Norman Foster, Baron Foster of Thames Bank

Norman Robert Foster, Baron Foster of Thames Bank, OM,

The Right Honourable
RA, HonFREng (born 1 June 1935) is a British architect and
designer. Closely associated with the development of High-tech The Lord Foster of Thames
architecture and the early adoption of energy-efficient construction Bank
techniques, Foster is recognised as a key figure in British modernist OM RA HonFREng
architecture. His architectural practice Foster + Partners, first
founded in 1967 as Foster Associates, is the largest in the United
Kingdom, and maintains offices internationally. He is the President
of the Norman Foster Foundation, created to 'promote
interdisciplinary thinking and research to help new generations of
architects, designers and urbanists to anticipate the future'. The
foundation, which opened in June 2017, is based in Madrid[3] and
operates globally.

Contents
Early life and education
Career
1960s–1980s
1990s–present Norman Foster in August 2008

Personal life Born Norman Robert Foster

Family 1 June 1935
Health Reddish, Stockport,
England, United
Honours Kingdom
Recognition Nationality British
Works Alma mater University of
See also Manchester · Yale
References School of Architecture
Bibliography Occupation Architect
Documentaries Spouse(s) Wendy Cheesman
External links (m. 1964; died 1989)
Begum Sabiha Rumani
Malik
Early life and education (m. 1991; div. 1995)
Elena Fernández-
Norman Robert Foster was born in 1935 in Reddish, two miles Ferreiro López de
north of Stockport, then a part of Lancashire. He was the only Ochoa
child of Robert and Lilian Foster (née Smith). The family moved to (m. 1996)
Levenshulme, near Manchester, where they lived in poverty.[4][5] Children 5
His father was a machine painter at the Metropolitan-Vickers
works in Trafford Park which influenced him to take up Parent(s) Robert Foster
engineering, design, and to pursue a career designing Lilian Smith
buildings.[6][7] His mother worked in a local bakery.[8] Foster's Awards Stirling Prize · Pritzker
parents were diligent and hard workers who often had neighbours
Architecture Prize ·
and family members look after their son, which Foster later
Minerva medal · Prince
believed restricted his relationship with his mother and father.[9]
of Asturias Award ·
Foster attended Burnage Grammar School for Boys in Burnage, HonFREng · Mérite
where he was bullied by fellow pupils and took up reading.[6] He Européen Gold Medal ·
considered himself quiet and awkward in his early years.[10] At 16, AIA Gold Medal[1]
he left school and passed an entrance exam for a trainee scheme set
Practice Foster + Partners
up by Manchester Town Hall, which led to his first job, an office
junior and clerk in the treasurer's department.[11][12][11] In 1953, Buildings Apple Park · 30 St Mary
Foster completed his national service in the Royal Air Force, Axe · Willis Faber and
choosing the air force because aircraft had been a longtime Dumas Headquarters ·
hobby.[13] Upon returning to Manchester, Foster went against his Wembley Stadium ·
parents' wishes and sought employment elsewhere. He had seven HSBC Main Building ·
O-levels by this time, and applied to work at a duplicating machine Reichstag building
company, telling the interviewer he had applied for the prospect of
a company car and a £1,000 salary.[14] Instead, he became an Projects American Air Museum at
assistant to a contract manager at a local architects, John E. the Imperial War
Beardshaw and Partners.[14] The staff advised him that if he Museum Duxford
wished to become an architect, he should prepare a portfolio of
Net worth £170 million (2019
drawings using the perspective and shop drawings from
estimate)[2]
Beardshaw's practice as an example.[15] Beardshaw was so
impressed with Foster's drawings that he promoted him to the Website www
drawing department.[16] .normanfosterfoundation
.org (http://www.normanf
In 1956, Foster began study at the School of Architecture and City
osterfoundation.org)
Planning, part of the University of Manchester. He was ineligible
for a maintenance grant, so he took part-time jobs to fund his
studies, including an ice-cream salesman, bouncer, and night shifts at a bakery making crumpets.[6][8][17]
During this time, he also studied at the local library in Levenshulme.[18] His talent and hard work was
recognised in 1959 when he won £105 and a RIBA silver medal for what he described as "a measured
drawing of a windmill".[19] After graduating in 1961,[6] Foster won the Henry Fellowship to Yale School of
Architecture in New Haven, Connecticut, where he met future business partner Richard Rogers and earned his
master's degree. At the suggestion of Vincent Scully, the pair travelled across America for a year.[20]

