Norman Foster

Norman Foster is a British architect who was born on June 1, 1935. He is the founder and the chairman of his own company called Foster + Partners which is known for creating famous high-tech architecture. 

He is seen as Britain's most outstanding architect and this has come as no surprise seeing as he was awarded the Pritzker Architecture prize and this is due to his brilliant work within the world of architecture and contribution towards humanity. 

Within Norman's early life, he was quite interested with the works of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Oscar Niemeyer, Frank Lloyd Wright and Le Corbusier.

Norman only really started getting recognised after his first major building which was the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, the building was designed by Norman and was finished in 1978. 

Some of Norman's Work:







Within my research about his work, I found out that "He uses lines to form organic shapes that let your eye to easily flow around them. Foster also often plays with the duality of in/out. Many of his building have a skeleton of the outside of the building that is visible to the eye rather than hiding it within. He also creates many spaces inside that are enclosed in glass and almost cause you to feel as though you are outside when you’re really surrounded by glass. Foster puts a lot of thought into how his designs will make you feel once you’re interacting with them through the use of different materials and the space of an area which is often something that gets overlooked". Also, within my research, I found out that "Foster's earliest works explored the idea of a technologically advanced "shed," meaning a structure surrounded by a lightweight shell or envelope" and this might explain why they all look like some sort of a casing over the interiors.

Personally I think that his work is phenomenal and this is because his work unlike many other buildings is quite unique in terms of appearance. What I have noticed about his works is that most of them are mainly built using glass and he implements a lot of curves within his buildings. Also, many of his buildings appear to look like they have a fixed structure about them and allows me to think that he has really thought about the design of the building and seems as though he has seen what the building would look like when built before actually putting his ideas on paper. 

Within my project I would really like to implement the use of curves, steel and glass for my final piece so I think that this architect would be of great use as an influence.