Archinect - News

Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners is setting up shop in New York this fall

2022-06-14T12:56:00-04:00

In anticipation of scaling up its recent slate of work within the country, Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners is said to be opening an office in New York this fall –representing the firm’s first expansion into an American market in its illustrious 42-year history.

Associate partner Georgina Robleddo, who has been with Rogers Stirk Harbour since 2003, will head the new office. The firm, which has initiated projects in Philadelphia and Manhattan in the past few years, says it has thus far remained “cautious of overtrading in unfamiliar markets” but “expect that the percentage of turnover coming from outside of the UK will continue to grow.”

Previously on Archinect: Richard Rogers was a colorful character in a world of concrete and steel

Since 2020, the firm says it has received some 73% of its contracts from overseas. Only 12% of that total currently comes from the Americas. The firm also recently opened an office in Shenzhen for similar reasons. Robleddo says she hopes to be in the offic...

O2 Arena badly damaged as high winds wreak havoc in London

2022-02-18T12:34:00-05:00

Social media is buzzing about the unreal damage to the O2 Arena's PTFE-coated glass fiber roof, which tore off during a live performance in the early morning hours Friday. A spokesperson for London’s Fire Brigade told the Evening-Standard there is no “actual collapse” of the roof or structural damage to the 22-year-old arena otherwise. More significant buildings across the capital were damaged by the storm’s 70+ mile per hour winds, including Herzog & de Meuron’s Laban Centre, which lost considerable parts of its facade.

More and more of the Dome is being shredded pic.twitter.com/EUgyH2ryvK
— Ben Hubbard (@BJFHubbard) February 18, 2022

The scene is reminiscent of the collapse that happened to Montreal's Olympic Stadium the same winter that the O2 (then called the "Millennium Dome") opened. The Rogers Stirk Harbour-designed arena was originally meant to be a temporary structure before undergoing a conversion into a full-service entertainment venue in 2005. A Fugees reunion concert th...

Los Angeles was a constant source of inspiration for Richard Rogers

2021-12-24T15:40:00-05:00

Rogers never designed any buildings in California. (The closest he came was the competition for the Transbay Transit Center in San Francisco, where his firm’s concept ultimately lost out to a proposal by César Pelli.) But California remained an influence and Los Angeles remained top of mind — though frequently as an example of what not to do.

The colorful architect, who passed away last week at the age of 88, looked to the city’s expansive stock of mid-century modern showcase pieces to inform his own designs, including the Wimbledon House and later in his attempts at urban planning, referencing the city’s notorious sprawl repeatedly in his 1998 book Cities for a Small Planet.

“The Eames House is one of the prime exemplars that have shaped my mind,” he said in a 1989 interview of the Pacific Palisades Home built by the Eameses in 1949. “Its amazing simplicity and economy of style, that seems to have sprung fully fledged from Eames’ head, is a model of perfection in Modern design.”

Rogers was hooked after a trip he made with fellow Yale classmate Norman Foster in the late 1950s, according to the LA Times’ Carolina Miranda.

"We raced around California, seeing as many of the Case Study houses as possible," Rogers recalled in his 2017 memoir A Place for all People. "I had written my thesis at Yale on Schindler, so I felt lik...

Richard Rogers was a colorful character in a world of concrete and steel

2021-12-20T17:23:00-05:00

Heavyweight, humanist, intellectual hero, and pioneer of the high-tech style. Such are the remembrances of a beloved architectural icon seen in the outpouring of tributes circulating on social media following the death of Richard Rogers in London over the weekend.

Reminiscent of the Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar, Rogers was a genius in the application of color theory to his creative work. His breakthrough Pompidou Center is considered a landmark in part for its incorporation of symbolic color coding as signifiers of the building’s mechanical services and can trace its inspiration to early projects such as the unbuilt Zip-Up House and family home in Wimbledon.

A model of the Zip-Up house courtesy of Loz Pycock via Flickr.

Born in Florence and educated at the Architectural Association and Yale, Rogers was known for his attire as well as his architecture, affecting a style that was noted by almost every architecture student, designer, and member of the press that he interacted with...

Richard Rogers' first residential building in NYC, No. 33 Park Row, nears completion

2021-01-18T15:14:00-05:00

Sitting across the street from New York's City Hall Park in the Financial District, the first residential building in NYC designed by Richard Rogers and Graham Stirk of Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, No. 33 Park Row, is nearing completion. First renderings of the building appeared on Archinect in May 2018.

Image courtesy of No. 33 Park Row.

