'Design always begins with a sketch,’ says Norman Foster. From St Mary Axe in London to Apple Park and the Millau Viaduct in Southern France, the British architect has created some of the most pioneering feats of architecture by sticking to this process. In his new retrospective exhibition, he seeks to showcase his awe-inspiring six-decade-long career through a clever collection of drawings, models, and photographs while looking toward the future.
Norman Foster
Norman Foster exhibition opens at Centre Pompidou
Housed at the top of the Pompidou Centre in Paris from 10th May until 7th August 2023, the display is a collaboration between Foster + Partners and the Madrid-based Norman Foster Foundation. Curated by the deputy director of the Musée national d’art modern, Frédéric Migayrou, the show highlights some of Foster’s most notable projects such as the Hearst Tower, Reichstag, and Hong Kong International Airport. Stretching over 2200 sq m, this is the first time Gallery 1 at the Pompidou has been solely dedicated to an architect. ‘It was a great move by President Laurent Le Bon and Frédéric Migayrou to raise the level of awareness of architecture,’ states the 1999 Pritzer Prize winner.
Bloomberg Headquarters
Broken into seven segments - ‘Nature and Urbanity’, ‘Skin and Bones’, ‘Vertical City’, ‘History and Tradition’, ‘Planning and Place’, ‘Networks and Mobilities’, and ‘Future perspectives’ - the display showcases the founder and executive chairman of Foster + Partners' most seminal pieces of work; but isn’t based merely on a linear timeline.
Millennium Bridge
‘Norman wanted the majority of drawings at the start of the show,’ explains Migayrou. So, as visitors enter the show, they are greeted by a rich collection of framed drawings dating back to 1956. Here, the 87-year-old architect’s work from Manchester School of Architecture is presented alongside more recent sketches of projects such as Apple Park in California and the new J.P.Morgan Chase Headquarters in Manhattan. This space presents a well-curated set of never-before-seen works and sketchbook entries alongside an eclectic series of backlit postcards photographed by Foster during his many travels.
30 st Mary Axe
As you saunter out of the dark drawing zone, the exhibition opens up and catapults you into the mind of the British architect. Intricate models of various sizes are found, from humbly sized design development models of the The Zayed National Museum, to large elevation studies of the Bloomberg Building. ‘It was important to show different scales and parts of our buildings,’ explains Foster. Slick sketches, prototypes and photographs adorn the walls helping to give further context to each project while ‘screens help bring each scheme to life.’
British Museum courtyard
Around 130 projects from Foster + Partner’s extensive portfolio of airports, museums, and skyscrapers are shown in this exhibition. Interestingly, unrealised projects, such as the 1989 Millennium Tower for Tokyo, Japan, a lunar habitat for the European Space Agency, and a new design for London’s iconic red buses, are also on show.
Care d'Artes Nimes
The display contains some of Foster’s biggest influences such as 'Architecture without Architects' by Bernard Rudofsky, Buckminster Fuller’s ‘Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth' and Le Corbusier’s 'Towards a New Architecture.' Work by Romanian Sculptor Constantin Brancusi, Chinese artist Ai Weiwei and Italian painter Umberto Boccioni also make an appearance along with several automobiles including, a forest green Dymaxion. At the end of the show, a tucked-away room looks to the future and showcases Foster’s work with NASA and how his practice aims to utilise drone technology for projects in Africa.
Queen Alia international airport
‘Ultimately, this exhibition speaks to the spirit of Foster,’ states Migayrou. The Norman Foster exhibition at the Pompidou Centre is a truly inspiring show that not only documents his career but demonstrates how his work has pushed the boundaries of design. It is an enchanting masterclass in architecture that will leave visitors excited, energised, and raring to pick up a sketchbook.
Milau viaduct
Hearst Headquarters
-
Tranquil and secluded, Lemaire’s new Tokyo flagship exudes a sense of homeIn Tokyo’s Ebisu neighbourhood, Lemaire’s tranquil new store sees the French brand take over a former 1960s home. Co-artistic directors Christophe Lemaire and Sarah-Linh Tran tell Wallpaper* more
-
‘I wanted to create a sanctuary’ – discover a nature-conscious take on Balinese architectureUmah Tsuki by Colvin Haven is an idyllic Balinese family home rooted in the island's crafts culture
-
‘Concrete Dreams’: rethinking Newcastle’s brutalist pastA new project and exhibition at the Farrell Centre in Newcastle revisits the radical urban ideas that changed Tyneside in the 1960s and 1970s
-
Explore wood architecture, Paris' new timber tower and how to make sustainable construction look ‘iconic’A new timber tower brings wood architecture into sharp focus in Paris and highlights ways to craft buildings that are both sustainable and look great: we spoke to project architects LAN, and explore the genre through further examples
-
Architectural Association's newest show uncovers the architectural legacies of rural China's lost generationThe Architectural Association’s ‘Ripple Ripple Rippling’ is not your typical architecture show, taking an anthropological look at the flux between rural and urban, and bringing a part of China to Bedford Square in London
-
Paul Rudolph at The Met: ‘from Christmas lights to megastructures’‘Materialized Space: The Architecture of Paul Rudolph’ opens at the Met in New York, exploring the modernist master's work through a feast of an exhibition
-
A transformed chalet by Studio Razavi redesigns an existing structure into a well-crafted Alpine retreatThis overhauled chalet in the French Alps blends traditional forms with a highly bespoke interior
-
La Grande Motte: touring the 20th-century modernist dream of a French paradise resortLa Grande Motte and its utopian modernist dreams, as seen through the lens of photographers Laurent Kronental and Charly Broyez, who spectacularly captured the 20th-century resort community in the south of France
-
Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain unveils plans for new Jean Nouvel buildingFondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain has plans for a new building in Paris, working with architect Jean Nouvel
-
Transamerica Pyramid: a San Francisco icon, remasteredThe Transamerica Pyramid, a landmark in the San Francisco cityscape, has been redesigned to 21st-century standards by Foster + Partners
-
Discover Tempe à Pailla, a lesser-known Eileen Gray gem nestled in the French RivieraTempe à Pailla is a modernist villa in the French Riviera brimming with history, originally designed by architect Eileen Gray and extended by late British painter Graham Sutherland
