Richard Rogers The late architect couldn’t draw – but made up for it with profound empathy and an innovative spirit

Underdog story

The late Richard Rogers couldn’t draw – but it didn’t stop him becoming one of the greatest architects of his generation

Words / Amy Frearson Image / Courtesy of Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners

“He has a genuine interest in and a feeling for architecture, but lacks the intellectual equipment to translate these feelings into sound building.” Thus reads a report card issued to Richard Rogers in 1958, while he was studying at London’s prestigious Architectural

Association. Within 30 years, he had produced two of the 20th century’s most important buildings, the Centre

Pompidou in Paris and the Lloyd’s building in London.

Rogers didn’t fit the mould of the traditional architect – he couldn’t draw well and was chaotic in his approach – but he had an understanding of how buildings should make people feel. So while his designs were among the first to embrace the high-tech style of architecture, with its steel, glass and exposed services, they also had a human quality. The Stirling Prize-winning Barajas Airport in Madrid is the perfect example, turning the unwelcoming environment of air travel into a place of light and warmth. Collaboration was key to Rogers’ approach. He won the commission for the Pompidou by partnering with Italian architect Renzo Piano, and many of his later works, from the Leadenhall Building to Spain’s Bodegas Protos winery, were completed under the name Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners to celebrate the contribution of younger partners Graham Stirk and Ivan Harbour.

Rogers’ career was not without controversy. As an adviser to the former London mayor Ken Livingstone, he was outspoken on the importance of making good architecture available to all, yet also designed some of London’s most expensive housing; he also made an enemy of the Prince of Wales, who personally intervened to block him from working on a project at Chelsea Barracks. His innovative spirit and exuberant character never faltered, however – and with his death in December 2021, the architecture world lost a true inspiration.

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