0:00:06 > 0:00:08This is the most successful generation of architects
0:00:08 > 0:00:10Britain has yet produced.
0:00:15 > 0:00:20Richard Rogers, Norman Foster, Michael Hopkins, Nicholas Grimshaw
0:00:20 > 0:00:24and Terry Farrell were all born in the 1930s.
0:00:24 > 0:00:26They worked with each other in the '60s and '70s
0:00:26 > 0:00:30and were once seen as a new movement, dubbed "High-Tech".
0:00:33 > 0:00:36They entered their most productive years
0:00:36 > 0:00:38at an age when most people think about retiring.
0:00:40 > 0:00:42Once they'd been outsiders.
0:00:42 > 0:00:44Now, they were at the heart of power,
0:00:44 > 0:00:47with necks on the line when things went wrong.
0:00:48 > 0:00:51They've been designing the future for over 50 years.
0:00:53 > 0:00:57Now, the world they'd always dreamed of is the world we all live in.
0:01:13 > 0:01:15Luck had sometimes played a critical role
0:01:15 > 0:01:18in the careers of this generation,
0:01:18 > 0:01:19and from November 1994,
0:01:19 > 0:01:23it funded a boom time in British architecture.
0:01:23 > 0:01:25When Britain's National Lottery was launched,
0:01:25 > 0:01:27some of the proceeds were ploughed
0:01:27 > 0:01:30into a new generation of big public buildings,
0:01:30 > 0:01:34many of them designed to celebrate the impending millennium.
0:01:34 > 0:01:37And who was in pole position to design them?
0:01:37 > 0:01:38It's you!
0:01:40 > 0:01:43It was THEM, British architecture's famous five.
0:01:43 > 0:01:47All of them created Lottery-funded landmarks.
0:01:48 > 0:01:51Lord Richard Rogers, a man once vilified
0:01:51 > 0:01:54for radical buildings like Lloyds of London,
0:01:54 > 0:01:56and a lifelong Left-winger,
0:01:56 > 0:01:59found himself working directly for a Tory government.
0:02:01 > 0:02:05The Greenwich Peninsula, then a forgotten, polluted wasteland,
0:02:05 > 0:02:07had been selected as home
0:02:07 > 0:02:10for the national celebrations of the year 2000.
0:02:10 > 0:02:12The government was going to hold what it called
0:02:12 > 0:02:15the "Millennium Experience".
0:02:15 > 0:02:18Quite what that meant no-one yet knew,
0:02:18 > 0:02:22which made it rather tricky for the architects to design a home for it.
0:02:22 > 0:02:24We started with the Conservative party
0:02:24 > 0:02:26and they didn't know what they wanted.
0:02:26 > 0:02:29'Hesitancy and delay created a great gap,'
0:02:29 > 0:02:33which, in the end, meant the whole thing had to be rushed.
0:02:33 > 0:02:34The clock was ticking.
0:02:34 > 0:02:36We went to several meetings with the politicians
0:02:36 > 0:02:38and then, ran out of time.
0:02:38 > 0:02:40We had to get on with it because we were stuck
0:02:40 > 0:02:43up against the time limit of the turn of the century.
0:02:43 > 0:02:46And they said, "Well, you're bright people,
0:02:46 > 0:02:48"you're creatives, what shall we do now?"
0:02:48 > 0:02:51We proposed a universal cover.
0:02:51 > 0:02:55It's big, dirt-cheap, very large, so we can get off and running quickly.
0:02:55 > 0:02:59I jokingly say, "We built a big umbrella for them and they could do what they like."
0:02:59 > 0:03:03So, we chose the building and the site, the contents fell behind.
0:03:13 > 0:03:17Though Richard Rogers is the name that makes the headlines,
0:03:17 > 0:03:21since the start of his career, he's collaborated with a close-knit team,
0:03:21 > 0:03:24and it was one of his most trusted lieutenants
0:03:24 > 0:03:28who led this particular project - Mike Davis.
0:03:28 > 0:03:30For this once-in-a-millennium occasion,
0:03:30 > 0:03:34the practice indulged in which High-Tech usually avoided -
0:03:34 > 0:03:36deliberate, symbolic meaning.
0:03:43 > 0:03:45It was deliberately a festive structure
0:03:45 > 0:03:48and it's a bit like somebody holding a hands out.
0:03:48 > 0:03:49It's like people going, "Yes!"
0:03:49 > 0:03:52You know, it's a sort of celebratory gesture.
0:03:56 > 0:03:59And as the meridian literally runs across the site,
0:03:59 > 0:04:01I saw it as a direct connection to time.
0:04:01 > 0:04:05It would be 365m in diameter,
0:04:05 > 0:04:08which related to the number of days in the year.
0:04:08 > 0:04:13It would have 12 masts - the months,
0:04:13 > 0:04:16and it would have 24 scallops - the hours in the day.
0:04:20 > 0:04:23There was one small obstacle to the perfect symmetry of this concept -
0:04:23 > 0:04:26that bit which looks like a ring pull
0:04:26 > 0:04:29on the left-hand side of the plan.
0:04:29 > 0:04:32This was a structure which already existed on the site,
0:04:32 > 0:04:35which provided ventilation for the Blackwall Tunnel
0:04:35 > 0:04:39and had been designed 40 years earlier by Terry Farrell.
0:04:39 > 0:04:42Richard Rogers had to make a hole in the top,
0:04:42 > 0:04:44which I was very amused by,
0:04:44 > 0:04:47because, by then, it had become listed!
0:04:50 > 0:04:54When New Labour swept to power in 1997,
0:04:54 > 0:04:58many expected the Millennium Experience to be cancelled.
0:04:58 > 0:05:02Instead, the architects had to adjust to a new set of clients.
0:05:02 > 0:05:07If the Millennium Dome is a success it will never be forgotten.
0:05:07 > 0:05:12If it's a failure, WE will never be forgiven.
0:05:12 > 0:05:15- Afternoon.- Hello.- Nice to meet you. - Nice to see you.
0:05:15 > 0:05:19For Rogers, architecture is about how things are made
0:05:19 > 0:05:20as well as the end result.
0:05:20 > 0:05:23The Dome took the grammar of construction to new heights.
0:05:26 > 0:05:30It was a huge-scale operation and dramatic construction,
0:05:30 > 0:05:33you're building a spider's web 50m in the air.
0:05:34 > 0:05:35We hired 50 expert climbers,
0:05:35 > 0:05:38so it wasn't just normal construction people,
0:05:38 > 0:05:40these were expert rock climbers.
0:05:41 > 0:05:44And it's, basically, a cable net.
0:05:44 > 0:05:46So, it's a net that's flat,
0:05:46 > 0:05:50you pick it up with 12 masts and you hold on to it.
0:06:01 > 0:06:06The Dome is, more accurately, a tent made of Teflon coated fabric.
0:06:06 > 0:06:07All the High-Tech generation
0:06:07 > 0:06:11had designed smaller scale membrane structures in the past.
0:06:11 > 0:06:15And what's there is an engineering triumph, it's the lightest structure
0:06:15 > 0:06:18ever built of its size in the world
0:06:18 > 0:06:21and the masts, all the fabric, all the cables, everything,
0:06:21 > 0:06:24still weighs less than an Olympic swimming pool.
0:06:27 > 0:06:29It went up tremendously quickly.
0:06:29 > 0:06:32Our part went extremely well and we built it on time
0:06:32 > 0:06:34and it was a fantastic experience.
0:06:34 > 0:06:37And then, of course, the merde hit the Vent-Axia,
0:06:37 > 0:06:39as the French say,
0:06:39 > 0:06:43and it became a debacle, relatively rapidly.
0:06:46 > 0:06:49The difficulty was what they put in,
0:06:49 > 0:06:53which I think wasn't very exciting, and so it got a stinking bad name.
0:06:55 > 0:06:57We never did do the contents,
0:06:57 > 0:07:00so it was a model of how not to do it.
0:07:03 > 0:07:05The Dome was written off by the media
0:07:05 > 0:07:09as an expensive white elephant before it had even opened.
