Norman Foster studied at the School of Architecture and City Planning at the University of Manchester from 1956 to 1961. After graduating he received a scholarship to study at the Yale School of Architecture from where he got a master's of Architecture degree in 1963.
At Yale, Foster met fellow classmate Richard Rogers who he later met again in England and together with Su Brumwell and the sisters Georgie and Wendy Cheesman they founded the architectural office Team 4. One of the team’s first project was The Cockpit, a minimalist glass bubble in Cornwall. In 1967 Team 4 split up and together with Wendy Cheesman, whom Foster had married, he founded the Foster Associates, which from 1999 became Great Britain’s largest architectural company.
From 1968 to -83 Foster collaborated with American architect Richard Buckminster Fuller on projects such as at Samuel Beckett Theatre at St Peter’s College in Oxford. Norman Foster and Foster Associates are known for projects such as the Millennium Tower in Japan (1989), the Parliament Building in Berlin (1992-1999), 30 St. Mary Ace in London, known as the London Gherkin (1997-2004), the Great Court at the British Museum in London (1994-2000) and the World Trade Center in New York (2002).
Beyond Foster’s many architectural accomplishments, he also maintains a successful career in furniture design, with standouts like the Nomos Table (1987 and a millennium edition in 1999) for Tecno, the Airline Seating System (1999) for Vitra, the 505 sofa and table series (2002) for Walter Knoll, RF1 Stacking Chair (2006) for Danish Randers, and the Teso Table (2013) for Molteni.
Foster has received many awards, including the Royal Gold Medal for Architecture (1983), the Gold Medal of the Academy of Architecture of France (1991), the American Institute of Architects Gold Medal (1994), the 21st Pritzker Architect Prize Laureate (1999), and the Prince of Asturias Award for the Arts (2009). He was knighted by the Queen of England in 1990 and given the title ‘Lord Foster of Thames Bank’ in 1999.
Norman Foster is represented at among others the V&A in London, the Museum of Modern Art in New York and has been the subject of exhibitions all over the world.
