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'''Norman Robert Foster, Baron Foster of Thames Bank''', [[Order of Merit|OM]], [[Royal Institute of British Architects|FRIBA]], [[Chartered Society of Designers|FCSD]], [[Royal Designers for Industry|RDI]] (born 1 June 1935) is an English architect. His company has an international design practice. He is the [[United Kingdom]]'s biggest builder of landmark office buildings.<ref>Chris Roberts, Heavy Words Lightly Thrown: The Reason Behind Rhyme, Thorndike Press,2006 (ISBN 0-7862-8517-6)</ref> In 2009 Foster was awarded the [[Prince of Asturias Awards|Prince of Asturias Award]] in the Arts category.
'''Norman Robert Foster, Baron Foster of Thames Bank''', [[Order of Merit|OM]], [[Royal Institute of British Architects|FRIBA]], [[Chartered Society of Designers|FCSD]], [[Royal Designers for Industry|RDI]] (born 1 June 1935) is an English architect. His company has an international design practice. He is the [[United Kingdom]]'s biggest builder of landmark office buildings.<ref>Chris Roberts, Heavy Words Lightly Thrown: The Reason Behind Rhyme, Thorndike Press,2006 (ISBN 0-7862-8517-6)</ref> In 2009 Foster was awarded the [[Prince of Asturias Awards|Prince of Asturias Award]] in the Arts category.


==Biography==
==chicken==
Foster was born in [[Reddish]], [[Stockport]], [[England]],<ref>Files on Academicians held at the Royal Academy of Arts, London</ref> to a working-class family. He did well at school and became interested in [[architecture]]. Foster was particularly interested in the works of [[Frank Lloyd Wright]], [[Ludwig Mies van der Rohe]], and [[Le Corbusier]].
Foster was born in [[Reddish]], [[Stockport]], [[England]],<ref>Files on Academicians held at the Royal Academy of Arts, London</ref> to a working-class family. He did well at school and became interested in [[architecture]]. Foster was particularly interested in the works of [[Frank Lloyd Wright]], [[Ludwig Mies van der Rohe]], and [[Le Corbusier]]. What school did he go to?


He left school at 16 and worked in the Manchester City Treasurer's office. Next he joined the [[National Service]] in the [[Royal Air Force]]. After he was [[discharge]]d, in 1956 Foster attended the [[University of Manchester]]'s School of Architecture and City Planning. He graduated in 1961. Later, Foster won the Henry Fellowship to the [[Yale School of Architecture]], where he earned his [[Master's degree]] Foster also met [[Richard Rogers]] at Yale. He then travelled in America for a year. He returned to the UK in 1963. Then he set up an architectural practice as Team 4 with Rogers and the sisters Georgie and Wendy Cheesman. Georgie (later Wolton) was the only one of the team that had passed her RIBA exams. This allowed them to set up in practice on their own. Team 4 quickly earned a reputation for high-tech industrial design.
He left school at 16 and worked in the Manchester City Treasurer's office. Next he joined the [[National Service]] in the [[Royal Air Force]]. After he was [[discharge]]d, in 1956 Foster attended the [[University of Manchester]]'s School of Architecture and City Planning. He graduated in 1961. Later, Foster won the Henry Fellowship to the [[Yale School of Architecture]], where he earned his [[Master's degree]] Foster also met [[Richard Rogers]] at Yale. He then travelled in America for a year. He returned to the UK in 1963. Then he set up an architectural practice as Team 4 with Rogers and the sisters Georgie and Wendy Cheesman. Georgie (later Wolton) was the only one of the team that had passed her RIBA exams. This allowed them to set up in practice on their own. Team 4 quickly earned a reputation for high-tech industrial design.

Revision as of 15:51, 19 September 2013

The Lord Foster of Thames Bank
Born (1935-06-01) 1 June 1935 (age 88)
Stockport, Greater Manchester, England
NationalityEnglish
OccupationArchitect
AwardsStirling Prize, Pritzker Architecture Prize, Minerva Medal, Prince of Asturias Award
Buildings30 St Mary Axe, London
Willis Faber and Dumas Headquarters, Ipswich
Wembley Stadium
ProjectsAmerican Air Museum at the Imperial War Museum Duxford

Norman Robert Foster, Baron Foster of Thames Bank, OM, FRIBA, FCSD, RDI (born 1 June 1935) is an English architect. His company has an international design practice. He is the United Kingdom's biggest builder of landmark office buildings.[1] In 2009 Foster was awarded the Prince of Asturias Award in the Arts category.

chicken

Foster was born in Reddish, Stockport, England,[2] to a working-class family. He did well at school and became interested in architecture. Foster was particularly interested in the works of Frank Lloyd Wright, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and Le Corbusier. What school did he go to?

He left school at 16 and worked in the Manchester City Treasurer's office. Next he joined the National Service in the Royal Air Force. After he was discharged, in 1956 Foster attended the University of Manchester's School of Architecture and City Planning. He graduated in 1961. Later, Foster won the Henry Fellowship to the Yale School of Architecture, where he earned his Master's degree Foster also met Richard Rogers at Yale. He then travelled in America for a year. He returned to the UK in 1963. Then he set up an architectural practice as Team 4 with Rogers and the sisters Georgie and Wendy Cheesman. Georgie (later Wolton) was the only one of the team that had passed her RIBA exams. This allowed them to set up in practice on their own. Team 4 quickly earned a reputation for high-tech industrial design.

