Sunday, May 11, 2025

London, England: Lloyd's building

Time for a lesson in architecture, no matter how unlikely that subject might be in this particular travel blog, or for me to be teaching it. 

"Bowellism" takes all of the so-called guts of a building, such as vents and pipes, and places them on the outside. That leaves more room on the inside for the workers. It is planned to be something like the human body in a way, and somehow Bowellism caught on as the name.

Richard Rogers is said to be the leader of this particular style. He worked on the Pompidou Center in Paris. That was done in 1977, and he was solely responsible for the Lloyd's building (I'm still working on why there's no capital B there) that was drawn up in 1978. The latter is the one shown in this photo. Granted, a photo from a distance might be more instructive, but it does hint at the style. It took until 1986 to open it. 

Does it work? It has been honored for its creative style. However, having all of the pipes and things on the outside exposes them to the elements, and that has led to relatively high maintenance costs in those areas. That's led to second thoughts about the building, but it's too late now to do much about it.

Lloyd's of London certainly is one of the most famous businesses in London. It is not technically an insurance company. It's more of an underwriter. I lack the required MBA to explain what the people in suits there do every day, but they are famous for covering policies of the unusual and bizarre. The risk of Bruce Springsteen's vocal chords suffering an injury were even picked up by Lloyd's. 

The video supplies some good details on the facility:

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