Where Utopia, Soul and Humanity Converge in a Building

Imagine a building that speaks to you. No, not with words, with its shapes, lines, voids and colours. A building that looks at you, waits for you, and welcomes you. Explores the new exhibition, Talking Buildings, the work of Architect Richard Rogers. Find out more here in Where Utopia, Soul and Humanity Converge in a Building.

Image on the left-hand side ©RSHP, Dr Rogers House

Richard Rogers did not build to erect. He was building to question, to connect, to jostle. Born in 1933, this architectural design prodigy went through almost a century of utopias, crises, and urban revolutions, with a simple idea: a building is worth nothing if it does not serve people.

This silent conversation of his work, the words with no words, that ‘Talking Buildings’, this new show offers, is an exceptional show dedicated to this dynamic architect. A master of radical and humanist architecture, but especially of ‘high-tech architecture’. More than just a tribute to his architectural work, this immersive exhibition explores the thoughts, commitments and humanism that have shaped each of his works.

Image Alamy Stock Photo, Richard Rogers

One style particularly emerges from his works: high-tech architecture, an architectural movement born in the 1970s, which incorporates industrial and technological elements in the design of all kinds of buildings, housing, offices, museums, and factories.

This style appears as an extension of the Modernist Movement in architecture, which appeared at the beginning of the 20th century. An architectural revolution that rejected the historical and ornamental styles of the past in favour of functionality, simplicity and the use of modern materials, including concrete, steel, and glass.

An architecture for everyone: Known for its bold lines and open structures, Richard Rogers’ projects embody above all a philosophy.

“a place for all people, the young, the old, the poor and the rich, all creeds and nationalities”

Richard Rogers

“Talking Buildings” embodies this vision through an inclusive scenery where the plans, models and videos tell of his major projects.

Image ©RSHP, Zip-Up House

Among them, six emblematic achievements as well as two unbuilt projects. The exhibition opens with the Zip-Up House (1969), a prefabricated habitat with a revolutionary design.

Image ©RSHP, Zip-Up House

This idea continued at the Centre Pompidou (1977), a major Parisian cultural and artistic centre, and a living organ of Parisian culture. Then, the Millennium Dome (1996) in London, an emblematic building designed to mark the passage to the year 2000.

The exhibition closes with the mysterious Drawing Gallery (2020) suspended above the vineyards of Château La Coste, which was the first host venue of this exhibition.

This exhibition is an intimate immersion in the mind of a creator; the experience goes beyond the walls. It is his spirit that we visit. A collective and committed work. Behind every Rogers project is a shared vision. The exhibition highlights the collaborative way he worked, unifying talents and ideas to give life to human and accessible constructions.

Designed by Ab Rogers, son of the architect and artistic director of the Ab Rogers Design studio, the exhibition is accompanied by an installation of RSHP (Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners), his former agency, which presents his past, present and future projects. Two films by Marina Willer enrich this sensitive and intellectual experience, alongside exhibition graphics by Graphic Thought Facility.

The exhibition deconstructs, to better reveal, the man behind the drawing: thinker, activist, tireless dreamer. Monumental models, plans deployed as thought mats, vibrant films of visual poetry… Everything here invites you to feel, as much as you see.

Image Richard + Su Rogers, Zip-Up House

“Richard and his partners were radical, visionary and above all, humanists.”

John McElgunn

John McElgunn, one of the directors of RSHP, talks of ideals like Richards’ principles that continue to evolve and guide RSHP today.” Perhaps this is what makes these buildings so alive, is they have been thought of not as objects, but as social organisations.

Beyond the beauty of its buildings, the exhibition focuses on Richard Rogers’ social, environmental and political commitments. The architect considered the city as a whole, a space to think about in its entirety, with the conviction that architecture has a social responsibility.

Image arcaidimages.com, Dr Rogers House

In short, “Talking Buildings” is not a simple return to a career, but an invitation to think about what our common spaces can be.

“For Talking Buildings, we wanted to create an experience that explored Richard’s work through the lens of activism and intellectual expression as much architecture, revealing him as someone who never stopped developing his social, environmental, ethical and political passions, and for whom buildings were the physical manifestation of his beliefs, but not the sole legacy.”

Ab Rogers

Richard Rogers chose mostly industrial materials such as steel, glass and aluminium. He favoured these materials for their lightness, strength and flexibility. In addition, his choices of materials were always closely linked to his aesthetic, social, technological and environmental convictions. Richard Rogers wanted his buildings to be flexible and adaptable over time. He therefore chose materials that were easy to disassemble or modify.

Finally, glass was a key material for him: it made it possible to make the activities inside the buildings visible and to bring in natural light. This transparency responds to a democratic vision of architecture: the building must not intimidate, it must invite.

“Richard and his partners were radical, visionary and above all, humanists. They developed a distinctive architectural approach and a social vision for the practice. Their work extended far beyond the act of designing individual buildings as they envisioned the city as a whole, grounded in the belief that architecture has a broader social responsibility. Those principles continue to evolve and guide us at RSHP today.”

John McElgunn

“Talking Buildings” is not just an exhibition. It’s an invitation. To slow down. To look at our cities differently. To understand that architecture is not just a matter of concrete and angles, but of encounters, movements, lights that slide on a surface and change its meaning.

In each plan presented, in each space evoked, hides this intimate truth that Rogers repeated:

“What matters is not the building, but what happens between people.”

This building says nothing, and yet it expresses everything. Through his lines, his materials, his silences, he answers you. It becomes a place that resembles you, that welcomes you, that speaks to you.

“Talking Buildings” will take place from June 18 to September 21, 2025, at Sir John Soane’s Museum in London.

If you enjoyed reading Where Utopia, Soul and Humanity Converge in a Building, why not read Formless and Fearless: Poetry’s New Edition here.

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