Norman Foster – How Much Does Your Building Weigh, Mr. Foster?
Norman Foster is one of the most famous designer architects of our time. He is well known for sleek, modern designs of steel and glass with innovations in contouring and inner space management. Examples of his work are The Gherkin in London, the Hearst Tower in New York and the Reichstag Dome.
How Much Does Your Film Weigh, Mr Foster? is a magnificent documentary portrait that seeks to understand the mind of Norman Foster through his life and work. It is a must-see for anyone interested in art in general and architectural design in particular.
The title of this documentary portrait about architect Norman Foster comes from a question posed by one of his American mentors, Buckminster fuller. The film shows the Architect’s answer: structures that are airier both in appearance and fact.
Norman Foster's Early Life
Norman Foster was born on June 1, 1935, in Reddish, England. An only child with an avowed interest in structures and design, he grew up in a working-class neighborhood and left school at the age of 16 to work as a town hall clerk, later going on to work in engineering as part of the Royal Air Force for two years. He went on to study architecture at the University of Manchester and won accolades for his drawing work, developing a lifelong passion for sketching. He later earned a scholarship to Yale University’s School of Architecture, earning his master’s in 1962.1Norman Foster – Buildings, Structures and Architect – Biography
Iconic Buildings
While at Yale, Foster met Richard Rogers, with the two eventually becoming part of the architecture world’s elite. In 1963, Foster, along with Richard and Su Rogers, his future wife Wendy Cheesman and her sister Georgina Wolton, formed the architectural organization Team 4. Foster broke off on his own in 1967 to form Foster Associates, which would later become Foster + Partners.
In the early 1970s, Foster had his big break with the design of the Willis Faber & Dumas headquarters in Ipswich, a low-rise office building that was innovative for its use of escalators, contoured facades and idyllic, nature-oriented interiors. The late ‘70s and early-to-mid-‘80s saw Foster and his team working on the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation headquarters, a modern three-tower edifice, while the ‘90s saw the architect heading up an update of the Reichstag in Berlin, rebuilding the emblematic glass dome after the unification of East and West Germany. In the early 2000s, Foster also contributed to the iconic New York City skyline with his design of the Hearst Tower, a 44-story skyscraper with a triangulated facade atop an Art Deco foundation.2Norman Foster – Buildings, Structures and Architect – Biography