Norman Foster (born Reddish, Stockport, England).
In 1956, Foster attended the University of Manchester's School of Architecture and City Planning where he graduated in 1961; his role models at this time were Lloyd Wright, van der Rohe, Le Corbusier and Niemeyer. Foster went on to win the Henry Fellowship to the Yale School of Architecture; it was here where he met Richard Rogers who was to become his future business partner.
After a year spent travelling across the USA, he returned to England in 1963 setting up his architectural practice "Team 4" along with Rogers and sisters Georgie and Wendy Cheesman. Fortunately, Georgie had passed her RIBA exams (the only one of the team) which allowed them to set up in practice on their own. Team 4 quickly gained a reputation for their high-tech industrial design.
In 1967 Team 4 broke apart when Foster and Wendy Cheesman founded Foster Associates which was later to become Foster and Partners.
From 1968 through to 1983, Foster and Partners had a successful period of collaboration with American architect Richard Buckminster Fuller. It was during this time that their many projects were to develop an environmentally sensitive approach to design, as can be seen in the Samuel Beckett Theatre project.
In January 2007, it was reported that Foster had called for the services of a corporate finance house to find a buyer for Foster + Partners as it was not his intention to retire, but rather sell his holding in the company valued at £300M to £500M!
In 2007, Foster worked with Philip Starck and Sir Richard Branson on the Virgin Galactic plans.
Foster is a Trustee of Article 25, an architectural charity who design, construct and manage innovative, safe, sustainable buildings across the world.
Foster was knighted in 1990 and appointed to the Order of Merit in 1997. In 1999, he was created a life peer, as Baron Foster of Thames Bank, of Reddish in the County of Greater Manchester before stepping down in 2010 as he became a Swiss resident.
He is only the second British architect to win the Stirling Prize twice: once in 1998 for the American Air Museum at the Imperial War Museum Duxford, and again for 30 St Mary Axe in 2004 or ?The Gherkin' as it is affectionately known. In 1999 Foster was awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize. He is also a Fellow of the Chartered Society of Designers and winner of the Minerva Medal, the Society's highest award.
In Germany, Lord Foster received the Order Pour le Merite; in Malaysia he was awarded the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, for the University of Technology Petronas. In 2008 he was granted an honorary degree from the Dundee School of Architecture at the University of Dundee. In 2009 he received the Prince of Asturias Award in the category Arts.
In 1956, Foster attended the University of Manchester's School of Architecture and City Planning where he graduated in 1961; his role models at this time were Lloyd Wright, van der Rohe, Le Corbusier and Niemeyer. Foster went on to win the Henry Fellowship to the Yale School of Architecture; it was here where he met Richard Rogers who was to become his future business partner.
After a year spent travelling across the USA, he returned to England in 1963 setting up his architectural practice "Team 4" along with Rogers and sisters Georgie and Wendy Cheesman. Fortunately, Georgie had passed her RIBA exams (the only one of the team) which allowed them to set up in practice on their own. Team 4 quickly gained a reputation for their high-tech industrial design.
In 1967 Team 4 broke apart when Foster and Wendy Cheesman founded Foster Associates which was later to become Foster and Partners.
From 1968 through to 1983, Foster and Partners had a successful period of collaboration with American architect Richard Buckminster Fuller. It was during this time that their many projects were to develop an environmentally sensitive approach to design, as can be seen in the Samuel Beckett Theatre project.
In January 2007, it was reported that Foster had called for the services of a corporate finance house to find a buyer for Foster + Partners as it was not his intention to retire, but rather sell his holding in the company valued at £300M to £500M!
In 2007, Foster worked with Philip Starck and Sir Richard Branson on the Virgin Galactic plans.
Foster is a Trustee of Article 25, an architectural charity who design, construct and manage innovative, safe, sustainable buildings across the world.
Foster was knighted in 1990 and appointed to the Order of Merit in 1997. In 1999, he was created a life peer, as Baron Foster of Thames Bank, of Reddish in the County of Greater Manchester before stepping down in 2010 as he became a Swiss resident.
He is only the second British architect to win the Stirling Prize twice: once in 1998 for the American Air Museum at the Imperial War Museum Duxford, and again for 30 St Mary Axe in 2004 or ?The Gherkin' as it is affectionately known. In 1999 Foster was awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize. He is also a Fellow of the Chartered Society of Designers and winner of the Minerva Medal, the Society's highest award.
In Germany, Lord Foster received the Order Pour le Merite; in Malaysia he was awarded the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, for the University of Technology Petronas. In 2008 he was granted an honorary degree from the Dundee School of Architecture at the University of Dundee. In 2009 he received the Prince of Asturias Award in the category Arts.