Inside The Mind Of Norman Foster
I love architecture. And art too. That’s why I like this gallery of sketches by Sir Norman Foster. It’s fascinating to see his evolution, and how his art turns into formidable buildings, which seem to come from The Future.
[El País—Thanks Waleska]
- Next Post: The PS3 Slim Might Be A Bit Slow »
- « Previous Post: The 125m 7Cs Superyacht Is Another Boat You’ll Never Own
Comments (AU Comments | US Comments)
I am in the envious position of working in a building with a Norman Foster canopy: The Smithsonian American Art Museum: [americanart.si.edu]
His architecture has made our enclosed courtyard a wonderful place to spend time.
Norman Foster peaked in 1984 with the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank building (6th sketch) yet he's done so much great work since (just go to [www.fosterandpartners.com] and let it run); it shows how amazing that early building is. There's a three-volume Japanese book about every door handle and piece of glass in the HKSB building.
The gherkin at ground level is otherworldly, though from scenes in Woody Allen's Match Point it looks like the office layouts are a letdown. Foster's mega-airports in the far East are famous but his earlier Stansted airport (above) is simple and pure, a 6x6 grid of those splayed towers, inside and out.
@RichasB, Foster has never done a slab of concrete building, and he put gardens in Commerzbank. He's more artistic engineer than architect as artist.
Meh, I like Frank Lloyd Wright better. He incorporated a bit more greenery into his designs, that gave it a welcomed balance to an otherwise big slab-of-a-concrete-building.
RichasB
@Kid-A: it is a bit phallic for a building, to say the least.
@Kid-A: I love The Gerkin! I think it's beautiful.
My wife isn't keen on it though, so I understand how it's not the everyone's taste.
LittleJon
@DUOPHONIX.com: It is to my taste. Well, insofar as I love me some gherkins.
@Kid-A:
one of the first truly paremtricly designed buildings.
Its a mathematical masterpiece, but not to everyones taste.
I'm a fan of Sir Norman Foster too but as much as I love the majority of his work, I absolutely detest the Swiss Re building in London.