Norman Foster, Baron Foster of Thames Bank
Norman Robert Foster, Baron Foster of Thames Bank, OM, Kt ( born June 1, 1935 in Manchester ) is a British architect.
Life
Norman Foster was born in Reddish, Stockport, England, the son of a working class family. He inspired at an early age for the architecture and showed talent in this field.
After he had served his military service in the Royal Air Force, he studied at Manchester University and, after graduating in 1961 a scholarship to the Yale School of Art and Architecture. Foster worked from 1968 to 1983 for and together with the visionary Richard Buckminster Fuller. In 1965 he founded together with his wife, Wendy, and the couple Sue and Richard Rogers, the architectural firm Team 4, from the 1967 Foster Associates (now Foster Partners ) emerged. 1989 Wendy Foster died from cancer, leaving him four children.
In 1991, he married the Indian-born architect and designer Sabiha Malik Ruani. In his third marriage Foster is married to the Spanish physician and publisher Elena Ochoa.
Originally, his designs were characterized by a influenced by machinery high-tech style. Later, he developed a much more accessible style of sharp-edged modernity. Foster practiced in parallel with Richard Rogers decisive influences on the British architectural scene by important successor representatives of the local high- tech architecture grew out of his group of employees. Besides a large number of international projects to its wide presence with constructed objects fall on in Germany. The reason for this is expressly stated by him affinities to personalities of German architecture and design history as to the Berlin architect Ludwig Leo, as well as the most important for the mental and social development of post-war German communications designer Otl Aicher, with whom he had a personal friendship. A stylistic influence from that direction can be assumed, especially since Foster obviously used elements of Aicher 's graphics and design rules in his plan representations.
Honors and Awards
1990 Foster was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II as a Knight in the peerage. He became an honorary member of the Association of German Architects BDA in 1992. In 1997 his admission to the Order of Merit (OM). He was awarded the Pritzker Prize in 1999. In 1999, Sir Norman additionally as " Baron Foster of Thames Bank ( of Reddish in the County of Greater Manchester ) ," the dignity of a life peer, and thus a seat in the House of Lords; this he gave up in 2010, since he is domiciled in the United Kingdom would have had to sign up and would have been liable to tax therein; he may keep his title anyway. Lord Foster is a member of the German order Pour le Mérite for Sciences and Arts. In 2009 he received the Prince of Asturias Award in the category of art.
Work
Construction projects
During his career, Norman Foster worked with its partners and employees a wide range of projects, for example, he built 1985 to 1993, the Cultural Centre Carré d'Art in Nimes, 2003 The Gherkin in London and Foster comes the glass dome. Another of his projects can be found at: Foster Partners.
Writings
- Norman Foster: Works 1 Prestel Verlag, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-7913-2534-5.
- Norman Foster: Works 2 Prestel Verlag, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-7913-3017-9.
- Norman Foster: Works 3 Prestel Verlag, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-7913-3257-0.
- Norman Foster: Works 4 Prestel Verlag, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-7913-2852-2.
- Norman Foster: Reflections. Prestel Verlag, Munich, 2005. ISBN 3-7913-3425-5
- Norman Foster: Catalogue. Prestel Verlag, Munich, 2005. ISBN 3-7913-3298-8
Automobile
In 2010, Foster presented in Madrid a replica of the Dymaxion car by Richard Buckminster Fuller.
Offices
2009 joined Foster due to the global financial crisis on his Berlin office with around 70 employees. Should be closed also in Istanbul office.