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Get Inspired by the Innovations of Foster + Partners
February 24, 2016
"Foster + Partners: Architecture, Urbanism, Innovation" Photo: Furukawa Yuya Photo courtesy: Mori Art Museum
Perhaps the most impactful part of the exhibition was a section dedicated to models of famous projects including the Hearst Tower in New York and Swiss Re, known locally in London as The Gherkin.
Foster + Partners Great Court at the British Museum 1994-2000 London, UK Photo: Nigel Young, Foster + Partners
The Sky Gallery at Tokyo City View hosted a fascinating exhibit chronicling the designs and innovations of the international architecture and design studio Foster + Partners from January 1 through February 14 this year. Led by Norman Foster, the British firm has greatly impacted modern design, with some 300 projects in 45 locations around the world.
While I had heard of Foster + Partners, I didn't actually know that much about the firm until I visited the exhibit, and I was surprised to learn just how many recognizable designs and landmarks it is responsible for. The first section of the exhibit focuses on Foster's relationship with his collaborator R. Buckminster Fuller, and ways in which Fuller influenced Foster's work. The two designers shared many ideas and concerns, believing that buildings should fit into and complement their surroundings.
Perhaps the most impactful part of the exhibition - and the one that most brings the designs of Foster + Partners to life - is a large section dedicated to models of some of the firm's most famous projects. There are small-scale versions of the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts (an explanation of this project includes an interesting anecdote about Fuller asking Foster how much the building weighed and Foster responding with a calculation), the Reichstag, the Great Court at the British Museum, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, London's "gherkin" building, various airports, and many others. Among the models of skyscrapers is one of the Millennium Tower, which was designed for Tokyo Bay in 1989 and would have had a height of 840 meters, but was never built.
Other fascinating elements include Foster + Partners' proposals for dwellings on the moon and Mars. I had always thought of scientists designing such things, rather than architects, but as Foster himself said, "since Stonehenge, architects have always been at the cutting edge of technology. And you cannot separate technology from the humanistic and spiritual content of a building."
Kelly