0:07:09 > 0:07:11People wrote vituperative letters saying,
0:07:11 > 0:07:16"How can you spend £759 million on a tent?"
0:07:16 > 0:07:21Well, we didn't, we spent 43, which was 7% of the budget.
0:07:21 > 0:07:26It's the cheapest building ever built per square foot or metre.
0:07:26 > 0:07:29We even gave some money back to the Government.
0:07:29 > 0:07:35We were amazingly frustrated by the fact that we weren't able to defend our building.
0:07:35 > 0:07:39We were not allowed to say that this is a very cheap, very fast build
0:07:39 > 0:07:42cos it tended to denigrate the rest of it.
0:07:42 > 0:07:49The other 700 or so million pounds went on the controversial contents.
0:07:50 > 0:07:53Come 2001, those were removed,
0:07:53 > 0:07:57the Dome was locked up and left empty for years.
0:07:58 > 0:08:02The Dome is no more, it's now the O2,
0:08:02 > 0:08:05and it's great to see it being used and it's now got, again,
0:08:05 > 0:08:087 million visitors, which is pretty much a world maximum,
0:08:08 > 0:08:10going to the structure.
0:08:12 > 0:08:15I'm delighted that it proves the point about flexible buildings.
0:08:15 > 0:08:18It has been adapted, changed and everything else, and I think,
0:08:18 > 0:08:21obviously, from the crowds that are going there, it works very well.
0:08:27 > 0:08:31Though the sky-high public profile of this generation of architects
0:08:31 > 0:08:35brought more work their way, the risks were now higher too.
0:08:35 > 0:08:40Norman Foster also felt the full heat of public scrutiny,
0:08:40 > 0:08:43with one of his lottery-funded projects.
0:08:44 > 0:08:49I dedicate this bridge as a symbol of the new millennium.
0:09:00 > 0:09:06In 1996, this design beat 200 other entrants in a competition.
0:09:08 > 0:09:09Not for the first time,
0:09:09 > 0:09:14Foster drew inspiration from the science fiction of his youth.
0:09:14 > 0:09:17There was a character called Flash Gordon,
0:09:17 > 0:09:20and he produced across a black chasm,
0:09:20 > 0:09:23by pressing a switch, literally a blade of light,
0:09:23 > 0:09:27and they all ran on this blade of light and escaped the villains.
0:09:30 > 0:09:34The line between architecture and engineering has often been
0:09:34 > 0:09:38blurred by Foster, both visibly in the forms of his structures,
0:09:38 > 0:09:43and in the greater role he gave to engineers in the design process.
0:09:43 > 0:09:45The Millennium Bridge was a collaboration
0:09:45 > 0:09:48with the engineering firm which Foster and his peers
0:09:48 > 0:09:51most frequently relied upon - Arup.
0:09:52 > 0:09:56In the best collaborations, it's totally seamless,
0:09:56 > 0:09:59I mean, everybody is contributing.
0:09:59 > 0:10:02There was certainly a tacit agreement with us that we wanted
0:10:02 > 0:10:04something really sharp and simple and elegant,
0:10:04 > 0:10:08that we wanted to pare it right down to the things which made a bridge.
0:10:10 > 0:10:14Foster and Arup came up with an innovative new take
0:10:14 > 0:10:16on the suspension bridge.
0:10:16 > 0:10:21Instead of hanging cables vertically from tall masts,
0:10:21 > 0:10:23here, the cables run horizontally.
0:10:25 > 0:10:28Just two sets of concrete arms hold them up,
0:10:28 > 0:10:32as they span the 320m between shores.
0:10:35 > 0:10:39It's an engineering feat. It stretches the boundaries,
0:10:39 > 0:10:42and in so doing, created a momentary,
0:10:42 > 0:10:46but very distressing, embarrassment.
0:10:55 > 0:10:57On the opening day we saw this behaviour,
0:10:57 > 0:10:59this sideways behaviour, the wobble!
0:11:02 > 0:11:04We'd carried out dynamic tests on the bridge,
0:11:04 > 0:11:09but it was something that we hadn't predicted and I didn't like it.
0:11:11 > 0:11:16A structure hyped as an absolute statement of our capabilities
0:11:16 > 0:11:18at the beginning of the 21st century,
0:11:18 > 0:11:22was closed just days after its grand opening.
0:11:22 > 0:11:24Engineers set to work finding out
0:11:24 > 0:11:27what had made pedestrians feel so queasy.
0:11:27 > 0:11:29There were various theories which were put forward,
0:11:29 > 0:11:32there were big flags on the bridge and some people told us
0:11:32 > 0:11:35that they thought it was due to the wind. Wasn't due to the wind.
0:11:37 > 0:11:42Some suggested the pioneering structure itself was to blame,
0:11:42 > 0:11:44but the cause turned out to be something which can affect
0:11:44 > 0:11:48much more substantial bridges as well - the wrong type of walking.
0:11:48 > 0:11:52Our centre of mass moves very slightly from side to side
0:11:52 > 0:11:56as we walk and that means we put in a small force sideways.
0:11:57 > 0:11:59During the bridge's opening weekend,
0:11:59 > 0:12:02hundreds of people crowding on to it at once
0:12:02 > 0:12:06meant those small sideways forces began to be magnified.
0:12:06 > 0:12:09What happened then is known as the "feedback effect".
0:12:11 > 0:12:14We sense a very slight movement beneath us
0:12:14 > 0:12:17and adjust our step to that movement.
0:12:17 > 0:12:22As a result, the crowd's footfalls became synchronised.
0:12:22 > 0:12:24And the more we walk in time with it,
0:12:24 > 0:12:27as we're marching from side to side in step,
0:12:27 > 0:12:28the more the bridge wobbles,
0:12:28 > 0:12:32as, obviously, has now become the term for it.
0:12:32 > 0:12:35The solution was quite straightforward,
0:12:35 > 0:12:38a variety of dampers were added.
0:12:38 > 0:12:41The bridge finally reopened in 2002.
0:12:42 > 0:12:45But whatever they've done to eliminate that sway,
0:12:45 > 0:12:48everyone knows that for years to come the Millennium Bridge
0:12:48 > 0:12:50will be known to all the people who cross it
0:12:50 > 0:12:52simply as the "wobbly bridge".
0:12:52 > 0:12:56The cost of fixing it added an extra five million to the bridge's
0:12:56 > 0:12:58original £18 million budget.
0:13:00 > 0:13:03Of course it's been an embarrassment...
0:13:03 > 0:13:06But as you know, it was a new phenomena,
0:13:06 > 0:13:11it was something that the codes, the rules had never taken into account.
0:13:11 > 0:13:14But you have to remember, it was always safe.
0:13:20 > 0:13:22Foster won more immediate acclaim
0:13:22 > 0:13:25for some of his other Lottery-funded projects,
0:13:25 > 0:13:28such as the new roof for the British Museum.
0:13:29 > 0:13:32The great Victorian engineers, such as Paxton and Brunel
0:13:32 > 0:13:36remained a visible influence on this generation,
0:13:36 > 0:13:40both here and at Foster's National Botanic Garden of Wales.
0:13:40 > 0:13:44When it came to giant greenhouses however,
0:13:44 > 0:13:47a rival project was to catch the public's imagination,
0:13:47 > 0:13:50though it struggled to win Lottery backing.
0:13:50 > 0:13:53Eden started with Tim Smit saying,
0:13:53 > 0:13:57"I want to build the biggest greenhouse in the world. Full stop."
0:13:57 > 0:14:00We met up with him and said, "We'd like to offer you the chance to work
0:14:00 > 0:14:05"on the eighth wonder of the world and, by the way, we can't pay you."
0:14:05 > 0:14:08I didn't expect to hear back from them at all,
0:14:08 > 0:14:10and they called the next day.
0:14:24 > 0:14:27Tim Smit's goal was to raise environmental awareness
0:14:27 > 0:14:31by recreating the climates and ecosystems of parts of the globe,
0:14:31 > 0:14:35very far from the south-west of England.
0:14:36 > 0:14:39It almost is a piece of science fiction, isn't it?
