In the fourth exclusive interview that we filmed with Richard Rogers in 2013, the late architect explains how the distinctive shape of the Leadenhall building was created to preserve views of St Paul's Cathedral.
The interview forms part of a series filmed by Dezeen in 2013, which marked a retrospective of the architect's work at the Royal Academy of Arts in London.
Rogers, who passed away on 18 December aged 88, was one of the world's most acclaimed architects and a key pioneer of the high-tech architecture style that emerged in the 1970s.
Among his most notable work is the Leadenhall building, an east London office skyscraper completed in 2013 that is known as "the Cheesegrater" due to its slanting, wedge-shaped structure. It stands opposite the high-tech Lloyd's building, which was completed by the architect in 1986.
During this interview, filmed at the Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners studio in Hammersmith, Rogers explained that the shape of the Leadenhall building was the result of having to preserve preserve protected views of the nearby St Paul's Cathedral.
"London is unique in being partly controlled by views," said Rogers. "So you have these big cuts, and you have to leave certain views open to St Paul's, and we were on one of those views."
"The only way to build a tall building was to slope out of that," he continued. "Now you could step out of it, you could cut it shorter, and so on. So we made use of this, and we ...