Norton, the revitalised British motorcycle maker, has teamed up with Foster + Partners to create a new retail concept in keeping with the brand’s renewed focus on modern British design. The manufacturer dates back to 1898 with a long association with events like the Isle of Man TT. Since 2020, it has been owned by Indian two-wheeler titan TVS Motor Company.

The retail proposal is one of the first fruits of the work undertaken by Norton’s Chief Creative Advisor, former JLR stalwart Professor Gerry McGovern OBE. McGovern tapped his extensive network to bring in Foster + Partners, and the result is this sleek vitrine-like display intended to showcase Norton’s new range.

Right now, the manufacturer has four core models, the Atlas and Atlas GT touring motorcycles, and the performance-focused Manx and Manx R. Each machine slots neatly into an elevated display stand, top-lit to better showcase their fluid lines, with an adjoining cabinet for Norton’s range of accessories and clothing.

There’s also support for customers to personalise their own motorcycle configuration, alongside interactive displays to show more information about each project. Designed as a modular proposal that can be scaled depending on the size of the retailer, starting with 50 square metre spaces, Norton ultimately wants to have a presence in 200 locations around the world, starting with the UK, Italy, Germany, France, Spain, India and the USA.

According to Gerry McGovern, ‘motorcycles at their best are emotional, sculptural objects of desire. In our experiential stores, they will be presented in environments that reflect their precision and modernity. The ambition is not merely to sell motorcycles, but to stage them – elevating their purchase from transaction to experience.’

Foster himself, a notable petrolhead, is quoted as saying that ‘Norton’s history is rooted in design, engineering and craftsmanship. Our design concept seeks to be a contemporary expression of the company’s heritage and timeless character of its motorcycles.’ The motorcycles themselves are designed and engineered in Solihull but manufactured at one of TVS’s facilities in Hosur in India’s Tamil Nadu state. The Norton Atlas starts from £8,250.

NortonMotorcyles.com, @Norton.Motorcycles

Over the past decade, the UAE has worked hard to cultivate and support a homegrown design culture – an ambition reflected in the newly unveiled Zayed National Museum in Abu Dhabi, where interiors led by Agata Kurzela Studio bring together Emirati designers, makers and artists whose work is woven into the museum’s spatial identity.

Designed by Foster + Partners, the museum sits at the centre of the Saadiyat Cultural District and is dedicated to the life and legacy of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, known as the Father of the Nation for his role in forming the United Arab Emirates. Its sculptural roof structures, inspired by the wing of a falcon in flight, rise above a series of galleries, public spaces and research facilities intended to tell the story of the nation’s history, culture and environment.

Dubai-based design firm Agata Kurzela Studio was tasked with shaping a constellation of interiors within this monumental building, including majlis meeting rooms, hospitality areas, a public atrium and a research library. Kurzela, a Polish-born architect and interior designer who founded her practice in 2020, has worked extensively across the region, building a reputation for creating quietly dramatic interiors that combine a restrained palette with unexpected sometimes subversive material choices – the chain curtain she used to enclose a prayer room within her design for an Emirati government bureau in Abu Dhabi is just one example.

At the Zayed National Museum, she takes a similarly nuanced approach, adding depth to a sand-coloured palette with tactile local materials including wool, rope, ceramic, camel leather and metal.

Across the project, Kurzela assembled a group of Emirati designers and artists whose work helps shape each space. Furniture by designers including Aljoud Lootah, known for her ability to reinterpret traditional forms into new contexts, and Omar Al Gurg, founder of Dubai-based design studio Modu Method, sits alongside pieces by Emirati visual artist Latifa Saeed and Emirati architect Abdalla Al Mulla. Lighting by local design brand Khalid Shafar, designer Alya Al Ghefeli and interior architect Roudha Al Shamsi adds further layers, while textiles and carpets reference regional craft traditions.

Several spaces take their cues from the Al Durour calendar, a traditional Emirati system that divides the year into seasonal phases. Meeting rooms and majlises ('majlis' is an Arabic term meaning ‘sitting room’) translate these shifts into colour, texture and atmosphere, creating a design language loosely rooted in the rhythms of desert climate.

The result is an interior landscape in which cultural references are not presented as artefacts behind glass, but embedded within the spaces themselves – in the materials, objects and collaborations that shape how the museum is experienced.

The new year may still be young, but the United States is gearing up for a major milestone in July: the nation’s 250th anniversary. The lead-up to the historic occasion, also known as the semiquincentennial, is marked by special exhibitions, tours and events to commemorate America’s past, present and future.

A recent project from Foster + Partners anticipates the very distant future while simultaneously burying an old rivalry — literally. Earlier this month, US and British officials revealed a stainless steel time capsule designed by the firm that’s set to be buried beneath the Washington Monument in the US capital later this year.

The time capsule — due to be opened on 4 July, 2276 — symbolises the special relationship between the US and the United Kingdom.

‘The 250th anniversary represents one of history’s most remarkable reconciliations from adversaries to the closest of allies,’ said UK Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy at a special presentation at Mount Vernon, US president George Washington’s Virginia estate.

The time capsule is the twin to an identical one in London’s Trafalgar Square that was placed beneath a restored statue of Washington last June.

According to Foster + Partners, the capsules were CNC-machined from a solid piece of stainless steel. Its column-shaped design features 13 flutes that symbolise America’s 13 original colonies; the official state seal of Virginia; and a red closure featuring Washington's initials.

What’s inside? The US version contains soil from Sulgrave Manor, Washington’s ancestral home in the UK; letters from US and UK government officials; essays from Virginia students; and — eventually — letters from President Trump and King Charles III.

A spokesperson for America 250, the bipartisan committee overseeing the semiquincentennial activities, tells Wallpaper* that more information about the time capsule, its contents and burial will be revealed in the coming weeks.

The Zayed National Museum's five-falcon wing-shaped lightweight steel towers in Abu Dhabi rise prominently and confidently towards the skies as if they are about to take flight. The movement embodied in the design of the towers, designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Lord Norman Foster of Foster + Partners, is symbolic of the strength, courage, determination and pride of the falcon, the national emblem of the United Arab Emirates, the Gulf nation which celebrated its 54 years as a country since it was united and founded by late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan in 1971.

To mark the occasion, after around 15 years of construction, the Zayed National Museum has opened to the public on 3 December, a day after the UAE’s National Day.

Inside the brand new Zayed National Museum in Abu Dhabi

Sheikh Zayed loved falconry and viewed it as a vital part of Arabian heritage and a means to connect with nature and his local Arabian Bedouin culture. The Zayed National Museum strives to do exactly this – celebrate Sheikh Zayed’s legacy while preserving the emirate of Abu Dhabi’s rich past, its connection with the land, local culture and ardent stride towards the future.

The architecture of the museum is another example of the mastery of Lord Foster. The towers also act as thermal chimneys, part of a sustainable cooling system to draw cool air into the galleries below.

'At the time of the commission, the site was completely undeveloped; it was really the desert,' said Lord Foster. 'Before you had cheap energy, you worked with nature, with the elements, and this is very much in accord with the vision and passion of Sheikh Zayed of greening the desert, creating gardens, and working with nature.'

Lord Foster notes how his firm created an 'environmental system,' with the building leveraging 'thermal mass,' he notes, through its buried, mound-like structure. It goes back to ideas of traditional desert architecture, says Lord Foster and is dug into the earth to take advantage of the ground’s insulating properties and cooler temperatures.

Traditional Arabian design elements blend with modern design throughout the structure. For instance, traditional desert architecture often uses light and shadow to control heat. The Zayed Museum incorporates subtly placed openings to capture and emanate sunlight into the interior spaces.

Beneath them, the museum’s multifaceted concrete structure offers an immersive journey spanning Abu Dhabi’s ancient history to the present day. The museum has six permanent galleries positioned across two floors containing artefacts from the Palaeolithic, Neolithic, Bronze and Iron Ages found across the Emirate. A separate gallery serves for temporary exhibitions. The collection includes over 3,000 pieces, of which 1,500 will be on display, each meticulously chosen for the stories they relay about the land and its people.

The museum is situated in the Saadiyat Cultural District on Abu Dhabi’s Saadiyat Island, positioned. Before entry into the museum, visitors will encounter a 600-meter-long path called Al Masar Garden, an outdoor verdant gallery featuring native plants and trees representative of the desert, oasis and urban environments of the emirate of Abu Dhabi.

