Wednesday, 2 September 2020

Richard Rogers' top 10 architecture projects

Following Pritzker Prize-winning architect and high-tech architecture pioneer Richard Rogers' retirement, we round up 10 of his most influential projects.


Richard Rogers top 10 architecture projects: Reliance Controls electronics factory by Team Four

Reliance Controls, Swindon, UK (1967)

Designed in partnership with Norman Foster, Su Brumwell and Wendy Cheesman while Rogers was part of Team 4, the Reliance Controls factory in Swindon was the first high-tech industrial building.

The building, which contained both the factory and offices for precision electronic instruments company Reliance Controls, has its structure clearly visible – something that would become a hallmark of high-tech architecture.


Richard Rogers top 10 architecture projects: Wimbledon House

Wimbledon house, London, UK (1969)

Following Team 4, Rogers and Brumwell established an architecture studio and one of its first projects was a home for Rogers' parents at 22 Parkside in Wimbledon.

According to Rogers, the home was designed to demonstrate how pre-fabrication would enable homes to be built quickly and affordably.

"This was going to be a standardised system to solve the whole of the British housing problem," he told Dezeen in an interview. "It didn't! But it did certainly lead to most of the work which I still do some 50 years later and more."


Richard Rogers top 10 architecture projects: Centre Pompidou by Richard Rogers and Renzo Piano

Centre Pompidou, Paris, France (1977)

Perhaps Rogers' most famous building and a clear expression of his inside-out architecture, Centre Pompidou in Paris drew global attention to both its architects and the high-tech movement.

Designed with Italian architect Renzo Piano, the art gallery has its structure and mechanical services visible on the exterior of the building, creating open, flexible interior spaces.


Richard Rogers top 10 architecture projects: Inmos Microprocessor Factory in Wales by Richard Rogers

Inmos Microprocessor Factory, Newport, UK (1982)

At the Inmos Microprocessor Factory in south Wales, Rogers continued the idea of inside-out architecture.

To create the large, column spaces required by the microchip factory, the building's roof is supported by nine blue-painted towers made from tubular steel that are positioned along the centre of its roof.

Rogers designed the highly-flexible single-storey steel structure as a prefabricated kit of parts so that similar structures could be built anywhere.


Richard Rogers top 10 architecture projects: The Lloyd's building in London by Richard Rogers and Partners (now Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners)

Lloyd's building, London, UK (1986)

One of the most recognisable pieces of architecture built in the 1980s, the Lloyd's building in London is another of Rogers inside-out buildings that has its structure and services clearly visible on its exterior.

Built as the headquarters of Lloyd's of London – one of the world's largest insurance firms – the 14-storey office block is wrapped around a central atrium. Placing the services on the outside creating open, flexible offices inside.

"[We] kept the floors clear because Lloyd's said they wanted two things," Rogers told Dezeen in an exclusive interview in 2013.

"They wanted a building that would last into the next century – we met that one – and they wanted a building that could meet their changing needs."


Richard Rogers top 10 architecture projects: Dome

Millennium Dome, London, UK (1999)

Built to house an exhibition celebrating the beginning of a new millennium called the Millennium Experience, the dome-shaped structure was designed as a giant tent. The 50-metre high dome in Greenwich, London, is supported from 12 bright yellow towers.

More than six million people visited the attraction in the year 2000, and it was subsequently converted into a concert and entertainment venue.


Barajas Airport, Madrid, Spain (2005)

Rogers' terminal 4 building at the Barajas Airport in Madrid, won his architecture studio the Stirling Prize for the first time.

Designed in collaboration with Spanish practice Estudio Lamela, the airport building has a bamboo-clad linear roof that is supported on central columns that are brightly coloured to mark the airport's different sections.


Heathrow Terminal 5, London, UK (2008)

Driven by the desire to have flexible internal space, like many of his earlier projects, Terminal 5 at London's Heathrow airport is a 396-metres-long and 176-metres-wide, column-free space topped with a curved roof.

Internal freestanding structures to house departure and arrivals areas, check-in, shops and offices were all designed so that they can be dismantled and reconfigured if the building's requirements change.


Hammersmith Maggie's Centre, London, UK (2008)

The Hammersmith Maggie's Centre won Rogers' studio it's second Stirling Prize. Designed for cancer-care charity Maggie's, the orange-coloured centre is intended to be a welcoming and uplifting space for cancer patients.

Situated within the Charing Cross Hospital site in Hammersmith, the building was designed to have a domestic scale and feel to contrast the institutional buildings within the hospital.


Richard Rogers top 10 architecture projects: The Leadenhall Building by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners

The Leadenhall Building, London, UK (2014)

Built directly opposite the Lloyd's building, the Leadenhall Building is a wedge-shaped skyscraper in central London. Widely known as the Cheesegrater, due to its shape, the 224-metre office tower has a sloped facade so that it doesn't interfere with protected sight lines to St Paul's Cathedral.

In 2016 Rogers' 200-strong studio moved into a brightly coloured office within the building.

All images courtesy of Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners.

The post Richard Rogers' top 10 architecture projects appeared first on Dezeen.



