Foster + Partners

Biography

Norman Foster

Norman Foster was born in Manchester in 1935. After graduating from Manchester University School of Architecture and City Planning in 1961 he won a Henry Fellowship to Yale University, where he gained a Master’s Degree in Architecture.

He is the founder and chairman of Foster + Partners. Founded in London in 1967, it is now a worldwide practice, with project offices in more than twenty countries. Over the past four decades the company has been responsible for a strikingly wide range of work, from urban masterplans, public infrastructure, airports, civic and cultural buildings, offices and workplaces to private houses and product design. Since its inception, the practice has received 470 awards and citations for excellence and has won more than 86 international and national competitions.

Current and recent work includes the largest single building on the planet, Beijing Airport, the redevelopment of Dresden Railway Station, Millau Viaduct in France, the Swiss Re tower and the Great Court at the British Museum in London, an entire University Campus for Petronas in Malaysia, the Hearst Headquarters tower in New York, Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Robert and Arlene Kogod Courtyard at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington and research centres at Stanford University, California.

He became the 21st Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate in 1999 and was awarded the Praemium Imperiale Award for Architecture in 2002. He has been awarded the American Institute of Architects Gold Medal for Architecture (1994), the Royal Gold Medal for Architecture (1983), and the Gold Medal of the French Academy of Architecture (1991). In 1990 he was granted a Knighthood in the Queen’s Birthday Honours, and in 1999 was honoured with a Life Peerage, becoming Lord Foster of Thames Bank.

Way we work

To undertake consistently, in a decade, some of the biggest projects in the world, needs depth of resources. In that sense, ‘size matters’. The practice is more than one thousand strong, with offices in twenty-two countries and a highly talented team drawn from more than fifty nations. However, creativity and personal service are best nurtured by the compact group where ‘small is beautiful’. The resolution of these apparently conflicting ideals is mirrored in the practice’s structure.

The strategic direction of the practice is guided by the executive board. Members of this board are: Norman Foster, Mouzhan Majidi as chief executive, Spencer de Grey and David Nelson as joint heads of design, Matthew Streets as chief financial officer, with Grant Brooker and Nigel Dancey as senior executives. The practice is organised into six design groups, each with a senior partner as leader. All of these individuals have been chosen for their proven track record over many years in the practice, combining creativity and attention to detail with delivery and management skills. The group leaders are: Grant Brooker (Group 1), David Summerfield (Group 2), Mouzhan Majidi (Group 3), Stefan Behling (Group 4), Gerard Evenden (Group 5) and Nigel Dancey (Group 6). Allied with this core group is a younger generation of partners who are central to the continuing evolution of the practice.

The groups are not shaped by specialisation of building type or geographical location. Each group has a rich cross-section of projects – large and small – around the world, which may range from an office building in London to a sustainable community in the desert. This diversity is good for creativity, innovation and motivation. The tight-knit nature of the groups also ensures personal service and close contact between the design team and the client, from the first meetings to the hand-over of the finished building. As part of this process, key members of the design team will move with the project to the building site, wherever that is in the world, and will maintain a local office until the project is complete.

The design of each new project is reviewed regularly, both formally and informally. This process takes place under the direction of the design board, which has been created in the spirit of ‘challenging and being challenged’. The board balances the greater spread of responsibility in the groups with a broader overview of shared values, coupled to a process that can initiate design as well as review it. Chaired by Norman Foster, design authority rests with Heads of Design, David Nelson and Spencer de Grey in his absence. Chief executive, Mouzhan Majidi and Armstrong Yakubu are also permanent members of the design board and are joined by advisors Stefan Behling, Nigel Dancey and Narinder Sagoo.

Until recently, Mouzhan Majidi, as leader of Group 3, was focused on his own projects, both in the London studio and on sites around the world. Now, as chief executive, he combines a strategic involvement in design through his own team and the design board with his primary responsibilities for the management of the practice. Similarly, Spencer de Grey and David Nelson, who have each led many of the practice’s most important projects, are able to range much wider, engaging through the design board with every new project, as well as working creatively with the teams.