0:14:39 > 0:14:42Because to create a 4.5 acre rainforest in Cornwall
0:14:42 > 0:14:45and to do it entirely under this sort of lightweight dome,
0:14:45 > 0:14:48is slightly science fiction.
0:14:48 > 0:14:51And I wanted us to create a place that was so startling,
0:14:51 > 0:14:54that even if you were the greatest cynic in the world,
0:14:54 > 0:14:56for a moment, you would drop your guard.
0:14:59 > 0:15:01Several people thought he was a bit crazy,
0:15:01 > 0:15:04and a bit overambitious, including the Millennium Commission.
0:15:05 > 0:15:07When he really got going,
0:15:07 > 0:15:11I don't think anyone could resist him, really.
0:15:13 > 0:15:18Eden's eco-architecture began to take shape in 1996,
0:15:18 > 0:15:21when architects and client met for dinner.
0:15:21 > 0:15:24We had a few glasses of wine, as you do, and discussed the idea,
0:15:24 > 0:15:27and, inevitably, the napkins came out, that was all we had.
0:15:27 > 0:15:29And these are the sketches, there were a lot of them,
0:15:29 > 0:15:31they were feverish, and what you see is the start
0:15:31 > 0:15:34of the full-span beams that they were working on.
0:15:34 > 0:15:36I'm really glad we've got them because, you know,
0:15:36 > 0:15:39when people say, I designed something on the back of a fag packet,
0:15:39 > 0:15:42this is the nearest you get to the fag packet.
0:15:44 > 0:15:48These first ideas resemble one of Grimshaw's earlier designs,
0:15:48 > 0:15:51the Eurostar terminal at Waterloo.
0:15:51 > 0:15:54But repeating that mix of metal trusses and glass
0:15:54 > 0:15:57was an impossibly expensive prospect,
0:15:57 > 0:16:00not least because Eden was going to be built
0:16:00 > 0:16:03on exhausted, uneven clay pits.
0:16:03 > 0:16:07The idea of fitting something onto an irregular-shaped ground profile,
0:16:07 > 0:16:11meant that you had to have something
0:16:11 > 0:16:17which could be snipped off at the base to follow the ground.
0:16:17 > 0:16:20The guy who cracked it - it was cracked out of desperation -
0:16:20 > 0:16:23was David Kirkland, who was the youngest of the architects.
0:16:23 > 0:16:26and he and Andrew Whalley were working together, under Nick's direction,
0:16:26 > 0:16:29and David was doing the washing-up and he saw the soap bubbles
0:16:29 > 0:16:32landing on the side of the draining board and he went,
0:16:32 > 0:16:35"A-ha! Bubbles!" Because whatever happens with the ground,
0:16:35 > 0:16:37they fit to wherever they are.
0:16:43 > 0:16:46There's another figure crucial to the Eden story,
0:16:46 > 0:16:49someone who had inspired all of the High-Tech architects
0:16:49 > 0:16:52back in the '60s - Buckminster Fuller.
0:16:52 > 0:16:55I'm an explorer in structures.
0:16:55 > 0:16:59I'm interested in the fundamental principles
0:16:59 > 0:17:02by which nature holds her shapes together.
0:17:02 > 0:17:05Fuller was the inventor of the geodesic dome,
0:17:05 > 0:17:10a curved structure formed from smaller geometric shapes.
0:17:10 > 0:17:12Six of them greet the visitor to Eden.
0:17:12 > 0:17:16Bucky was terrifically right, philosophically,
0:17:16 > 0:17:19about the globe and about sustainability.
0:17:19 > 0:17:23What's attractive about geodesic domes was the lightness
0:17:23 > 0:17:26and efficiency of use of materials,
0:17:26 > 0:17:30those philosophical drivers which were behind Eden, really.
0:17:32 > 0:17:36Grimshaw and the team spent two years refining their design,
0:17:36 > 0:17:40before the Millennium Commission would agree Eden might work
0:17:40 > 0:17:42and construction could begin.
0:17:49 > 0:17:53I believe the geodesic dome is the weakest structure known
0:17:53 > 0:17:56to humankind until the last bit goes in,
0:17:56 > 0:17:58when it becomes the strongest.
0:18:04 > 0:18:07So, we ended up with, I think, 240 miles of scaffolding.
0:18:07 > 0:18:10Everybody was really excited about it, except anybody
0:18:10 > 0:18:13who was trying to build a house elsewhere in Cornwall,
0:18:13 > 0:18:14they couldn't get any scaffolding!
0:18:14 > 0:18:17It became the biggest freestanding scaffolding in the world
0:18:17 > 0:18:19and is in the Guinness Book Of Records.
0:18:24 > 0:18:29Unlike the great greenhouses of the past, this one doesn't use glass.
0:18:29 > 0:18:32To help the structure be as eco-friendly as its contents,
0:18:32 > 0:18:35it relies on a fluoropolymer.
0:18:35 > 0:18:38No-one had ever built using ETFE,
0:18:38 > 0:18:41ethyl tetrafluoroethylene foil, before to this scale.
0:18:43 > 0:18:46The great thing about the ETFE foil is it uses 1% of the volume
0:18:46 > 0:18:49of material that a glass structure would have used.
0:18:49 > 0:18:53So, in other words, it's environmentally much more efficient.
0:18:53 > 0:18:56Literally, one person could carry it up, put it in place,
0:18:56 > 0:18:59and then it, basically, just clamps around the edge,
0:18:59 > 0:19:02and then you fill it with air and it inflates.
0:19:15 > 0:19:18For all the technology required to create Eden,
0:19:18 > 0:19:20what's most striking about the end result
0:19:20 > 0:19:25is that it feels somehow organic, a perfect match of form with function.
0:19:29 > 0:19:31In just the first three months of opening,
0:19:31 > 0:19:34more than a million people came to see it.
0:19:34 > 0:19:37It was the reaction from people who were stood there
0:19:37 > 0:19:39and were emotionally moved, which I found, you know,
0:19:39 > 0:19:43for a piece of architecture to do that was, personally, very exciting.
0:19:45 > 0:19:47By the turn of the millennium,
0:19:47 > 0:19:50architecture that would once have seemed far out,
0:19:50 > 0:19:52had become a nice day out.
0:19:52 > 0:19:55Grimshaw and his peers had been fired up by technology
0:19:55 > 0:19:59since the '60s, but some of us only really came to terms with it
0:19:59 > 0:20:03in the era of the mobile phone and internet.
0:20:03 > 0:20:06By the end of the '90s, almost every man, every woman,
0:20:06 > 0:20:10is becoming part of a truly new world in some ways.
0:20:10 > 0:20:13There's a leap in technology at the time
0:20:13 > 0:20:15and that leap in technology
0:20:15 > 0:20:18was something that would sit much more happily
0:20:18 > 0:20:20with an advanced progressive architecture.
0:20:20 > 0:20:22People being teched up!
0:20:26 > 0:20:28Perhaps the ultimate proof
0:20:28 > 0:20:30of Britain's new-found ease with modernity
0:20:30 > 0:20:33was the appointment of Hopkins Architects
0:20:33 > 0:20:36to build a new office block for MPs,
0:20:36 > 0:20:39in one of the nation's most historic locations.
0:20:55 > 0:20:57Back in the '70s, the goal of High-Tech
0:20:57 > 0:21:00was to create lightweight and flexible buildings,
0:21:00 > 0:21:03but Hopkins now faced a very different brief.
0:21:04 > 0:21:06One thing they did specify, I think,
0:21:06 > 0:21:09was that it had to have a 150-year life.
0:21:12 > 0:21:14It's a World Heritage Site,
0:21:14 > 0:21:16you weren't going to put up a standard office block.
0:21:19 > 0:21:23Being next to this icon that is the Palace of Westminster,
0:21:23 > 0:21:26it would have been stupid to have built it in brick perhaps,
0:21:26 > 0:21:29or, you know, rendered concrete or whatever.
0:21:29 > 0:21:32I think we had to use decent materials
0:21:38 > 0:21:40They wanted a feeling of permanence
0:21:40 > 0:21:43and the idea was that a good stone would do that.