Career

1960s–1980s

In 1963, Foster returned to England and established his own architectural practice, Team 4, with Rogers, Su
Brumwell, and sisters Georgie and Wendy Cheesman.[8] Among their first projects was the Cockpit, a
minimalist glass bubble installed in Cornwall, the features of which became a recurring theme in Foster's future
projects.[21] After the four separated in 1967, Foster and Wendy founded a new practice, Foster Associates.
From 1968 to 1983, Foster collaborated with American architect Richard Buckminster Fuller on several
projects that became catalysts in the development of an environmentally sensitive approach to design, such as
the Samuel Beckett Theatre at St Peter's College, Oxford.[22]
Foster Associates concentrated on industrial buildings until 1969, when the practice worked on the
administrative and leisure centre for Fred. Olsen Lines based in the London Docklands, which integrated
workers and managers within the same office space.[20] This was followed, in 1970, by the world's first
inflatable office building for Computer Technology Limited near Hemel Hempstead, which housed 70
employees for a year.[21] The practice's breakthrough project in England followed in 1974 with the completion
of the Willis Faber & Dumas headquarters in Ipswich, commissioned in 1970 and completed in 1975. The
client, a family-run insurance company, wanted to restore a sense of community to the workplace. In response,
Foster designed a space with modular, open plan office floors, long before open-plan became the norm, and
placed a roof garden, 25-metre swimming pool, and gymnasium in the building to enhance the quality of life
for the company's 1,200 employees.[23] The building has a full-height glass façade moulded to the medieval
street plan and contributes drama, subtly shifting from opaque, reflective black to a glowing back-lit
transparency as the sun sets. The design was inspired by the Daily Express Building in Manchester that Foster
had admired as a youngster. The building is now Grade I* listed. The Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, an art
gallery and museum on the campus of the University of East Anglia, Norwich, was one of the first major
public buildings to be designed by Foster, completed in 1978, and became grade II* listed in December 2012.

In 1981, Foster received a commission for the construction of a new terminal building at London's Stansted
Airport. Executed by Foster + Partners, the building, recognised as a landmark work of High-tech architecture,
was opened to the public in 1991, and was awarded the 1990 European Union Prize for Contemporary
Architecture / Mies van der Rohe Award. As part of the project's development, in 1988 Foster and British
artist Brian Clarke made several proposals for an integral stained glass artwork for the terminal building; the
principal proposal would have seen the walls of the terminal's east and west elevations clad in two sequences
of traditionally mouth-blown, leaded glass. For complex technical and security reasons, the original scheme,
which Clarke considered to be his magnum opus,[24] couldn't be executed. Though unrealised, the
collaboration is historically significant for its scale, its introduction of colour and materials broadly viewed as
antithetical to High-tech architecture into a key work of that movement, and for having been the first time in
the history of stained glass that computer-assisted design had been utilised in the creative process.

Foster gained a reputation for designing office buildings. In the 1980s he designed the HSBC Main Building
in Hong Kong for the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (a founding member of the future HSBC
Holdings plc), at the time the most expensive building ever constructed. The building is marked by its high
level of light transparency, as all 3500 workers have a view to Victoria Peak or Victoria Harbour.[25] Foster
said that if the firm had not won the contract it would probably have been bankrupted.

1990s–present

Foster was assigned the brief for a development on the site of the
Baltic Exchange, which had been damaged beyond repair by an IRA
bomb, in the 1990s. Foster + Partners submitted a plan for a 385-
metre tall skyscraper, the London Millennium Tower, but its height
was seen as excessive for London's skyline.[26] The proposal was
scrapped and instead Foster proposed 30 St Mary Axe, popularly
referred to as "the gherkin", after its shape. Foster worked with
engineers to integrate complex computer systems with the most basic
physical laws, such as convection. In 1999, the company was Foster lecturing in 2001
renamed Foster + Partners.