Stefan Behling, leader of Group 4, brings to bear his expertise in ecology and sustainability, combining his role in the practice with that of Professor of Architecture at Stuttgart University. Nigel Dancey, leader of Group 6, has a particular interest in the interface with clients and user groups and the social agenda. Armstrong Yakubu will have particular responsibility for the development of design from its strategic concept to its detailed realisation. Narinder Sagoo offers another perspective. A younger architect, he is responsible for graphic visualisations across selected projects. The composition and leadership of the design board will develop and rotate over time, with the potential for mobility between groups and the board.

In developing and communicating the design concept, the six groups are complemented by a range of specialist disciplines, including materials and environmental research, product design, space planning, interior design, communications, graphics, visualisations, model making, and 3D computer modelling. From appointment through to translating the design into built reality, the project teams are supported by a range of in-house disciplines. We have specialist teams with particular expertise in information technology, contract management and construction; these teams are led by Graham Young, Mark Sutcliffe and Paul Kalkhoven respectively, all of whom are senior partners. Senior partner, Brandon Haw, is responsible for business development.

The advent of digital technologies has allowed us to design and build structures with complex geometric forms that would not have been feasible as little as twenty years ago. The practice’s specialist modelling group has an advanced 3D computer modelling capability that allows architects to explore design solutions rapidly and to communicate data to consultants and contractors. While new technologies have transformed the way we work, traditional model making still plays a crucial role and our sophisticated model shop can produce everything from sketch models to full size mock-ups.

The practice also has an information centre with a comprehensive materials research centre that helps architects to select products and initiates the use of new materials, ensuring that we have the knowledge base to create inspirational as well as sustainable buildings. We have been at the forefront in investigating sustainable technologies since the 1970s – long before the term ‘green’ was familiar to most people. Our ambition today is to establish a sustainability profile for every project.

This development tool allows each team to determine targets and methods at the beginning of each project. In doing so, our aim is to provide a system to monitor the sustainability agenda of individual projects and to promote a strong sustainable design ethic. Each design team is encouraged to record its sustainable design methods, regardless of the project’s size, location or type. This information is collated in a database that can be accessed throughout the practice to inform subsequent projects.

We recognise, however, that as architects we are only as powerful as our advocacy. We understand that not every project will be able to meet all the desired criteria. Equally, we believe that we have a responsibility to try to persuade clients to adopt sustainable strategies – even small steps in the right direction are better than none at all. Our sustainability forum was established to promote the use of sustainable technologies and methods throughout the practice. The forum is part of the research and development group, whose role is to ensure that the practice remains at the forefront of architectural innovation. It is an interdisciplinary working group, with representatives from the six design groups, the information centre, communications, training, and research departments.

These representatives provide the crucial link between the forum’s resources and knowledge and the individual design teams. This sustainability methodology is augmented by providing formal and informal training to the practice’s staff on a range of issues, including renewable energy sources, sustainability criteria and assessment, environmental analysis, and visualisation techniques. By maintaining a commitment to internal and external research, we are not only up-to-date with new knowledge and techniques, but are also able to evaluate their relevance and appropriateness for individual projects. These measures ensure that environmental awareness is an integral part of the practice’s culture as it evolves to meet the challenges of the next forty years.

Foster + Partners has always been guided by a belief that the quality of our surroundings has a direct influence on the quality of our lives, whether that is in the workplace, at home or in the public realm. Allied to that is an acknowledgement that architecture is generated by the needs of people- both material and

spiritual- and a concern for the physical context and the culture and climate of place. Equally, excellence of design and its successful execution are central to our approach.

We believe the best architecture comes from a synthesis of all the elements that separately comprise and inform the character of a building: the structure that holds it up; the services that allow it to function; its ecology; the quality of natural light; the symbolism of the form; the relationship of the building to the skyline or the streetscape; the way you move through or around it; and last but not least its ability to lift the spirits.

This holistic approach is augmented by a strong commitment to the clients we serve, and also to the public domain and the many users involved. A high degree of personal service, coupled with respect for the precious resources of cost and time, therefore characterises our client relationships. The scale, diversity and global reach of our new projects were unimaginable 40 years ago, yet many of the issues that excited us in the early days continue to inform what we do today.

