Category Archives: Inspirational architects

The Rise in Popularity of Green Roofs

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Living roofs or green roofs, were until recent years a rarity in the UK building landscape, seen as a luxurious design addition implemented by the few with adoption much greater in countries such as Switzerland and Germany.

Today, alongside other forms of sustainable architecture and design, or green technology, they are growing in popularity.

Seen as not only aesthetically pleasing in densely populated urban areas, but increasingly as a method to reduce energy use and carbon emissions, they are key along with green walls, roof terraces, and solar to improving our resilience to climate change and safeguarding our environmental future.

Green roof provision has grown considerably across the capital as shown in the 2019 London Green Roof Report this has been in part to key policy drivers like the 2008 amends to the London Plan, stating in planning policy 5.1 ‘the Mayor will, and boroughs, should expect major developments to incorporate living roofs and walls, where feasible’ .

With this in mind, we examine green roofs, the distinct types, the benefits they bring, architectural and design considerations, and the future outlook.

The Lexi Cinema extensive green roof

What are green roofs?

Installed on flat or low-pitched roofs with an angle of no more than 30degrees, green roofs also referred to as living or eco roofs are found on small residential buildings through to large commercial and industrial buildings.

They consist of engineered soil (substrate) especially designed to hold the correct amounts of moisture, nutrients, and air for successful plant growth. They are either intensively or extensively planted with vegetation, then laid over a waterproof membrane or moisture retention fleece to prevent leakage and remain watertight in all conditions.

As well as these elements, a typical green roof layer/system will consist of a root barrier, thermal insulation, and drainage/irrigation systems.

They offer minimum or maximum levels of pedestrian access and use dependent on space and roof structure, and with grasses, herbs, mosses, and wildflowers can improve biodiversity by providing a habitat for birds, and insects.

In addition, they have an array of environmental benefits which we will discuss further on.

What are the different types of green roof?

There are three main types of green roof, intensive, extensive, and semi-intensive. Each differ and are unique in terms of use, maintenance, design implications, weight, and cost.

  • Intensive green roof

You will typically see an intensive green roof or roof garden designed for accessible recreational use on large commercial buildings such as those at Jubilee Park in Canary Wharf, 55 Broadway, or at New Providence Wharf in Docklands which covers an area of 8.3 hectares. Prince of Wales Drive is a good example of an intensive green roof in a residential setting.

Due to the scale of an intensive green roof and with its tendency to feature extensive lawns, trees, paved areas and even water features they can weigh a significant amount and usually need to be designed with a heavy-supporting structure typically with reinforced concrete to take a load of up to 200kg/m2.

The soil on an intensive green roof is planted quite deeply at over 200mm and once planted are labour intensive requiring regular maintenance, fertilisation, weeding, and pruning.

Due to their need for regular watering, they will have dedicated rooftop irrigation such as a dripline system laid below the soil surface at root level.

Considering all these factors, they are the costliest green roof.

  • Extensive green roof

Compared to intensive green roofs, extensive systems are lighter in weight (40-110kg/m2) and are shallower ranging from 2cm to 12cm in depth, because of this they require less maintenance normally just once a year weeding, are less costly, and can be self-sustaining.

Their shallow depth means that extensive green roofs in London and the UK tend to comprise of hardier sedum or stonecrops. Sedums are low growing succulents (which store water) which look to be sitting on the soil, with the word coming from the Latin ‘sedeo’ which means to sit.

It is because of their shallowness that they do not add great weight to a roof, they also tend to be drought and frost proof which means they require little watering.

Easier to implement, a popular choice is to use a pre-grown sedum mat-based system incorporating a variety of plants and flowers. Delivered as a roll, they are typically, 20mm thick, and laid out onto crushed brick or light clay aggregate, with a waterproof layer often on top.