0:21:43 > 0:21:46We had to find the find right kind of stone, which wasn't easy,
0:21:46 > 0:21:49I mean, we got geological specialists involved.
0:21:54 > 0:21:56Every stone that they cut out is numbered,
0:21:56 > 0:22:00where it came out of the quarry, and at the top of the building
0:22:00 > 0:22:04you put the stones that you've cut from the top of the quarry.
0:22:04 > 0:22:07At the bottom of the building, you put the stones
0:22:07 > 0:22:09that you've taken out of the bottom of the quarry,
0:22:09 > 0:22:13so that the stones at the bottom are stronger than the stones at the top.
0:22:16 > 0:22:20Though they'd chosen an ancient building material,
0:22:20 > 0:22:23Hopkins brought a modern approach to using it.
0:22:23 > 0:22:26Off-site prefabrication, the process this generation had always favoured,
0:22:26 > 0:22:30was applied here to stone as well as concrete.
0:22:32 > 0:22:35Their belief in honest, efficient structures, meanwhile,
0:22:35 > 0:22:37led to piers which aren't straight.
0:22:39 > 0:22:40They taper as they go up
0:22:40 > 0:22:44because there's less load at the top than there is at the bottom,
0:22:44 > 0:22:47and we get an architectural expression coming out.
0:22:47 > 0:22:49A sort of structural truth.
0:22:56 > 0:22:59What made Hopkins the go-to modern architects
0:22:59 > 0:23:03for traditional institutions was their ability to mix functionalism
0:23:03 > 0:23:06with the sensitivity to historical context.
0:23:07 > 0:23:11You've got the Palace of Westminster, which is quite roofy,
0:23:11 > 0:23:14quite spiky, and if you look to the right,
0:23:14 > 0:23:18you see Norman Shaw's Scotland Yard building,
0:23:18 > 0:23:21which also has a sort of strong roofline
0:23:21 > 0:23:24and it seemed to me, it was incumbent on us
0:23:24 > 0:23:28to make the same general roof level.
0:23:29 > 0:23:31They did this by making a feature
0:23:31 > 0:23:35of the building's ultra-low energy environmental engineering.
0:23:36 > 0:23:38They're not chimneys, they're heat exchangers,
0:23:38 > 0:23:43which extract from the exhaust air
0:23:43 > 0:23:46any useful heat or coolth.
0:23:48 > 0:23:54We make architectural compositions out of these functional elements.
0:23:55 > 0:23:59Like Rogers and Foster, Hopkins discovered there was a downside
0:23:59 > 0:24:01to winning the most prestigious jobs.
0:24:01 > 0:24:04Portcullis House got a lot of bad press,
0:24:04 > 0:24:07mostly due to its cost - £235 million.
0:24:10 > 0:24:12One of the reasons it was so expensive was because
0:24:12 > 0:24:15it was built in the largest hole in Europe - at that time anyway!
0:24:15 > 0:24:19Caused by, of course, the extension of the Jubilee Line.
0:24:19 > 0:24:22There had once been a surface-level station at Westminster.
0:24:22 > 0:24:26The old lines were lowered to make room for Portcullis House
0:24:26 > 0:24:29when the Jubilee Line tunnels were dug underneath.
0:24:32 > 0:24:36Hopkins designed what was underground as well as what was overground.
0:24:45 > 0:24:47But you just dig a bloody great hole in the ground
0:24:47 > 0:24:52and prop the sides apart from each other and put escalators into it.
0:24:57 > 0:25:00You leave the sides raw, just crudest engineering,
0:25:00 > 0:25:04you don't put finishes where you don't need finishes.
0:25:11 > 0:25:14And you enjoy the experience, it's just like going caving,
0:25:14 > 0:25:18there's a sort of hi tech thing running through the middle of it.
0:25:20 > 0:25:24Though the materials look different, below, as above ground,
0:25:24 > 0:25:27this is architecture which shows you exactly how it's done.
0:25:32 > 0:25:36A six-storey hole is no-one's idea of a firm foundation,
0:25:36 > 0:25:40yet it was on this void that the MPs' new offices had to sit.
0:25:41 > 0:25:46These great piers that you see coming down in the middle of it
0:25:46 > 0:25:48are actually the piers that run up
0:25:48 > 0:25:54and support the interior part of the structure of the building above.
0:26:01 > 0:26:03In the central courtyard above,
0:26:03 > 0:26:07you can see exactly how the building's load is spread,
0:26:07 > 0:26:10by these muscular concrete arches and steel ties.
0:26:27 > 0:26:29The atrium, I think, has become the focal centre
0:26:29 > 0:26:33for Members of Parliament, to a very great extent.
0:26:33 > 0:26:38There's no equivalent room that size in the rest of the Palace.
0:26:41 > 0:26:43It's this area of the architects' design
0:26:43 > 0:26:46which has kept Portcullis House in the headlines.
0:26:48 > 0:26:52They have a well-being function, but their technical function
0:26:52 > 0:26:54is to reduce the amount of light
0:26:54 > 0:26:57that's coming through the glass roof above you.
0:27:00 > 0:27:03But I think anything to do with Parliament
0:27:03 > 0:27:07has got plenty of people waiting to lob brickbats.
0:27:10 > 0:27:14At the same time as Hopkins was working on a prestigious
0:27:14 > 0:27:17parliamentary building, so were Rogers and Foster.
0:27:18 > 0:27:22As young men, they'd felt excluded from the establishment.
0:27:22 > 0:27:25Now, they were attempting to rebuild it from within.
0:27:26 > 0:27:28When Germany reunified,
0:27:28 > 0:27:33Norman Foster won the job of remodelling its Reichstag.
0:27:33 > 0:27:36He applied the same principles of openness and equality
0:27:36 > 0:27:40which he'd previously brought to offices and airports.
0:27:40 > 0:27:44I think the Reichstag was a complete reinterpretation
0:27:44 > 0:27:47of the relationship between the body politic and the public.
0:27:47 > 0:27:51The public are symbolically above the Assembly,
0:27:51 > 0:27:54they look down on the politicians, who are answerable to them
0:27:54 > 0:27:59and that roof, transparent, is also a public space.
0:28:01 > 0:28:04It's an attempt to remove the pomp from power,
0:28:04 > 0:28:07to create a national symbol which isn't a monument.
0:28:09 > 0:28:13The relationship between people and politicians is also
0:28:13 > 0:28:16redefined by the Senedd, the home for the Welsh Assembly.
0:28:18 > 0:28:19What they wanted
0:28:19 > 0:28:22was a place where they could have their political discussions
0:28:22 > 0:28:24and what we brought to it was the public domain.
0:28:27 > 0:28:30We'll have a piazza that starts at Cardiff Bay
0:28:30 > 0:28:32and goes all the way through the building, right through it,
0:28:32 > 0:28:35underneath what we have called the "democratic roof".
0:28:43 > 0:28:47And we put the people of Wales above and the Assembly below.
0:28:49 > 0:28:52And it was part of accentuating this idea
0:28:52 > 0:28:56that you need to engage with the people.
0:29:02 > 0:29:03Back in the '60s,
0:29:03 > 0:29:07Buckminster Fuller had taught these architects to think about ecology.
0:29:07 > 0:29:10In the 21st century, their buildings have increasingly been shaped
0:29:10 > 0:29:13by the need for sustainability.
0:29:19 > 0:29:24This is a zero-carbon, zero-waste building, it's totally renewable.
0:29:24 > 0:29:27So, in that sense, it's a mini manifesto
0:29:27 > 0:29:31and it practises what the politicians preach.
0:29:38 > 0:29:41The Welsh Assembly had it written into their constitution
0:29:41 > 0:29:43an obligation to be sustainable.
0:29:43 > 0:29:46It is the lowest energy-consuming building we've built,
0:29:46 > 0:29:49from where the materials come from
0:29:49 > 0:29:53to the source of energy used to heat the building.
0:29:53 > 0:29:55And, you know, we're using that, again,
0:29:55 > 0:29:58as a constraint to help define the architecture.
0:30:02 > 0:30:06The obvious form is the form of the debating chamber.
0:30:06 > 0:30:08It's about light, and also about air.
