Richard Rogers (along with Renzo Piano) is responsible for the Pompidou Center, which in 1976 shocked the world with things as revolutionary as exposed exterior stairs and ductwork. More than anyone else, he fit the description of high tech architect by exposing the very systems that buildings normally hide. From the appropriately oppressive exterior of the Lloyd's of London tower to the lighter than it should be PA Technology Center to the extraordinarily unpopular Millennium Dome (certainly not his fault), Rogers continues to creatively design without abandoning such true principles.

Lloyds of London
(1984) London, United Kingdom

The toilet rooms fastened to the erector set design of the Lloyd's of London building were not just put there for some shallow aesthetic reason but were there so they could be replaced. In the future when toilet rooms (or mechanical systems) needed to be upgraded, they could be unplugged from the building and replaced. Twenty years later and it still hasn't happened that way, but it's still kind of cool that it (somehow) still could.

Centre Georges Pompidou
(1976) Paris, France

Imagine what it must have been like to be at the Pompidou Center when it first opened, not knowing what to expect. All those exposed pipes, that glass hamster tube on the outside, the exposed structure. Thirty years later it still feels daring and experimental, although somehow appropriate.

Click here to go to the Pompidou Center's official site, available in English, French or Spanish. Home to one of the world's great museums among other fine cultural institutions including an expensive cafe and a great bookstore

P.A. Technology Center
(1982) Princeton, New Jersey, United States

Technically in Princeton but nowhere near the quaint little town or really expensive University, Richard Rogers created a poster boy for the "Hi Tech" architecture movement that tried to distract people from all that mid 80s Post Modernism. In reality there was nothing hi tech about the building, its structural and mechanical systems were quite standard- what set them apart was the lone fact that they were visible.

Millennium Dome
(2000) London, United Kingdom

In 1999, Sir Richard Rogers' Millennium Dome had a nice cameo role in the James Bond movie The World is Not Enough. The promise of the dome and its impending popularity (at the time) was so bright, it was surely to become a once in a lifetime event. The problem (or maybe just one of the problems) was not with its design but with its programming, there really was nothing interesting to do there other than look at that great big dome.

ArBITAT FutureWatch

The Richard Rogers Partnership continues to build in and around London and throughout the world. Follow their progress at ArBITAT FutureWatch... (go to ArBITAT FutureWatch)