They are a good option in comparison to loose planting which is more labour intensive as it involves preparing the ground, laying the soil, sowing seeds, and then maintenance. However, there are UK nurseries that now supply plants and advice for green roofs

Due to their minimal maintenance, and relatively low cost, extensive green roofs are the preferred choice for residential properties. Although you can find them in commercial settings such as at Canary Wharf which has 5000 to 6000 square metres incorporating five extensive green roofs. This makes it one of the largest green roof spaces in the UK.

Here at Rise Design Studio we used a sedum roof on our Lexi cinema project in London’s Kensal Rise, with our work being shortlisted for a prestigious 2022 FX International Interior Design Award.

Semi-intensive green roofs

These are of course a cross between intensive and extensive green roofs, with slightly greater depth than the latter.

They include a wider variety of plants compared to an extensive green roof, often akin to a wildflower meadow, therefore they require moderate maintenance, fertilisation, and watering.

What are the benefits of green roofs?

Whilst appealing in terms of breaking up the monotony of the urban landscape, along with the resultant inner-city opportunities for recreational and social green space and general improvement in wellbeing and productivity, the principal benefits of green roofs are extensively environmental.

  • They help to improve and preserve urban biodiversity by creating habitats for animals, birds, butterflies, and insects. Some of which may be endangered and at risk of extinction such as Black Redstarts whose preservation was a part of the driving force behind many early London green roofs
  • They help to cool building temperature and improve insulation by absorbing heat therefore reducing the ‘urban heat island’ phenomenon, decreasing surface air temperature by up to 16.4 degrees
  • They improve air quality by producing oxygen
  • They can contribute to reduced air pollution by removing harmful toxins from the air including nitrates and carbon dioxide
  • Help to reduce flooding and improve stormwater management, as they can absorb anywhere between 50% and 100% of rainwater, and then release it through condensation and transpiration
  • Reduce the need for air conditioning and heating requirements leading to less emissions and more efficient energy consumption as they cool the building in summer and warm it in winter
  • Improve noise and sound reduction
  • They can produce opportunities for urban agriculture

Such is their environmental impact, that the UK Green Building Council has called for all new buildings and infrastructure to have ‘nature-based solutions’ such as green roofs, by 2030 to combat the ever-growing threat of global warming.

In addition to this, other benefits are that a green roof can add value to your property due to its appearance and the fact it contributes to reduced energy costs, as well as roof longevity by protecting it from natural exposures.

Green roofs in London

In comparison to major cities worldwide London has been ‘late to the party’ when it comes to green roofs. Much of this down to policy implementation, or lack of.

However progression was made with the 2008 amends to the London Plan, the spatial development strategy for Greater London, which saw a much more proactive approach to green roof adoption and greater policy towards urban greening as a whole.

This was echoed by the 2019 creation of the Urban Greening Factor by the Greater London Authority (GLA) which measures the quantity and quality of greening on any new development proposal at the planning stage.

The effectiveness of both of these measures is demonstrated by the recent City of London monitoring reports, on the subject, which show that between 2011/12 and 2019/2020, green roofs went from 23 to 64, covering an area, from 8,200m2 to 25,900m2. This London City Hall map shows the location of these green roofs.

City of London projects that in 2026, green roof spaces which are predominantly extensive will comprise of 82.

There are currently a number of major innovative new green developments planned for the city such as Google’s new Kings Cross headquarters which promises to have a ‘grass-laden plateau’ and ‘green walkways’ as well as an extension to Blackfriars Crown Court which will be topped by a 100-tree forest and a retail development in Greenwich which is to have one of the largest green roofs in the borough.

Nationwide the Government are set to launch further incentives related to planning through The Environment Bill which contains a provision that all planning applications increase the biodiversity of the site in question by 10 per cent. The aim is to leave nature in a better state than before.

How much does a green roof cost?

Costs will vary dependent on the green roof system and the property in question, and whether professional contractors or landscape designers are employed

A professionally designed and installed extensive residential green roof can cost from £50 to £100 per square metre.

This cost is just an average and it will depend on things such as whether the roof needs extra support, how accessible the roof is, and which plants you are using.

Do I need planning permission for a green roof?

