Leading British modern architect noted for his High-Tech structures. After service in the RAF he received his architectural training at Manchester University School of Architecture (1956-61) and Yale University (1961-2).
One of his first projects, a house for Richard Rogers’s parents, was carried out with his late wife, and former partner, Wendy Foster, and Richard and Sue Rogers, working together as “Team 4″. Foster Associates was founded in London in 1967 and has grown into an enormously successful practice, with projects in many parts of the world.
Major projects include the controversial Reliance Controls Factory (1966-7), the much-admired black glass Willis Faber Dumas offices, Ipswich (1974-5), the Sainsbury Centre for the Visual Arts (1976-8), what was described as the most expensive office building ever constructed, the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank (1979-85), and the Stansted Airport Terminal (1980-90).
Over the years Foster has worked with a number of partners, who are all now well established in their own practices, including Birkin Haward and Michael Hopkins. The “High-Tech” vocabulary of the practice is uncompromising and clear in its exploration of technological innovation: technology produces form.
However, Foster is also deeply concerned with architectural details and the craftsmanship that goes into them. Emphasis is often laid on the repetition of industrialized “modular” units in his work. Prefabricated off-site-manufactured elements are frequently employed and specialist components are often specially designed for individual projects, as at Hong Kong.
Foster was awarded the RIBA Royal Gold Medal in 1983, and in 1990 the RIBA Trustees Medal was made for the Willis Faber Dumas building, Ipswich. He was knighted in 1990.
List of major buildings / works:
Reliance Controls Factory, Swindon, 1966-7.
Willis Faber Dumas offices, Ipswich, Suffolk, 1974-5.
Sainsbury Centre for the Visual Arts, University of East Anglia, Norwich, 1976-8.
Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank, 1979-85.
M6diatheque, Maison Carree, Nimes, France, from 1984.
Airport Terminal, Stansted, Essex, 1980-91.
Kings Cross Redevelopment, London, 1988- .
Bibliography
R. Banham (intro.) Foster Associates, London 1979.
Various authors, Foster Associates: Buildings and Protects, 3 vols., London, 1989.
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