We work in the spirit of enquiry, challenging preconceptions and testing conventions. The process of ‘reinvention’ distinguishes all of our work – past and present – and rests on a duty to design well and to design responsibly – whether that is at the scale of an airport or a door handle. The last decades have witnessed key shifts in public attitudes to ecology and energy consumption. We have always anticipated these trends, pioneering design solutions that use totally renewable sources of energy and offer dramatic reductions in CO2 emissions. Environmental awareness is an integral part of the practice’s culture as it evolves to meet the challenges of the next forty years.

2008

New York Public Library, New York

Lewisham College, London

2007

Yale School of Management, New Haven, USA

Camp Nou Stadium FC Barcelona, Spain

Beach Road, Singapore

Masdar Development, Abu Dhabi, UAE

Motorcity, Leisure and Cultural Zone, Alcañiz, Aragon, Spain

Seattle Civic Square, USA

Spaceport, New Mexico, USA

2006

Tivoli Four Seasons Hotel, Copenhagen

Project Honor, Racine, Winsconsin

New Holland Island, St Petersburg

2005

Boulogne Billancourt, Paris

Peace Pyramid, Astana, Kazakhstan

2004

Arizona State University, USA

Smithsonian Patent Office Building Courtyard Enclosure, Washington DC

Zenith, Saint-Etienne, France

2003

Pelham Square, Hastings, East Sussex

Convention Center Site Redevelopment for Hines|Smith, Washington DC

Beijing Capital International Airport Terminal 3

Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center, New York

Regent Theatre Development, Sydney, Australia

2002

TVA Station, Florence, Italy

Frankfurt Airport Masterplan, Germany

West Kowloon Cultural Complex Masterplan, Hong Kong

2000

Elephant and Castle Masterplan, London

New Supreme Court, Singapore

1999

ENEL High-voltage Pylons for the Environment Italy

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

New Parliament building for Greater London Authority

1998

National Stadium, Wembley, London

Motorway Signage System

1997

Free University of Berlin new Library

Headquarters for Electronic Arts, England

The Sage Gateshead, Regional Music Centre

1996

Faculty of Management and Library, Oxford University

Center for Clinical Sciences Research, Stanford University, California

Millennium Bridge, London

World Squares for All, London

Redevelopment of the Baltic Exchange, London Millennium Tower, London

Redevelopment of Treasury offices, Whitehall, London

Multimedia Centre, Hamburg

Wembley Stadium Masterplan, London

Arsta Bridge Sweden

Showrooms and offices for Samsung Motors

North Greenwich Interchange

1995

Housing and offices Gerling Ring, Cologne

Stations on the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (St Pancras, Stratford and Ebbsfleet)