Stretching from the coast of Saadiyat Island and located between the Louvre Abu Dhabi and the newly opened Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi to the entrance of Zayed National Museum, the garden features a working falaj irrigation system, the ancient, gravity-powered method for irrigation used particularly in the UAE and Oman and contemporary sculptures, reflecting the life and vision of Sheikh Zayed and the history of the UAE.

'I think the idea of growing a garden from the coast through the desert to the oasis is a symbolic element of the building,' adds Lord Foster, emphasising how the museum metaphorically reflects 'the idea of arriving at the oasis. The building serves as a container for the memorabilia and the story of the Emirates, which is an important story for younger generations and those visiting [Abu Dhabi] who would have had no idea of the roots of the Emirates and the vision of this extraordinary individual so pivotal to its founding.'

fosterandpartners.com

Announced tonight (13 November), the Archiboo Awards 2025 celebrate this year's most forward-thinking voices in the way architecture and its intentions are projected and introduced to the world – from launches of emerging studios, to communications, podcasts and activism in architecture, there is plenty to talk about when it comes to this industry accolade, which was established nine years ago alongside the rise of digital technologies within the industry.

The winners for 2025 have just been revealed at a big bash in central London – and as always, a highlight of the event was the Activism Award, which was this year won by Narrative Practice.

Archiboo Awards 2025: Activism winner

Entries this year came from across the world, from as far as India and Australia. Judges praised Narrative Practice for its ‘bottom-up approach, driven by a personal connection to the cause’, calling its work 'vital if architecture is to achieve its stated goal of becoming more equitable and inclusive'.

The studio focuses on mentoring and research work, with the wider goal of opening up the field and spearheading diversity and equity strategies and representation.

Another highlight this year was the launch of a new category – flagging the use of AI in architecture. Best Use of AI and Immersive Technology was scooped by Foster + Partners.

Amanda Baillieu, founder of the Archiboo Awards, said: 'This year’s winners reflect the wider shift in how every creative business is having to adapt the way they tell their story in the age of AI and algorithmic feeds. This year's winners are those who've successfully navigated this shift, recognising the vital importance of a unique identity that people can truly connect with.'

Archiboo Awards 2025: more winners

Best Podcast: Duro Design Disruptors (Host: Suneet Zishan Langar, Creative Agency: Epistle, Producer: Duroply)

Best User Experience: BDP (Creative agency: Peter & Paul)

Best Brand (1–10): Whaleback (Creative agency: Ana Bea Studio)

Best Brand (11+): SD Engineers (Creative agency: TM Studio)

Best Use of Video (1–10): Intervention Architecture (Videographer: Dion Barrett)

Best Use of Video (11+): Multitude of Sins (Directors: Smita Thomas and Sohaib Ilyas)

Best Visual Design (1–10): Chris Romer-Lee (Creative agency: Linda Byrne)

Best Visual Design (11+): Tuckey Design Studio (Creative agency: A Common Purpose)

Best Written Content: Architextures (Writer: Vanessa Norwood)

archibooawards.com

When American banker John Pierpont Morgan decided to build his company a new Wall Street headquarters more than a century ago, he wanted to create a building that would ‘fall in line with the big modern improvements all around him.’ Though the resulting neoclassical edifice at 23 Wall Street – known as the House of Morgan – was just four storeys, a real estate trade journal called it ‘a rival to the Parthenon'.

This week, 112 years after the financier’s death, a new House of Morgan has sprung up in Manhattan, four miles north at 270 Park Avenue. If 23 Wall Street was Morgan’s Parthenon, this building is his Colossus: designed by Foster + Partners, the JPMorganChase tower rises a quarter-mile over Midtown and will accommodate some 10,000 employees by year’s end.

The $3 billion skyscraper, criss-crossed by a striking structural megaframe, occupies an entire city block and contains 2.5 million gross sq ft of flexible work spaces – including eight state-of-the-art trading floors, boutique wellness facilities and even a Danny Meyer-curated food hall.

‘It's really the workplace of the future, today,’ Norman Foster, founder and executive chairman of Foster + Partners, said during a ribbon-cutting ceremony Tuesday.

Foster + Partners was brought aboard the project in 2018, after winning a competition to create a revamped global headquarters for JPMorganChase, one that would replace an International Style skyscraper designed by Gordon Bunshaft and Natalie de Blois of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.

The site was complicated, due to the complex system of rail lines that run beneath. But Lord Foster – whom David Arena, JPMorganChase’s head of global real estate, cheekily referred to as the project’s ‘Lord and often our saviour’ – designed imaginative structural system consisting of fan-shaped columns and triangular bracing that would anchor the building to bedrock 400ft below, while allowing the skyscraper to sit lightly on the site. In fact, the building hovers 80ft above the ground, creating room for a public plaza and green spaces – according to Foster, two-and-a-half times what is typical for such mammoth buildings.

‘This is a somewhat unusual tower,’ the architect continued. ‘It's different, and it's different for very positive reasons’ – chief among them, sustainability. 270 Park Avenue is the largest all-electric tower in New York City with net zero emissions, according to JPMorganChase. It’s also entirely powered by hydroelectric energy.

The building was also designed with employee wellness in mind, from taller-than-usual ceilings (the building is 60 stories, but is comparable in height to a 100-storey tower, according to Foster), circadian lighting, fresh air (more than double than what is usual) and a host of health-minded amenity spaces like a fitness centre, meditation rooms and even indoor spin studios. New-age guru Deepak Chopra was even brought in as a consultant.

But for all the innovation, the building is firmly rooted in tradition, according to Foster, just like the 225-year-old company it houses. ‘It doesn't use any of the fashionable computer wizardry to create exotic shapes,’ the architect said. The design team was inspired by both New York City’s grid system – which came of age with JP Morgan himself – and the grandeur of the traditional banking hall.

No greater is this communicated than in 270 Park Avenue’s soaring lobby, clad in travertine and illuminated by hundreds of honeycomb-like LED ceiling lights. Once visitors pass through a security barrier, they ascend a grand stairway towards an airy elevator lobby. The stairway is flanked by two monumental works by Gerhard Richter, Color Chase One and Color Chase Two. At the stair’s summit, near the elevators, is a lounge, carpeted in cream, dotted with club chairs and encircled by a slatted enclosure. At its centre is an American flag that flutters from an unseen breeze, a creation by Foster himself called Wind Dance.

Heritage is communicated on the exterior of the building, too: the muscular braces are clad in bronze. ‘Park Avenue is one of the great urban spaces in the world… The architecture is the celebration of that,’ Foster said. ‘Bronze is timeless in its qualities, in its endurance.’

The project is not without its controversy. In order to make way for the new 270 Park, JPMorganChase needed to demolish Bunshaft and de Blois’ Union Carbide building, a move that drew outcry from architects and preservationists. The company insists that, with its replacement, it’s giving back to the city, to the tune of $42 billion annually to the local economy, 8,000 construction jobs and the public plaza.

For JPMorganChase’s rank-and-file employees, there’s also the question of returning to the office. While many corporations have adapted to hybrid work schedules, JPMorganChase reinstated a full return-to-office mandate, a move that led employees to circulate a petition and for CEO and chairman Jamie Dimon to fire back with expletives. While the new office may offer some of the most attractive worker amenities in the city (‘You're never going to want to even go home, it's so incredible here,’ New York governor Kathy Hochul joked during the ceremony), it remains to be seen if spin classes and gourmet lunches will be enough.

At the building’s opening, though, the message was firm in more ways than one: before the ribbon-cutting, a DJ played an energetic Jackson 5 remix. The tune? ‘I Want You Back’.

Foster + Partners are no strangers to nautical design. At this year’s Monaco Yacht Week, the practice has once again delved into the realm of high-tech ocean-going architecture with the new Outlier I yacht concept. Norman Foster is a long-time aficionado of all things related to sailing. High Tech architecture also owes a great deal to technology transferred from the precisely machined and perfectly balanced components of naval engineering.

Ever since the earliest days of Foster + Partners there have been boats on the boards. From the faceted hull of the Izanami motor yacht (1995), to the elegant Dark Shadow (2002) and Panthalassa (2007) sailing yachts, to smaller scale projects like the Alen 68, Foster + Partners have always accommodated naval architecture into their portfolio.

The studio was also responsible for the impressive Yacht Club de Monaco structure, a nautical confection of decks, louvres, glass and teak that affords some of the best views of the marina. Monaco’s status as the place to celebrate the culture of outsized yachts is unrivalled, making it the perfect place to launch a megayacht concept.

Outlier I is an appropriate name for this gargantuan proposal. Working with Lateral Naval Architects, the design explores what the practice describes, perhaps a little archly, as a ‘sweet spot in the megayacht market.’ That is to say, it accommodates the features and space of a 100m+ gigayacht into a slightly more modest 88m hull.

