All eyes are on Wimbledon this week, but those that prefer architectural icons to tennis players will want to shift their gazes just slightly away from Centre Court: to British architect Richard Rogers’ Wimbledon House — also known as 22 Parkside — which has just undergone a serious update by London studio Gumuchdjian Architects.
It is, frankly, glorious.
Rogers worked on the home from 1967 to 1969 as a present for his parents. It might not be immediately evident from its decidedly residential scale, but Rogers later said that he considers it a blueprint for a more famous work: Paris’s Centre Pompidou, designed with Renzo Piano, among others. Look for connections in the primary color palette and the industrial, inside-out feel.
Bad news for jetsetters, good news for designers: The Wimbledon House has “reopened” but only as a temporary residence for visiting schools. In 2015, Rogers gave the house to Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, to be used as a base for participants in the school’s Richard Rogers Fellowship program.
In other words, the only road to Wimbledon House might be an exceptionally long and academic one.
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