Top Architectural Practices: Foster & Partners

Sir Norman Foster is arguably the closest anyone has ever come to achieving celebrity status in the world of modern architecture. Foster & Partners is a practice that was only founded in 1967 and has since been the lead architect on many world famous commissions with Sir Norman Foster himself being the spearhead of the PR campaign behind the firm. Foster gained a masters at the Yale School of Architecture before setting up an outfit called Team 4 with Richard Rogers, which quickly earned a reputation for high tech industrial design although by 1967, Team 4 dissolved and Foster went on to set up Foster Associates. The firm was kick started by the commission of The Willis Faber & Dumas building in Ipswich and today, many of the world's most famous buildings can be credited to the Foster portfolio. Similar to KPF, there are not many commissions in the world where Foster & Partners have not been considered for the design.

Completed in 2003, 30 St.Mary Axe, The Gherkin, is perhaps the most recognised work by Foster in London, being the first tall building in The City with ecological credentials using around half the power that a similar tower would typically use. London City Hall was a precursor to the Gherkin, sitting on the River Thames it's offset domes appearance might suggest it is related to The Gherkin, it's reduced surface area, simlar to the Gherkin, increasing it's energy efficiency.

In New York City, Foster's 597ft Hearst Tower was the voted the best skyscraper built in the world the year after the September 11th attacks on the city and was also the first new skyscraper to break ground after the event (click here for separate article on this tower). The Hearst Tower along with 200 Greenwich Street (click here for separate article on this tower), part of the redevelopment of the World Trade Center, both aimed to achieve the gold standard under the US Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Programme (LEED) and being involved in the World Trade Center project served to further cement Foster's position as one of the leading architects in the world today.

The Foster portfolio spans many different sectors and environments but outside of the realm of commercial office architecture, Foster & Partners design of the new Wembley Stadium in London reassured football fans across the world that no chances were being taken in turning the world's most famous football stadium into the best stadium in the world, at a record breaking cost of £798million ($1.26billion). For this money Foster & Partners delivered a stadium in which all 90,000 seats had more more leg room than there was in the royal box of the old stadium. For this, no one can deny Lord Foster the Knighthood he received from the Queen in 1990.