Due to Permitted Development Rights, in most cases it is unlikely that you will need planning permission if installing a green roof on an existing residential building, such as a garage or garden shed.

However, it is of course dependent on the property and the local planning department. This is especially important if the property is listed or within a conservation area.

Building regulation approval will be needed if it is a new build or an extension/alteration to a current one, this is due to load capacity and fire regulations.

As part of a new build planning application for large-scale developments, they can be beneficial in terms of gaining credits with BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method) which assesses a building’s environmental performance.

How an architect can help with a green roof

Green roofs are becoming a significant part of architectural design and innovation, after all design is about more than creating buildings of beauty but rather achieving multi-functional buildings that add to and enhance people’s wellbeing and their surroundings, for present and future generations.

When considering a green roof for your home or property, employing an architect such as our team at Rise Design Studio, will help ensure that you get the desired effect and result with all implications considered in reference to the Green Roof Code of Best Practice:

  • They can help you understand the slope of the roof, maximum load capacity (when saturated, snow covered or through pedestrian access), and structure
  • Which green roof system will work best for your vision, location, and use, based on the above
  • They will look at orientation, wind exposure, sunlight, and shading
  • Examine the impact on areas such as skylights, vents, and chimneys
  • Determine what planning permissions are required if any
  • How roof access and egress will work based on safety and the system you employ
  • Offer guidance on the most appropriate water management and drainage
  • Specify fire safety requirements as related to building regulations
  • Help advise on external contractors/manufacturers, and manage that process and overall project management
  • Look at the proposed maintenance schedule

There is no doubt that green roofs look great and it is not surprising to see their popularity grow, but more than their aesthetic appeal, they sit alongside solar, and wind turbines, as sustainable energy solutions that counteract greenhouse gas emissions and encourage biodiversity.

We each understand that climate change is happening now, employing a green roof whether it be on a home or commercial building is a step to addressing this challenge. It is positive to see that the Government is keen to increase the uptake and prevalence of them especially in larger cities.

For further information on the forward-thinking green roof design techniques RISE Design Studio can bring to your project please contact mail@risedesignstudio.co.uk or give us a call on 020 3290 1003

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Spotlight on David Lea and low carbon design

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“When we build we reveal our vision of the future.” These words embody David Lea’s approach to designing buildings that are in harmony with the natural world. Today, this has never been more important and here at RISE Design Studio we will continue to take inspiration from Lea’s work, long after hearing the sad news of his death earlier this year.

RISE Design Studio David Lea

Beautiful buildings, minimal harm

At the heart of Lea’s long career as an architect was his desire to create low-impact buildings. Many of his projects were built mainly from natural products, including timber, hempcrete, locally quarried stone and lime render. His last major project included an auditorium built with seven metre high walls of rammed earth. This now renowned project – the Wales Institute for Sustainable Education (WISE) in mid-Wales – comprises a range of accommodation and workshops, with pools of water, paved terraces and timber-slatted galleries interspersed throughout. This keeps the inside spaces in ‘constant dialogue’ with the outside world with an almost Japanese feel.

The WISE centre, like many of his other projects, were based on design principles that embrace creativity, minimise waste and retain an element of simplicity that complements the natural world. In his first important work – a sheltered housing scheme in Surrey – Lea implemented a system of easily built timber details so as to avoid any wasteful cutting. In later phases of the same project, he incorporated lime-rendered wall finishes, a method that he used in combination with locally quarried stone in his other work.

Growing concern for the natural world

As Lea progressed through his career, his concern for the natural world grew and he became increasingly restless with life in London. Relocating to Snowdonia in North Wales, he focused increasingly on rebuilding his own property and cultivating his land as part of the wider ‘back-to-the-earth’ movement.

While in Wales, and through his work at the WISE centre, he was able to showcase his use of hempcrete – a mixture of hemp and lime – as a sustainable alternative to concrete. Students and staff continue to experiment with this material at the Welsh School of Architecture and there is growing interest and use in hempcrete in a wide range of architecture, construction and scientific circles.

