“Dat ain’t building, dat’s f***in’ architecture!” declared a New York contractor when he saw the drawing by Richard Rogers and Partners for Lloyd’s of London. This is why Lloyd’s is my favourite building, it transcends mere practical building and raises the flag for contemporary architecture.
When it was designed in 1978, hot on the heels of Rogers’ equally controversial Pompidou Centre in Paris, it was simply like nothing else, and what’s more, it was for ‘the’ quintessentially British institution.
For me it signals the birth of contemporary architecture in Britain, despite the ramblings of the future king, and it looks certain to become listed at Grade I, putting it on a par with the Royal Albert Hall and the British Museum.
For anyone that doesn’t know the building, at first glance it might be mistaken for an oil refinery in the heart of the City, but upon further inspection it is an intricate composition of glass, steel, and concrete.
It has often been referred to as ‘Neo Gothic’ because of its level of contemporary complex decoration. If you still cannot picture it, then just think of the kind of thing you made on Christmas Day with your new Meccano set – it’s even blue and yellow!
As an architect and a university lecturer in architecture, I love its attitude, its concept and its bravery.
Colin Davies, writing about high tech architecture, said “the abstract concept is equally as important as the practical reality” when discussing the externally expressed services and the suggestion they can be maintained or replaced easily.
The toilet pods look like shoeboxes on a rack. They cannot actually be slotted out, as they visually suggest, but it is the idea of this that is important and re-iterates the kit-of-parts look.
When I was a student in London, I was lucky enough to get a tour around the building on a working day and it was an inspiration, from escalators that show their workings, to external wall climbing lifts, to the buzz of the underwriting floor and the famous Lutine Bell that is rung in the event of shipping disaster.
The building is 27 years old and is arguably still the most dramatic building in the UK.
As an architect and a university lecturer in architecture, I love its attitude, its concept and its bravery.
