Norman Foster

Background

Norman Foster (Lord Foster of Thames Bank) was born on 1 June 1935 in Reddish, Stockport, England. He studied architecture at the University of Manchester and earned a master's degree at the Yale School of Architecture. Back in England he co-founded Team 4 with Richard Rogers, Su Brumwell and Georgie and Wendy Cheesman, and in 1967 founded Foster Associates, today Foster + Partners, a global studio for sustainable architecture, urbanism, engineering and design.

Signature Style

Foster is regarded as a pioneer of high-tech architecture: structural steel and glass, open-plan structural grids and innovative curtain walling. Walter Knoll notes that sustainability is the guiding principle of Foster + Partners, which takes an integrated approach to responsible design.

Notable Works

• Willis Faber and Dumas Headquarters, Ipswich
• HSBC Main Building, Hong Kong (1985)
• Reichstag dome, Berlin
• 30 St Mary Axe, London; Millau Viaduct; Apple Park
• Foster 500 armchairs and sofas for Walter Knoll, plus the Foster 501–503, 620 and table ranges

Legacy

Foster received the RIBA Royal Gold Medal (1983), the AIA Gold Medal (1994) and the Pritzker Architecture Prize (1999). He was knighted in 1990 and created a life peer in 1999, and his later work focuses on urbanism through the Norman Foster Foundation.