An activist at heart

Most inspirational is the way in which Lea instilled in his students a crucial need to think about the future that they build. His appreciation of changing light, combined with creativity, simplicity and responsibility towards the environment, was distilled into the minds of so many architects who now have the opportunity to learn from and carry on his important work.

Francis Kéré, materiality and place

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In 2022, Francis Kéré was awarded architecture’s highest international accolade, the Pritzker Prize. Kéré’s many projects show us the power of materiality rooted in place, which is something that we emphasise through the use of local materials in our architecture and design work.

Francis Kere RISE Design Studio

Against the odds

Kéré was born in a remote village in Burkina Faso, with no electricity, running water or a local school. He left his family at age seven to study at a city school, where he later trained as a carpenter. After receiving a scholarship for an apprenticeship in Germany, he went on to study architecture in Berlin. Despite being far from home, one of his first projects was to design a school for the village he grew up in, in collaboration with members of the community and using local materials. For this, he was awarded the Aga Khan Award in 2004 and the Global Award for Sustainable Architecture in 2009.

Innovative use of local materials

The Burkina Faso school project included the use of clay-earth bricks and suspended, corrugated metal roofs, to encourage stack ventilation for students learning in a hot, arid climate. By placing the overhanging metal roofs like this – rather than in the common way that makes houses hot inside – cool air is drawn in through the building’s windows and hot air is then released through holes in the ceiling. The innovative use of local materials and adaptation of traditional building techniques, combined with insight and involvement from the community, have been central to Kéré’s renowned approach.

Impact and investment

As awareness of his work grew, Kéré received widespread recognition for his experimentation with different materials to create cool and comfortable buildings in the hot African climate. He has also managed to raise funds for several projects focused on improving schools and other educational buildings for Africa’s young people, often involving buildings’ users in its construction, as he did in his home village.

Continuing to experiment with natural alternatives to air conditioning, one of his most recent projects – a technology campus in Kenya – uses wind towers shaped like termite mounds. In another project – a secondary school in Burkina Faso – he used local, laterite stone as the main building material. By orienting the building east to west, the amount of direct solar radiation on the walls was reduced, and a sharply protruding metal roof (like that used in the school in his home village) creates a large amount of shade.

Other projects in Africa have used a modular approach, with local people employed in the construction of modules, using local materials such as clay, laterite, cement bricks, gum wood and loam. Once again, large walls and impressive overhanging roofs remove the need for air conditioning in most buildings – a vital outcome in the changing climate and in communities without electricity for air conditioning, or the means with which to pay for powering cooling systems.

Inspiration

As the first black architect to win the Pritzker Prize in its 43-year history, Kéré acknowledges that he hopes to inspire young people in Africa to realise that paths like the one he has taken are open to them too. He continues to draw inspiration from local environments and there is a sense that his most impressive works may be yet to come.

Spotlight on Ricardo Bofill as we set up our new studio in Barcelona

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Later this year, we will be opening a RISE Design Studio in Barcelona. We are excited about this, not least because we take a lot of inspiration from Spanish architecture in our work. Last month, we were very sad to hear the news that renowned Catalonian architect, Ricardo Bofill, had passed away at the age of 82. Bofill’s wide range of impressive buildings have influenced our projects and those of many others. He leaves a lasting legacy for us all.

RISE Design Studio Ricardo Bofill

Early influences and approaches

After an education in Spain and Switzerland, Bofill and a group of friends created ‘Ricardo Bofill Taller de Arquitectura’ in 1963 in the centre of Barcelona. From the outset, he worked in a multi-disciplinary environment, collaborating not only with engineers and other architects, but also artists and writers. This approach later developed into the holistic urban planning/design method that we are more familiar with today. His early projects were seen as exemplars of critical regionalism, with several viewed as a political reaction against the Francoist dictatorship in Spain at the time and a ‘shunning’ of architectural modernism.