Foster and Partners

After Team 4 broke up, in 1967 Foster and Wendy Cheesman started Foster Associates. This later became Foster and Partners. From 1968, Foster worked with American architect Richard Buckminster Fuller until Fuller died in 1983. They worked on several projects that became important in the development of an environmentally sensitive approach to design. This included the Samuel Beckett Theatre project.

The Willis Faber and Dumas Headquarters in Ipswich was one of Foster's earliest commissions after founding Foster Associates.

Foster + Partners' first important building in the UK was the Willis Faber & Dumas headquarters in Ipswich, from 1974. The client was a family firm insurance company which wanted to restore a sense of community to the workplace. Foster created open-plan office floors long before open-plan became the standard. In a town that did not have a lot of public facilities, the roof gardens, 25m swimming pool and gymnasium are good benefits for the company's 1,200 employees. The building is wrapped in a full-height glass facade. This wall follows the medieval street plan. The facade shifts from opaque, reflective black to a glowing backlit transparency as the sun sets.

Present day

View of 30 St Mary Axe. The building serves as the London headquarters for Swiss Re and is informally known as "The Gherkin".

Today, Foster + Partners works with its engineers to use computer systems. They pay attention to basic physical laws such as convection. They have created efficient buildings like the Swiss Re London headquarters. The walls let in air for passive cooling and then let it out as it warms and rises.

In January 2007, The Sunday Times reported that Foster had called in Catalyst, a corporate finance house, to find buyers for Foster + Partners. Foster does not want to retire, but wants to sell his 80-90% holding in the company valued at £300M to £500M.[3]

Foster is a member of the Board of Trustees for the architectural charity Article 25. They design, construct and manage safe, sustainable buildings in dangerous parts of the world. He has also been on the Board of Trustees of The Architecture Foundation. The reason for his wealth is he receives 15% of the building cost.

Recognition

Foster was knighted in 1990 and appointed to the Order of Merit in 1997. In 1999, he was created a life peer, as Baron Foster of Thames Bank, of Reddish in the County of Greater Manchester.[4] He is a Crossbencher.

He is the second British architect to win the Stirling Prize twice: the first for the American Air Museum at the Imperial War Museum Duxford in 1998, and the second for 30 St Mary Axe in 2004.

Foster was awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 1999.[5]

He is also a Fellow of the Chartered Society of Designers and winner of the Minerva Medal, the Society's highest award. In Germany Lord Foster received the Order Pour le Mérite.

Most recently, in September 2007, Foster was awarded the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, the largest architectural award in the world, for the University of Technology Petronas, in Malaysia.[6][7]

It was announced in January 2008 that Foster was to be awarded an honorary degree from the Dundee School of Architecture at the University of Dundee. In 2009 Foster was awarded the Prince of Asturias Award in the category Arts.

Personal life

Foster married business partner Wendy Cheesman. She died in 1989, leaving him with four sons. He next married Indian-born Begum Sabiha Rumani Malik. Sabiha was married to Andrew Knight when she and Foster met. Knight was Chairman of News International. Foster and Sabiha divorced in 1998. Foster is now married to Elena Ochoa, Chairman of the Tate International Council, and founder of Ivory Press. He has five children and three grandchildren.

Foster flies his own private jet and helicopter between his homes in London, France, and Switzerland.[3]

Selected projects

Foster has established an extremely prolific career in the span of four decades. The following are some of his major constructions:

Proposed or under construction

Torre Caja Madrid, in Madrid, (Spain).

Completed

Some buildings by Norman Foster

Non-architectural projects

Foster's other design work has included the Nomos desk system for Italian manufacturer Tecno,[16] and the motor yacht Izanami (later Ronin) for Lürssen Yachts.[17]

Other pages

References

  1. ↑ Chris Roberts, Heavy Words Lightly Thrown: The Reason Behind Rhyme, Thorndike Press,2006 (ISBN 0-7862-8517-6)
  2. ↑ Files on Academicians held at the Royal Academy of Arts, London
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Foster puts £500m firm up for sale
  4. ↑ Announcement of Foster's introduction at the House of Lords
  5. ↑ Pritzker Architecture Prize, "Norman Foster, 1999 Laureate"; retrieved 2013-3-27.
  6. ↑ "The Tenth Award Cycle 2005-2007". The Aga Khan Development Network. Retrieved 2009-01-21.
  7. ↑ "Petronas University of Technology receives 2007 Aga Khan Award for Architecture". Foster + Partners. 2007-04-09. Retrieved 2009-01-21.
  8. ↑ "Barcelona chooses Norman Foster to remodel Camp Nou stadium". International Herald Tribune. September 18, 2007.
  9. ↑ Gourlay, Chris; Watts, Robert (2007-12-23). "Foster plans worlds biggest building". The Times. London. Retrieved 2010-05-20.
  10. ↑ Inhabitat » World’s Biggest Building Coming to Moscow: Crystal Island
  11. ↑ The results of the international urban-architectural competition for the new passenger terminal airport Zagreb.
  12. ↑ Hearst Tower, New York City
  13. ↑ University of Toronto Capital Projects
  14. ↑ TIME Europe magazine
  15. ↑ http://www.npg.si.edu/inform/courtyard.htm
  16. ↑ Foster + Partners
  17. ↑ Foster + Partners

Other websites

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Foster and Partners.
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