Richard Rogers - the architect behind iconic buildings such as the Millennium Dome, the Pompidou Centre and the Lloyd's of London building - has died aged 88.
His son, Roo Rogers, confirmed the death. No cause was given.
He was one of the most distinctive architects of his generation, with an architectural style that was both instantly recognizable and highly adaptable.
Photo:Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers © Archives Centre Pompidou
Richard Rogers was the 2007 Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate, the recipient of the RIBA Gold Medal in 1985 and winner of the 1999 Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation Medal. He was also winner of the 2000 Praemium Imperiale Prize for Architecture, the 2006 Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement (La Biennale di Venezia) and the 2007 Tau Sigma Delta Gold Medal. Richard Rogers was awarded the Légion d’Honneur in 1986, knighted in 1991 and made a life peer in 1996. Most recently, in 2008 he was made a Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour.
Photo:Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers © Archives Centre Pompidou
In 1995, he was the first architect ever invited to give the BBC Reith Lectures – a series entitled ‘Cities for a Small Planet’ – and in 1998 was appointed by the Deputy Prime Minister to chair the UK Government’s Urban Task Force on the state of our cities. He was Chief Advisor on Architecture and Urbanism to the Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone and has played an advisory role on design to the previous Mayor of London, Boris Johnson. He has also been an Advisor to the Mayor of Barcelona’s Urban Strategies Council.
Image Courtesy © Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners
The practice has a wealth of experience in urban masterplanning with major schemes in London, Berlin, New York and Shanghai Pudong. The practice is currently working on a major masterplan for Barangaroo South, a mixed-use waterside development in Sydney, and participated in the Greater Paris project, which looks at the future of the city as a more integrated metropolitan region as it faces the social and environmental challenges of the 21st century.
In 2007, Rogers' firm was renamed Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners to reflect the contributions of fellow architects Graham Stirk and Ivan Harbour.
“Architecture is too complex to be solved by any one person. Collaboration lies at the heart of all my work. I enjoy the dynamic that flows when different disciplines, from sociology to mathematics, engineering to philosophy, come together to create solutions. This integration creates an ethos that best serves, and an aesthetic that best symbolises, the modern world. No-one is more integral to the clarity of a project that an enlightened client.” - Richard Rogers.
Courtesy © Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners
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Cover photo: Courtesy © Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners
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