Richard Rogers Quotes

Architecture is measured against the past, you build in the present, and try to imagine the future.

Form follows profit is the aesthetic principle of our times.

My passion and great enjoyment for architecture, and the reason the older I get the more I enjoy it, is because I believe we - architects - can effect the quality of life of the people.

Technology cannot be an end in itself but must aim at solving long term social and ecological problems.

Architecture is about public space held by buildings.

The only way forward, if we are going to improve the quality of the environment, is to get everybody involved.

As architects we have a responsibility to society

I don't understand why everyone has to wear black, grey and white.

As an artist, what do you think the biggest mistake you can make is? My vote for the biggest mistake is being afraid of making mistakes.

Architecture is a slow business, and city planning even slower.

Dyslexia, though, made me realise that people who say "but you can't do that" aren't actually very important. I don't take "no" too seriously.

This is a pivotal time for urban regeneration. We must take a long term view.

Cities are about juxtaposition.

There has to be policies about that, about what materials we use and so on.

My mother was very family-oriented. And I do love being with my children.

The gap between the rich and poor is widening fast.

In Florence, classical buildings sit against medieval buildings. It's that contrast we like.

Today is much more an age of greed

It is quite interesting that whilst there are tremendous theories, in the 1960s when IT was born, everybody was supposedly going to their cottage in the countryside to work in a virtual way.

If you live in a squalid environment, then of course you are going to want to get out of it, you are probably going to want to get into the country, because that's what it does.

There is a Jewish tradition of family, too, but then not all Italian or Jewish families are close.

I'm just saying that there are high quality materials, and when we change them then there should be a way of changing them so that you can celebrate that change - rather than just 'mix it up'.

Of course I know very little about architecture, and the older I get the less I know.

My architecture tends to be legible, light and flexible. You can read it. You look at a building, and you can see how it is constructed. I put the structure outside.

Architecture is a living thing. If I want to leave something to the future, it has to be able to change - but retain something of the ethos that we built up over 50 years.

Architecture is always political.

A greater focus on design in all new homes would make the best use of land, create homes and public spaces, and reinforce the structures of urban life.

You have to modernise you have to change - you can't just be traditional for the fun of being traditional.

Suburban sprawl leads to social atomisation and fragmentation and is environmentally disastrous, as carbon-intensive car journeys displace local shops and replace public transport.