In the 1970s, Bofill relocated to France, where his work echoed French traditions of classical architecture. His work in France culminated with the design of the new Antigone district in Montpellier, which combined large-scale industrialisation in precast concrete with classical forms. Described by Bofill himself as modern classicism, his projects like this led to his being referred to as one of the most significant postmodern architects in Europe.

Modular geometry

One of the best-known projects delivered by Bofill and his firm is Walden 7, a modular block of 450 apartments built on the outskirts of Barcelona in 1975. Located on the site of a former cement factory, the modules of the 14-storey building are linked by footbridges and arranged around courtyards. The intention of this design was that the building serves the evolving needs of its residents. On the same site, Bofill built his family home and office, within the original cement factory (see the image above). His stylish and innovative renovation of the factory included a large, central meeting room and exhibition space (the Cathedral), with 10-metre high ceilings and features of the original factory intact in the surrounding décor.

A similarly innovative and impressive project is the ‘monumental’ apartment block Les Espaces d’Abraxas in eastern Paris. Featuring prefabricated stone, cement facades and reference to baroque architecture, one building includes a semi-circular structure that encloses an amphitheatre (that was used as a filming location in The Hunger Games).

From concrete to other materials

Bofill increasingly moved from working with concrete to glass and steel, while still featuring classical elements like columns in his projects. Notable projects from the 1980s include the extension of Barcelona airport before the 1992 Olympics and the National Theatre of Catalonia. His designs gradually lost the classical aspects yet retained his love of a highly formal sense of geometry such as in the Mohammed VI Polytechnic University in Morocco.

A lasting legacy

Over his lifetime, Bofill’s portfolio spanned a wide range of settings, from public buildings to transport infrastructure and urban design. Although Bofill has passed away, his firm in Barcelona continues under the co-leadership of his two sons and we will continue to take inspiration from his work while we establish our new studio in the city.

Spotlight on Jan Kaplický

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There are very few Londoners (and international cricket fans) who are not familiar with the Media Centre at the Lord’s Cricket Ground. Designed by avant-garde Czech architect, Jan Kaplický, this is one of his most renowned ‘spacecraft-like’ architecture projects. Completed in 1999, it received the RIBA Stirling Prize for its futuristic design and has become one of the icons of the sporting world. Kaplický provides us with inspiration here at RISE Design Studio, not only for his futuristic work but also for his interest in his later years in nature and the incorporation of organic shapes in his work.

RISE Design Studio Jan Kaplicky drawings

A new life in London

After beginning his career as an Academic Architect in Prague, Kaplický fled to London in the wake of the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968. He described a need to escape a country where empowerment was very limited at the time and it was “impossible to achieve anything that was even slightly out of the ordinary”. Not allowed to go to university, buy books, or exhibit his work in public, his move provided him with creative freedom and he soon found himself working on the design for the Centre Pompidou in Paris, under the direction of Richard Rogers and Renzo Piano before they relocated to the French capital.

He set up his own architectural practice in London – Future Systems – in 1979, and produced many intricate drawings of orbiting robots and homes transportable by helicopter. Although none of these drawings became real buildings, they drew a lot of attention to his ‘elegantly radical’ ideas, opening the doors for him to design the Lord’s Media Centre and later the Selfridge’s shopping store in Birmingham in 2003. Described as “the ultimate rejoinder to what was then Birmingham’s reputation as a decaying concrete jungle”, Kaplický’s work once again brought inspiration through his visionary designs.

From outlandish to organic

In the mid-1980s, Kaplický suddenly started to look to nature for organic inspiration for his architecture. Perhaps as a result of the death of his mother around that time – she was a well-known illustrator of plants – he had a renewed appreciation of the value of his mother’s work, using shapes of cobwebs, sea shells, mushrooms, flowers and other plants in his later work. Blending these shapes with a harsh and often controversial futuristic edge created a unique style that interrogated the relationship between nature and technology.

