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Architectural Design (and Philosophy) with Norman Foster

 

“Architecture is an expression of values.” That’s the headlining quote by master architect Sir Norman Foster in a recent interview with The European Magazine. The article makes for a good read, philosophically spanning how architectural design changes over time to accommodate changes in technology to how it communicates a city’s past and present character. The conversation also touches on widely increasing efforts toward sustainability and the pervasive human fascination with “bigness” in architecture.

One of my favorite parts of the interview is, of course, when Foster briefly talks about glass. Even though innovative uses of glass are central to many of his designs, Foster downplays it as “just one of a vast palette of materials at our disposal.” Yet he goes on to observe that “it has allowed us to open up previously very insular buildings to the outside world,” offering a direct kind of political transparency that speaks to evolving societal values:

For example, in early discussions about the transformation of the Reichstag, the theme that emerged most clearly was that it should be publicly accessible and “transparent,” both literally and symbolically – the resulting cupola of metal and glass is a very tangible expression of democracy. The main chamber of parliament is visible for all to see. Public and politicians meet and interact; they can see and be seen.

 

 

This notion of glass as expression of democracy appears again and again in Foster’s work. Click here to read a past post on a few of his most famous projects, including London’s City Hall (aka the Onion), which was built shortly after the Reichstag’s transformation and shares overlapping principles.