0:30:14 > 0:30:18It is truly a space that is driven by natural ventilation
0:30:18 > 0:30:22and, of course, the joke is it's the hot air of the debating chamber.
0:30:22 > 0:30:25We could have seen that one coming, I guess!
0:30:29 > 0:30:34Back in Westminster, even the home of police and prisons got a more human face,
0:30:34 > 0:30:38from the other star name of this generation - Terry Farrell.
0:30:48 > 0:30:53Terry Farrell collaborated with Turner Prize winner Liam Gillick on this project.
0:30:53 > 0:30:57Functional features such as screens to prevent heat gain
0:30:57 > 0:30:59have been turned into art.
0:30:59 > 0:31:01The letters glimpsed on many windows
0:31:01 > 0:31:04were originally intended to spell out a slogan
0:31:04 > 0:31:07which would appeal to any old radical.
0:31:07 > 0:31:11You couldn't read it cos all you saw was bits of letters
0:31:11 > 0:31:14and then it went round the corner and round the corner,
0:31:14 > 0:31:19and he chose, "If all the world lived in harmony, there would be no need for this building."
0:31:19 > 0:31:23In other words, there would be no need for a police force or prisons.
0:31:23 > 0:31:25At that point, that became the centre of focus,
0:31:25 > 0:31:28"Oh, you can't say that, you can't say that."
0:31:29 > 0:31:31To appreciate the positive impact
0:31:31 > 0:31:34this generation had on modern architecture in Britain,
0:31:34 > 0:31:38look no further than what stood on exactly the same site before -
0:31:38 > 0:31:41government offices built at the start of the '70s.
0:31:42 > 0:31:45These tall buildings were totally inappropriate.
0:31:45 > 0:31:49They intruded into the skyline behind the Houses of Parliament.
0:31:49 > 0:31:54They were hugely inefficient and what's more, it was falling to bits!
0:31:54 > 0:32:00And, so, I argued it is possible to get the same accommodation in,
0:32:00 > 0:32:02in a building that's more horizontal,
0:32:02 > 0:32:05a groundscraper rather than the skyscrapers.
0:32:07 > 0:32:11Farrell's replacement is undoubtedly less oppressive.
0:32:11 > 0:32:15It's three buildings all linked with cross-bridges,
0:32:15 > 0:32:19and each of the three buildings is round a large atrium,
0:32:19 > 0:32:21and the base of each atrium,
0:32:21 > 0:32:24I said, was public realm, it was like a square.
0:32:24 > 0:32:28It was a place where, in fact, all the staff gather and so on.
0:32:29 > 0:32:33The Home Office is on the same scale as some of Farrell's work
0:32:33 > 0:32:37from the '80s and '90s, but draws a lot less attention to itself.
0:32:37 > 0:32:40Style became quite an issue for me.
0:32:41 > 0:32:44After MI6 and TV-am and Embankment Place,
0:32:44 > 0:32:48I didn't get any work in London for ten years,
0:32:48 > 0:32:52and I knew it was because I was typecast.
0:32:52 > 0:32:55And so I took on the Home Office and played a different game.
0:32:55 > 0:32:58I said, "It's a background building."
0:33:00 > 0:33:02Not all of Terry's buildings from this era
0:33:02 > 0:33:04could be called "background".
0:33:04 > 0:33:07There's no missing his millennial project in Hull, The Deep.
0:33:07 > 0:33:12But having abandoned High-Tech's aversion to decoration,
0:33:12 > 0:33:16Farrell's happier than his peers to vary style according to project.
0:33:16 > 0:33:19There are some architects you know what you're going to get
0:33:19 > 0:33:24in advance and they have a clientele,
0:33:24 > 0:33:27a market, that goes to them because they want that thing.
0:33:27 > 0:33:30There are other architects
0:33:30 > 0:33:33that are about an approach, an attitude,
0:33:33 > 0:33:35and I'm more of that kind.
0:33:39 > 0:33:42What stays constant in Farrell's work is a concern
0:33:42 > 0:33:44not just with the individual building,
0:33:44 > 0:33:46but the bigger picture around it.
0:33:46 > 0:33:50In the last decade, he's been commissioned to produce a series
0:33:50 > 0:33:53of influential master plans for towns and cities
0:33:53 > 0:33:54across Britain and the world.
0:33:56 > 0:34:00The urban scene in the public realm is, in many ways,
0:34:00 > 0:34:04as important as the building and there's a lot of it.
0:34:04 > 0:34:07You can get a fine building on a lousy street
0:34:07 > 0:34:10and that really pains me and upsets me. I'd rather the street was right
0:34:10 > 0:34:13because more people would get pleasure from it.
0:34:13 > 0:34:16It'd be great if it was both that were right.
0:34:21 > 0:34:24He's moved on to be very, very respected
0:34:24 > 0:34:25for his kind of visionary approach
0:34:25 > 0:34:28to how you can knit lots of ideas about a city together,
0:34:28 > 0:34:31and he has the ability to present these ideas
0:34:31 > 0:34:34in a way that everybody gets and wants to be part of.
0:34:35 > 0:34:38By the 21st century, all of these architects
0:34:38 > 0:34:41were working on a much broader canvas than before.
0:34:41 > 0:34:43This was a generation which had always believed
0:34:43 > 0:34:45it could change the world.
0:34:45 > 0:34:50Now, it was doing so through advocacy and shaping public policy.
0:34:50 > 0:34:52I really believe in cities,
0:34:52 > 0:34:55and that's really the critical thing I've been talking about.
0:34:55 > 0:34:58A compact city where you live, you work, play,
0:34:58 > 0:35:03and, of course, a city that is well designed with a good public domain.
0:35:03 > 0:35:07To spread this gospel, a man who'd marched against the government
0:35:07 > 0:35:11in the '60s, joined it in the late '90s,
0:35:11 > 0:35:14as advisor to the Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone,
0:35:14 > 0:35:18and Chair of the National Urban Taskforce.
0:35:18 > 0:35:21Rogers affected the whole look of British cities
0:35:21 > 0:35:23around about the time of the millennium.
0:35:23 > 0:35:26He was a seriously important guy in the government.
0:35:26 > 0:35:29Architecture is political, if you don't work with the politicians
0:35:29 > 0:35:31then you can't be an architect.
0:35:31 > 0:35:34If you have any vision, you have to get it across.
0:35:35 > 0:35:39It's partly because of Rogers' campaigns for denser use of land
0:35:39 > 0:35:41that the skylines of British cities
0:35:41 > 0:35:43have soared upwards in the last few years.
0:35:43 > 0:35:46His old friend Foster played a part in that too,
0:35:46 > 0:35:49though not through political campaigning.
0:35:49 > 0:35:52Even at the start of the 21st century,
0:35:52 > 0:35:55the City of London was largely low-rise,
0:35:55 > 0:35:58still suspicious of towers after the mistakes of the '60s.
0:36:06 > 0:36:11What finally taught Britain to love the skyscraper was a gherkin.
0:36:11 > 0:36:15Its popularity paved the way for many others to follow in its wake.
0:36:15 > 0:36:20Yet, in 1997, when Foster first unveiled plans for this site,
0:36:20 > 0:36:23no tower seemed likely to get planning permission.
0:36:23 > 0:36:27Plans for the tallest building in Europe were put on show today.
0:36:27 > 0:36:33The Millennium Tower, with 84 storeys, would reach 1,265 feet.
0:36:33 > 0:36:37But, this being Britain, it's inevitably controversial.
0:36:39 > 0:36:44The super-high tower becomes you know, the symbol of the future,
0:36:44 > 0:36:48and, inevitably, it pushes the boundaries, stretch the limits.
0:36:48 > 0:36:50I mean, how could any architect resist that?
0:36:50 > 0:36:52I mean, it's a dream.
0:36:56 > 0:37:00The property developers Trafalgar House looked forward
0:37:00 > 0:37:04to over 80 floors of rental revenue, all from one small plot of land.
0:37:05 > 0:37:08But not everyone bought into the dream.
