描述
In his introduction to this, the first volume of a series devoted to the work of Norman Foster, Alastair Best describes Foster’s early projects as “a young man’s work, full of freshness, vitality and optimism. Norman Foster once said of Buckminster Fuller: ‘The thing about Bucky is that he makes you believe anything is possible.’ The same could be said, in these exhilarating early years, of Norman himself”.
Explored here, at a level of detail unmatched in other publications on his work, are the buildings and projects carried out by the architect when with Team 4 – in partnership with Richard Rogers and the architect sisters Georgie and Wendy Cheesman – and with his own practice Foster Associates, established with Wendy, by then his wife, in 1967. It is work of integrity and intensity. In an astonishing four-year burst of activity – with projects spanning from the 1967 factory for Reliance Controls, through the Newport School competition entry and the work for Fred Olsen at Millwall Dock, to the 1971 buildings for Computer Technology and, most notably, IBM at Cosham – Norman Foster did much to redefine the nature of building for modern industry.
And it is not only in how these projects were constructed and serviced that this was achieved. With their seductive use of materials und minimal detailing – “a colour photographer’s dream” – this ‘image’ of Foster’s work can easily dominate. In these early projects, however, are radical social changes also. Dockers work side-by-side with typists, managers with assembly workers, in buildings where the same facilities are shared by all.
The same level of reappraisal and idealism was applied to projects as diverse as special schools for handicapped children, public housing and even shops for a high-street retailer. In all, some 40 projects are described here, each explained with its own authoritative text and illustrated with a broad selection of sketches, drawings and photographs, many reproduced for the first time.
Published in 1989, volumes 2 and 3 of this series were critically acclaimed, setting a standard for architectural monographs by which other publications will be judged. Volume 1 continues in this same tradition, creating the definitive record of the early projects of one of the world’s leading architects.