According to Marilu Sicoli, Senior Partner, Foster + Partners, ‘the Outlier I yacht … offers approximately 40 percent more deck space than standard yachts in its category, making it a standout in its class.’

Megayachts and gigayachts are all about the Superyacht Gross Tonnage (GT), a measurement of internal volume that shows how much space a boat actually takes up. Outlier 1 is around 2,000 GT. In layman’s terms that’s still pretty big, but for the more practically minded billionaire, it means you have a craft that’s not too big for certain key moorings yet also has space for what the architects call ‘key desirable components such as a swimming pool, helipad and a private top deck.’

The faceted, forward-looking hull architecture places the visual mass of the boat towards the bow. This is where Lateral have accommodated the engine room, a marked departure from tradition which frees up the internal volume, especially in the middle and aft sections.

Foster + Partners have seized on this spatial freedom to create a dramatic triple-height central volume, united by a helical stainless-steel staircase and featuring a cascade of glass that reaches right down to the water level. ‘We are pushing the boundaries of yacht design, reimagining guest spaces and adjacencies to offer a completely new way of living on the water,’ says Senior Partner Adam Newburn.

As can be seen from these renders, Outlier I is very much about the view – both internally between decks, and to the exterior. In addition to this radically reorganised circulation, the yacht incorporates a central service spine running the length of the vessel, as well as a large tender bay for. The two studios suggest the concept could prefigure a variety of use cases, from an explorer yacht to a luxury cruise vessel, as well as the ultimate in spacious private megayacht design.

FosterandPartners.com, @FosterandPartners, Lateral.Engineering

During Frieze 2025, Christie's presents 'Architects for Birds', an initiative by Norman Foster and the Tessa Jowell Foundation that raises funds to improve treatment for brain cancer across the NHS. Foster invited nine leading architecture practices to create a birdhouse (and contributed one himself), each design set to go under the hammer at Christie's in October.

The birdhouses will be on view at Christie’s King Street from 8 to 14 October 2025.

Architects for the Birds: 10 birdhouses

'Biodiversity is essential for the processes that support all life on earth, including humans,' says Norman Foster. He cites researcher from the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU), who said that 'if you live in minimalist architecture without bird-friendly features, you can at least put up some birdhouses'.

The architects involved in the project include Renzo Piano, David Chipperfield, Grafton Architects, Sou Fujimoto, Lina Ghotmeh, Jacques Herzog, Frida Escobedo, Farshid Moussavi, and Kazuyo Sejima.

'There are good environmental reasons to encourage the design of facilities for birds, aside from the sheer pleasure of sharing the company of our feathered friends,' continues Foster. 'This connection to nature [...] is helpful for our physical and mental wellbeing. There is no better convening cause than that of the Tessa Jowell Foundation.'

Responding to an open brief, the birdhouses and feeders blend functional design with poetic folly, reflecting each architecture practice's aesthetic and ethos in compact form. The idea for the series was to delve into 'the possibilities of a more intimate architectural challenge, demonstrating the diversity of human imagination and exploring our relationship with nature'.

'We’re honoured to host “Architects for the Birds” at Christie’s – a project that unites creativity, care, and a shared sense of purpose,' says Giovanna Bertazzoni, Chairman Europe of Christie's. 'Each piece – generously conceived by one of today’s foremost figures in contemporary architecture – offers a unique and moving interpretation of what it means to create care through architecture.'

Foster + Partners is adding to its global architectural portfolio with the expansion of King Salman International Airport, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Construction is officially underway on the project, which is set to cover an area of approximately 57 square kilometres, allowing for six runways and seven terminals and making it one of the world’s largest airports. Scheduled for completion by 2030, the airport is intended to have capacity for up to 100 million travellers each year.

Construction begins on King Salman International Airport, by Foster + Partners

The project forms part of the Saudi Vision 2030 plan to transform the country. Located in the capital, also the main financial centre, the airport is designed to act as a ‘global logistics hub’ and ‘stimulate transport, trade and tourism’ in Saudi Arabia.

The airport will include 12 sq km dedicated to residential and recreational facilities, along with retail outlets. Foster + Partners’ Wadi Loop – a green infrastructure to connect the landscaping and real estate developments – will make it easy for visitors to get from one site to another. The architectural design, particularly in the main terminal, connects to natural elements through large windows framing the surrounding context.

Movement through the terminal is designed to be seamless and intuitive, while the airport will also boast natural ventilation and climate-controlled lighting, and be powered by renewable energy.

Other projects in the works for Foster + Partners include Bilbao Fine Art Museum (to be completed this year), and the national memorial to Queen Elizabeth II in London.

fosterandpartners.com

Foster + Partners has won the Queen Elizabeth II National Memorial Masterplan Design competition. The London-based architecture firm has been selected to design a national memorial to the late queen. The new memorial will include a new bridge inspired by the late Queen’s wedding tiara, the Prince Philip Gate and new gardens, with the final plan for the memorial in St James’ Park to be announced next year.

The architecture firm, which was founded in 1967 by Norman Foster and is renowned for numerous high-profile works across the globe, such as the Great Court at the British Museum, international airports such as Hong Kong and Beijing, Apple Park and the global Apple stores, was selected from a shortlist of five concepts by acclaimed teams.

The five finalist teams, which included Heatherwick Studio, J&L Gibbons, Tom Stuart-Smith, and Wilkinson Eyre, were asked to create a masterplan that would honour and celebrate Queen Elizabeth’s life of service and provide the public with a space for reflection in St James' Park.

The winning design proposal focuses on the late Queen’s life through a time which bridged tradition and modernity. Foster + Partners’ concept centred on how she brought these dualities together. The proposal features two gates, two gardens, joined by a new bridge which resembles Queen Elizabeths’s wedding tiara, and will replace St James’ Park Blue Bridge.

It also features figurative sculptures and a new gate named after Prince Philip. Gardens are incorporated to represent the Commonwealth, while artistic installations celebrate the nation’s diversity. The winning team includes artist Yinka Shonibare and celebrated landscape designer, Michel Desvigne.

‘I knew The Queen on formal occasions but also enjoyed her informality when attending events as a member of the Order of Merit,' says Foster, founder and executive chairman at Foster + Partners. ‘We have sought to reflect these qualities of the formal and informal in our design, with an appeal across a wide range of ages and interests. To these ends, we have discreetly stretched the boundaries of art and technology with a deliberately gentle intervention. Our design will have the minimum impact on the nature and biodiversity of the Park, and it will be phased to ensure that the precious route across it will never be closed.’

What won the judging panel (The Queen Elizabeth Memorial Committee) over was the firm's balance of formal and informal elements, the use of artists and space, and technical skills.

Now that Foster + Partners have been selected, they will work closely with the memorial committee to refine and develop the initial concept, while also selecting a sculptor to design the memorial’s figurative element. The sculptor will be announced later this year.

The final design will be formally announced in April 2026, alongside a legacy programme, to coincide with what would have been Queen Elizabeth’s hundredth birthday year.

See the five finalists' proposals here

In partnership with Porsche

Venice’s public transport system – ancient, predominantly aquatic, reliant on the gondola since the 11th century and last revolutionised by the city’s first steam-powered, mechanically propelled vaporetto (water bus) back in 1881 – is having a rare radical rethink.

Gateway to Venice’s Waterway is an urban mobility collaboration between the Norman Foster Foundation and Porsche and the star of the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale; architects from the foundation and designers from the German sports car manufacturer worked together on a construction that represents a visionary transportation hub for a Venice of the future.

Inspired by the network of 435 foot bridges that span the city’s 150 canals and connect its 121 islands, the project is a 37m-long, physical manifestation of the intersection between design and architecture and the latest iteration of Porsche’s The Art of Dreams initiative.

Resembling a 21st-century interpretation of a vaporetto dock, the installation’s sinuous aluminium space-frame/lattice-tube construction references classic Porsche race cars such as the 908. The kinetic surface, meanwhile, is inspired by the cube pattern of the new Porsche Macan Electric. Throughout construction, recycled materials and environmentally friendly systems have been used.

A practical, fully working and operational endeavour, the hub functions as a gateway to e-mobility on both land and water. Emission-free water bicycles by California’s Schiller Bikes and Frauscher x Porsche 850 Fantom Air sports boats equipped with the all-electric drive of the Porsche Macan provided alternative transport for attendees during the biennale’s opening week (10 May). Other alternative ideas for urban transportation developed by students from Style Porsche and Studio FA Porsche Zell am See are also on display.

