10 LORD FOSTER b1935
Leading British hi-tech architect whose power and influence at the millennium is unparalleled. Landmark building design is complemented to a high degree by intense activity in the development of interior products.
WHO: Leading British hi-tech architect whose power and influence at the millennium is unparalleled. Landmark building design is complemented to a high degree by intense activity in the development of interior products.
WHAT: Since 1967, Foster’s design practice has developed into what Jonathan Glancey described in The Guardian as ‘a formidable machine for making buildings’. It has also carried out assignments for more than 20 European manufacturers in Europe in sanitaryware, lighting and office systems (not to mention the world’s largest aluminium-hulled boat, an electric solar-assisted bus and an overhead motorway traffic sign system).
WHERE: It is a safe bet that the first colonies in outer space will be designed by Foster. Back on earth, you name it: Frankfurt, Tokyo, Hong Kong, and especially London, where the current roll-call includes the Greater London Authority building, Southwark (£40m), the Millennium Bridge (£12.5m), the Great Court at the British Museum (£98m) and the Jubilee Line Station and Hongkong and Shanghai Bank, both at Canary Wharf (£32.5m and £200m).
WHY: Since his collaboration with former partner, long-time friend and rival Lord Rogers in 1967 on the Reliance Controls factory in Wiltshire, Foster has never accepted the traditional division between designers and architects. His fastidious approach has led to an unusual degree of integration between the fabric of larger designs and the smaller scale but equally important detail of furniture and fittings.
ICONS: Take your pick – from the Nomos furniture system for Tecno to the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank in Hong Kong or Commerzbank in Frankfurt, with its hanging gardens. For many, the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, University of East Anglia (1977) remains a seminal work.
INFLUENCE: Foster’s famous unwillingness to compromise has opened the door for a new generation of modern architects and interior designers, especially in Britain.
ODDBALL: Foster’s workaholic tendencies and penchant for arriving at client meetings by helicopter bear an odd similarity to the fictional British architect in a novel by Philip Kerr, Gridiron, in which an intelligent building kills its users.
SOUNDBITE: ‘At the heart of his design is Sir Norman’s drive to learn from parallel technologies, particularly the aerospace industry where lightness and durability are a necessity’ – Royal Institute of British Architects citation. n
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