Foster's earlier designs reflected a sophisticated, machine-influenced high-tech vision. His style has evolved
into a more sharp-edged modernity. In 2004, Foster designed the tallest bridge in the world, the Millau Viaduct
in Southern France, with the Millau Mayor Jacques Godfrain stating; "The architect, Norman Foster, gave us a
model of art."[27]
Foster worked with Steve Jobs from about 2009 until Jobs' death to design the Apple offices, Apple Campus 2
now called Apple Park, in Cupertino, California, US. Apple's board and staff continued to work with Foster as
the design was completed and the construction in progress.[28] The circular building was opened to employees
in April 2017, six years after Jobs died in 2011.[28][29]

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 intend to retire, but sell his 80–90% holding in the company
valued at £300 million to £500 million.[30] In 2007, he worked with Philippe Starck and Sir Richard Branson
of the Virgin Group for the Virgin Galactic plans.[31]

Foster currently sits on the Board of Trustees at architectural charity Article 25 who design, construct and
manage innovative, safe, sustainable buildings in some of the most inhospitable and unstable regions of the
world. He has also been on the Board of Trustees of the Architecture Foundation. Foster believes that
attracting young talent is essential, and is proud that the average age of people working for Foster and Partners
is 32, just like it was in 1967.[20]

Personal life

Family

Foster has been married three times. His first wife, Wendy Cheeseman, one of the four founders of Team 4,
died from cancer in 1989.[32] From 1991 to 1995, Foster was married to Begum Sabiha Rumani Malik. The
marriage ended in divorce.[6] In 1996, Foster married Spanish psychologist and art curator Elena Ochoa.[8][33]
He has five children; two of the four sons he had with Cheeseman are adopted.[8][19][34]

Health

In the 2000s, Foster was diagnosed with bowel cancer and was told he had weeks to live.[35] He received
chemotherapy treatment and made a full recovery.[34] He also suffered from a heart attack.[33]

Honours
Foster was made a Knight Bachelor in the 1990 Birthday Honours, and thereby granted the title Sir.[36] He
was appointed to the Order of Merit (OM) in 1997.[37] In the 1999 Birthday Honours, Foster's elevation to the
peerage was announced in June 1999[38] and was raised to the peerage as Baron Foster of Thames Bank, of
Reddish in the County of Greater Manchester in July.[39][40]

Foster was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy (ARA) on 19 May 1983, and a Royal Academician
(RA) on 26 June 1991.[41] In 1995, he was elected an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Academy of
Engineering (HonFREng).[42] On 24 April 2017, he was given the Freedom of the City of London.[43] The
Bloomberg London building received a Stirling Prize in October 2018.[44]

Recognition
Foster received The Lynn S. Beedle Lifetime Achievement Award from the Council on Tall Buildings and
Urban Habitat in 2007 to honour his contributions to the advancement of tall buildings.[45]
He was awarded the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, for the University of Technology Petronas in
Malaysia,[46][47] and in 2008 he was granted an honorary degree from the Dundee School of Architecture at
the University of Dundee. In 2009, he received the Prince of Asturias Award in the category 'Arts'. In 2017,
he received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement presented by Awards Council
member Lord Jacob Rothschild during the International Achievement Summit in London.[48][49] In 2012,
Foster was among the British cultural figures selected by artist Sir Peter Blake to appear in a new version of
his most famous artwork – the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover – to celebrate the
British cultural figures of his life that he most admires.[50][51]

Works

See also
Peter Rice
SkyCycle (proposed transport project)

