Norman Foster

British architect and designer (Stockport, 1 June 1935)

Lord Norman Robert Foster, Baron Foster of Thames Bank (born 1 June 1935 in Stockport), is a British architect and designer, one of the leading exponents of high-tech architecture.
"If I were not an optimist, it would be impossible for me to be an architect"
Foster was born in Manchester in 1935 into a working-class family, leaving school at 16 to work in the Manchester City Council Treasury Offices. After military service in the Royal Air Force he enrolled at the University of Manchester's School of Architecture and Town Planning and graduated in 1961. He continued his studies at Yale University in the United States. Returning to England, Foster set up a practice, Team 1965, in 4, with Richard Rogers and Sue Rogers and her wife Wendy. In 1967 Rogers left Team 4 to work with Renzo Piano, and Foster and his wife founded Foster Associates, now known as Foster + Partners. Between 1971 and 1983 he collaborated with Buckminster Fuller on several projects, establishing himself internationally.

Foster's early projects are characterized by a pronounced high-tech style, and focus on technological and structural aspects, but later the lines of his buildings become somewhat softer and his projects express a more conventional architecture. In 1987 Foster (with the studio Foster + Partners) received the most prestigious award related to industrial design: the Compasso d'Oro Award for the Nomos system of office tables and desks, created for the Italian company TECNO. In 1999 he was awarded the prestigious Pritzker prize.

Foster + Partners
In 2013, Foster + Partners, with 646 architects employed and revenues between $200 million and $209 million, ranked 10th on the list of the world's largest architecture firms according to the BD Insurance Bureau.
Foster and Partners has offices in several cities around the world and employs more than 700 people.
Source: Wikipedia…>>