Richard Rogers inside out

I have been busy so its been a long time since I've made an entry, since the last time the famous Richard Rogers celebrated his 80th Birthday. in recognition to this the BBC made a documentary looking at his career and well known works of architecture by Rogers. It also went on to look at his current work and his legacy to the world of Architecture. One project appealing to me is turning a practice into a charitable trust "RHSP". Here is an excerpt from their website that explains what they do;

"

Our Belief

The practice of architecture is inseparable from the social and economic values of the individuals who practise it and the society which sustains it. We as individuals are responsible for contributing to the welfare of mankind, the society in which we practise, and the team with whom we work.

Our Aims

We aim to produce work which is beneficial to society. We exclude work related directly to war or which contributes to the extensive pollution of our environment.

How We Work

In order to do work of the highest quality, we carefully control the size of the office and the selection of our projects. We recognise that work is not an end in itself and that a balanced life must include the enjoyment of leisure and the time to think.

Our Charitable Ownership

Our Practice is owned by a Charitable Trust. No individual owns any share in the value of the Practice. In this way, private trading and inheritance of shares is eliminated and any residual value is returned to society through the Charitable Trust.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                             "

Above is a picture of the practice of Rogers Stirk Harbour and Partners.

As maybe evident by my Blog i like models and scale models as it is a tangible realisation of what the architects have been designing and can be understood by anyone. so when i found the Model shop of RHSP on their website it was definitely worth a mention. here is a bit from their website; 

"

The custom designed in-house modelshop facility at RSHP has been established since 1990 and forms an integral part of the design process. Models communicate on many levels, encapsulating the design intent as a whole as well as being persuasive, beautiful objects in their own right. The department comprises a core of five permanent full-time modelmakers supplemented by freelancers. The workshop has three areas, a large flexible workroom with CAD workstations, an extracted machine space with a separate paint spray room and a photography studio which enables us to produce high quality digital images of models in a short space of time.

We are able to produce many types of model in close collaboration with architects from initial massing models to fully detailed colour presentation or competition models with integral lighting and fibre optics. Materials range from timber through high density foam to fluorescent colour acrylics. Models can range in scale from a 1:10000 masterplan to a 1:1 mock up for a steelwork casting detail and in size from post-it note to king size bed.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       "

and this is classed as work.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/0/23350996

http://www.richardrogers.co.uk/rshp_home