2006, Saint ...
, in
Cardiff
Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...
, and the
European Court of Human Rights building, in Strasbourg. He was awarded the
RIBA Gold Medal
The Royal Gold Medal for architecture is awarded annually by the Royal Institute of British Architects on behalf of the British monarch, in recognition of an individual's or group's substantial contribution to international architecture. It is gi ...
, the
Thomas Jefferson Medal, the RIBA
Stirling Prize
The Royal Institute of British Architects Stirling Prize is a British prize for excellence in architecture. It is named after the architect James Stirling, organised and awarded annually by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). The S ...
, the
Minerva Medal, and the
Pritzker Prize
The Pritzker Architecture Prize is an international architecture award presented annually "to honor a living architect or architects whose built work demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent, vision and commitment, which has produ ...
.
Early life and career
Richard Rogers was born in
Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...
, Tuscany, in 1933 into an
Anglo-Italian
Italians in the United Kingdom, also known as British Italians or colloquially Britalians, are citizens or residents of the United Kingdom of Italian heritage. The phrase may refer to someone born in the United Kingdom of Italian descent, some ...
family. His father, William Nino Rogers (1906–1993), was Jewish, and was the cousin of Italian Jewish architect
Ernesto Nathan Rogers
Ernesto Nathan Rogers (March 16, 1909 – November 7, 1969) was an Italian architect, writer and educator.
Biography
Born in Trieste, then in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, he graduated from the Politecnico di Milano, Italy in 1932. He is the cous ...
. His Jewish ancestors moved from
Sunderland
Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...
to
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...
in about 1800, later settling in
Trieste
Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into provi ...
, Milan and
Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...
. In October 1938, William Nino Rogers came back to England,
having fled
Fascist Italy and
anti-Jewish laws
Anti-Jewish laws have been a common occurrence throughout Jewish history. Examples of such laws include special Jewish quotas, Jewish taxes and Jewish "disabilities".
Some were adopted in the 1930s and 1940s in Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy an ...
under
Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in 194 ...
.
Upon moving to England, Richard Rogers went to
St John's School, Leatherhead
Seek those things which are above
, established =
, closed =
, type = Public SchoolIndependent school Co-educational day, weekly and flexi boarding
, religious_affiliation = Church of England
, p ...
. Rogers did not excel academically, which made him believe that he was "stupid because he could not read or memorise his school work"
and as a consequence, he said, he became "very depressed".
He couldn't read until he was 11,
and it was not until after he had his first child that Rogers realised he was dyslexic.
After leaving St Johns School, he undertook a foundation course at Epsom School of Art (now the
University for the Creative Arts
The University for the Creative Arts is a specialist art and design university in the south of England.
It was formed in 2005 as University College for the Creative Arts at Canterbury, Epsom, Farnham, Maidstone and Rochester when the Kent Inst ...
) before going into
National Service
National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939.
The l ...
between 1951 and 1953.
He then attended the
Architectural Association School of Architecture
The Architectural Association School of Architecture in London, commonly referred to as the AA, is the oldest Independent school (United Kingdom), independent school of architecture in the UK and one of the most prestigious and competitive in t ...
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
The Yale School of Architecture (YSOA) is one of the constituent professional schools of Yale University, and is generally considered to be one of the best architecture schools in the United States. The School awards the degrees of Master of Arc ...
in 1962 on a
Fulbright Scholarship
The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...
.
While studying at Yale, Rogers met fellow architecture student
Norman Foster
Norman or Normans may refer to:
Ethnic and cultural identity
* The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries
** People or things connected with the Norm ...
and planning student
Su Brumwell.
After leaving Yale he joined
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) is an American architectural, urban planning and engineering firm. It was founded in 1936 by Louis Skidmore and Nathaniel A. Owings, Nathaniel Owings in Chicago, Illinois. In 1939, they were joined by engineer Jo ...
in New York City.
On returning to England in 1963, he, Norman Foster and Brumwell set up architectural practice as
Team 4
Team 4 was a British architectural firm, established in 1963 by architecture graduates Su Brumwell, Wendy Cheesman, Norman Foster and Richard Rogers. Friction emerged within the firm, and by June 1967, Foster and Rogers decided to dissolve t ...
with
Wendy Cheesman (Brumwell later married Rogers, Cheesman married Foster). Rogers and Foster earned a reputation for what was later termed by the media
high-tech architecture
High-tech architecture, also known as structural expressionism, is a type of late modernist architecture that emerged in the 1970s, incorporating elements of high tech industry and technology into building design. High-tech architecture grew fro ...