0:37:08 > 0:37:11I don't think it was a particularly good piece of architecture
0:37:11 > 0:37:12and I thought that the building looked
0:37:12 > 0:37:15like a frightened rabbit from Watership Down,
0:37:15 > 0:37:16it had these two ears on the top.
0:37:16 > 0:37:21The main thing was it was very, very tall and it shocked London.
0:37:23 > 0:37:26Foster's team went back to the drawing board,
0:37:26 > 0:37:28to try to come up with something which would overcome
0:37:28 > 0:37:31the widespread resistance to tall towers.
0:37:32 > 0:37:34While they did so, the site changed hands,
0:37:34 > 0:37:38from a speculative developer to insurance firm, Swiss Re,
0:37:38 > 0:37:40who needed a new home.
0:37:41 > 0:37:46There are clients who can spark a creative initiative
0:37:46 > 0:37:49and make a major contribution to a design.
0:37:49 > 0:37:51Someone said the other day,
0:37:51 > 0:37:54"Oh, yes, well, Swiss Re was out for an iconic building,"
0:37:54 > 0:37:56and I looked at them, I said,
0:37:56 > 0:37:59"On the contrary. Nobody even thought like that."
0:38:00 > 0:38:02A really important objective
0:38:02 > 0:38:06- was creating a beautiful space for people to work in.- Yes.
0:38:06 > 0:38:09So, access to daylight,
0:38:09 > 0:38:14access to amenities and good working conditions.
0:38:18 > 0:38:20A circular floor plan meant all the employees
0:38:20 > 0:38:22would be nearer the window,
0:38:22 > 0:38:25giving them more natural light and better views.
0:38:27 > 0:38:30The reason this tower's not simply a cylinder,
0:38:30 > 0:38:35are less to do with its inhabitants and more to do with the public.
0:38:35 > 0:38:39Less building at the bottom created a new plaza
0:38:39 > 0:38:44and less tower at the tip made it less intrusive on the skyline.
0:38:44 > 0:38:47Working out exactly what happened in the middle meanwhile,
0:38:47 > 0:38:50took many months, and models.
0:38:50 > 0:38:52What we were trying to do is understand
0:38:52 > 0:38:54what made a shape elegant.
0:38:54 > 0:38:56What were the properties of a complex form
0:38:56 > 0:39:00that made that shape elegant? And there's no magical formula.
0:39:00 > 0:39:02You can't say, "Oh, it's twice the radius,"
0:39:02 > 0:39:03or "It's three times the height,"
0:39:03 > 0:39:05or something like that. It doesn't work.
0:39:05 > 0:39:07So, what we did is literally like a beauty parade.
0:39:07 > 0:39:11Things like, for example, where the maximum width occurs -
0:39:11 > 0:39:13where is the waistline on the building?
0:39:13 > 0:39:15Is it high or is it low?
0:39:15 > 0:39:17If it's too low the building looks squat and dumpy,
0:39:17 > 0:39:21if it's too high the proportions are wrong, it looks top heavy.
0:39:21 > 0:39:26So, you can see models like this one where the centre of gravity
0:39:26 > 0:39:29is far too low in proportion to the top.
0:39:30 > 0:39:33The hope was that all this form-finding would overcome
0:39:33 > 0:39:37the opposition which had killed off the Millennium Tower.
0:39:37 > 0:39:41I remember the architects arriving in my office
0:39:41 > 0:39:44with a model of circular building of a rather dumpy form
0:39:44 > 0:39:47and, to their great surprise, I said to them,
0:39:47 > 0:39:49"Well, don't you think it could be taller?"
0:39:49 > 0:39:51It was a pretty rare moment,
0:39:51 > 0:39:54and we tried not to all look at each other like,
0:39:54 > 0:39:56"Did he just say that?"
0:39:56 > 0:39:58They said, "Well, what do you mean?"
0:39:58 > 0:40:01I said "Well, it looks rather fatter than is comfortable
0:40:01 > 0:40:04"and rather shorter than is comfortable. What if we squeezed it?"
0:40:05 > 0:40:08Though the City of London was now won over,
0:40:08 > 0:40:13the tower still faced legal challenges from conservation groups.
0:40:13 > 0:40:15But then in 20 years, English Heritage will list it.
0:40:15 > 0:40:17I mean, English Heritage broadly.
0:40:17 > 0:40:20If you create an organisation that is just there to preserve
0:40:20 > 0:40:24things as they are, they are going to be a bit of a pain.
0:40:24 > 0:40:27One of the powers of the newly created London Mayor
0:40:27 > 0:40:29was to push through planning permission.
0:40:29 > 0:40:33The City Corporation wanted me to back it, which I did.
0:40:33 > 0:40:35When I ran for office I said,
0:40:35 > 0:40:38"I'm going to abolish all these silly rules about height or density.
0:40:38 > 0:40:41"Each scheme's got to be judged on its merits."
0:40:45 > 0:40:50The tower finally won planning approval in August 2000.
0:40:50 > 0:40:54As the Swiss Re Building began to rise on the skyline,
0:40:54 > 0:40:56the elegance of the engineering was revealed.
0:40:59 > 0:41:01In most skyscrapers, the very top
0:41:01 > 0:41:05is reserved for lift machinery and building services.
0:41:07 > 0:41:10Foster's team instead topped off their design with a unique space,
0:41:10 > 0:41:14which gives 360-degree views of the city.
0:41:23 > 0:41:24It was more costly.
0:41:24 > 0:41:28Half of my colleagues were saying "This is crazy!
0:41:28 > 0:41:30"We can't have this kind of space."
0:41:30 > 0:41:33In this particular case, it would have been a travesty
0:41:33 > 0:41:35to put that at the top of the building.
0:41:39 > 0:41:43The future occupants of the tower clearly loved it,
0:41:43 > 0:41:46but the final verdict would be delivered by the public.
0:41:46 > 0:41:47I don't think a lot of people were convinced
0:41:47 > 0:41:50until they saw the building taking shape.
0:41:50 > 0:41:53We have to remember a backdrop to all of this was a press
0:41:53 > 0:41:57who were being very negative, attaching a nickname to it,
0:41:57 > 0:42:01which I think was meant to be rude, by calling it the Erotic Gherkin.
0:42:01 > 0:42:05Well, a number of people did ask where the batteries went.
0:42:05 > 0:42:08I felt it was dumb-down name and so we really worked against
0:42:08 > 0:42:11allowing people to call it the Gherkin.
0:42:11 > 0:42:13- And failed.- And failed.
0:42:13 > 0:42:17That which started as a term of abuse
0:42:17 > 0:42:21has ended up being a term of endearment, of affection.
0:42:21 > 0:42:25So, I think that's a very nice kind of evolution
0:42:25 > 0:42:27over the history of the project.
0:42:27 > 0:42:31Very quickly it started to feature in advertisements for London,
0:42:31 > 0:42:33it started to take on an iconic status.
0:42:33 > 0:42:35You can't design an icon,
0:42:35 > 0:42:38it's the public that create an icon after it's been designed.
0:42:47 > 0:42:49Many people, including the public,
0:42:49 > 0:42:53were responsible for the success of the Gherkin,
0:42:53 > 0:42:56yet one name in particular is often given the credit -
0:42:56 > 0:42:58and it's not Norman.
0:42:58 > 0:43:01Ken Shuttleworth was the Senior Partner at Fosters in charge of the project,
0:43:01 > 0:43:06but left, soon after its completion, to set up a firm of his own.
0:43:07 > 0:43:10So, is the Gherkin really a Foster building at all?
0:43:11 > 0:43:14It would be very unlikely in a large practice
0:43:14 > 0:43:18that an architect like Norman Foster would design all the buildings himself.
0:43:18 > 0:43:21He had a whole range of brilliant architects
0:43:21 > 0:43:25working with and for him, and various of his partners
0:43:25 > 0:43:28appeared at different stages of the project.
0:43:28 > 0:43:31There is no one person, architect,
0:43:31 > 0:43:35engineer, client, consultant,
0:43:35 > 0:43:38who can take responsibility.
0:43:38 > 0:43:40Only the team can take responsibility.