Developed by Centurion Real Estate Partners and standing 331 feet tall, the 25-story steel-and-glass condo tower with its signature copper screen fins along the exterior will feature 30 residential units.

Image courtesy of No. 33 Park Row.

Official launch of the building is expected this spring.

Richard Rogers to step down from Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners

2020-09-01T13:27:00-04:00

British-Italian architect Richard Rogers will soon retire from his namesake architecture firm, Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners (RSHP), which was founded in 1977.

Rogers is one of the leading lights of late-20th century High-Tech architecture, and helped design many significant buildings, including the Pompidou Center, the Lloyd's of London building, the Millennium Dome, and Heathrow Airport's Terminal 5 structure.

BuildingDesign reports that the firm recently filed paperwork in conjunction with Rogers's departure in order to set a name-change for the practice into motion. The firm's constitution requires that a principal's name be removed from the firm's title once within two years of their departure. The remaining partners, Ivan Harbour and Graham Stirk, have indicated previously that the name of the firm could simply become "Stirk Harbour & Partners," though it is possible they may add the names of recently elevated partners to the title, as well.

BD reports that Rogers's retirem...

ZHA, Grimshaw, and other large firms pen open letter decrying issues with Revit

2020-07-27T19:49:00-04:00

Anyone who spends time working in Revit has surely experienced the common frustration of not being able to accomplish seemingly basic tasks without the need for some type of convoluted "workaround." Well, some of the leading BIM-forward architectural practices in the world, including Zaha Hadid Architects, Grimshaw, Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, and others have finally had enough.

An open letter published by the trade publication AEC Magazine highlights these firms speaking out against a variety of issues, both with Revit software itself as well as with Autodesk's business and licensing practices. The letter, according to the magazine, represents an unprecedented effort, with AEC's editors writing "In the thirty years we have been following the AEC technology market and the 18 years in which AEC Magazine has been dedicated to the BIM process, we have never seen the likes of this — an open letter from a community of national and international design practices venting their angst ...

China inaugurates the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge, the world's longest sea-crossing bridge

2018-10-23T19:47:00-04:00

Local leaders hope the bridge will expand the potential for growth in the area, by easing access to cheaper land on the western side and ports and other infrastructure to the east. Critics of the project say its goals are more political than economic, aiding efforts by China’s central government to bind the former colonies of Hong Kong and Macau more tightly with the rest of the country.

Delayed by two years, billions of dollars over budget, and wrought with controversy, the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge was officially declared open by China's leader Xi Jinping today. With AECOM as engineers, the 34-mile structure required over 400,000 tons of steel and includes a 4-mile undersea tunnel that links the Hong Kong side to the main bridge span. As part of the bridge, Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners and AEDAS designed the Passenger Clearance Building, a boundary crossing facility, on a new 150-hectare artificial island.

With the bridge, traveling from Zhuhai to Hong Kong International Airport will take 45 minutes instead of four hours, officials said. Traveling between Zhuhai and the Kwai Tsing Container Terminal will take 75 minutes instead of 3.5 hours.

According to The New York Times, most travelers will cross the bridge via shuttle bus lines. Private cars will have limited access, and special permits will be required to drive through the entire structure.

...

Foster + Partners hints at possibility of leaving London over Brexit

2018-06-19T14:50:00-04:00

The UK’s largest practice, Foster + Partners, says it would consider moving its headquarters from London if Brexit meant it could no longer attract the world’s best architects [...] Less than a quarter of the architects based at Foster + Partners’ huge Battersea head office are UK nationals – with around a half from EU countries. In total, the firm employs 1,061 staff in the UK including 353 architects.

In an interview with The Architects' Journal, Foster + Partners managing partner Matthew Streets didn't rule out leaving London if attracting and employing "the globe’s brightest stars to maintain its position as world leaders" in a United Kingdom outside of the European Union became impossible.

The AJ also reports about similar Brexit-related workforce concerns from another UK architecture powerhouse, Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners.

3 World Trade Center by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners officially opens

2018-06-12T16:59:00-04:00

NYC's fifth tallest tower, 3 World Trade Center was officially opened yesterday by real estate firm Silverstein Properties. Designed by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, 3 WTC will accommodate over 6,000 new employees from tenants GroupM, McKinsey and IEX. The 80-story, 2.5 million-square-foot office building is the second-to-last tower within the 16-acre World Trade Center site.

