17715 New Forms Taschen 202

Sir Richard Rogers European Court of Humań Rights Strasbourg, Franca. 1989-95 Caltmg on a high-tech vocabulary that recalls the fact that he was the co-author of the Centrc Ceorges Pompidou m Paris with Renzo Piano m 1977, Rogers engages in an attempt to symbol-■ze function in an orgamzation headquarters that was initially bipartite. Since that is no longer the case, his symbolism will bc somewhat enigmatic for futurę users, but such is the naturę of clients with which contemporary architeas are obliged to deal.

proposed a curved, double-headed building, corresponding to the bipartite function of the organization. When Rogers was chosen, the 240 million French franc construction cost corresponded to facilities for 25 member States, but with the fali of the Berlin Wall, that number increased to 34, and 3,000 m² of new Office space were added to the project in the spring of 1992. The finał cost increased to 455 million French francs by December 1994. The finał project, a 28,000 m² structure, indudes 860 m² for the main court room, 520 m² for the meeting room of the Commission, 4,500 m² of meeting rooms, and 16,500 m² for the offices.

It should be noted that the so-called "Protocol 11" signed by all of the member States sińce May 11,1994, and already ratified by nine of them, provides that the current bipartite organization will be dissolved in favor of a unique court structure. Through no fault of his own, the very symbolism of Sir Richard Rogers's building thus no longer corresponds to the actual function of the European Court of Humań Rights.

Born in 1933 in Florence, a former partner of Sir Norman Foster and Renzo Piano, with whom he built the Centre Pompidou, Rogers is seen as a leading proponent of the so-called "High Tech" style in architecture, an image reinforced by buildings such as his London headquarters for the Lloyd's insurance groups. Rogers has dearly thought about the futurę of architecture, as the prescient remarks he madę in February 1995 certainly show:

"The art of building is pursued almost exclusively for single-minded commercial

Outlook 213