0:43:40 > 0:43:44It's so clearly a culmination of the work
0:43:44 > 0:43:47and the agenda and the decades of experience,
0:43:47 > 0:43:49it's so CLEARLY a Foster building.
0:43:49 > 0:43:53Splitting hairs over who signed off most of the drawings
0:43:53 > 0:43:55is just neither here nor there.
0:43:55 > 0:43:57Architecture is a team activity,
0:43:57 > 0:43:59it takes a lot of people
0:43:59 > 0:44:01and this is an extraordinary team.
0:44:01 > 0:44:06In the end, the best designs you're really, afterwards,
0:44:06 > 0:44:10almost nonplussed about who came up with that idea, this idea.
0:44:13 > 0:44:16Speculation about who does what
0:44:16 > 0:44:19is inevitable when a firm grows as large as Foster's,
0:44:19 > 0:44:23which employs up to 1,500 people.
0:44:23 > 0:44:27All five of these architects founded highly successful businesses,
0:44:27 > 0:44:31which inevitably took some of their time away from designing.
0:44:31 > 0:44:34I still meet clients.
0:44:34 > 0:44:37I can't do it on every project, that would be impossible
0:44:37 > 0:44:39and I don't pretend to.
0:44:39 > 0:44:42I can't pretend that I know every detail of every building, in no way.
0:44:45 > 0:44:47London's Cheesegrater, for example,
0:44:47 > 0:44:50is often referred to as a Richard Rogers building,
0:44:50 > 0:44:55yet it's largely the design of his partner, Graham Stirk.
0:44:55 > 0:44:58Their firm has tried to signal the importance of the wider team
0:44:58 > 0:45:01by changing its name to Rogers, Stirk + Harbour.
0:45:03 > 0:45:05But when it comes to winning work,
0:45:05 > 0:45:08the founders are still their most valuable assets.
0:45:10 > 0:45:13By the 1990s, Foster had become a kind of brand,
0:45:13 > 0:45:17people went to get a Foster building, no question.
0:45:17 > 0:45:21The Big Five are "starchitects".
0:45:21 > 0:45:25It is a true description of the architects around the world
0:45:25 > 0:45:28who are competing for being on this list
0:45:28 > 0:45:32of who to hire in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, China...
0:45:33 > 0:45:39And none of these five want to be off that list.
0:45:41 > 0:45:42They worked all over the world.
0:45:42 > 0:45:48Their names are recognised, they've done important buildings
0:45:48 > 0:45:50and many of them in several continents
0:45:50 > 0:45:53and all of them in more than one.
0:45:53 > 0:45:56You go where the opportunities arise.
0:45:56 > 0:45:59You go where the opportunity is, you really do.
0:45:59 > 0:46:04Grimshaw cracked America in a way that no other British architect -
0:46:04 > 0:46:07even Norman Foster - has been able to do.
0:46:07 > 0:46:13I think some of the things that people associate with our firm,
0:46:13 > 0:46:17possibly are particularly British things
0:46:17 > 0:46:20and do probably go back
0:46:20 > 0:46:24to the times when we were building railways and dams abroad.
0:46:24 > 0:46:27There's no doubt that throughout the world,
0:46:27 > 0:46:32the British architects of the second half of the 20th century
0:46:32 > 0:46:36became identified with Brand UK.
0:46:41 > 0:46:45These architects now design on a scale that they never expected
0:46:45 > 0:46:49when they started their careers in 1960s Britain.
0:46:49 > 0:46:53Farrell's firm, for instance, has built vast stations in China.
0:46:56 > 0:46:59China's different. It is on a different scale,
0:46:59 > 0:47:02there's one and a quarter billion people there.
0:47:02 > 0:47:05Then to design a railway station
0:47:05 > 0:47:08which is about three times the size of Waterloo,
0:47:08 > 0:47:10is quite mindboggling.
0:47:14 > 0:47:18Traditionally, the roof is the biggest element on a building.
0:47:18 > 0:47:22At Beijing South, we did have references to the roofs
0:47:22 > 0:47:24of the round temples and so on,
0:47:24 > 0:47:29which have that curved, indented form of roof,
0:47:29 > 0:47:32and that rang bells with them.
0:47:32 > 0:47:35But it wasn't, on the other hand, a copy.
0:47:37 > 0:47:40Some are squeamish about working with repressive regimes,
0:47:40 > 0:47:43architects generally aren't.
0:47:43 > 0:47:45I have absolutely no doubt about working in China,
0:47:45 > 0:47:51though how you can say that a quarter of the world's population have got it wrong?
0:47:52 > 0:47:56To stand on one's dignity ignores the fact that life is complex,
0:47:56 > 0:47:59there's huge numbers of good people doing good things
0:47:59 > 0:48:02and I think we do a lot wrong ourselves.
0:48:02 > 0:48:05You can arrive in Beijing
0:48:05 > 0:48:09at a British station or a British airport.
0:48:09 > 0:48:12In 2003, Foster + Partners won the job
0:48:12 > 0:48:17of creating a suitable gateway for the 2008 Olympics.
0:48:17 > 0:48:20You know, they were setting their sights really high.
0:48:20 > 0:48:23They wanted the best airport on the planet,
0:48:23 > 0:48:26they wanted the biggest airport on the planet,
0:48:26 > 0:48:29and they wanted it done in record time.
0:48:29 > 0:48:34Norman and I used to attend meetings where this was played back to us
0:48:34 > 0:48:37over and over again, and every time it was mentioned,
0:48:37 > 0:48:39we were feeling more and more nervous
0:48:39 > 0:48:41about what we're taking on here.
0:48:50 > 0:48:53The Foster team scaled up the approach they'd first developed
0:48:53 > 0:48:58for London Stansted, such as extensive use of natural light.
0:48:58 > 0:49:02Like Farrell's station, their design also responded to local context.
0:49:03 > 0:49:06The use of the colours in the buildings evokes
0:49:06 > 0:49:08the traditional Chinese architecture.
0:49:08 > 0:49:13We used 16 shades of red to gold in the building.
0:49:16 > 0:49:21At two miles long, with an area of 14 million square feet,
0:49:21 > 0:49:24it's a contender for the world's biggest building,
0:49:24 > 0:49:29yet it went from first design to completion in barely four years.
0:49:29 > 0:49:32This required not only brilliant architects and engineers,
0:49:32 > 0:49:36but also the determination of the Chinese State.
0:49:38 > 0:49:42I can remember the very first meeting with the client
0:49:42 > 0:49:44and we set off doing our presentation about we do this
0:49:44 > 0:49:47and we discuss it with you and then it takes some time
0:49:47 > 0:49:50to do the drawings and then we do this and we do that.
0:49:50 > 0:49:53Um, and after about five minutes, Mr Cheng, our client,
0:49:53 > 0:49:56who was a wonderful guy, wonderful guy,
0:49:56 > 0:50:00he got up and screamed at me in Mandarin for about two minutes.
0:50:00 > 0:50:04And the guy who ran our office in Beijing, is a Chinaman,
0:50:04 > 0:50:08he got up and said "OK, Martin, I think we can go now. Meeting's over"
0:50:08 > 0:50:11When I got outside I said to Mike "What was that all about?"
0:50:11 > 0:50:16And what Mr Cheng had said was, "Listen, fat boy,
0:50:16 > 0:50:21"in the last three months, I've moved 400 families off that site
0:50:21 > 0:50:23"and I've not shot anybody.
0:50:23 > 0:50:27"So, you can do the drawings to the programme I've just outlined."
0:50:31 > 0:50:37Beijing Airport, during its construction was heroic.
0:50:37 > 0:50:42Um, literally 50,000 people working on site.
0:50:42 > 0:50:45It was just...just amazing.
0:50:47 > 0:50:51I remember saying "In 13 weeks, we've got as far on Beijing
0:50:51 > 0:50:54"as our Terminal 5 team have got in 13 years."
0:50:59 > 0:51:02The new terminal at London's Heathrow opened in the same year
0:51:02 > 0:51:06as Beijing Airport - 2008.
0:51:06 > 0:51:10But Richard Rogers had begun work on its design in 1989.
0:51:15 > 0:51:19It was very difficult to build because, as I've learnt slowly,
0:51:19 > 0:51:21it's much better to do a job fast.