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Elon Musk unveils updated Neuralink brain implant design and surgical robot

Elon Musk unveils new Neuralink brain implant design and robot that inserts it

Elon Musk's neuroscience startup Neuralink has revealed the "dramatically simplified" design for an implant that aims to create brain-to-machine interfaces, alongside the robot that inserts it and several pigs that have the device installed.

Musk shared updates of the implant, which Neuralink is developing to connect human brains with computer interfaces via artificial intelligence, in an online presentation last week.

In the presentation, the entrepreneur and Tesla founder unveiled the new design of the chip, as well as the full-scale surgical robot and a group of pig test subjects.

Elon Musk unveils new Neuralink brain implant design and robot that inserts it
The Neuralink has been simplified from a device behind the ear to one on top of the skull

Musk explained that over the past year the company has "dramatically simplified" the wearable device. The previous design consisted of a bean-shaped device that would sit behind the ear.

"It was complex, and you still wouldn't look totally normal; you would have a thing behind your ear," he said about the old design. "So we've simplified this to something that is about the size of a large coin, and it goes in your skull."

The in-brain device could enable humans with neurological conditions to control technology, such as phones or computers, with their thoughts.

Musk also claims to be able to solve neurological disorders from memory, hearing loss and blindness to paralysis, depression and brain damage.

Elon Musk unveils new Neuralink brain implant design and robot that inserts it
The coin-sized chip would enable humans to control technology with their mind

The current prototype – referred to as version 0.9 – measures at 23 millimetres by eight millimetres, and has 1024 electrode "threads" attached to it that are implanted into the brain.

It is designed to replace a coin-sized portion of skull and sit flush so it would be physically unnoticeable. It would be inductively charged, the same way you would wirelessly charge a smartwatch or a phone.

"It's kind of like a FitBit in your skull, with tiny wires," said Musk.

Elon Musk unveils new Neuralink brain implant design and robot that inserts it
Woke Studios designed the robot that inserts the devices

Designed by US tech company Woke Studios, the surgical robot is programmed to insert the neural threads safely into the brain.

The robot would be able to insert the link in under an hour without general anaesthesia, with the patient able to leave hospital on the same day.

"We ultimately want this robot to do essentially the entire surgery – so everything from incision, removing the skull, inserting electrodes, placing the device and then closing things up," said Musk during the live event. "We want to have a fully automated system."

The robot has been used to insert the implant into a number of pigs that are being used to test the device.

Elon Musk unveils new Neuralink brain implant design and robot that inserts it
The surgical robot is designed to be "comforting" for patients

As Woke Studios explained, the team wanted to design the machine to suit its clinical setting, while still comforting patients and expressing "the futuristic nature" of the technology.

Comprised of three main elements – the head, the body and the base – the eight-foot-tall robot features a rounded form with soft edges, similar to other, less invasive, medical machines in a bid to give as much of a "friendly-feeling" as possible.

While the majority of the robot is coloured in white, for sterility purposes, the inner surface of the head has been given a light, mint green colour to provide "visual comfort".

Elon Musk unveils new Neuralink brain implant design and robot that inserts it
Neural threads are inserted into the brain via a needle

Designed "with zero room for error", the head of the machine holds and guides the needle that performs the operation, and contains a large amount of cameras and sensors to capture the whole brain.

The asymmetric body features a "car-like curvature", and provides the mechanics for controlled movement. This part of the robot, which moves in five axes, was designed to make the motion appear "clean and effortless".

The body is attached to the base, which provides weighted support for the whole structure and holds the processing power to operate the entire machine.

Elon Musk unveils new Neuralink brain implant design and robot that inserts it
The implant could allegedly solve neurological disorders

Musk also showed viewers the group of pigs that he and his team have been testing the Neuralink implant on during the live presentation.

The implant sends real-time signals from the animal's brain whenever it touches something with its snout.

Described as "healthy and happy", one of the pigs was given an implant two months ago, while another pig has dual Neuralink implants, demonstrating that it is possible to have multiple chips in your head at one time.

A third pig has no implant. According to Musk, each of the animals are "indistinguishable" from each other.

Musk also showed a pig that previously had a chip inserted into its brain, but had since been removed, to show that the procedure is reversible without any serious side-effects.

Elon Musk unveils new Neuralink brain implant design and robot that inserts it
Musk revealed the updates during a live presentation on 28 August

Neuralink received a Breakthrough Device designation from the FDA in July. The startup is now preparing for its first human implantation, pending required approvals and further safety testing.

Woke Studios' design for the Neuralink N1 brain implant was recently longlisted in the wearable design project category for this year's Dezeen Awards.

Other longlisted projects in this category include a carbon-negative raincoat made of algae, a mask that makes the wearer's face undetectable to public facial recognition technology and water-filled headphones that offer immersive sound even for people who are hard of hearing.

The post Elon Musk unveils updated Neuralink brain implant design and surgical robot appeared first on Dezeen.



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Biden-Harris presidential campaign targets Animal Crossing community with in-game yard signs

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LA reveals 32 logos (and counting) for 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games

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“Absence in design is very important”: Karel Martens on paying attention to the things we don’t see

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