0:00:02 > 0:00:06BBC Four Collections - archive programmes chosen by experts.
0:00:06 > 0:00:09For this Collection, Janet Street-Porter has selected
0:00:09 > 0:00:12programmes about post-war architecture.
0:00:12 > 0:00:14More programmes on this theme
0:00:14 > 0:00:17and other BBC Four Collections are available on BBC iPlayer.
0:00:48 > 0:00:51This building has achieved a unique position
0:00:51 > 0:00:53in contemporary British architecture.
0:00:53 > 0:00:55It has become a symbol of contemporary life,
0:00:56 > 0:00:57style and technology.
0:00:58 > 0:01:00An icon, instantly familiar.
0:01:00 > 0:01:02It has entered the popular imagination,
0:01:02 > 0:01:04the realm of shared fantasy
0:01:04 > 0:01:07where fact and fiction dissolve into one another.
0:01:07 > 0:01:11It is a strange mixture of assertion and enigma.
0:01:11 > 0:01:15One catches glimpses of it from different places all over London,
0:01:15 > 0:01:17yet one rarely sees it in full.
0:01:29 > 0:01:32Although the Lloyd's building is constantly photographed and filmed,
0:01:32 > 0:01:36its status as icon has overshadowed its character asobject.
0:01:36 > 0:01:39I'm interested in its visual and physical appearance -
0:01:39 > 0:01:42the way every detail reveals its rigorous intellectual clarity.
0:01:45 > 0:01:47This is a very radical building.
0:01:47 > 0:01:49The seemingly windowless exterior
0:01:49 > 0:01:52is made almost entirely of stainlesssteel.
0:01:52 > 0:01:55Masses of silver tubes and funnels rise from the ground.
0:01:55 > 0:01:59Stacks of identical units all draw the eye upward
0:01:59 > 0:02:01to the complex crown of the building.
0:02:06 > 0:02:10These are the essential facilities of the building-
0:02:10 > 0:02:12the heatingand air-conditioning ducts,
0:02:12 > 0:02:14the electric and telephone cabling,
0:02:14 > 0:02:16the lifts, toilets, staircases.
0:02:18 > 0:02:21Instead of hiding them at the heart of the building
0:02:21 > 0:02:23like an embarrassment, as is the normal practice,
0:02:23 > 0:02:26Rogers parades them around its perimeter.
0:02:26 > 0:02:29He uses them to establish a language of design.
0:02:32 > 0:02:35He takes these given elements and articulates them
0:02:35 > 0:02:38to establish scale, rhythm, detail.
0:02:38 > 0:02:40He doesn't need to introduce design elements
0:02:40 > 0:02:43such as columns andpediments. This is not the surface
0:02:43 > 0:02:46pseudo-architecture of graphic design.
0:02:46 > 0:02:48Lloyd's is a truly classical building,
0:02:48 > 0:02:51a great modernist experience of space.
0:03:07 > 0:03:11Going to the root of the building, to the hidden service basements,
0:03:11 > 0:03:14we find the source of these ducts and tubes
0:03:14 > 0:03:18and the logic of this great machine-like building is clear.
0:03:18 > 0:03:21Giant heating and cooling units, massive generators
0:03:21 > 0:03:24and rooms of batteries to keep the computers going.
0:03:24 > 0:03:28The world can fail, but Lloyd's can continue insuring for ever.
0:03:32 > 0:03:35One proceeds quite deep into the heart of the building
0:03:35 > 0:03:37before actually entering it.
0:03:37 > 0:03:38For such an assertive building,
0:03:38 > 0:03:41the entrance is comparatively modest, low.
0:03:41 > 0:03:46A place of transition before entering the grandeur of the interior space.
0:03:55 > 0:03:57The sight is fabulous, breathtaking.
0:03:57 > 0:04:02Across an ocean of dark blue carpet is a gleamingwhite marblerectangle.
0:04:10 > 0:04:14Above it rises the whole 12-storey building, open at the centre,
0:04:14 > 0:04:16right up to a clear glass arch onto the sky.
0:04:32 > 0:04:35A cascade of escalators, their sides transparent,
0:04:35 > 0:04:39lit from inside, provide a constant flow of movement.
0:04:48 > 0:04:51Most modern buildings are comparatively simple on the exterior
0:04:51 > 0:04:55but become confused and anonymous on the inside.
0:04:55 > 0:04:58By contrast, the comparative complexity of the Lloyd's building
0:04:58 > 0:05:03on the outside gives way to a highly graspable simplicity on the inside.