With ‘Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective’ as the theme of this year's biennale, the Norman Foster Foundation and Porsche envisage their collaborative work as a response to transport challenges facing the Italian port city, a catalyst for a discourse on sustainable, urban change and a physical exercise in design reconciling the complex demands of modern urban infrastructure.

‘Design and architecture share the same attributes,’ says Michael Mauer, Vice President Style Porsche. ‘Both disciplines stand for an interplay of aesthetics and technology as well as functionality and realisability. The exchange with creative colleagues beyond the boundaries of classic automotive design is always enriching for us. Creativity thrives on communication and freely conceived ideas.’

Porsche and the Norman Foster Foundation believe that through the integration of technology, insights from nature and lessons from the past, cities can be reimagined as more sustainable, connected and efficient, a holistic approach bringing together experts from different fields to shape the future of mobility.

‘Gateway to Venice's Waterway is a testament to this vision,’ says Norman Foster. ‘It shows how innovation and tradition can co-exist to inspire new solutions for the urban landscapes of tomorrow.’

Gateway to Venice’s Waterway can be visited throughout the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale, which runs until 23 November.

porsche.com/stories

How can you make an object greater than the sum of its parts? How can you make something that will resonate, that will sing to an audience? These are just some of the questions posed by Ben Dobbin, senior partner at Foster + Partners, when conceiving his latest project – the third edition of The Dalmore’s Luminary Series, unveiled on the eve of the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025.

In an appealing triumvirate of architecture, whisky, and sculpture, co-curated with V&A Dundee and following collaborations with Kengo Kuma in 2022 and Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA) in 2024, this edition sees Dobbin explore the tension between creative precision and fluid artistry, both in liquid and in form.

Meet the Dalmore Luminary Series sculpture No.3

The result is two highly collectable whisky releases: The Rare – an exceptionally rare 52-year-old Single Malt; and The Collectable, a remarkable 17-year-old Single Malt Whisky inspired by The Rare and available in a limited edition of just 20,000 bottles. The former is housed in a sculptural bronze structure by Dobbin. Bold, asymmetrical, and improbably but beautifully suspended through a technique known as tensegrity, it’s a piece that pays homage to both natural forces and structural finesse.

'There’s something magical about creating a form that seems to defy gravity,' says Dobbin, who, as head of the firm’s San Francisco office, counts Apple Park in Cupertino and the Transamerica Pyramid in San Francisco among his completed works.

As with every architectural project, translating The Dalmore’s illustrious history, narrative and artistry into a sculptural artwork began with a full immersion into the revered whisky maker’s world. Working alongside Master Distiller Richard Paterson OBE and Master Whisky Maker Gregg Glass, Dobbin was immediately drawn to what he describes as a 'choreography' of taste. 'They design flavour the way we design buildings,' he says. 'There is an understanding of flow, layers and deliberate tension.' They quickly found a shared language. 'We spoke about high notes, low notes, rhythm and composition – in whisky, in music, in painting. It’s all connected.'

Composed of smooth curves and intersecting bronze rods, the housing for The Rare echoes both the flowing topography of the Scottish Highlands and the layered complexity of the whisky itself. 'Whisky making is so deeply tied to place. The river, the loch, the Highlands feed the distillery, and the distillery creates the whisky. That entire cycle shaped my concept and the sculpture became a kind of landscape in itself – a curvilinear expression of the cradling of the centrepiece whisky, just as the Highlands cradle the loch.'

Time was of the essence, though not in terms of deadlines. Both whisky making and architecture share a need to create outcomes that will at once evolve from history and endure for many years to come. Every sense must be considered, something that also led Dobbin to consider musical instruments. 'The harp is something that has been refined and perfected over time,' he explains. 'It’s beautiful to hear and a feat of engineering, but no one can say who designed it. It’s evolved. That’s true of great design – it endures beyond its authorship. The violin is another example: a humble object that fills a space many times its size. It’s greater than the sum of its parts.'

Dobbins has always been fascinated by how one discipline can influence another. 'Like a helicopter blade made of laminated timber informing the design of a dining chair, there’s beauty in that cross-pollination. At Foster + Partners, there’s an obsession with the refinement of engineering – economy, lightness, and precision. That thinking is very much in my DNA.'

The whisky itself, The Rare, was finished in an array of casks, from Vintage 1980 Calvados and 1940 Colheita Port to 40-year-old Pedro Ximénez Sherry and Châteauneuf-du-Pape. 'The dialogue with Ben inspired us to revisit casks we’d set aside years ago, including Calvados barrels we had the foresight to lay down before they were even officially approved for Scotch finishing,' says Gregg Glass, The Dalmore’s master whisky maker. 'It was a creative process of tension and release.'

The Dalmore Luminary 2025 Edition – The Rare is available via Sotheby’s Hong Kong until 16 May, with all proceeds benefiting V&A Dundee. Leonie Bell, the museum’s director, sees the Luminary Series as a natural extension of design’s power to move across disciplines. 'The beauty of this project lies in its synthesis,' she notes. 'Whisky, architecture, sculpture – each element elevates the others.' Dobbin would agree: 'The Dalmore makers have spent decades refining their art. I’ve spent decades refining mine. But when you step outside your discipline and create something new together – something that neither one of you could have made alone – that’s when things get interesting.'

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A new intervention by the Norman Foster Foundation in collaboration with Porsche appeared along the waterfront of the Arsenale at the opening of the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025. Gateway to Venice’s Waterway is part installation, part platform for dialogue around infrastructure and the future of movement in Venice. Created as part of Porsche’s The Art of Dreams cultural programme, the project explores sustainable transportation in a place defined by its relationship to water, rather than roads.

Step through Norman Foster's ‘Gateway to Venice's Waterway'

'[We wanted] to provoke a discussion about mobility,' says Foster of the project, which takes the form of a floating pontoon that extends across the water from the banks of the Arsenale, one of the Venice Biennale’s two main locations. According to Foster, himself an avid collector of vintage automobiles, the 37-metre long aluminium structure took cues from 'the tubular frame of old racing cars,' he said. Composed of a curving, diagrid frame inset with diamond-shaped aluminium panels of varying sizes, the structure was envisioned to catch the light like the rippling water in the canal.

'The idea was to use very simple materials with a high degree of engineering sophistication,' Foster explains, 'to create something that would respond to nature – to the wind, the light, the shadows – and would move with the waves.'

Though it might seem counterintuitive for a car brand to make a statement in a city with no roads, Porsche’s vice president of style, Michael Mauer, sees it as an inquiry into the nature of movement – even in the most unexpected of environments. 'If you’re in the car industry, you talk about mobility,' he says. 'This gateway is a symbol of how mobility in a city like Venice could work.' Indeed, the bridge allows access to a fleet of Schiller bicycles, pedal-powered watercrafts that combine the form of a traditional bicycle with lightweight pontoons, enabling riders to cycle across water.

Porsche and the Norman Foster Foundation see the project as highlighting Venice’s myriad transportation challenges. Aside from traditional hand-powered gondolas that have been entirely usurped by the tourism industry, there are no electric or renewable-powered boats operating in the city. With the introduction of the Schiller bikes, as well as a fleet of Frauscher x Porsche 850 Fantom Air boats powered by electric propulsion, which were present during the Biennale opening days, they hope to spark a conversation about new and sustainable ways of traversing the ancient floating city.

The project is just the latest instalment in Porsche’s The Art of Dreams program, which explores the intersection of art, design, and urban innovation. Previous editions have seen the artist Thomas Trum install large-scale artworks in southern France and the art collective Numen/For Use build a massive interactive sculpture formed of climbable nets in the centre of a Milanese palazzo.

But for Mauer, the collaboration embodies, above all, the spirit of multidisciplinary exchange. 'It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to work with Norman Foster,' he says. 'The car industry is a very streamlined process, so exchanging opinions with a creative community is so important to us. Norman Foster is a car collector and very much interested in the history of cars, so hearing his ideas on car design was a very exciting moment for us. Though the creative process of car design and architecture can be very similar, the outcome is vastly different. We really understood each other.'

The 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, curated by Carlo Ratti and titled Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective., is open to the public from 10 May to 23 November 2025.

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Manchester United football club has revealed plans for a jaw-dropping new stadium, which Sir Norman Foster, founder and executive chairman of Foster + Partners, the project’s architect, has described as ‘arguably the largest public space in the world’. The stadium will be built close to Manchester United’s current home, Old Trafford, and have capacity for 100,000 fans.

