1. Norman Foster
“As an architect you design for the
present, with an awareness of the past, for
a future which is essentially unknown”
2. Content
• Aim of presentation
• About him
• The biography
• The main buildings:
o "the Gherkin“
o Reichstag
o Terminal 3 of the Beijing Capital International Airport
o The Palace of Peace and Reconciliation
o Khan Shatyr
o City Hall
o The Hearst Tower
o The Millau
• Tips
3. • The aim of this presentation is to show the
long way to success of one of the
outstanding architects of our present.
4. About him
• Norman Foster is a British
architect. He was born in
Manchester in 1935. After
graduating from Manchester
University School of Architecture
and City Planning in 1961 he
won a Henry Fellowship to Yale
University, where he gained a
Master’s Degree in Architecture.
In 1963 he co-founded Team 4
and in 1967 he established Foster
Associates, now known as Foster
+ Partners. Founded in London, it
is now a worldwide practice,
with project offices in more than
twenty countries.
5. “My mission is to create a
structure that is sensitive to the
culture and climate of its place”
6. The Biography
• Foster was raised in Manchester in a working-class family and
was intrigued by design and engineering from a young age.
Foster's parents were diligent, hard workers - so diligent that
Foster, an only child, felt their heavy workload restricted his
relationship with them and he was often looked after by
neighbours or other family members. He attended Grammar
School in Burnage. He said he always felt 'different' at school
and was bullied. He retired into the world of books and was
quiet and awkward in his early years making faux pas. in 1956
Foster won a place at the University of Manchester School of
Architecture and City Planning. Foster failed to get a grant to
help fund his studies, and being from a working-class
background money was at a minimum. He took up a number
of part-time jobs to fund his studies in Architecture. His jobs in
his teenage years included being an ice-cream salesman,
night-club bouncer and working night shifts at the local bakery
to make crumpets.
7. • 30 St Mary Axe (formerly the Swiss
Re Building, and informally also
known as "the Gherkin") is a
skyscraper in London's financial
district, the City of London,
completed in December 2003
and opened at the end of May
2004.With 41 floors, the tower is
180 metres (591 ft) tall.
• The building has become an
iconic symbol of London and is
one of the city's most widely
recognised examples of modern
architecture.
8. The reconstruction was completed in 1999. The Reichstag is now
the second most visited attraction in Germany, not least because
of the huge glass dome that was erected on the roof as a gesture
to the original 1894 cupola, giving an impressive view over the
city, especially at night
9. Terminal 3 of the Beijing Capital International Airport is currently
the second largest airport passenger terminal building of the
world.
10. The Palace of Peace and Reconciliation, also translated as the
Pyramid of Peace and Accord, is a 77 m high building in Astana
12. City Hall is the headquarters of the Greater London Authority
(GLA) which comprises the Mayor of London and the London
Assembly. It is located in Southwark, on the south bank of the
River Thames near Tower Bridge.
13. The Hearst Tower is a building in Midtown Manhattan. It is the
world headquarters of the Hearst Corporation, bringing together
for the first time their numerous publications and communications
companies under one roof, including, among others,
Cosmopolitan, Esquire, Marie Claire, Harper's Bazaar, Good
Housekeeping and Seventeen.
14. • The Millau is a cable-stayed road-bridge that spans the valley
of the river Tarn near Millau in southernFrance.
• It it is the tallest bridge in the world with one mast's summit at
343.0 metres (1,125 ft) above the base of the structure.
15. Some tips from world-recognized
architect
• An open mind,
energy, an appetite
for hard work
• A willingness to
explore new solutions
and push
boundaries.
• A sense of humor is
also helpful.