The business of buildings

Kaplický’s designs were generally not possible to build using conventional techniques. For example, the Lord’s Media Centre is an aluminum semi-monocoque shell – a sort of ‘boat shape’ – and there was no standard contractor in Britain who could build it at the time. Instead, Kaplický and his life partner, Amanda Levete, found a boatyard contractor in Cornwall to do the work. Combining Levete’s business experience with Kaplický’s designs worked well for several years.

In his later years, Kaplický designed a National Library building for Letná in Prague. Despite the work winning an international competition, its construction was blocked by the Czech authorities and caused much public and political debate. In interviews with Kaplický before his death, it was clear that he was sad not to have been able to build something in his home country.

Spotlight on Charles Correa

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An aspect of our work that we are proud of is our ability to combine traditional architectural values with the use of modern materials. One architect who provides us with inspiration in this regard is Charles Correa, an Indian architect and urban planner who designed buildings that respect the local landscape while simultaneously meeting the practical needs of inhabitants. In 1984, RIBA declared Correa ‘India’s greatest architect’ – we look at some of his most important works and how they demonstrate his unique and deep-rooted understanding of Indian society and vernacular.

RISE Design Studio - Charles Corea - Cricket

Modernism in non-Western culture

While studying architecture in the US, Correa was influenced by the use of striking concrete forms developed by Le Corbusier (a collaborator of Jean Prouvé, another architect that we draw inspiration from in our work). This, along with careful consideration of the Indian climate, drove many of Correa’s design decisions. For example, he recognised the potential for residents of a hot country to experience a better quality of life with access to outside living spaces, such as terraces and courtyards. He also created traditional, symmetrical spaces, often in ‘modules’ that could be scaled up to the desired size.

A famous example of this is in the Gandhi Memorial Museum in the Ashram, which was Correa’s first important work in private practice. Completing the project in 1963, he used 6mx6m modular units to reflect the simplicity of Gandhi’s life and allow for eventual expansion (the incremental nature of a living institution). Using a simple post and beam structure, brick columns support concrete channels and a wooden roof and the modules reflect the isotopy (like fractals) found in the decorative elements of Hindu temples.

From low income to luxury

Correa designed nearly 100 buildings in India, ranging from low-income housing to luxury condos and cultural buildings. In the late 1960s, when developing his career as an urban planner, he created New Bombay (Navi Mumbai). Preferring ‘quasi-rural’ housing to the high-rise solutions more typical of towns and cities, he designed the low-cost Belapur housing in Navi Mumbai in the 1980s. These dwellings included communal spaces and facilities to create a sense of community and emphasise the importance of the human scale.

His later works included cultural projects such as university buildings in Maharashtra and an arts complex in Jaipur. Even in these projects he continued to believe that buildings must respond to their surroundings and take into account the particular needs of those using them. The arts centre, for example, is a clever fusion of past and present, inspired by both the traditional Hindu system of architecture and the ancient beliefs of using geometric patterns and symmetry.

A pioneer in passive techniques

Correa discouraged the use of mechanical heating and cooling methods, instead preferring to use ‘smart shading’, intelligent building orientation and methods to enhance the heat absorption capacity of masonry. He was passionate about using different parts of the house at different times of the day and embraced the notion of ‘open-to-sky’ architecture with open walls and courtyard spaces.

Correa passed away in 2015 and will be remembered for the great respect and love he had for the cities he worked in. He founded the Urban Design Research Institute in Mumbai in 1984 to improve low-quality buildings. He saw cities as places of hope and worked hard to provide city dwellers with low cost shelter, reasonable living conditions and a sense of community.

The work of Charles Correa provided inspiration in our Langley Vale Visitor Hub project.

Spotlight on Lina Bo Bardi

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Recycling or converting buildings came naturally to Italian-born Brazilian architect, Lina Bo Bardi. Inspired by the use and reuse of basic materials, she devoted her working life to engaging with every facet of culture and designing ‘people-friendly’ buildings. Described as “the most underrated architect of the 20th century”, it is pleasing to see her finally receive the attention she deserves. We take inspiration from Lina Bo Bardi here at RISE Design Studio, particularly her respect for authentic objects and how to preserve and celebrate them in the home.

