In the second exclusive interview that we filmed with Richard Rogers, the late British architect explained the story behind the Centre Pompidou that he designed with Renzo Piano ? and the controversy it generated.
The interview is one of a series Dezeen filmed with Rogers to coincide with a retrospective of his work at the Royal Academy of Arts in London in 2013.
Rogers, who passed away at the age of 88 last month, was one of the world's best-known architects and a pioneer of high-tech architecture.
Among his most notable works was the Centre Pompidou, an inside-out cultural centre in Paris that he completed in 1977 with Italian architect Piano, a fellow high-tech pioneer.
In this interview, filmed at the Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners studio in London, Rogers recalled the tumultuous process of designing the Centre Pompidou, which was initially "vilified" before becoming "the most visited building" in Europe. However, he also described the flak he received from people who hated the building. He recalled a conversation with a woman who struck up a conversation with him outside the centre: "I said that I designed it and she hit me on the head with her umbrella."
Read on for a transcript of the interview below:

"The Pompidou ? it was actually called Beaubourg when we did the competition, and Pompidou when Pompidou [the former president of France] died a year before completion ? was a competition for a museum, a library, a music centre and ...