Richard Rogers, Architect

Richard was the gothic one and Norman the classical one and rather than the Centre Pompidou (which whilst a masterpiece I always had difficulty with), for me it was Lloyds and it still excites. I was lucky enough to take advantage of the glass lift to the public viewing gallery before the IRA put a stop to all that and even took my mother to see it. I was careful that we approached from Leadenhall Market to emphasis the shock of the new and shocked she was; an oil refinery a taxi driver once described it to me as. Clever and forward looking is what it is and it still engenders delight. Whilst he had many establishment clients at his heart was a social conscience and he was a great urbanist. We have copies of his books on London and Cities, desirable as much for the typography and bright pink covers as the content. The sophistication of his buildings was clearly only possible given a talented group of people of which he was the charismatic lead. A great loss.