Richard Rogers Theories

Flexibility

Today's buildings are more like evolving landscapes than classical temples in which nothing can be added and nothing can be removed. Open ended, adaptable frameworks with large, well-serviced and well-lit floors, on the other hand, offer the possibility for a long life span for the building and a variety of possible uses. For example, Mossbourne Community Academy and Minami School will be able to adapt over time to progressive approaches to education. This concept was developed in earlier buildings such as Lloyd's of London and the Pompidou Centre, solutions that include spaces that can be used for multiple activities in the short term, as well as having many alternative long term uses depending on future requirements.

At Barajas Airport in Madrid the objective was to ensure that the architecture was robust enough to handle the amount of passengers estimated for forthcoming years. The one constant factor with airports is change, and so the essence of this scheme in constructional terms was its use of a single modular segment for the entire 1.2km long structure, allowing ease of expansion whilst disciplined in response to environmental constants such as day-lighting. Repetition of elements as an aid to the construction process can be seen at Chiswick Park, facilitated by design consistency across the individual buildings.

Office occupiers require flexible spaces in order to respond to contingencies in business life; they need to be able to extend and adapt buildings. A concept that incorporates a high level of standardised design will facilitate change.

For functional reasons we always create clear zoning between servant and served spaces within a building. We often separate and juxtapose the services with the mass of the building; in practical terms the part of the building which is inhabited has a long life, whereas the technical services have a short life and therefore need to be accessible for change and maintenance. By separating the mechanical services, lifts, electrics, fluids and air-conditioning from the rest of the building, inevitable technical developments can be incorporated where they are most needed to extend the life of usable core space. The articulation of the services and core building creates a clear three-dimensional language, a dialogue between served and servant spaces and a means of creating flexible floor space. Standardised large floor-plates with services placed on the perimeter have been successful in commercial buildings such as 88 Wood Street and Lloyd's Register, and allow for flexible tenancies that respond to the changing demands of the office market.

Public domain

Public space between buildings influences both the built form and the civic quality of the city, be they streets, squares or parks. A balance between the public and private domain is central to the practice's design approach. Buildings and their surrounding spaces should interrelate and define one another, with external spaces functioning as rooms without roofs.

It is the celebration of public space, and the encouragement of public activities that drives the form of the practice's buildings. It is the building's scale and relationship with the street or square that helps to encourage public activity and create a people-friendly environment. For example, the steps that lead to the Channel 4 Headquarters, the narrow passage that runs around the Lloyd's of London building, the small churchyard in front of Lloyd's Register, the close around the National Assembly for Wales or the square in front of the Bordeaux Law Courts are all examples where the relationship between buildings and public spaces demonstrate how the architect's responsibility can successfully extend beyond the brief to include the public domain.

The Pompidou Centre in Paris, designed by Richard Rogers in collaboration with Renzo Piano and completed in 1977, illustrates how a building can bring life to a rundown area of a city. The design deliberately dedicated over half of the site to a public piazza. The public domain, in this case, extends from the square up the facade of the building in the form of 'a street in the air' , a great diagonal escalator crossing the facade to connect all the floors. The Pompidou Centre, including its piazza has become the most visited building in Europe with spontaneous street theatre and other events in the piazzas complimenting the activities within the building.

City and contex

Cities are the physical framework of our society, the generator of civil values, the engine of our economy and the heart of our culture. In England, one of the three most densely populated countries in the world, 90% of the population live in cities, but many of our urban centres are not sustainable. Large areas of dereliction, poverty and empty quarters, destroy the sense of community and vitality, urban sprawl erodes our countryside.

Today, with the increase in life expectancy, the decrease in birth rate, increase in divorce rate and the potential for less pollution in our post-industrial society, the city has once more become man's natural habitat. Compact polycentric cities are the only sustainable form of development and should be designed to attract people. If we don't get urban regeneration right then all our work on cities - buildings and public spaces, education, health, employment, social inclusion and economic growth - will be undermined.

Sustainable urban development is dependent on three factors; the quality of architecture, social well-being and environmental responsibility. The compact sustainable city is multi-cultural with a hierarchy of density, has a mix of uses and tenures, is well connected with a coherent public transport, walking and cycling infrastructure, is well designed both in terms of public spaces and building, and is environmentally responsive.

The Richard Rogers Partnership has an extensive track record in sustainable urban regeneration - examples include masterplans for the East River Waterfront in Manhattan, a large mixed use development in Seoul, Korea, Convoys Wharf on the banks of the River Thames, the urban context for the new stadium at Wembley in West London, the regeneration of former docklands at Almada, Lisbon, ongoing schemes in Granada, Mallorca and Rome, as well as competition designs for Potsdamer Platz in Berlin, Piana di Castello near Florence and the Pudong Peninsula in Shanghai.