RISE Design Studio - Lina Bo Bardi

Buildings flowing with the natural environment

In 1951, Bo Bardi created the ‘Casa de Vidrio’ in the rainforest surrounding São Paulo. An early example of the use of reinforced concrete in domestic architecture, she found a Brazilian context for the Italian modernism she was trained in. The landscape ‘flows’ underneath the building and the main living area is almost wholly open, apart from a courtyard that allows the trees in the garden to grow up into the heart of the house (perhaps a source of inspiration for Sverre Fehn’s Nordic pavilion). This celebration of the local environment is a theme that runs through her work.

Engaged public places

Bo Bardi’s designs were used in the the Solar do Unhão cultural centre in Salvador, and the Museum of Art, the Teatro Oficina, and Centro de Lazer Fábrica de Pompéia in São Paulo. In what she termed ‘poor architecture’, she sought to design public spaces that embodied a simple form of monumental architecture. The São Paulo Museum of Art is formed from ‘raw and efficient’ pre-stressed concrete, allowing unobstructed views to the lower-lying parts of the city.

She expertly restored buildings in a manner which neither pandered to nostalgia nor ignored context – the restoration of a 17th century sugar mill into the Solar do Unhão left the colonial exterior intact, with a modern staircase added. This reflected her belief that a museum should be a place for education – an active site of knowledge rather than a mausoleum of the past.

When she was commissioned in the 1980s to turn a burnt out office building into a theatre, she designed the new space almost completely out of painted scaffolding. The intense theatre space is designed to make the members of the audience feel as if they are engaged with the act on the stage.

Simplicity and the historical present

Lina Bo Bardi also designed furniture and she often used plywood and native Brazilian woods in her design. Wanting each object to display its own ‘natural logic’, her designs embodied simplicity and reduction and rawness of material.

Bo Bardi’s work has become much more widely acknowledged in recent years and support has grown for the proper preservation of her buildings. In a lecture at the University of São Paulo in 1989, she was asked to describe her ideas for the preservation of historic buildings. She replied that she sees no such thing as ‘the past’ in architectural practice. Whatever still exists today is what she termed ‘the historical present’ – you have to preserve the typical features and characteristics of a time that is part of our human heritage.

The legendary Richard Rogers retires

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A few weeks ago, Richard Rogers retired from architectural practice. One of the UK’s top architects, this marks the end of an illustrious career portfolio which includes the striking, modern landmarks of the Lloyd’s building and the O2 arena in London. In this post, we look back at some of his key works and what these meant for architectural practice more broadly.

Richard Rogers Madrid airport

Born in Italy, Rogers moved to the UK as a young child. As he grew up, his architectural skills were honed at a range of institutions, including the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London and Yale School of Architecture in the USA. At the latter, he met fellow student Norman Foster, with whom he set up an architectural practice with in England in the 1960s.

Early projects

In the late-1960s, Rogers was commissioned to design a glass cube house in Essex, framed with I-beams. This modernist, hi-tech style continued in subsequent works into the 1970s, including the use of standardised components to make energy-efficient buildings.

Perhaps most well-known at this time was his design of the Pompidou Centre in Paris, which he developed with Italian architect Renzo Piano. The unique way in which the services for this building (water, heating, etc.) are located on the exterior allows the internal spaces to remian free from clutter. Although the building attracted widespread shock among Parisians when it was built, it is generally a widely-loved Parisian landmark today.

The Lloyd’s Building in London, which Rogers designed in the 1980s, was also subject to some controversy. Again, the building’s services, including lifts, staircases and water pipes, are on the outside of the structure, leaving open space inside. The building was Grade I listed in 2011 in recognition of its fame.

How cities are used

In his later career, Rogers devoted a lot of his attention to sustainability and the ways cities are used. He became quite vocal in political discussions about urbanism, setting up the Urban Task Force at the request of the UK government in the late 1990s to identify causes of urban decline and set out a vision for the future. The task force wrote a white paper, ‘Towards an Urban Renaissance’, which set out more than 100 recommendations for future city designers.