The club’s co-owner, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, has said: ‘Our current stadium has served us brilliantly for the past 115 years, but it has fallen behind the best arenas in world sport. By building next to the existing site, we will be able to preserve the essence of Old Trafford, while creating a truly state-of-the-art stadium that transforms the fan experience.’

Foster + Partners has released conceptual images of how the stadium and its surrounding areas might look, which is, in a word, distinctive. Three masts, 200m high and visible from 40 miles away, will rise, trident-like, from the structure.

In a video released by Manchester United, Lord Foster explains that, acoustically, the stadium will ‘[cultivate] a huge roar’. It will not be a ‘fortress surrounded by a sea of cars’, but ‘open’, contained by what he describes as a ‘vast umbrella’ which will ‘[harvest] energy and rainwater and [shelter] a new public plaza that is twice the size of [London’s] Trafalgar Square’.

The stadium will be ‘the beating heart of a new sustainable district, which is completely walkable, served by public transport, and endowed by nature’, Lord Foster continues, describing this new district as a ‘mixed-use miniature city of the future’. This refers to the fact that the stadium will act as the centrepiece to the regeneration of the Old Trafford area, and of southern Manchester as a whole. The start date for the project, therefore, will depend on ‘how quickly the government gets going with their regeneration programme’, Ratcliffe said.

A project of this magnitude would usually take ten years to complete. Manchester United has announced its plan to do this one in five, slashing the construction time with prefabrication – building large parts of the stadium off-site and transporting them via Manchester’s canal network. ‘It will be a modular build – that means it can be built far more quickly,’ said Ratcliffe. ‘There are yards which specialise in building very large structures, which are then shipped to locations around the world.’ Lord Foster added that construction time would be halved ‘by using the network of the Manchester ship canal, bringing it back to a new life, [and] shipping in components, 160 of them, Meccano-like’.

It’s a full circle moment: during the Industrial Revolution, Trafford Park was the nation’s industrial heartland; now, the very infrastructure that made that possible will pave the way for the Manchester of the future.

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Calling the Transamerica Pyramid 'iconic' would not be an exaggeration. The distinctively shaped high rise (the clue is in the name) in the heart of San Francisco's Financial District has long been one of the city's more recognisable landmarks and its second tallest. Now, Lord Norman Foster and his firm, Foster + Partners, have remastered this West Coast classic for the 21st century, breathing new life into the structure.

The Transamerica Pyramid, revamped

The Transamerica Pyramid was built in 1972 to a design by Californian architecture practice William L Pereira & Associates – a studio renowned for its take on modernist architecture. The impressive quartz-studded concrete tower on 600 Montgomery Street has over 3,000 windows and stands at 853ft (260m) tall. It remains to this day one of the tallest pyramidal structures in the world.

Now, Foster + Partners worked with developers SHVO and Deutsche Finance, who injected some $1bn dollar worth of investment to redesign the building for the needs of today's workforce. 'We are delighted to see Transamerica Pyramid Center entering a new era,' says Foster. 'Our transformation honours the building's history while creating interior spaces that are world-class and outdoor public gardens that reconnect with the city.'

The revamp comprises a reworking of the interior with a luxury hospitality approach in mind, featuring expanded public areas and a wealth of new amenities for users and guests. A new series of public exhibitions within will establish a strong relationship with the creative world too – and the first installations are curated by Foster himself. These include ‘The Vertical City’, a selection of high-rise architecture by Foster + Partners; and ‘Les Lalanne at Transamerica Redwood Park’, an outdoor exhibition on the work of iconic French artists Claude and François-Xavier Lalanne.

Meanwhile, San Francisco mayor London Breed adds: 'The Transamerica Pyramid is more than just a building, it’s a symbol of San Francisco's spirit. This renovation ensures that it will continue to be a landmark for generations to come, while also creating a thriving hub for businesses and fostering a vibrant public space.'

fosterandpartners.com

Apple’s first retail location in Malaysia stands out amid the skyline of the capital city of Kuala Lumpur. The tech company is known for its revolutionary, ergonomically efficient and refined designs, and stays true to the same ethos in its architectural expression (an approach we also witnessed at Apple’s Cupertino HQ and sculpture park). A fresh case in point is the new Malaysian flagship, which offers crisp white lines, minimalist architecture and interiors, and a semi-sunken shop floor in a futuristic build that feels distinctly 'Apple', courtesy of the brand's architects-of-choice, Foster + Partners.

Apple’s first retail location in Malaysia opens to the public

Located in the new Tun Razak Exchange (TRX), the store is designed as a glazed dome. From a distance, the roof is seemingly floating above ground, as it perches above delicate polished stainless-steel columns and is finished with a glass balcony that wraps around the exterior. The globally renowned architecture studio made sure the building feels flowing and dynamic and its curved shapes reflect that; yet from above it takes on a smooth square-like appearance.

The store connects to the mall’s central atrium and is laid out across three levels. Crafted from organic materials including natural stone walls, light terrazzo floors and a timber ceiling, the overall approach in the building works towards a crisp visual freshness that responds to the country's warm climate. The rooftop park integrates surrounding vegetation with a tropical garden and a communal lawn that wraps around the store’s upper level.

The geometries of the domed roof were crafted to respond to its context. Its angled fins are designed to control solar radiation, shading the store's glass façade and extending to create a sheltered walkway around its edge.

Leading down into the store, a sculptural quartz and glass staircase and elevator support circulation between levels. On the lowest floor, which is connected to the interior of the mall, display tables offer all the latest products. A boardroom and video wall are also integrated into the design, alongside a dedicated pick-up station.

‘We are delighted to see Apple The Exchange TRX opening its doors to the public. The project captures the vitality of the city, with a layered roof of stacked solar shading blades that appears to float above the landscape,’ said Stefan Behling, head of studio at Foster + Partners. ‘Galleries and walkways provide spectacular views of the natural surroundings and offer unexpected lines of sight through the store at different levels. The store’s grand interior showcases Apple’s innovative product line-ups and aims to elevate people’s spirits with the celebration of light and shadow.’

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Norman Foster is a champion of cities. As he launches the Norman Foster Institute in Madrid this month, he argues: 'The future of our society is the future of our cities. They are our greatest invention.' Foster sees cities as engines of innovation and positive change, resilient and adaptable in the face of adversity.

Not that cities need much championing of course. Around 90 per cent of the world’s wealth is created in cities and they account for 90 per cent of its population growth. More and more people are moving to cities and being born there. And with that growth come serious issues. Cities are already huge consumers of energy and resources, responsible for 70 per cent of global CO2 emissions. And that share is only likely to increase. Meanwhile, housing supply runs short, infrastructure crumbles and services buckle under the strain.

Launching the Norman Foster Institute

The just-launched Norman Foster Institute (NFI) in Madrid has been designed to both celebrate cities and to help fix them, offering a new one-year MA in Sustainable Cities to architects, planners, local government, urbanists, data analysts and more. 

Since 2015, Foster has been building a remarkable physical archive and architectural research lab in the city. In 2017, this became the not-for-profit Norman Foster Foundation and began inviting students from around the world to workshop with its in-house architects. Initiatives born of these workshops include the Essential Homes Project, a new design for refugee accommodation, put on display at the Venice Biennale 2023; a ‘droneport’ in Rwanda; and a masterplan for the city of Kharkiv in Ukraine. The Institute and its new MA course build on that educational mission.

'It’s a natural evolution,' says Foster. 'The one-week workshops needed more time. But the Institute also taps into the extraordinary network which has built up since we launched the foundation.'

The NFI is essentially a link-up between the Norman Foster Foundation and the Universidad Autónima de Madrid, which is certifying the course. The 30-strong MA cohort has its own base, though, in the purpose-designed NFI City Lab and the NFI Academic Hub, housed within the foundation’s repurposed 1912 palacio. And the institute has a suitably starry faculty, including co-director Kent Larson, director of the City Science Group at MIT, MIT Media Lab director Dava Newman, as well as architects Alejandro Aravena, Deborah Berke, Shigeru Ban and Francis Kéré.

An underlying premise of the course is that the world is becoming less a collection of nation states than a network of cities, with growing power and prosperity built on the quality of life and economic opportunity they offer. And that dense but well-planned, green, walkable and liveable cities are the most resourceful and energy-efficient model we have for housing the world’s exploding population.

The course will link up with three different cities each year, each tackling a particular set of challenges. The debut trio, Athens, Bilbao and the tiny hilltop city of San Marino, are all European, but the institute promises that future selections won’t be so Eurocentric and that its research will have global relevance. 