Murr Tower, Beirut

Criterion Place Development, Leeds

1994

Great Court, British Museum London

Al Faisaliah Complex, Riyadh

Mixed use Development at Zhongshan Guangzhou, China

Millau viaduct, France

1993

Masterplan for Lisbon Expo

Regional HQ for Electricite de France, Bordeaux France

Albertopolis masterplan for South Kensington, London

Imperial War Museum, Hartlepool

Library, London School of Economics

1992

Thames Valley Business Park, Reading

Hong Kong International airport at Chek Lap Kok, Hong Kong

Musée de la Préhistoire, Gorges du Verdon, France

New Wing Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha USA

Reichstag new German parliament Berlin Germany

Business Park, Berlin Germany

1991

Commerzbank HQ, Frankfurt Germany

Duisburg Inner Harbour Masterplan, Germany

Lycée Albert Camus Fréjus, France

Canary Wharf Station, Jubilee Line Extension, London

1990

Law Faculty Library at University of Cambridge

Viaduct, Rennes, France

DS2 Tower, Canary Wharf, London

Fonta Business Park, Toulouse, France

1989

Cranfield University Library, Bedfordshire UK

1988

Metro system, Bilbao, Spain

Collserola Telecommunications tower, Barcelona, Spain

1987

Masterplan for King's Cross Railway Lands, London

1984

Carre d'Art, Contemporary Arts Centre, Nimes, France

1982

Headquarters for BBC, London

1981

National German Indoor Athletics Stadium, Frankfurt

1979

Hongkong Bank Headquarters Hong Kong

2009

Norman Foster Works 5

Prestel

2008

Foster Catalogue

Prestel

2007

Wembley Stadium: Venue of Legends

Prestel

Foster 40

Prestel

2006

30 St Mary Axe: A Tower for London

Merrell Publishers Ltd

BUILDING THE GHERKIN

Norman Foster Works 3

Prestel

2005

Norman Foster: Catalogue

Prestel

Philologische Bibliothek Der Freien Universitat Berlin

Stadtwandel Verlag

Reflections

Prestel

Norman Foster: Works 2

Prestel

2004

Norman Foster Works 4

Prestel

2003

Reichstag Graffiti

Jovis Verlag GmbH

Norman Foster Works 1

Prestel

2002

Blade of Light: The Story of the Millennium Bridge

Penguin Books

Reichstag Berlin (Second Edition)

Stadtwandel Verlag

The Treasury Project Mark Power

Photoworks

2001

Norman Foster Catalogue 2001

Prestel

Norman Foster and The British Museum

Prestel

Architecture is About People : Norman Foster

Museum für Angewandte Kunst

Norman Foster : The Architects Studio

Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Denmark

2000

On Foster...Foster On

Prestel

Rebuilding The Reichstag

Weidenfeld Illustrated

The Reichstag: The Parliament Building by Norman Foster

Prestel

The Norman Foster Studio: Consistency Through Diversity

E and F N Spon

The Great Court and The British Museum

The British Museum Press

1999

Norman Foster: A Global Architecture

Thames and Hudson

GA Document Extra 12: Norman Foster

A.D.A. Edita Tokyo

Norman Foster : AV Monografias / Monographs 78

Arquitectura Viva

1998 Veronica Rudge Green Prize

Harvard University Graduate School of Design

1998

Norman Foster- 30 Colours

V+K Publishing

1997

Norman Foster: Selected and Current Works of Foster and Partners

Images Publishing

Sir Norman Foster

Taschen

Commerzbank Frankfurt:Prototype for an Ecological High-Rise

Birkhauser Verlag

Norman Foster : selected and current works of Foster and Partners

Images Publishing

1996

The Architecture of Information: Venice Biennale 1996

The British Council

Norman Foster: Foster Associates Buildings and Projects 1982-1989 Volume 4

Watermark Publications

The Economy of Architecture

Eindhoven University of Technology

Foster and Partners Architects Designers and Planners

Foster and Partners

1995

Deutsche Projekte- Sir Norman Foster and Partners

Architekturgalerie München

1994

Blueprint Extra 11: Carre d'Art Nimes

Wordsearch

Norman Foster Arquitectura, urbanismo y medio ambiente

Fundacio San Benito de Alcantara

1993

The Willis Faber Dumas Building: Ipswich 1974

Phiadon Press

1992

Blueprint Extra 06: Telecommunications Tower, Barcelona.

Wordsearch

Blueprint Extra 04: The Sackler Galleries

Wordsearch

Norman Foster and the Architecture of Flight

Blueprint Monograph

Norman Foster

A&V

Foster Associates Recent Works- Architectural Monograph No 20

Academy Editions

Norman Foster Sketches

Birkhauser Verlag

Norman Foster Sketches (edited version)

Birkhauser Verlag

1991

Norman Foster

Birkhauser Verlag

Norman Foster: Foster Associates Buildings and Projects 1978-1985 Volume 3

Watermark Publications

1990

Norman Foster: Foster Associates Buildings and Projects 1971-1978 Volume 2

Watermark Publications

Norman Foster: Team Four/Foster Associates Buildings and Projects 1964-1973 Vol 1

Watermark Publications

1989

Hongkong Bank: The Building of Norman Foster's Masterpiece

Jonathan Cape

1988

Norman Foster

Zanichelli

Norman Foster

Gustavo Gilli

1987

Norman Foster

A+U Monograph

1986

Foster, Rogers, Stirling

Thames and Hudson

Norman Foster: Une Volonte du Fer

Electa Moniteur

1985

Foster Associates: Six Architectural Projects 1975-1985

Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts

1978

Foster Associates

RIBA Publications

Considering the large number of awards received by Foster + Partners, we kindly ask our visitors to refer directly to:

http://www.fosterandpartners.com/

Considering the large number of exhibitions about Foster + Partners, we kindly ask our visitors to refer

directly to: http://www.fosterandpartners.com/