.
By 1967, Team 4 had split up, but Rogers continued to collaborate with
Su Rogers
Susan Jane Rogers ( Brumwell; born 22 February 1939) is a British designer and educator. She was a co-founder and partner during the 1960s and 1970s in two architectural practices Team 4 and Richard + Su Rogers. From 1986 to 2011, she was a pa ...
, along with John Young and Laurie Abbott. In early 1968 he was commissioned to design a house and studio for
Humphrey Spender
Humphrey Spender (19 April 1910 – 11 March 2005) was a British photographer, painter, and designer.
Family and education
Humphrey Spender was the third son of Harold Spender, a journalist and writer. Humphrey's mother, Violet Schuster, came ...
near
Maldon, Essex
Maldon (, locally ) is a town and civil parish on the Blackwater estuary in Essex, England. It is the seat of the Maldon District and starting point of the Chelmer and Blackwater Navigation. It is known for Maldon Sea Salt which is produced ...
, 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.
Rogers subsequently joined forces with Italian architect
Renzo Piano
Renzo Piano (; born 14 September 1937) is an Italian architect. His notable buildings include the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris (with Richard Rogers, 1977), The Shard in London (2012), the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City (20 ...
, a partnership that was to prove fruitful. His career leapt forward when he, Piano and
Gianfranco Franchini
Gianfranco Franchini (December 17, 1938 – April 21, 2009) was an Italian architect.
Biography
Born in Genoa and educated at the Polytechnic University of Milan, Franchini is best known for his collaboration with Renzo Piano and Richard Ro ...
won the
design competition
A design competition or design contest is a competition in which an entity solicits design proposals from the public for a specified purpose.
Architecture
An architectural design competition solicits architects to submit design proposals for a b ...
for the
Pompidou Centre
The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the Centre national d'art et de culture Georges-Pompidou ( en, National Georges Pompidou Centre of Art and Culture), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English, is a complex building in the Beaubourg area of ...
in July 1971, alongside a team from
Ove Arup
Sir Ove Nyquist Arup, CBE, MICE, MIStructE, FCIOB (16 April 1895 – 5 February 1988) was an English engineer who founded Arup Group Limited, a multinational corporation that offers engineering, design, planning, project management, and ...
that included Irish engineer
Peter Rice
Peter Rice (16 June 1935 – 25 October 1992) was an Irish structural engineer.
Born in Dublin, he grew up in 52 Castle Road, Dundalk in County Louth, and spent his childhood between the town of Dundalk, and the villages of Gyles' Quay and ...
.
Later career
After working with Piano, Rogers established the
Richard Rogers Partnership
RSHP is a British architectural firm, founded in 1977 and previously known as the Richard Rogers Partnership which became Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners. in 2007. The firm rebranded from Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners to simply RSHP on 30 Jun ...
along with
Marco Goldschmied
Marco Lorenzo Sinnott Goldschmied (28 March 1944 – 7 July 2022) was a British architect best known as co-founder and managing director of Richard Rogers Partnership. He was latterly involved with running the Marco Goldschmied Foundation and ...
,
Mike Davies, and John Young in 1977. This became
Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners Rogers may refer to:
Places
Canada
*Rogers Pass (British Columbia)
* Rogers Island (Nunavut)
United States
* Rogers, Arkansas, a city
* Rogers, alternate name of Muroc, California, a former settlement
* Rogers, Indiana, an unincorporated communit ...
in 2007. The firm maintains offices in London, Shanghai, and Sydney.
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
The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its pur ...
in 1986, entitled "''London As It Could Be''", which also featured the work of
James Stirling and Rogers' former partner Norman Foster. This exhibition made public a series of proposals for transforming a large area of
central London
Central London is the innermost part of London, in England, spanning several boroughs. Over time, a number of definitions have been used to define the scope of Central London for statistics, urban planning and local government. Its characteris ...
, subsequently dismissed as impractical by the city's authorities.
In 1995, he became the first architect to deliver the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
's annual
Reith Lectures
The Reith Lectures is a series of annual BBC radio lectures given by leading figures of the day. They are commissioned by the BBC and broadcast on Radio 4 and the World Service. The lectures were inaugurated in 1948 to mark the historic contribu ...
