Richard Rogers on Modern Architecture is a compact but forceful manifesto, written at a moment Rogers identified as crisis, arguing that architectural failure is not a failure of talent but a capitulation to exploitative economic forces.
About This Book
Written when Richard Rogers saw modern architecture at an inflection point, this essay cuts through the familiar hand-wringing about poor design and monotony to locate the real culprit: economic systems that subordinate built form to short-term commercial interest. Rogers is unsparing. The failures of the contemporary city — its inhuman scale, its repetitive mediocrity — are, in his analysis, political and economic before they are aesthetic. That argument carries particular weight coming from a practitioner at the centre of some of the most ambitious public buildings of the late twentieth century. Concise and clear-eyed, this is architectural criticism with the authority of a designer who has navigated the very forces he critiques. Essential reading for anyone thinking seriously about design philosophy and the politics of the built environment.
Key Features
- 72 pages of critical architectural essay and design philosophy
- Written by Richard Rogers, architect of the Pompidou Centre, the Lloyd's building, the European Court of Human Rights, and the Millennium Dome
- Published by Thames & Hudson, ISBN 9780500029503
What You'll Discover
- Rogers's central argument that poor urban design stems from surrender to exploitative economic systems, not from any failure of the Modern Movement itself
- A practitioner's perspective on how commercial and business interests frustrate good design at the point of delivery
- An analysis of inhuman scale and monotony in contemporary architecture as symptoms of structural economic problems
- A succinct statement of Rogers's own design philosophies, distilled from decades at the highest levels of international practice
About the Author
Richard Rogers was regarded as one of the most original and inventive architects of his generation, best known for the Pompidou Centre in Paris (with Renzo Piano), the Lloyd's building and Millennium Dome in London, and the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. Throughout his career he was a frequent and outspoken commentator on architecture, urbanism, and the social responsibilities of the built environment.
Specifications
- Format: Hardcover
- Pages: 72
- Dimensions: 11.9 x 18.3 cm
- Language: English
- ISBN: 9780500029503
- Publisher: Thames & Hudson
- Publication Date: [Details available upon request]
Perfect For: Architects, urban designers, and students of architectural theory seeking a concise critical framework for understanding how economic forces shape — and distort — the built environment.