Lloyd's building

the long version

The Lloyd's Building is an icon of a heroic moment in modern architecture and a major architectural landmark in the City of London. Described by one observer as a 'mechanical cathedral', its 300-foot silver and glass structure makes a startling impact in its context of city office blocks, and epitomizes Richard Rogers' concern with total flexibility and technological advance. Referred to by Rogers as 'history conscious, energy-conscious, functional...' and 'more dynamic than Pompidou', it is a forerunner of the new office architecture of the 1980s and 1990s and a pioneer of 'Intelligent buildings'. In this monograph Kenneth Powell charts the process of collaboration, partnership and inspired patronage which resulted in the construction of Lloyd's, and describes Rogers' search for 'balance between permanence and transformation'. In an introductory essay, Patrick Heron offers a deliberately personal and passionate assessment of the building as a 'purely aesthetic, purely visual experience', and a challenge to the distinction between aesthetics and physical usefulness.