. This series of five talks, titled Sustainable City, were later adapted into the book ''Cities for a Small Planet'' (Faber and Faber: London 1997, ). The BBC made these lectures available to the public for download in July 2011.
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. This work resulted in a
white paper
A white paper is a report or guide that informs readers concisely about a complex issue and presents the issuing body's philosophy on the matter. It is meant to help readers understand an issue, solve a problem, or make a decision. A white paper ...
, ''
Towards an Urban Renaissance
Towards an Urban Renaissance was a report written by the United Kingdom's ''Urban Task Force'' chaired by Lord Rogers of Riverside and published on 29 June 1999. It examined the question of how 4 million projected new homes over 25 years, migh ...
'', outlining recommendations for future city designers. Rogers also served for several years as chair of the
Greater London Authority
The Greater London Authority (GLA), colloquially known by the metonym "City Hall", is the devolved regional governance body of Greater London. It consists of two political branches: the executive Mayoralty (currently led by Sadiq Khan) and the ...
panel for Architecture and
Urbanism
Urbanism is the study of how inhabitants of urban areas, such as towns and cities, interact with the built environment. It is a direct component of disciplines such as urban planning, which is the profession focusing on the physical design and m ...
. He was chair of the board of Trustees of
The Architecture Foundation Founded in 1991, The Architecture Foundation is Britain's oldest independent architecture centre. It examines contemporary issues in architectural theory and practice, through a public programme that has involved exhibitions, competitions publicatio ...
.
From 2001 to 2008, he was chief advisor on architecture and urbanism to the then
Mayor of London
The mayor of London is the chief executive of the Greater London Authority. The role was created in 2000 after the 1998 Greater London Authority referendum, Greater London devolution referendum in 1998, and was the first Directly elected may ...
Ken Livingstone
Kenneth Robert Livingstone (born 17 June 1945) is an English politician who served as the Leader of the Greater London Council (GLC) from 1981 until the council was abolished in 1986, and as Mayor of London from the creation of the office i ...
. In 2008, he was asked to continue on in his role as an advisor by the then new mayor
Boris Johnson
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as F ...
. He stood down from the post in October 2009. Rogers also served as an advisor to two mayors of
Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
on urban strategies.
Amidst this extra-curricular activity, Rogers continued to create controversial and iconic works. Perhaps the most famous of these, the
Millennium Dome
The Millennium Dome was the original name of the large dome-shaped building on the Greenwich Peninsula in South East (London sub region), South East London, England, which housed a major exhibition celebrating the beginning of the third millenn ...
, was designed by the Rogers practice in conjunction with engineering firm
Buro Happold
Buro Happold (previously ''BuroHappold Engineering'') is a British professional services firm that provides engineering consultancy, design, planning, project management, and consulting services for buildings, infrastructure, and the environment ...
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.
In May 2006, Rogers' 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
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...
.
Rogers resigned his directorship of Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners on 30 June 2020. The Rogers name will be removed from the practice by 2022 as the founding constitution requires.
Selected projects
Team 4
* Creek Vean,
Cornwall
Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...
, UK (1963–1966)
* Reliance Controls factory,
Swindon
Swindon () is a town and unitary authority with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Wiltshire, England. As of the 2021 Census, the population of Swindon was 201,669, making it the largest town in the county. The Swindon un ...
, UK (1967)
* Jaffe House (also known as Skybreak House),
Humphrey Spender
Humphrey Spender (19 April 1910 – 11 March 2005) was a British photographer, painter, and designer.
Family and education
Humphrey Spender was the third son of Harold Spender, a journalist and writer. Humphrey's mother, Violet Schuster, came ...
's house, Maldon, UK (1965–1966)
*
Wates Housing,
Coulsdon
Coulsdon (, traditionally pronounced ) is a town in south London, England, within the London Borough of Croydon, in the ceremonial county of Greater London since 1965. Prior to this it was part of the historic county of Surrey.
History
The l ...
, Surrey, UK (1965)
*Murray Mews,
Camden, London, UK (1966)
Richard and Su Rogers Architects (with John Young and Laurie Abbott)
*
22 Parkside (Dr. Nino and Dada Rogers' house),
Wimbledon
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* ...
, London, UK (1967)
*
Zip-Up House (1967–69)
Piano + Rogers
*
Universal Oil Products
Honeywell UOP, formerly known as UOP LLC or Universal Oil Products, is an American multi-national company developing and delivering technology to the petroleum refining, gas processing, petrochemical production, and major manufacturing industries.