References
1. "List of Fellows" (http://www.raeng.org.uk/about-us/people-council-committees/the-fellowship/li
st-of-fellows).
2. "Norman Foster only architect on Britain's rich list again" (https://www.bdonline.co.uk/news/fost
er-is-only-architect-on-rich-list-again/5099443.article/). BuildingDesign. 14 May 2019.
3. "Home" (https://www.normanfosterfoundation.org/).
4. Sudjic 2010, p. 11.
5. Moore, Rowan (23 May 2010). "Norman Foster: A Life in Architecture by Deyan Sudjic" (https://
www.theguardian.com/books/2010/may/23/norman-foster-biography-book-review). The
Observer. London. Retrieved 6 October 2011.
6. Glancey, Jonathan (2 January 1999). "The Guardian Profile: Sir Norman Foster: The master
builder" (https://www.theguardian.com/books/1999/jan/02/books.guardianreview10). The
Guardian. Retrieved 16 May 2019.
7. "Taller, higher, bigger, Foster" (https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2005/oct/24/architect
ure). The Guardian. London. 24 October 2005. Retrieved 5 October 2011.
8. von Hase, Bettina (16 January 1999). "Foster's brew" (https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/4716
630/Fosters-brew.html). The Telegraph. Retrieved 18 May 2019.
9. Sudjic 2010, p. 19.
10. "Book review: Norman Foster: A Life in Architecture" (http://www.scotsman.com/features/Book-r
eview-Norman-Foster-A.6357545.jp). The Scotsman. 13 June 2010. Retrieved 6 October 2011.
11. Sudjic 2010, p. 27.
12. "Lord Norman Foster Biography and Interview" (https://www.achievement.org/achiever/lord-nor
man-foster/#interview). achievement.org. American Academy of Achievement.
13. Sudjic 2010, p. 34.
14. Sudjic 2010, p. 36.
15. Sudjic 2010, p. 39.
16. Sudjic 2010, p. 40.
17. "Norman Foster: Building the future" (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/742087.stm). BBC News. 9
May 2000. Retrieved 5 October 2011.
18. Thistlethwaite, Laura (30 October 2008). "Architect's Levenshulme inpsiration [sic]" (http://men
media.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/news/s/1076763_architects_levenshulme_inpsiration).
Manchester Evening News. Retrieved 5 October 2011.
19. Glancey, Jonathan (6 October 1996). "Reaching for the sky" (https://www.independent.co.uk/art
s-entertainment/reaching-for-the-sky-1357005.html). The Independent. Retrieved 18 May 2019.
20. How much does your building weigh, Mr. Foster? (http://www.sendungen.sf.tv/sternstunden/Na
chrichten/Archiv/2011/11/29/sternstundeneinzel/Sternstunde-Kunst-vom-4.-Dezember-2011),
Sternstunde Kultur, Schweizer Fernsehen, 4 December 2011.
21. "Norman Foster - 1999 Laureate - Biography" (https://www.pritzkerprize.com/sites/default/files/i
nline-files/1999_bio_0.pdf) (PDF). The Pritzker Architecture Prize. 1999. Retrieved 26 October
2020.
22. "Samuel Brackett Theatre – The Project" (http://www.fosterandpartners.com/projects/samuel-be
ckett-theatre/). Foster + Partners.
23. "Lord Norman Foster portrait" (https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/nationaltreasures/
2188199/Lord-Norman-Foster-portrait.html). The Daily Telegraph. London. 24 June 2008.
Retrieved 1 October 2011.
24. Powell, Kenneth (1994). Brian Clarke: Architectural Artist. Academy Editions. p. 13. ISBN 1-
85490-343-8.
25. Treiber, Daniel (1995). Norman Foster. E & FN Spon. p. 76.
26. "London Millennium Tower" (http://www.emporis.com/application/?nav=building&lng=3&id=102
960). Emporis. Retrieved 10 October 2011.
27. "France shows off tallest bridge" (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/4091813.stm). BBC News. 14
December 2004. Retrieved 1 October 2011.
28. Levy, Steven (16 May 2017). "One More Thing: Inside Apple's Insanely Great (or Just Insane)
New Mothership" (https://www.wired.com/2017/05/apple-park-new-silicon-valley-campus/).
Wired. Retrieved 1 July 2017.
29. "Why Steve Jobs Tapped Norman Foster to Design Apple's Future HQ" (https://www.bloomber
g.com/news/photo-essays/2013-04-04/why-steve-jobs-tapped-norman-foster-to-design-apples-f
uture-hq). Bloomberg News. 4 April 2013. Retrieved 1 July 2017.
30. Hamilton, Fiona (21 January 2007). "Foster puts £500m firm up for sale" (http://www.timesonlin
e.co.uk/newspaper/0,,176-2559000,00.html). The Times. London.
31. Carré d'Art, Jean-Pierre Thiollet, Anagramme Ed., 2008, p. 134
32. "Norman Foster: Man of steel" (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/norman-fost
er-man-of-steel-6231628.html). The Independent. 9 September 2006. Retrieved 16 May 2019.
33. Barber, Timothy (24 May 2017). "Lord Foster: 'I'm like a hamster on a treadmill. I'm always
moving, I never stop" (https://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/thinking-man/lord-foster-like-hamster-tr
