Norman Foster

Chairman and Founder, Foster + Partners, United Kingdom

Norman Foster

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    6th Holcim Forum 2019

    “Sustainability is inseparable from energy, and inseparable from the process of recycling.” – Lord Norman Foster, Chairman & Founder, Foster + Partners, United Kingdom.

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    6th Holcim Forum 2016

    “Architecture is the easy part – in the end achieving a sustainable built environment is down to political will and generating optimism.” – Lord Norman Foster, Chairman & Founder, Foster + Partners, United Kingdom.

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    Prototype Droneport Shell – 15th International Architecture Biennale, Venice, Italy

    Norman Foster, Founder and Chairman of Foster + Partners; and Chairman of the Norman Foster Foundation, has unveiled the first full-scale prototype of his Droneport concept at the Arsenale, which is designed to transport medical supplies to remote regions in Africa using unmanned flying vehicles.

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    Venice Biennale of Architecture 2016

    In the context of the opening of the 15th International Architecture Biennal, Archizoom organized an event where Lord Norman Foster (left) and Jonathan Ledgard informed the public on the development of the Droneport project.

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    Prototype Droneport Shell

    Testing on site: Lord Norman Foster approving a construction sample of “Durabric” compressed earth bricks at his “Droneport” pavilion at the 15th International Architecture Biennale in Venice.

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    Prototype Droneport Shell

    Celebrating the completed "Droneport" prototype - a result of teamwork across disciplines and continents (from left): Matthew DeJong, ODB Structural Engineering, UK; John Ochsendorf, ODB, USA; Lord Norman Foster, UK; ​Peter Rich, South Africa; Philippe Block, ODB/Block Research Group, Switzerland.

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    Prototype Droneport Shell

    Norman Foster, Chairman and Founder, Foster + Partners based in London, United Kingdom. Image courtesy: Foster + Partners.

Norman Foster is Chairman and Founder of Foster + Partners, based in London, United Kingdom. He was a keynote speaker on sustainability, energy and circularity at the 6th Holcim Forum 2019 held at the American University of Cairo, Egypt.

Last updated: May 25, 2024 London, United Kingdom

Foster + Partners has an international reputation and has, over the past four decades, pioneered a sustainable approach to architecture through a strikingly wide range of work, from urban masterplans, public infrastructure, airports, civic and cultural buildings, offices and workplaces to private houses and product design.

Norman Foster graduated from Manchester University School of Architecture & City Planning in 1961, and won a Henry Fellowship to Yale University, where he was a fellow of Jonathan Edwards College and 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. The firm’s projects include the New German Parliament in the Reichstag in Berlin; Chek Lap Kok International Airport and the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank in Hong Kong; Commerzbank Headquarters in Frankfurt; The Gherkin; London City Hall, Millennium bridge, and Thames Hub masterplan in London; Willis Faber & Dumas Head Office in Ipswich; Apple Campus 2 in Cupertino, California; and the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts in Norwich. Since its inception, the practice has received more than 500 awards and citations for excellence and has won numerous international and national competitions.

Venice Biennale of Architecture, 2016

The “Droneport” vault construction at the Norman Foster Foundation Pavilion using “Durabric” compressed earth tiles developed by Holcim.

Norman Foster was awarded the Royal Gold Medal for Architecture in 1983, the Gold Medal for the French Academy of Architecture in 1991 and the American Institute of Architects Gold Medal in 1994, and was also appointed Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters by the Ministry of Culture in France. In 1999 he became the twenty-first Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate; and in 2002 he was elected to the German Orden Pour le Mérite für Wissenschaften und Künste and in Tokyo was awarded the Praemium Imperiale.

He leads the “Droneport” project, a collaboration between Redline partners led by Afrotech, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL); the Norman Foster Foundation; and Foster + Partners.