0:51:22 > 0:51:26I mean, basically, it was the longest ever public inquiry,
0:51:26 > 0:51:30you know, I think it's a ridiculous way of handling things,
0:51:30 > 0:51:34I can say that because I sit in Parliament.
0:51:34 > 0:51:35In the end, there has to be a logic,
0:51:35 > 0:51:38because the fees of the lawyers and all those involved,
0:51:38 > 0:51:42let alone the time, all our time, it's massive over 19 years.
0:51:42 > 0:51:44It must be a considerable part of the cost of the airport.
0:51:47 > 0:51:52One interpretation might be that it's quicker to get things done in a dictatorship.
0:51:53 > 0:52:01If you compare timescales for a project in China with the UK,
0:52:01 > 0:52:04and you analyse it, you can look at the time
0:52:04 > 0:52:07that is spent to get planning consent.
0:52:07 > 0:52:10When you've taken that out and you compare the two,
0:52:10 > 0:52:13there is still a massive difference.
0:52:14 > 0:52:18So, the speed with which a project can be accomplished
0:52:18 > 0:52:21is not because of the political system,
0:52:21 > 0:52:25it's not because of an absence of unions or whatever.
0:52:25 > 0:52:31It is about the ability to make long-term decisions,
0:52:31 > 0:52:37and to think through very, very clearly the wider implications.
0:52:37 > 0:52:40We had, I don't know, I'm going to say,
0:52:40 > 0:52:43at least probably 10, 15 ministers in charge of us,
0:52:43 > 0:52:46we had numerous chief executives,
0:52:46 > 0:52:49chairmen and so on and each one carrying his or her ideal
0:52:49 > 0:52:53about what an airport is or what we should do.
0:52:53 > 0:52:55Of course, because it took nearly 20 years to build,
0:52:55 > 0:52:59it changed numerous times, depending on the political situation.
0:52:59 > 0:53:02By the end of it, I was really annoyed and I got pretty fed up.
0:53:02 > 0:53:05Having said all of that, I rather love it now.
0:53:07 > 0:53:10Heathrow's days could be numbered, however,
0:53:10 > 0:53:13if this design from Norman Foster were to be taken up.
0:53:13 > 0:53:18It's for the Thames Estuary Airport, sometimes dubbed Boris Island.
0:53:18 > 0:53:23Rival schemes have been suggested by both Nicholas Grimshaw and Terry Farrell.
0:53:23 > 0:53:26What draws all of them into public debate
0:53:26 > 0:53:28is the scale at which they now work and think.
0:53:28 > 0:53:31It's inevitable the more buildings you do,
0:53:31 > 0:53:33the bigger the buildings you do,
0:53:33 > 0:53:36the more you need to get into infrastructure.
0:53:37 > 0:53:41These men have worked all their lives for a better designed world,
0:53:41 > 0:53:44and that's still what fires them up.
0:53:44 > 0:53:46Terry Farrell has just completed a major review
0:53:46 > 0:53:50of architecture for the British government.
0:53:50 > 0:53:54While this is what Norman Foster's been working on lately -
0:53:54 > 0:53:57the new headquarters for Apple.
0:53:57 > 0:53:59For him, this temple to technology
0:53:59 > 0:54:01has its origins in his earliest work,
0:54:01 > 0:54:03which combined innovative engineering
0:54:03 > 0:54:05and a progressive social agenda.
0:54:05 > 0:54:08If it's 2013 and it's Apple,
0:54:08 > 0:54:16it's the same concerns going right back to 1967,
0:54:16 > 0:54:20it's creating one building that brings everybody together,
0:54:20 > 0:54:24and it's also about pushing the technology to new levels.
0:54:24 > 0:54:27In that sense, nothing's changed.
0:54:29 > 0:54:35Richard Rogers turned 80 in 2013, the others aren't far behind.
0:54:35 > 0:54:39None of them show signs of retiring any time soon.
0:54:39 > 0:54:44I don't feel a practice has a beginning and an end,
0:54:44 > 0:54:46and a mission accomplished.
0:54:46 > 0:54:48People say, "When are you going to retire?"
0:54:48 > 0:54:52and I said, "But you want to retire TO something. I haven't got something I want to retire to."
0:54:52 > 0:54:55I have every intention of going to 101.
0:54:55 > 0:54:59Um, to... There's a lot left to do.
0:54:59 > 0:55:02I'm going to keep going as long as I can.
0:55:02 > 0:55:05If I'm enjoying life and I'm enjoying architecture
0:55:05 > 0:55:08and I'm as stimulated as I am now,
0:55:08 > 0:55:11why would I want to stop?
0:55:17 > 0:55:18Those five men, between them,
0:55:18 > 0:55:22have had such an enormous impact on architecture.
0:55:22 > 0:55:25I think they've demonstrated that architecture
0:55:25 > 0:55:27can be politically powerful,
0:55:27 > 0:55:29financially powerful,
0:55:29 > 0:55:31culturally powerful.
0:55:31 > 0:55:33They're one of our greatest exports, and yeah,
0:55:33 > 0:55:36it makes me feel quite patriotic just thinking about it!
0:55:36 > 0:55:38SHE CHUCKLES
0:55:38 > 0:55:42It's a shame they're all men. Well, I guess it's generational.
0:55:42 > 0:55:45These five architects are the most significant
0:55:45 > 0:55:47in British architectural history,
0:55:47 > 0:55:51certainly since the Arts and Crafts architects were in their heyday.
0:55:51 > 0:55:55Before then, you'd have to go back to Wren and Hawksmoor.
0:55:59 > 0:56:03High-Tech can be assured of its place in architectural history,
0:56:03 > 0:56:06and in some ways, has already passed into it.
0:56:06 > 0:56:1240 years on, the earliest High-Tech buildings are now period pieces.
0:56:18 > 0:56:22Norman Foster's Willis Faber building in Ipswich,
0:56:22 > 0:56:26which was the first really modern building to be listed Grade I.
0:56:26 > 0:56:29At that moment, the High-Tech movement
0:56:29 > 0:56:31became a historical artefact.
0:56:33 > 0:56:37These structures were conceived of as a kit of parts,
0:56:37 > 0:56:41lightweight, adaptable and impermanent.
0:56:41 > 0:56:43But the irony is, since they were first built,
0:56:43 > 0:56:46they've mostly stayed just the way they were.
0:56:46 > 0:56:48As soon as a building becomes historic
0:56:48 > 0:56:51and is seen as being significant, you are not allowed to change it.
0:56:51 > 0:56:54The Pompidou Centre was meant to be super adaptable
0:56:54 > 0:56:56and you were meant to be able to pull bits out, plug bits in...
0:56:56 > 0:56:59It got crystallised as it was.
0:56:59 > 0:57:00That's the strange thing,
0:57:00 > 0:57:03even a High-Tech building becomes a monument.
0:57:03 > 0:57:07You look at the Pompidou Centre and it reminds us of the 1970s.
0:57:10 > 0:57:15It turned out the most enduring feature of this architecture wasn't its functionality.
0:57:15 > 0:57:20It was the promise it made of utopia, delivered through technology,
0:57:20 > 0:57:25and that's a promise some of us still want to believe in.
0:57:25 > 0:57:29High-Tech architecture is a sort of permanent model
0:57:29 > 0:57:31of a vision of the future.
0:57:31 > 0:57:34They're buildings that still say, "We've a chance".
0:57:34 > 0:57:38High-Tech posits the idea that there is such a thing as progress.
0:57:38 > 0:57:43Unless you're an optimist, you would never contemplate
0:57:43 > 0:57:47the uphill task of designing and realising a building.
0:57:51 > 0:57:56It's a belief in the power of a building, an environment,
0:57:56 > 0:57:59to significantly improve the quality of life.
0:58:13 > 0:58:16You can learn more about iconic British designs
0:58:16 > 0:58:17and the people behind them
0:58:17 > 0:58:22with the Open University's interactive Building Stories.
0:58:22 > 0:58:25Go to...
0:58:25 > 0:58:28and follow the links to the Open University.