3 World Trade Center by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners. Image: DBOX.

Featuring a reinforced concrete core encased by a steel structure, the LEED-certified Gold office tower is defined by its load-sharing system of K-shaped bracing. The building incorporates floor-to-ceiling glass and column-free floor plates, creating unobstructed 360-degree panoramic views of New York City.

Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners recently completed The Macallan whisky distillery in Scotland

2018-05-25T12:46:00-04:00

London-based firm Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners recently completed the Macallan Distillery and visitor experience in Speyside, Scotland. The design is set into the landscape of the The Macallan estate, a distillery established in 1824 producing one of the most sought after whiskys in the world.

Macallan Distillery by RSHP, located in Speyside, Scotland. Image: RSHP.

The firm's goals was to create a building that could reveal the production processes and welcome visitors while remaining sensitive to the beautiful surrounding countryside.

Macallan Distillery by RSHP, located in Speyside, Scotland. Image: RSHP.

The new distillery will enable production of The Macallan to increase by a third. Internally, a series of production cells are arranged in a linear format with an open-plan layout revealing all stages of the production process at once.

Macallan Distillery by RSHP, located in Speyside, Scotland. Image: RSHP.

Macallan Distillery by RSHP, located in Speyside, Scotland. Image: RSHP...

Fresh renderings for One Beekman, Richard Rogers’ first residential building in the U.S.

2018-05-10T13:26:00-04:00

New renderings have been unveiled for One Beekman, a mixed-use development designed by Richard Rogers, and it has nearly reached its 25-story pinnacle in the Financial District. As the firm’s first residential project in the United States, Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners have designed a tower that provides every single apartment with views of City Hall Park by shifting the circulation core to the south, according to the New York Times. The front of the building is open with oversized windows, allowing for half of the 31 total condo units to have outdoor terraces overlooking the park.

The 95,000-square-foot development at 1 Beekman Street, nicknamed the “Pearl on the Park,” boasts a glassy facade and will feature a glazing system at its base for a more transparent look into the building’s lobby and retail stores.

According to Urban Muse, RSH+P used materials that “express their natural characteristics–and convey the inherent warmth and texture appropriate to residential dwellings.” T...

Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners and Aedas unveil major boundary crossing facility for Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge

2018-01-16T15:38:00-05:00

Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners (RSHP) and Aedas today unveiled their involvement in a boundary crossing which will provide a new entry point into Hong Kong. The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge Hong Kong Boundary Crossing Facilities (HKBCF) is a joint project between the two architects, working with AECOM, which will provide new connections between Hong Kong, mainland China, and Macao, and which will bring wider benefits across the Pearl River Delta.

After years of delay and enormous cost overruns, work seems to be picking up again on the ambitious Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge project; connecting Hong Kong International Airport with Macau across the Lingdingyang channel and Zhuhai in mainland China via a series of bridges and one undersea tunnel which, once completed, would be one of the world's longest at 34 miles/55 kilometers.

Image via Wikipedia

Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners and Aedas, working with AECOM, now revealed designs and construction images of one the bridge project's key elements, the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge Hong Kong Boundary Crossing Facilities (HKBCF).

HKBC Construction

From the architects: "The HKBCF will cover 130 hectare on a new 150-hectare artificial island reclaimed from the open waters to the north-east of Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA), and will benefit from the proximity to the HKIA’s transport links, including the SkyPier Ferry Terminal, and the MTR’s Airport Express and Tung Chung line...

London's Cheesegrater sells for £1.15B—the second-biggest sale ever of a building in the UK

2017-03-07T12:32:00-05:00

The Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners-designed Leadenhall Building, more commonly known as the ‘Cheesegrater’, was sold to a Chinese property tycoon for £1.15B—the second-biggest sale ever of a building in the UK. The tallest building in the City of London, the Cheesegrater was previously owned by the developer of the building, British Land, and its joint venture partner Oxford Properties.

The sale marks one of the largest purchases of UK property by a Chinese company and is the largest sale in the country since 2014. When the building was completed that year, it had the highest rents of any building in the City.

Tim Roberts, head of offices at British Land, stated “This sale shows continued investor appetite for best-in-class, well-located property in London.” Others, however, might find the sale indicative of the increasing unaffordability of the capital city, which has witnessed a major boom in large, expensive towers.

3 World Trade Center celebrates topping out

2016-06-24T13:12:00-04:00

In a ceremony packed with construction workers, news crews, and real estate folk, the final bucket of concrete made its way to the top of 3 World Trade Center, marking the topping out of this 1,079-foot supertall tower. The 80-story building was designed by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners and spans 2.5 million square feet. Once complete in 2018, it will be the fifth tallest tower in New York City.