...
,
Tadworth
Tadworth is a large suburban village in Surrey, England in the south-east of the Epsom Downs, part of the North Downs. It forms part of the Borough of Reigate and Banstead. At the 2011 census, Tadworth (and Walton-on-the-Hill) had a population o ...
, UK (1969–1974)
*
B&B Italia
B&B Italia SpA is an Italian modern furniture company whose products are sold worldwide. The company was founded in 1966 by the Busnelli family, who manages the company. On March 1, 2011, the Busnelli family became majority shareholders of the co ...
headquarters,
Como
Como (, ; lmo, Còmm, label=Comasco dialect, Comasco , or ; lat, Novum Comum; rm, Com; french: Côme) is a city and ''comune'' in Lombardy, Italy. It is the administrative capital of the Province of Como.
Its proximity to Lake Como and ...
, Italy (1972–1973)
*
Pompidou Centre
The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the Centre national d'art et de culture Georges-Pompidou ( en, National Georges Pompidou Centre of Art and Culture), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English, is a complex building in the Beaubourg area of ...
, Paris, France (1971–77)
*
IRCAM
IRCAM (French: ''Ircam, '', English: Institute for Research and Coordination in Acoustics/Music) is a French institute dedicated to the research of music and sound, especially in the fields of avant garde and electro-acoustical art music. It is ...
, Paris, France (1971–1977)
* PA Consulting Group's Research Laboratory,
Melbourn
Melbourn () is a large, clustered village in the far south-west of Cambridgeshire, England. Its traditional high street is bypassed by the A10, intersecting the settlement's other main axis exactly northwest of the traditional focal point of R ...
, UK (1976–1983)
The Richard Rogers Partnership
Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners
File:Heathrow Terminal 5 from the air.jpg, London Heathrow Terminal 5
File:Maggie's Centre, Charing Cross, London.jpg, Maggie's Centre, London
File:CentralParkStation(KMRT-R9).jpg, Central Park Station (R9), Kaohsiung City, Taiwan.
File:Las Arenas 2011.jpg, Las Arenas, Barcelona
File:One Hyde Park - Knightsbridge (20826078708).jpg, One Hyde Park, London
File:Barangaroo222.jpg, International Towers Sydney
File:November 2019 Yeouido 02.jpg, Parc1 Tower
Criticisms
Like
Le Corbusier
Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (6 October 188727 August 1965), known as Le Corbusier ( , , ), was a Swiss-French architect, designer, painter, urban planner, writer, and one of the pioneers of what is now regarded as modern architecture. He was ...
, the designs of some of Rogers's buildings have not proved as functionally efficient as claimed, suffering from leaks and maintenance problems. The Lloyds Buildings's much-vaunted design innovation of having the service pipes, etc outside the walls, in fact led to such costs caused by weathering and maintenance that Lloyds considered vacating the building in 2014. Lloyd'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."
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.
Palestine controversy
In February 2006, Rogers hosted the inaugural meeting of the campaigning organisation Architects and Planners for Justice in
Palestine
__NOTOC__
Palestine may refer to:
* State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia
* Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia
* Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...
(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
Silvercup Studios is one of the largest film and television production facilities in New York City. The studio is located in Long Island City, Queens, with another facility in the Port Morris neighborhood of the Bronx. The studio complex has bee ...
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. He announced his withdrawal with the statement, "I unequivocally renounce Architects and Planners for Justice in Palestine and have withdrawn my relationship with them."
Personal life
Rogers was married to
Ruth Rogers
Ruth Rogers, Baroness Rogers of Riverside, (; born 7 July 1948) is an American-born British chef who owns and runs the Michelin starred Italian restaurant The River Café in Hammersmith, London.Adam LusheRecord 10 women chefs win Michelin sta ...
, chef and owner of
The River Café restaurant in west London. They had two sons together,
Roo
Roo is a fictional character created in 1926 by A. A. Milne and first featured in the book ''Winnie-the-Pooh''. He is a young kangaroo (known as a joey) and his mother is Kanga. Like most other Pooh characters, Roo is based on a stuffed toy an ...
and Bo (deceased 2011). 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. In 2015, he was named one of the "50 best-dressed British men" by ''
GQ'' magazine.
He died in London on 18 December 2021, at the age of 88.
Honours and awards
Rogers was
knighted
A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...
in 1991 by
Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...
