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Top 10 Facts About Architect Richard Rogers

Richard Rogers was a British-Italian architect born on July 23, 1933, in Florence, Tuscany, Italy, and died on December 18, 2021, in London England. He was famously known for his modernist and constructivist designs in high-tech architecture.

Richard was first married to Su Brumwell a co-founder of the Team 4 architectural firm. The couple was blessed with 3 sons namely Ben, Zad, and Ab. The couple divorced and Rogers remarried, Ruth Rogers, chef, and owner of The River Café restaurant in west London. Rogers and Ruth were blessed with 2 sons known as Roo and Bo.

He was lucky to be awarded several awards such as the RIBA Gold Medal (1985), Knight Bachelor (1991), Thomas Jefferson Medal (1999), Praemium Imperiale (2000), Stirling Prize (2006, 2009), Minerva Medal (2007), Pritzker Prize (2007), and HonFREng (2005) among others.

1. He was Awarded Several Awards

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Architect Richard Rogers has won several awards and honors throughout his architectural journey. The awards are awarded to architects to appreciate them for the amazing work they have done for society.

Some of the awards Rogers was awarded include RIBA Gold Medal (1985), Knight Bachelor (1991), Thomas Jefferson Medal (1999), HonFREng (2005), Pritzker Prize (2007), Stirling Prize (2006, 2009), and Praemium Imperiale (2000) among others.

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2. Richard Couldn’t Read Until He was 11

Richard attended St John’s School, Leatherhead after his father William Nino Rogers moved back to England. He was not good academically and that made him believe that he was stupid since he could not memorize his schoolwork.

The fact that he thought he was stupid made him fall into depression. The surprising part is that Richard could not read until when he was 11 years old.

3. Rogers and His Friends Set an Architectural Practice

When Rogers was still studying at Yale School of Architecture, he met fellow architecture students known as Norman Foster and Su Brumwell a planning student. After he completed his studies at Yale he joined Skidmore, Owings & Merrill in New York City.

In 1963 he returned to England from New York City, he then set up an architectural practice together with his friends Norman Foster and Brumwell as well as Wendy Cheesman known as Team 4 (a British architectural firm established by architecture graduates).

4. He Established Richard Rogers Partnership Firm

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Rogers joined forces with the Italian architect Renzo Piano and their partnership was fruitful. Piano, Gianfranco Franchini, and Rogers won a design competition in July 1971 for the Pompidou Centre, which leapt Rogers’s career forward.

After working with Piano, Rogers decided to establish the Richard Rogers Partnership, a British architectural firm founded in 1977, together with Marco Goldschmied, John Young, and Mike Davies.

The Firm later changed its name from Richard Rogers Partnership to Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners in 2007. The firm has offices in London, Sydney, and Shanghai.

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5. Richard was the First Architect to Deliver the BBC’S Annual Reith Lectures

It is interesting to know that architect Richard Rogers was the first ever architect to deliver the BBC’S (British Broadcasting Corporation is the national broadcaster of the United Kingdom located in London, England) annual Reith Lectures, a series of annual BBC radio lectures given by leading figures of the day.

This series of five talks was titled Sustainable City and were later adapted into the book known as The Cities for a Small Planet. In July 2011, the BBC made these lectures available to the public for download.

6. He was a Chair of Architecture Panels for Several Years

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Architect Rogers was a leader for a long time. It is amazing to note that he was a chair of Architecture Panels for several years. He served as a chair of the Greater London Authority, the devolved regional governance body of Greater London, panel for Urbanism and Architecture.

He was as well chair of the board of Trustees of The Architecture Foundation, Britain’s oldest independent architecture centre.

7. Rogers was Married

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Rogers was a family man. He was married to Ruth Rogers, an American-born British chef who owns and runs the Michelin-starred Italian restaurant The River Café in Hammersmith, London. The couple was blessed with 2 sons namely Roo and Bo.

Richard had other kids with Su Brumwell his first wife namely Ben, Ab, and Zad. He was blessed with 14 grandchildren and had a younger brother known as Peter William Rogers known for being a property developer and co-founder of Stanhope.

8. He Wrote Several Books

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Despite being an architect, Rodgers was also a book writer. He published many books during his career. Some of these publications include;

Architecture: A Modern View, Thames & Hudson (1991), Architecture: A Modern View, Thames & Hudson, A New London (co-author Mark Fisher and the Labour Party), Penguin (1992), Richard Rogers and Architects: From the House to the City, Fiell Publishing (2010), Cities for a Small Planet, Faber and Faber (1997), Cities for a Small Country, Faber and Faber (2000) and Towards an Urban Renaissance, Urban Task Force (1999) among others.

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9. Richard was a Learned Architect

Richard was a learned architect; he went to school to acquire knowledge. He first joined St John’s School, Leatherhead, a fully co-educational Private school for pupils aged 11 to 18. After he left St Johns School, he joined Epsom School of Art which is now known as the University for the Creative Arts, and undertook a foundation course.

He then attended an architectural School the Architectural Association in London from 1954 until 1959 and attained the Architectural Association’s Diploma. He later attained a master’s degree from Yale School of Architecture in 1962 on a Fulbright Scholarship.

10. He Accomplished Several Projects

Richards has accomplished several projects under the firms he has worked for such as Team 4 and The Richard Rogers Partnership among others. Some of his most notable projects include;

Creek Vean, Cornwall, UK (1963–1966), Jaffe House (also known as Skybreak House), Humphrey Spender’s house, Radlett, 22 Parkside (Dr. Nino and Dada Rogers’ house), Wimbledon, London, UK (1967), PA Consulting Group’s Research Laboratory, Melbourn, UK (1976–1983), Universal Oil Products, Tadworth, UK (1969–1974), Inmos microprocessor factory, Newport, Wales, UK (1980–1982), Channel 4 Headquarters, London, UK (1990–1994) and Reuters Data Centre, London, UK (1987–1992) among others.