ROGERS THE HUMANIST.

RICHARD ROGERS COMPLETE WORKS: VOLUME THREE

By Kenneth Powell. London: Phaidon. 2006. [pounds sterling]59.95

In an essay entitled 'A Political Carer' that serves as an interlude in this monograph, Richard Rogers is described as a humanist 'in the sense understood by the Italian Renaissance'. Architect, thinker, writer, socialist, advisor to princes (Ken Livingstone and John Prescott), religious sceptic--they all fit the epithet, and when you add his Italian roots it seems doubly apt. Elsewhere, 'humanist' is meant in the simpler sense that he just cares about people. That is certainly the image he is trying to project by including at least half a dozen team photos in this book. There they are, his people, gathered on a roof or a bridge or in a newly completed building, all grinning desperately. The message is clear: this is a happy office presided over by a paternal presence. And probably it is. Certainly there is a generosity when it comes to acknowledging the true authorship of the work. Second generation designers like Ivan Harbour and Graham Stirk are given full credit.

But the claim is also made that the architecture itself is in some way humanist or humane and this is harder to justify. No one doubts Rogers' commitment to making cities friendlier and more livable. In his books, his Reith lectures and his activities in the House of Lords, he has given his time selflessly to the cause of enabling us to live more like Italians. But this book also contains a lot of office towers in places like the City, Canary Wharf and Paddington Basin, to name only the London locations, and 'humane' is not a word that fits these big brash buildings. Can a large international airport ever be made 'humane'? Rogers is determined to try, and in the new Barajas Airport in Madrid, the biggest job the office has ever completed, he may well have succeeded. Heathrow Terminal 5, sadly, looks lumpish in comparison and rather inhumane, but we must wait and see.

What seems to be missing are the humane buildings to serve the everyday lives of ordinary people. The timber-framed Mossbourne Community Academy in Hackney might fit this category, though it actually looks rather stark and brutal. A couple of affordable housing projects are mentioned in passing, but nothing seems to have been built yet. The fact is that Rogers does not really do ordinary buildings. The humanist claim would be more credible if he did.

This a lavishly produced book, covering all the important buildings and projects since 1993. Photographs and drawings are informative and well laid out, and the text has all the precision and professionalism that we expect from Kenneth Powell.