. He was created Baron Rogers of Riverside, of
Chelsea
Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to:
Places Australia
* Chelsea, Victoria
Canada
* Chelsea, Nova Scotia
* Chelsea, Quebec
United Kingdom
* Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames
** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...
in the
Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea is an Inner London borough with royal status. It is the smallest borough in London and the second smallest district in England; it is one of the most densely populated administrative regions in the ...
on 17 October 1996. He sat as a
Labour
Labour or labor may refer to:
* Childbirth, the delivery of a baby
* Labour (human activity), or work
** Manual labour, physical work
** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer
** Organized labour and the labour ...
peer in the
House of Lords
The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...
; having not attended a proceeding in the 2019–21 session, his membership expired on 11 May 2021. Rogers was appointed a Member of the
Order of the Companions of Honour
The Order of the Companions of Honour is an order of the Commonwealth realms. It was founded on 4 June 1917 by King George V as a reward for outstanding achievements. Founded on the same date as the Order of the British Empire, it is sometimes ...
(CH) in the
2008 Birthday Honours list. However, he was a republican.
Rogers was awarded the
RIBA
The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three suppl ...
Royal Gold Medal
The Royal Gold Medal for architecture is awarded annually by the Royal Institute of British Architects on behalf of the British monarch, in recognition of an individual's or group's substantial contribution to international architecture. It is g ...
in 1985. He was twice honoured by France, first as a Chevalier, L'Ordre National de la
Légion d'honneur
The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...
in 1986, and later as an Officier de l'
Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
The ''Ordre des Arts et des Lettres'' (Order of Arts and Letters) is an order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the was confirmed by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Its purpose is ...
in 1995. He received a Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the 10th
Mostra di Architettura di Venezia. In 2006, the Richard Rogers Partnership was awarded the
Stirling Prize
The Royal Institute of British Architects Stirling Prize is a British prize for excellence in architecture. It is named after the architect James Stirling, organised and awarded annually by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). The S ...
for Terminal 4 of
Barajas Airport
Barajas may refer to:
*Barajas (Madrid), the district of Madrid in which the airport lies
** Barajas (Madrid Metro), station along Line 8 of the Madrid Metro
**Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport, principal airport of Madrid, Spain
* Barajas ( ...
, and again in 2009 for Maggie's Centre in London. Rogers won the
Gold Medal for Architecture at the
National Eisteddfod of Wales
The National Eisteddfod of Wales (Welsh language, Welsh: ') is the largest of several eisteddfodau that are held annually, mostly in Wales. Its eight days of competitions and performances are considered the largest music and poetry festival in Eur ...
of 2006 for his work on the
Senedd building
The Senedd building () in Cardiff houses the debating chamber and three committee rooms of the Senedd (Welsh Parliament; , formerly the National Assembly for Wales). The Senedd building was opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 1 March 2006, Saint ...
of the
Senedd (Welsh Parliament). He was also appointed an Honorary
Fellow
A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context.
In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements.
Within the context of higher education ...
of the
Royal Academy of Engineering
The Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) is the United Kingdom's national academy of engineering.
The Academy was founded in June 1976 as the Fellowship of Engineering with support from Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, who became the first senior ...
in 2005. In 2007 Rogers was made Laureate of the
Pritzker Architecture Prize
The Pritzker Architecture Prize is an international architecture award presented annually "to honor a living architect or architects whose built work demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent, vision and commitment, which has produ ...
– architecture's highest honour.
He was awarded the Minerva Medal by the
Chartered Society of Designers
The Chartered Society of Designers (CSD) is a professional body for designers. It is the only Royal Chartered body of experienced designers. Its membership is multi-disciplinary – representing designers in all design, disciplines including I ...
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.
Rogers was awarded honorary degrees from several universities, including Alfonso X El Sabio University in Madrid,
Oxford Brookes University
Oxford Brookes University (formerly known as Oxford Polytechnic (United Kingdom), Polytechnic) is a public university, public university in Oxford, England. It is a new university, having received university status through the Further and High ...
, the
University of Kent
, motto_lang =
, mottoeng = Literal translation: 'Whom to serve is to reign'(Book of Common Prayer translation: 'whose service is perfect freedom')Graham Martin, ''From Vision to Reality: the Making of the University of Kent at Canterbury'' ...