↑ Silverstein Properties Chairman Larry A. Silverstein (right) and Port Authority of New York & New Jersey Executive Director Pat Foye at the topping out ceremony signing the final bucket of concrete.

↑ This rendering shows what the completed 1,079-ft tower will look like.

Cheesegrater skyscraper loses another bolt – the third one in three months

2015-01-15T14:36:00-05:00

The owners of the 222-metre (734ft) “Cheesegrater” building, the second tallest building in the City of London, are to replace dozens of long bolts on its structure after it was revealed that another one had fractured. The bolts, among 3,000 on the building’s 15,000-tonne frame, are each just under a metre long. Two snapped in November, with some debris falling to the ground from the fifth floor. Nobody was hurt, but an area below the tower is still cordoned off.

Previously: Bolt part falls off Cheesegrater skyscraper in the City of London

Bolt part falls off Cheesegrater skyscraper in the City of London

2014-11-06T13:41:00-05:00

No-one was injured but an area around the 47-storey Leadenhall Building in the city has been cordoned off. It fell from the fifth floor to the ground at the side of the building - another bolt also broke off but was contained within the skyscraper. It is understood the bolts are about the size of an arm and the piece that fell was about the size of a hand.

The Cheesegrater – a tower of no small ambition

2014-08-25T13:40:00-04:00

Someone has told the bouncers to be nice. It is now standard for architectural anoraks like myself to find ourselves challenged by smile-less security as we go about our blameless business – no loitering, no photography, no looking, as if al-Qaida scouts would do their dastardly work in this way or as if, years after the invention of the camera phone, photography can be controlled as it could in the age of the tripod. But not at the base of the Cheesegrater.

British Museum extension: 'It does its job but could have been richer'

2014-06-30T13:28:00-04:00

This, if it is a harsh way to describe the British Museum's attempts to update itself over the last two decades, with the help of the most famous architects in the land and hundreds of millions in generous donations, nonetheless reflects what's going on. Like large cultural institutions everywhere, the museum finds itself dealing with similar pressures to those of commercial players in the fields of leisure and entertainment [...] and it reaches for similar solutions..

London Crystal Palace shortlist boasts six of the UK’s top architects

2014-02-26T20:27:00-05:00

London's iconic Crystal Palace just moved one step closer to its magnificent resurrection with the announcement of six shortlisted design teams, all vying to rebuild The Crystal Palace and the surrounding public park as a major landmark.

The list of selected architects to move on to the next competition stage reads like a who's who in British architecture:

David Chipperfield Architects
Grimshaw
Haworth Tompkins Architects
Marks Barfield Architects
Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners
Zaha Hadid Architects with Anish Kapoor

Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners wins LSE Global Centre for Social Sciences competition

2013-11-19T15:46:00-05:00

Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners has just been revealed as the winner of the RIBA and London School of Economics competition to design the LSE's New Global Centre for Social Sciences. Rogers Stirk Harbour won the £90 million (US$145M) project against finalists OMA (The Netherlands); Grafton Architects (Ireland); Heneghan Peng (Ireland); and Hopkins Architects (UK).

Previously: Can you guess the 5 finalist teams of the LSE Global Centre for Social Sciences Competition?

Images courtesy of RIBA - LSE New Global Centre for Social Sciences competition.

Watch Koolhaas; Hadid; Rogers Stirk Harbour; and Foster pitch their proposals for the new L&L Tower

2012-11-19T12:32:00-05:00

The series of videos below offers a fascinating insight into how this generation of "starchitects" behaves under pressure, as they each pitch to win one of the most high-profile competitions in recent years: a new tower for L&L Holding Company on Park Avenue in New York. The site has such daunting neighbours as Mies van der Rohe's Seagram building, and it will be the first full-block office tower to be built on the street in almost half a century.

A Pompidou-style mall with a stunning view

2011-06-03T14:12:13-04:00

"It might have been easier to completely rebuild it," Rogers tells me. "It was a very weak structure with very thin walls. We had to shore the facade, then almost completely rebuild it inside. But the thing they insisted on, and I think they were proven right, was keeping the circular form, the historic form. It's not just a building – it's a piece of Barcelona."

Steve Rose reviews Las Arenas, Barcelona's former bullring and its newest shopping mall completed in March by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners. He finds that the people of Barcelona are now flocking back to this once cherished second bullring.