Foster argues that in the training of architects and urbanists, there is still ‘a disconnect between academia and the real world. We want to combine the best of academia with the best of hands-on experience.'

To that end, students will make field trips to each city, which in turn have provided the institute with as much granular data as they can muster. The NFI City Lab is equipped with all manner of smart technology, touch tables and data-visualising digital displays. 

Data analytics and predictive modelling will be critical to the course and Gareth Simons, the NFI’s head of City Science, says it will look at how AI advances can increase the potency and potential of this modelling. 'With the technology available today we are able to predict the consequences of design interventions and create and map virtual twins of cities,' Foster says. 

In essence, the course’s mission is to look at how architecture, design, technology, planning and public policy fixes can help cities reduce energy use and GHG emissions, align with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and increase quality of life. Students will present their research to the partner cities at the end of the programme. 

Foster insists that the work of the institute is not just relevant to cities with long histories and legacy infrastructure, but to new and exploding cities too, particularly in the Global South. 'Between now and 2050 we’ll be creating something like 17 Madrids every year,' he says. 'That’s the scale of the challenge.'

Critically, he argues, cities are dynamic, constantly re-shaping to answer new demands. The NFI, he says, has been designed so those demands are answered in the smartest and most sustainable way. 

'Cities are not static. They’re being created in terms of new cities, existing cities morph and grow, and they require decisions,' he argues. 'How are those decisions made? Are they going to be made rationally, informed by data and fact or are they going to be based on fashion and prejudice? Will those decisions involve the people communities who are affected by change? All these issues are right at the heart of the institute. They are about empowering and informing the civic leaders of the future.'

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The Apple store at Battersea Power Station in London is the first sighting outside the US of the tech giant’s new, or at least evolved, retail design. A re-engineering rather than a radical facelift, the new store's design prioritises sustainability and applies, as much as possible, ‘universal design’ principles. 

The usual Apple retail design tropes and systems are present and correct - the large product display tables, the mobile sales staff rather than checkout desks, the generous ceiling heights and uninterrupted sight lines, the disciplined, almost utilitarian restraint of material palette, and the meticulously handled curves and radii. At the same time, there is plenty of innovation in the use of more sustainable materials and in increasing accessibility (which is exactly what the universal design movement promotes), ensuring that the store is easy to navigate and interact with for all kinds of customers and staff. 

Apple store at Battersea Power Station: moving towards sustainability

'We’re moving from petrochemical-based products to very plant based [ones], or what we call biogenic,' says Bill Bergeron-Mirsky, Apple’s retail design lead. 'So the terrazzo floor is actually plant based, a bio-resin mixed with aggregates from Italy and Greece and recycled glass from the UK.' The acoustic baffles in the ceiling of the Battersea store are also plant based (rather than fiberglass) and pretty much everything else is FSC-certified wood, a solid oak and spruce composite (and like all Apple stores, the latest opening runs on renewable energy). 

Bergeron-Mirsky says the application of universal design principles has meant 'really thinking about all the different abilities that people have, whether that's cognitive, mobility, hearing or sight, and trying to use that as a guide to everything. And the ideas is that if you do the right thing for people of every ability, it improves things for everyone.'

The wide-open spaces and generous ‘avenues’ of Apple stores have always been wheelchair friendly but now there are tables and counters that work for sitting and standing; those acoustic baffles reduce audio clamour and increase clarity; there is a starker visual contrast between the floor, walls and fixtures (a black insert between wooden pillars and the lighter-than-usual floor establishes a clear visual break); and signage is decluttered and more sharply outlined. Tables used for workshops now have audio induction loops. Small adjustments, perhaps, but they can radically improve the experience and enjoyment of the stores for customers with reduced mobility, sight or hearing. 

Another part of that pushes towards accessibility is a greater clarity of store geography and purpose. The Genius Bar, Apple’s much imitated help desk, is again a physical bar. In many stores, The Genius Bar had become the Genius Groove, a less clearly defined area, where support staff roamed free. And for many, were harder to find. Now they are exactly where you expect them to be. 

Reinventing the Genius Bar

'We spent a lot of time with the Genius team,' says Bergeron-Mirsky, 'and we’re sort of reinvigorating the brand. There is a lot of ways people can get service in the store and it was getting a little lost in the noise.' That new push for visibility includes a new Genius logo and the physical bar now comes in two heights, for sitting and standing advice. The store also features a redesigned Apple Pickup station, with a particularly lovely curved wooden counter. 

The restoration and reinvention of Battersea Power Station has been a long and hugely expensive and complex exercise in adaptive reuse. And the new store’s design aims to work with the existing building and sit lightly within it. 

The store is essentially a 'what you see is what you get' wooden insert, says Bergeron-Mirsky, set around the hefty and beautifully restored brick columns and steel beams of the original building. 'What we’re doing is trying to give you everything up front. This is actually a solid timber structure and that expresses itself to the customer. And it’s just that idea of doing more with less.' And while the new store is definitely a retail unit within what is, in effect, a beautifully realised upmarket mini-mall, Bergeron-Mirsky says the Battersea outlet has taken a lead from Apple stores in other historic buildings. 

'You really want to use as much of that original fabric as possible. And Apple has done that a lot in the past with stores like the Via del Corso store in Rome or Carnegie Library in Washington, where we go in and restore of the original fabric in a way that no one else would and then insert a store. At Grand Central Station, there’s almost no store at all. It’s mostly just tables and it's kind of the perfect store.'

Working with Foster + Partners

Apple has again partnered with Foster + Partners on the design and, says Bergeron-Mirsky, the architecture studio came up with a surprising reference for the new store’s design: Mayfair’s swanky store-lined cut through, Burlington Arcade. It’s not immediately apparent but the Watch Studio, an almost store-within-store, does have something of the arcade’s sense of elegance and discovery. 

The new look was premiered last month at Tysons Corner in Virginia, Apple's first ever retail outlet and Battersea, taking a prime slot amongst the redeveloped behemoth’s retail offering, is only the second to employ the new design formula anywhere in the world. 

Apple's home above the store

The new store is close to home for Apple. It has taken 40% of the office space available at Battersea Power station to create a centralised Foster + Partners-designed UK HQ. And Apple is determined that the Battersea store becomes a model for next level customer service and engagement with the local community. 

Elle Lafaras, the store leader at Apple Battersea, says all staff at the store, and that can mean 70 or so on a busy weekend, have an average of seven years Apple retail experience and have some connection with the local area. And Kat Wong, head of today at Apple and creative studios EMEIA, says bookable-for-free Battersea Power Station art and photography tours have been added to the store’s Today at Apple sessions. 'People will actually get to go around the building and learn about its history, heritage, the architecture, as well as all the other buildings around it and how the landscape has completely changed.'

'Our stores are a place where the community can come together to discover all of Apple’s products and services, and we’re proud to be expanding to serve even more customers with the opening of Apple Battersea,' says Deirdre O’Brien, Apple’s senior vice president of retail. 'Located just below our new UK Headquarters, our amazing team is excited to provide exceptional support and help customers unleash their creativity.'

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Foster + Partners has also now designed the first Apple store in Malaysia, at Tun Razak Exchange. Follow the link to look inside.

The opening of Battersea Roof Gardens residents' amenities marks the next step in the continued development of Battersea Power Station in south London. The residential spaces at the top of the building, designed by Foster + Partners, encompass a Sky Lounge and vast gym, alongside 232 studios and apartments.

Battersea Roof Gardens by Foster + Partners

Foster + Partners nods to the building’s industrial past in a design which juxtaposes wooden accents with a clean minimalism. A generous gym space is flooded with light thanks to triple-height ceilings and floor-to-ceiling windows, while apartments comprise both the bright and the cosy. There is an emphasis on welcoming communal spaces throughout, with the upper floor of the Sky Lounge containing a bar, and the lower floor co-working spaces, a cinema room and a lounge and entertaining area. 

‘Neighbourhood and community are at the heart of Battersea Power Station, and the first step to establishing this is to create spaces which residents want to share and congregate in,’ says Meriam Makiya, head of residential at Battersea Power Station Development Company. ‘This philosophy inspired the design of truly remarkable residential amenities, positioned in prime locations within Battersea Roof Gardens, so that residents can meet and enjoy the best of the neighbourhood together. These amenity spaces have quickly become extensions of each resident’s home, encouraging socialising, and creating a real sense of community.’

Battersea Roof Gardens also includes Koa at Electric Boulevard, a collection of 204 apartments, and 200,000 sq ft office building, 50 Electric Boulevard. 