, the
Czech Technical University in Prague
Czech Technical University in Prague (CTU, cs, České vysoké učení technické v Praze, ČVUT) is one of the largest university, universities in the Czech Republic with 8 faculties, and is one of the oldest institutes of technology in Centra ...
and the
Open University
The Open University (OU) is a British public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate students are based in the United Kingdom and principally study off- ...
. In 1994, he was awarded an Honorary Degree (Doctor of Science) by the
University of Bath
(Virgil, Georgics II)
, mottoeng = Learn the culture proper to each after its kind
, established = 1886 (Merchant Venturers Technical College) 1960 (Bristol College of Science and Technology) 1966 (Bath University of Technology) 1971 (univ ...
.
In popular culture
Rogers is mentioned (along with fellow architect
Philip Johnson
Philip Cortelyou Johnson (July 8, 1906 – January 25, 2005) was an American architect best known for his works of modern and postmodern architecture. Among his best-known designs are his modernist Glass House in New Canaan, Connecticut; the pos ...
) in the song "Thru These Architect's Eyes" on the album ''
Outside'' (1995) by
David Bowie
David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...
.
Rogers is mentioned in the song "Anti-Everything" by British band
Mansun
Mansun were an English alternative rock band, formed in Chester in 1995. The band comprised vocalist/rhythm guitarist Paul Draper, bassist Stove King, lead guitarist/backing vocalist Dominic Chad, and drummer Andie Rathbone.
It was announc ...
, from the album ''
Six
6 is a number, numeral, and glyph.
6 or six may also refer to:
* AD 6, the sixth year of the AD era
* 6 BC, the sixth year before the AD era
* The month of June
Science
* Carbon, the element with atomic number 6
* 6 Hebe, an asteroid
People ...
'' (1998).
Publications
Rogers wrote several books during his career, including:
* ''Architecture: A Modern View'',
Thames & Hudson
Thames & Hudson (sometimes T&H for brevity) is a publisher of illustrated books in all visually creative categories: art, architecture, design, photography, fashion, film, and the performing arts. It also publishes books on archaeology, history, ...
(1991)
* ''A New London'' (co-author Mark Fisher and the Labour Party),
Penguin
Penguins (order (biology), order List of Sphenisciformes by population, Sphenisciformes , family (biology), family Spheniscidae ) are a group of Water bird, aquatic flightless birds. They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere: on ...
(1992)
* ''Cities for a Small Planet'',
Faber and Faber
Faber and Faber Limited, usually abbreviated to Faber, is an independent publishing house in London. Published authors and poets include T. S. Eliot (an early Faber editor and director), W. H. Auden, Margaret Storey, William Golding, Samuel B ...
(1997)
* ''
Towards an Urban Renaissance
Towards an Urban Renaissance was a report written by the United Kingdom's ''Urban Task Force'' chaired by Lord Rogers of Riverside and published on 29 June 1999. It examined the question of how 4 million projected new homes over 25 years, migh ...
'', Urban Task Force (1999)
* ''Cities for a Small Country'', Faber and Faber (2000)
* ''Richard Rogers and Architects: From the House to the City'', Fiell Publishing (2010)
* ''Architecture: A Modern View'', Thames & Hudson (2013)
References
External links
*
Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners websiteLarge list of major Richard Rogers skyscrapers with data and imagesRogers, Stirk, Harbour and Partners projects portfolio
Richard Rogers presents the 2007 Annual Discourse at the Royal Institute of British Architects(video)
The 1995 BBC Reith Lectures: Sustainable City by Richard Rogers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rogers, Richard
1933 births
2021 deaths
20th-century English architects
Architects from Florence
English people of Italian descent
Fellows of the Royal Institute of British Architects
Italian emigrants to the United Kingdom
Italian people of English descent
Italian people of Jewish descent
English people of Jewish descent
Knights Bachelor
Rogers of Riverside
Members of the Académie d'architecture
Members of the Order of the Companions of Honour
Modernist architects from England
People educated at Kingswood House School
People educated at St John's School, Leatherhead
Pritzker Architecture Prize winners
Recipients of the AIA Gold Medal
Recipients of the Praemium Imperiale
Recipients of the Royal Gold Medal
Rogers family
Royal Academicians
Stirling Prize laureates
Welsh Eisteddfod Gold Medal winners
Yale School of Architecture alumni
Honorary Fellows of the American Institute of Architects
Alfonso X El Sabio University alumni
British republicans
Fulbright alumni