About Foster + Partners
Message from Lord Norman Foster
It is a pleasure to introduce our work in the exhibition of the Mori Art Museum. I would like to list some of the patterns that weave through our projects and have been constants since the birth of our studio nearly 50 years ago.
－ A social agenda which is rooted in the belief that the quality of the design of our environment can improve the quality of our
lives.
－ Working with nature to reduce the energy demands of buildings and infrastructure, harvesting solar energy, using new and
established technologies to do more with less.
－ Pursuing innovation to reinvent such building types as airports, towers and workplaces.
－ Encouraging the integration of art and architecture – of light and lightness.
－ Embracing the past in regenerating historic structures with the presence of the new.
－ Engaging with the city in creating and improving public spaces.
Many of these themes, especially sustainable design, are even more relevant now than they were in the past and they have the power to inform bold new initiatives for our future.
© Manolo Yllera
Artist
Norman Foster, Baron Foster of Thames Bank
Born in 1935 in Manchester, England. Raised in a modest working-class family, Foster began contemplating a career in architecture in 1951 (at age 16) while working in the Treasurer's Department of Manchester Town Hall. He completed national service in 1953 serving in the Royal Air Force. Upon entering the University of Manchester School of Architecture and City Planning in 1956, he began his formal education in architecture. After graduating in 1961, he was awarded a fellowship to the Yale School of Architecture, where he studied under Paul Rudolph, and earned his Master's degree. In 1963 he set up the architectural practice Team 4, with former Yale classmate and friend Richard Rogers. In 1967, he established Foster Associates (which later became Foster + Partners). He collaborated with R. Buckminster Fuller, whom he considered his mentor, from 1971 until Fuller's death in 1983. In 1990 he was granted a knighthood by the Queen of England, and in 1999 was honored with a Life Peerage, becoming Lord Foster of Thames Bank. 1999 also brought him the prestigious Pritzker Prize, often referred to as the Nobel Prize of architecture, and 2002 the Praemium Imperiale Award for Architecture by the Japan Art Association. One of his earliest buildings, Willis Faber and Dumas Headquarters (1975) has been given architectural heritage (Grade 1 Listed building) status. He is the subject of the 2010 documentary film "How Much Does Your Building Weigh, Mr Foster?" His hobbies include flying airplanes, cycling, and cross-country skiing
Riverside Apartments And Studio
London, UK