0:05:03 > 0:05:06In fact, the whole interior is a single, vast room.
0:05:06 > 0:05:10Just as when one walks into the Sistine Chapel and looks up,
0:05:10 > 0:05:14one's eye is able to take in the order of the whole space in seconds.
0:05:14 > 0:05:17One looks up and says, "My God, it's so simple!"
0:05:24 > 0:05:27The ornate wooden rostrum housing the Lutine bell
0:05:27 > 0:05:31acts as a striking focal point at the base of the great central void.
0:05:31 > 0:05:35It is this void which orients one wherever one is in the building.
0:05:36 > 0:05:41Locating the services on the outside has allowed completely open floors,
0:05:41 > 0:05:44free to take the clutter of hundreds of underwriters.
0:05:44 > 0:05:46As the business expands,
0:05:46 > 0:05:49more and more floors can be given over to the markets' use.
0:05:52 > 0:05:55This is a dream, being able to possess the whole building like this,
0:05:56 > 0:05:58empty, being able to look at it so closely.
0:05:58 > 0:06:01But, of course, it's not how the building normally functions
0:06:01 > 0:06:03or how it really looks.
0:06:03 > 0:06:06The effect when the building is filled with busy people
0:06:06 > 0:06:08is intensely theatrical,
0:06:08 > 0:06:11with the users functioning as both actors and audience.
0:06:11 > 0:06:16Far from cold and impersonal, the building is animated by its occupants
0:06:16 > 0:06:19in a celebration of the business it houses.
0:06:23 > 0:06:27To travel to the upper floors, one leaves the main body of the building,
0:06:27 > 0:06:30crossing glass bridges that afford glimpses of the outside world,
0:06:30 > 0:06:32and proceeds to the lift towers.
0:06:34 > 0:06:39The glass lifts allows sweeping views of the stainless-steel exterior
0:06:39 > 0:06:42and the complex vitality of the surrounding cityscape.
0:06:45 > 0:06:47Everything in the building has
0:06:47 > 0:06:50been designed with consistent attention and detail.
0:06:50 > 0:06:52The standard of craftsmanship and materials
0:06:52 > 0:06:55is of the very highest quality.
0:06:55 > 0:06:57Even the smallest detail of these handrails
0:06:57 > 0:07:00reveals the logic of the whole building.
0:07:03 > 0:07:06The 11th and 12th floors - the executive floors -
0:07:06 > 0:07:10were commissioned from another design team, not from Rogers.
0:07:10 > 0:07:13The result is conventionally executive and sadly disappointing.
0:07:20 > 0:07:24The unity and integrity of the whole design is lost.
0:07:24 > 0:07:27Just look at this handrail in comparison with the others.
0:07:27 > 0:07:29It could come from any London wine bar.
0:07:29 > 0:07:33But this floor does hold a real surprise...
0:07:36 > 0:07:39This room, with its original Adam fireplace,
0:07:39 > 0:07:43was moved from Bowood House inWiltshire to the old Lloyd's.
0:07:43 > 0:07:45Rogers incorporated it into the new building,
0:07:46 > 0:07:48placing it here on the executive floors.
0:07:50 > 0:07:54The shock of abruptly entering such an entirely different world
0:07:54 > 0:07:56is a dramatic example of Rogers' attitude towards other styles
0:07:57 > 0:08:00and periods of architecture. He allows each its full integrity.
0:08:00 > 0:08:03He refuses compromised reasonableness.
0:08:07 > 0:08:08One sees this attitude again
0:08:08 > 0:08:12in the relationship of Lloyd's to its neighbours.
0:08:12 > 0:08:16Far from indifferent to them, it emphasises by distinction
0:08:16 > 0:08:18their differences of style and material,
0:08:18 > 0:08:22enhancing the contrasts of historical and visual complexity
0:08:22 > 0:08:24that make cities exciting.
0:08:24 > 0:08:29Rogers honours the past by his pride and confidence in the present.
0:08:29 > 0:08:33The problem for architects today is the same as it has always been -
0:08:33 > 0:08:35how to respond to contemporary needs
0:08:35 > 0:08:39with contemporary sensibility and contemporary technology.
0:08:47 > 0:08:49This is the only modern building in London
0:08:49 > 0:08:52that's really captured my imagination.
0:08:52 > 0:08:55Great buildings always give me a special kind of pleasureand,
0:08:55 > 0:09:00as an artist, a mixture of jealous admiration and vicarious pride.