eadmill-always-moving-never-stop/). The Telegraph. Retrieved 16 May 2019.
34. Glancey, Jonathan (29 June 2010). "Norman Foster at 75: Norman's conquests" (https://www.th
eguardian.com/artanddesign/2010/jun/29/norman-foster-interview). The Guardian. Retrieved
16 May 2019.
35. Mark, Laura (27 April 2016). "Exclusive building study: Maggie's Manchester by Foster +
Partners" (https://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/buildings/exclusive-building-study-maggies-man
chester-by-foster-partners/10005769.article). Architects Journal. Retrieved 16 May 2019.
36. "No. 52173" (https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/52173/page/2). The London Gazette.
15 June 1990. p. 2.
37. "No. 54962" (https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/54962/page/13399). The London
Gazette. 28 November 1997. p. 13399.
38. "No. 55513" (https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/55513/supplement/1). The London
Gazette (Supplement). 12 June 1999. p. 1.
39. "No. 55565" (https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/55565/page/8128). The London
Gazette. 28 July 1999. p. 8128.
40. "No. 24643" (https://www.thegazette.co.uk/Edinburgh/issue/24643/page/1551). The Edinburgh
Gazette. 23 July 1999. p. 1551.
41. "Norman Foster RA" (https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/art-artists/name/norman-foster-ra).
Royal Academy of Arts. Retrieved 17 November 2018.
42. "List of Fellows – Foster" (https://www.raeng.org.uk/about-us/the-fellowship/list-of-fellows?q=Fo
ster). Royal Academy of Engineering. Retrieved 17 November 2018.
43. http://www.cityam.com/263439/wembley-and-gherkin-architect-norman-foster-given-freedom
44. Wainwright, Oliver (10 October 2018). "Norman Foster's Bloomberg office in London wins
Stirling prize" (https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2018/oct/10/norman-fosters-bloombe
rg-office-in-london-wins-stirling-prize). The Guardian. Retrieved 11 October 2018.
45. "2007 Lynn S. Beedle Award Winner" (http://www.ctbuh.org/Awards/AllPastWinners/07_LordN
ormanFoster/tabid/1050/language/en-GB/Default.aspx). Council on Tall Buildings and Urban
Habitat. Retrieved 17 May 2012.
46. "The Tenth Award Cycle 2005–2007" (http://www.akdn.org/akaa_award10.asp). The Aga Khan
Development Network. Retrieved 21 January 2009.
47. "Petronas University of Technology receives 2007 Aga Khan Award for Architecture" (https://we
b.archive.org/web/20090409143858/http://www.fosterandpartners.com/News/302/Default.aspx)
. Foster + Partners. 9 April 2007. Archived from the original (http://www.fosterandpartners.com/
News/302/Default.aspx) on 9 April 2009. Retrieved 21 January 2009.
48. "Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement" (https://achievement.org/o
ur-history/golden-plate-awards/). www.achievement.org. American Academy of Achievement.
49. "2017 Summit Highlights Photo: Awards Council member Lord Jacob Rothschild presents the
Golden Plate Award to British architect Lord Norman Foster" (https://achievement.org/summit/2
017/). Academy of Achievement.
50. "New faces on Sgt Pepper album cover for artist Peter Blake's 80th birthday" (https://www.theg
uardian.com/artanddesign/2012/apr/02/peter-blake-sgt-pepper-cover-revisited). The Guardian.
5 October 2016.
51. "Sir Peter Blake's new Beatles' Sgt Pepper's album cover" (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/enterta
inment-arts-17583026). BBC News. 8 November 2016.

Bibliography
Sudjic, Deyan (2010). Norman Foster: A Life in Architecture. Weidenfeld. ISBN 978-0-297-
85868-3.

Documentaries
How Much Does Your Building Weigh, Mr. Foster? (dir. Carlos Carcass and Norberto Lopez
Amado, 2010, 78 minutes)
Striving for Simplicity (Producer: Marc-Christoph Wagner, Copyright: Louisiana Channel,
Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 2015, 41 minutes)

External links
Foster + Partners official website (http://www.fosterandpartners.com/)
Lord Norman Robert Foster (https://structurae.net/persons/data/index.cfm?ID=d000042) at
Structurae
 Interview with Norman Foster(video) (https://web.archive.org/web/20080101073907/http://www.
wtc.com/media/videos/Norman%20Foster)
Foster's projects on the map (https://web.archive.org/web/20090409144226/http://proyecto.loca
lizarq.es/etiquetas/foster-norman/)
TED Talks: Norman Foster's green agenda (http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/174) at TED in
2007
[1] (https://www.normanfosterfoundation.org/) Norman Foster Foundation website

Orders of precedence in the United Kingdom

Preceded by Gentlemen Followed by
The Lord Rogan Baron Foster of Thames Bank The Lord Elder

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