Other residential projects at Battersea Power Station include Frank Gehry’s Prospect Place apartments, and homes at the Power Station a building restored by WilkinsonEyre with apartment layouts configured by interior architects Michaelis Boyd.

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If your world is turned upside down and you’re unhoused by a natural or man-made catastrophe, you will probably end up in a tent. If you’re lucky. The Norman Foster Foundation, working with Swiss building materials giant Holcim, has launched the Essential Homes Research Project and come up with a more substantial, if admittedly more costly, alternative: a quick-build, design-led concrete cabin that promises displaced populations a more dignified, safe, solid and longer-lasting shelter. 

The Essential Homes Research Project’s shelter proposal

The design was taken from initial drawings to full-scale prototype in just nine months and unveiled at the launch of the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale.

The cabin is constructed around a take-away frame in two layers of canvas, one corrugated, impregnated with low-carbon concrete. The outer layer is sprayed with water and starts to set within hours, is solid within a day, and the structure can be ready for safe, warm habitation in three to four days.

The corrugated layer adds stability and creates space for foam insulation for colder climate housing. Another insulation layer is added underneath the concrete shell, while bedrooms, kitchens, showers, toilets and dining tables are housed in easily inserted flat-pack, ply-wood pods. 

Measuring 6m across and offering 18 sq m of living space, each cabin could house a family of four, the project partners suggest. The modular, reconfigurable design means it could serve a range of other purposes, from office to store to school room. 

Foundations are built using recycled demolition materials, while the cabins can be connected by low-carbon permeable pathways packed with light-absorbing, glow-in-the dark aggregates, reducing energy use and light pollution. The Foster/Holcim team argue that the design has an embedded carbon debt 70 per cent lower than a traditional brick or concrete building of the same size.

The component parts of the cabin arrived in Venice in a single truck and the partners suggest they can make transport even more efficient in the future. No cranes are required in the construction, which can be completed by non-specialist teams, including future tenants. ‘If you are involved in the construction process, you have a sense of pride and ownership,’ Foster argues. The cabins have also been designed for easy disassembly and then reuse or recycling. 

The project was born of a student/architect workshop, sponsored by Holcim, and run by the Norman Foster Foundation in 2022 at its headquarters in Madrid. The challenge it addressed is huge. There are currently 103 million displaced people around the world, according to the UN. Climate change threatens to massively increase that number, and on average, displaced people spend 20 years in ‘temporary’ shelter. 

Intent on reimagining almost instant, almost 'anywhere' housing, the students, advisors from Holcim and Foster himself, took the Ikea Foundation’s ‘Better Shelter’, a tent fitted with polypropylene side-panels and with a three-year lifespan, as a starting point. 

Foster acknowledges that the Ikea shelter is a vast improvement on the existing alternatives, but it still does the bare minimum. ‘In the workshops, we looked at the best tents on the market, and we just thought, “Oh my God, there are no windows, you can't look out, there's no life. There's no acoustic privacy. There's no joy.”’

Foster says the students set the project’s direction of travel: ‘They were asking, how can this be more like a home? Can it build something more like a community? Can the buildings work together to create public spaces? Could it be less institutional, less like a barracks? Could it be more human?’

With a current cost of €20,000 per cabin, the Foster/Holcim design isn’t going to be the most affordable option for instant housing. Throwing in some comparative costing maths, when it was launched in 2017, the Better Shelter super-tent cost just $1,250, but the Essential Homes team are arguing their cabin will last at least 20 years. And Edelio Bermejo, Holcim’s head of R&D, says they are already looking at ways to reduce costs. 

As the partners argue, though, the cabin design deliberately blurs the boundaries between the temporary and the permanent, and quick-fix shelter and affordable housing, hence the catch-all 'Essential Housing' tag. As much as they spent time studying 'instant accommodation', from yurts to Nissen huts (and the final design has more than a touch of Nissen hut about it), the team behind the design were, says Foster, 'challenging traditional ways of creating a permanent building'.

For Zurich-based Holcim, the project is a chance to showcase its development of more sustainable concretes and persuade sceptics of its future as a responsible material. It has already established a reputation for delivering innovative construction and infrastructure solutions, building the world’s first 3D-printed school in Malawi and the world’s largest 3D-printed affordable housing project in Kenya.

Holcim and Foster admit that the use of concrete is now a hard sell to many young architects, but insist that lower-carbon concrete is the most viable building material for large-scale projects. And that a priority in the project was using commercially available materials. 'There is a responsibility to separate myths and emotion from the realities of hard data,' says Foster.

Foster and the rest of the team are clear that the version of the cabin shown in Venice is just a speculative work-in-progress, with design wrinkles still to be ironed out. ‘This is an R&D project and the next step is to test in three different locations,’ says Bermejo. ‘But we have a design, we have the materials, we just need someone to say, “I want this to build a village, a community.”’

The Essential Homes team insist that possibilities are multiple and that the cabin is suitable for everything from temporary housing and long-term affordable housing to an office/studio outbuilding or a holiday cabin. ‘We never imagined that we could push the boundaries and end up with so many people seeing the prototype and saying, “I'd love one of those,”’ says Foster.

normanfosterfoundation.org 

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'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 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. 

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.

‘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.

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.’

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.

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. 

‘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.

centrepompidou.fr 

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Foster + Partners has released images of its concept design for Dubai’s debut vertiport terminal, working hand-in-hand with Skyports to shape the infrastructure for this next generation of aviation. We’ve been tracking the evolution of the electric airport of the future for a number of years, as big players like Stellantis and Hyundai join forces with a hangar-full of start-ups like Joby and Lilium to grab a slice of the zero-emission skies. 

Foster + Partners’ vertiport for Dubai

Foster + Partners’ provisional concept design envisages a vertiport terminal alongside Dubai International Airport (DXB), with three other locations elsewhere in the emirate. The eVTOL (electric vertical take-off and landing) industry is looking to the Middle East to be the technology’s landscape of early adoption, and the enormous investments in infrastructure are a good opportunity to find space for eVTOL. According to the Foster + Partners team, the Dubai concept is all about providing ‘seamless, sustainable travel across the city for international and domestic passengers’.

The suggested arrival date for this mix of new tech and new infrastructure is 2026, by which time the skies could be alive with newly certified aircraft, buzzing this way and that in a frenzy of autonomised activity. Plans are also afoot for a similar outpost at next year’s Paris Olympics, with Skyports working alongside Aéroports de Paris to run a service using Volocopter’s Volocity. 

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Skyports.net

Reaching for the skies around the world: eVTOL air taxis of the future 

Mindful of the broken promises, endless technical obstacles and increasingly wary public perception of the autonomous car, the eVTOL industry knows it has to run a marathon, not a sprint, in order to bring these services to market. That said, autonomous flying is theoretically easier to compute than the infinite complexity of the terrestrial road system. It’s just that mistakes are rather more costly. 

eVTOL’s golden promise is point-to-point, short-hop travel, providing the connective glue within a wider network of long-haul flights and high-speed rail. Here is a selection of new aircraft hoping to be contenders for the air taxi of the future.

Atea by Ascendance Flight Technologies

The Atea is a five-seater hybrid eVTOL aircraft, designed and developed by the Toulouse-based Ascendance Flight Technologies. Currently in prototype stage, the company hopes to enter service in 2026. The Atea uses a hybrid system, with batteries powering take-off and landing to reduce noise and emissions in urban centres, and traditional kerosene power giving the craft a helicopter-like range of around 400km. 

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Lyte Aviation Skybus

The Skybus is perhaps the largest eVTOL solution in development. A 40-seater hybrid-electric tilt-rotor, the Skybus is an ambitious project that updates the ill-fated 1957 Fairey Rotodyne, a large gyrodyne (an aircraft that uses a rotor for lift and conventional props for forward flight) once envisioned as the future of inter-city transportation. The Rotodyne – which actually flew – was canned due to its excessive noise. Lyte still has a long way to go before it even builds a prototype, even though the basic concept is sound. 

LyteAviation.com

Prosperity 1 by AutoFlight

AutoFlight is one of the few companies to have a substantial eVTOL craft up and running. The company’s craft currently holds the record for the world’s longest eVTOL flight (a distance of 250km on one charge) and has also announced orders for 200 aircraft from EVFLY, a new air fleet management and operation company specialising in the electric sector. The Chinese manufacturer believes its Prosperity aircraft can be used for both passengers (seating up to four) and cargo, in both autonomous and piloted versions. EVFLY plans to kick off with cargo services before moving on to the more complex air taxi application. 