In the early 2000s, Rogers continued to work closely with government, advising mayors of London and Barcelona on urban design strategies.

His later works

Alongside his political engagements, Rogers created additional works that were, like his earlier works, simultaneously popular and criticised. Of particular note was his design of the then Millennium Dome (now the O2 arena), which received widespread criticism in the run-up to the new millenium due to its cost.

The ‘inside-out’ works of Richard Rogers remain icnonic to members of the public and architects alike. The way his designs strive for uncluttered, well-lit internal spaces has provided inspiration in our work and we wish him all the best in his retirement.

Christo & Jeanne Claude

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Christo and Jeanne Claude RISE Design Studio

“The work of art is a scream of freedom.”
– Christo

It is with both joy and a tang of sadness that we present this post today. With joy because of the incredible work that the couple carried out; a lifetime of art full of brightness. And sadness because, now that they are both gone, it has left us wondering – who will fill their void? Who will be as inventive, as playful, and as daring?

Christos and Jeanne Claude’s wrapping of landmarks was a breath of fresh air. An idea both monumental and ephemeral which never failed to trigger a sense of awe. The work was particularly powerful because it went beyond talking about itself to talk about us.

It talked about us and our monuments and buildings, putting in perspective our place in history and our scale in the world. It made us realise that we are not gods, that we come and go and that our creations are only a little sturdier than we are. Like Christos said on one occasion: “We believe that nothing exists that is forever, not even the dinosaurs; if well maintained, it could remain for four to five thousand years, (…) that is definitely not forever.”

There is a great relief in the realisation that, however long our temples or bridges have been standing there, it is comparatively little when regarded in cosmic time. The gift wrapping of these awe-inspiring monuments made them objects again; and us, children. The lightness that comes with knowing that there are much bigger things than ourselves, that we are relatively insignificant in the grand scheme of things is a burden taken off humanity’s shoulders.

Christo and Jeanne Claude changed our cities and our landscapes, covering them up to show them in a new light. They made us think about the world we live in and the world we build in a quiet way that harnessed so much power. Perhaps unsurprisingly, many never got to see their art in person – some of the installations lasted weeks; others, only days. But the playful way in which they wrapped the world and let people walk on water remains documented for everyone to be inspired. For us, as architects, it is an immense gift that has allowed us to think about our own creations in a completely new light.

The RIBA House of the Year winner 2019: House Lessans

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A bow to simplicity and values rooted in maternal landscapes, House Lessans is the winner of the RIBA House of the Year 2019 award.

RISE House Lessans copyright Aidan McGrath

When we think of contemporary architecture and high-quality design, we often picture modern trends, futuristic looks, and scary budgets. House Lessans reminds us that those preconceptions are just aesthetic preferences. High-quality contemporary architecture is characterised by adhering to larger values that are present throughout our society: acknowledgement of the delicate nature of the environment, an effort to utilise new technologies to drive tangible progress instead of for their own sake, or a shift from admiring grand appearances to appreciating quality.

House Lessans encompasses all of these contemporary values. It does so with a simple and tasteful exterior that nods at the typologies of the setting. The reference to the barns scattered around the Northern Irish landscape is apparent at first glance, and it fits in seamlessly with the subtle design decisions that habilitate a domestic program within the three-building complex. The budget is modest, but in no way compromises the end result.

The interior, equally subdued and graceful, focuses on atmospheric over shock value. The grey blockwork, white plaster, and timber flooring palette is reminiscent of misty farming fields without being literal, and the outdoors is ever-present through the use of natural light and the careful detailing of windows that bring the grassy landscape to the very edge of the rooms.

Looking at the project, it is a pleasure to admire the compositional skills of architect McGonigle McGrath. The result is a monument to architectural language; a true achievement of the art of making and curating.

Image ©  Aidan McGrath