<p>Richard Rogers and Renzo Piano`s proposal for the Centre Pompidou &ndash; a comprehensive cultural amenity and one of France`s grand projets of the 1980s &ndash; was a truly flexible container in which all interior spaces could be rearranged at will and exterior elements could be clipped on and off over the life span of the building. The notion of flexibility is extended to every component of the building; the Centre was to act as &lsquo;an ever-changing framework, a meccano kit, a climbing frame for the old and the young`. Conceived as a well-serviced shed, the building contains a series of uniform spaces supported externally by a free-standing structural frame, the whole capable of change in plan, section and elevation, able to absorb the unforeseen requirements of the future.</p><p>The lower level of the building contains large public areas such as the theatre, shops, reception and street-level caf&eacute;. Above, vast open floors house galleries, outdoor terraces and administrative areas. Finally, the top floor accommodates a restaurant, experimental cinema and temporary exhibitions, all of which could be open late into the night, bringing life and activity to the square during the evening.  Half the site was left unbuilt to make way for a square of civic proportions which could be used for a wide variety of community uses including markets, exhibitions, performances, circuses, games, buskers and so on. Rue St. Martin, with its lively mix of residences above businesses, was closed to traffic to allow the cafes, restaurants and shops to spill out into the square. Facing the square, the west fa&ccedil;ade is given over to vertical and horizontal movement, taking advantage of spectacular views over Paris. Circulation devices &ndash; escalators, lifts, escapes.</p>

Centre Pompidou

 The single-storey modernist house is made from bright yellow-painted steel ribs with full-height glazing at each end, and is separated into two parts. The first part is a flat and pottery studio for Rogers' mother, with the main house set in trees behind. Day space includes a large open-plan kitchen, living room and dining room. There are a master bedroom, two small bedrooms, a bathroom and utility room. Two opposite sides of the house, north-east and south-west, have ceiling-to-wall glass with views onto the grounds, which consist of a courtyard and landscaped gardens. The roof is flat and covered in felt. Rogers himself believes this to be among the best example of his early work. Rogers said that the approach he used to design this early work, such as the use of prefabricated steel and glass modules, served as an inspiration for much of his future work, which includes the Centre Georges Pompidou, co-designed with Renzo Piano, and the Grade I listed Lloyd's building. 

Rogers House at Wimbledon

The terminal, which is the biggest in Spain, was commissioned to enable Barajas International Airport to compete with major hub airports within Europe. The core building comprises a sequence of parallel spaces separated by a linear block allowing daylight to penetrate deep into the interior. The same form is applied to the satellite, which is comprised of two linear blocks, one for passport control and the other containing the gates. The bamboo linear roof structure is connected above by a chain of roof lights, permitting maximum flexibility in the arrangement of accommodation on each of the floors. This enables the building to be expanded in phases. The new terminal has a metro, rail station and landside transit link to the existing terminals as well as a transit system linking the core terminal with the satellite. 

Terminal 4 at Barajas Airport

Commissioned to mark the beginning of the twenty-first century, the Millennium Dome was intended as a celebratory, emblematic and non-hierarchical structure that offered a vast, flexible space. The 1.08 million-square-foot adaptable space was suitable for the exhibition and performance events as well as any number of future uses.

Millenium Dome

The Lloyd's 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 London. The building is a leading example of radical Bowellism architecture in which the services for the building, such as ducts and lifts, are located on the exterior to maximise space in the interior. In 2011, twenty-five years after its completion in 1986 the building received Grade I listing; at this time it was the youngest structure ever to obtain this status. It is said by Historic England to be "universally recognised as one of the key buildings of the modern epoch". 

Lloyd's of London

Richard George Rogers, Baron Rogers of Riverside CH FRIBA FCSD FREng RA was an Italian-born British architect noted for his modernist and functionalist designs in high-tech architecture. Rogers was perhaps best known for his work on the Pompidou Centre in Paris, the Lloyd's building and Millennium Dome both in London, the Senedd building in Cardiff, and the European Court of Human Rights building in Strasbourg. He was a winner of the RIBA Gold Medal, the Thomas Jefferson Medal, the RIBA Stirling Prize, the Minerva Medal, and Pritzker Prize. He was a Senior Partner at Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, previously known as the Richard Rogers Partnership, until 30 June 2020. 

Richard Rogers

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