AutoFlight.com

Generation 6 by Wisk

California-based Wisk is backed by Boeing, giving it serious support in its bid to become America’s first all-electric air taxi. Their Generation 6 is a four-seater passenger craft designed from the outset to be fully autonomous. Powered by a total of 12 propellors, six of which tilt for forward flight, the Generation 6 has a spacious cabin and plenty of luggage space.

Wisk.Aero

British architect Norman Foster, long synonymous with dynamic, bold and cloud-brushing structures, and Karimoku, the Japanese wood maker celebrated for its attention to detail and craftsmanship heritage, may not appear an immediately obvious match. Yet these two worlds combine to harmonious effect in the Foster Retreat, a new project by Norman Foster and the Norman Foster Foundation on the edge of a creek in Martha’s Vineyard, with the sharpness of the modern architecture perfectly countered by the soft edges of the Karimoku furniture.

The angular structure of steel and timber cuts sharply into the sky, casting clean lines of light onto the scenic landscape of Martha’s Vineyard, in a minimalist riff on traditional American barns.

Step inside, however, and another design language unfolds: flowing through the space is furniture with a soft DNA of warm curves and gentle organic lines made from smooth wood and light textiles, crafted to life by Japanese artisans.

The Karimoku collaboration with Norman Foster led not only to the creation of bespoke furnishing throughout the Foster Retreat, it also resulted in Karimoku’s ‘NF’ seven-piece furniture collection, which was launched in Tokyo this week.

NF collection by Karimoku and Foster + Partners

The collection came about after Lord Foster apparently struggled to find an existing furniture collection that would work inside the Martha’s Vineyard retreat, which serves an array of functions, from a private home for him and his wife to a series of creative-style residencies.

Keen to tap into the visual and tactile potential of timber, Foster + Partners joined forces with Karimoku to create bespoke furniture to complement the architecture, which takes the form of a bold mono-pitch roof with skinny structural portal frames of steel, alongside grey-hued timber slats echoing the weathered timber boarding of local barns.

‘Wood was the obvious choice not only for reasons of sustainability but also as a direct reference to the traditional buildings that characterise the island,’ says Lord Foster. ‘The wood-based furniture I designed for Karimoku is an extension of the philosophy behind the building. lt has always seemed to me that there is a commonality between the American Shaker Movement and traditional Japanese furniture.’

Karimoku Case Study series

The Foster Retreat, Martha’s Vineyard, is Case Study 07 for Karimoku, the latest in a series of architect-designed furniture collections that tell the story of the setting for which they were created. Earlier examples include the Azabu Residence in Tokyo, by Keiji Ashizawa and Copenhagen-based Norm Architects.

Unveiling the new ‘NF’ furniture collection at a special exhibition at Karimoku Commons Tokyo, Frederik Alexander Werner, designer and partner at Norm Architects, who creatively directed the design collaboration and new collection, told Wallpaper*: ‘The furniture is soft and playful. While the architecture is strong and sharp, the furniture has a really soft design language. It relates more to human touch and human proportions. It’s the perfect balance.‘

The ‘NF’ series includes a dining chair, two stools, a lounge chair, a sofa and two tables, collectively defined by the softly curved lines of skeletal oak frames, complemented by pads of soft upholstery in light natural shades.

The starting point was the dining chair, as Mike Holland, senior partner and head of industrial design at Foster + Partners, explains: ‘The chair was designed through a continuous exploration of form and ergonomics, in search of a balance between the two. The distinctive frame and organic transitions give it a refined complexity.

‘Blended spliced joints quietly celebrate the connections between the different elements of the chair, reflecting the intricate relationship between craft and structure. The chair works in perfect harmony with the dining table. Its sloping armrests tuck neatly into the matching angle on the table’s underside.’

The furniture was fluidly designed in order to respond to the multiple functions of the space, resulting in flexible and versatile pieces – suitable for both homes and offices – that are also beautifully crafted.

‘The lightness of the collection provides a foil to the bold architectural form of the retreat, which draws inspiration from the generous barn structures of North America,’ says Holland.

‘We knew that this bespoke collection would require an ambitious and highly skilled manufacturer, who would allow us to push forward and realise our detailed designs. Karimoku understands the delicate relationship between furniture and architectural space. The company’s attention to detail, high level of craftsmanship and proven record of beautifully crafting wooden furniture made them a natural choice for this project.’

The new NF Collection as well as Karimoku-made wooden models of iconic buildings by Foster + Partners are on view at Karimoku Commons Tokyo, until 9 December 2022 

Karimoku Commons Tokyo
2-22-5 Nishiazabu
Minato-ku
Tokyo

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In the post-pandemic world, things have shifted. Many of us have reverted back to simpler pleasures and are appreciating time spent really enjoying ourselves in the day-to-day. With this refreshing period of change, environment plays a key role, not least our apartment interior design. In a considered offering of luxury and convenience, interior design group Frenchcalifornia has collaborated with Google to feature its Nest smart-home devices in a series of showcase apartment interiors at Selene, Foster + Partners’ 63-storey residential tower in New York.

The skyscraper, completed in 2018 and rebranded in 2022, shares a street with SOM’s 21-storey Lever House and Mies van der Rohe’s 38-storey Seagram Building, and is inspired by its flanking modernist architectural landmarks. The two 1950s structures display the clean and classic New York grid-like exterior that make up many of the buildings in the city, and Selene has introduced a 21st-century feature to the family of iconic buildings. The glass façade has a gently folded structure, providing floor-to-ceiling windows to each apartment and introducing the thoughtful tone of its interior.

Delving into the space inside exposes us to a subtle story of ease of use and pleasing visuals. Frenchcalifornia has designed three fully furnished residences within the building as model apartments. The team reached out to the likes of B&B Italia, Cassina and Flos to decorate the spaces, while Gaggenau appliances are integrated into the kitchens and Foster + Partners has designed bespoke bathroom vanities. The spaces are well-lit and softly toned; windows with views, mirrors and lighting help create a feeling of openness, and artwork and intriguing textures punctuate the rooms with comfort and character. 

An additional layer of Frenchcalifornia's treatment of the spaces is the subtle integration of Google’s Nest smart-home products; the minimalist design of each home device allows them to fit into the relaxed decor, while the Nest Hub serves as a control panel. Nest Audio speakers are fitted on each of the Wi-Fi routers and, 75 per cent louder than their predecessor, clearly distribute crisp sound. The Google devices span security, entertainment and connectivity, and incorporate gesture and voice control for ease of management.

Along with the impeccable individual apartment spaces and the suggested Google Nest smart-home set-up, the Selene residences propose a holistic approach to living. A wellness space includes a pool, a gym, a spa and a yoga studio, while there are also business suites, Le Jardinier restaurant, and the Atlas Club & Library. The location, meanwhile, provides proximity to the Museum of Modern Art, amongst other New York hotspots), and the experience of daily living is at the heart of the project’s design approach. Frenchcalifornia, Google’s home devices and Foster + Partners have brought together design, architecture and convenience in these desirable contemporary homes.

Information

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Technology and design giant Apple has just added a new store location to its extensive retail arsenal – welcome to Apple Brompton Road. Designed by Foster + Partners, the studio also behind many a past shop interior for the brand as well as the famous Apple Park in California’s Cupertino, this piece of retail architecture has just arrived in west London's Knightsbridge Estate, opening its doors to its first customers this week. 

The brand new flagship store at 17-27 Brompton Road features sleek interiors that combine concrete, timber and greenery, alongside elegant, minimalist displays of the brand's sophisticated products. The expansive, high-ceilinged interior is set within the estate’s development on Brompton Road (spearheaded by the Olayan Group), featuring overall building design by London architecture studio Fletcher Priest. Apart from the Apple offering, the wider scheme includes a mixed use selection of residential, retail, and hospitality venues (completing later in the year).

Proving great design goes way beyond simply sophisticated aesthetics, the new Apple store will be completely powered by 100% renewable energy – all while sitting elegantly behind a restored 19th century facade. The design coordinates with ongoing plans for the Knightsbridge Estate’s eco-sensitive elements. ‘Heat and power have been combined where possible to generate energy back to the grid, to be extended as renewable energy. Rationalising deliveries to a single point, will significantly reduce local traffic congestion and consequently, carbon emissions in the area,’ says the project’s senior development manager at developers Chelsfield, Jeremy Lacey. 

The official opening of Apple Brompton Road in London will be marked with a four-day celebration between 28–31 July on site.

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Narbo Via, a museum of Roman antiquities designed by Foster + Partners, is about to launch in Narbonne. Opening in an official ceremony tomorrow (11 December 2021), the brand new cultural draw for the region is set to become a landmark destination for its city, located on the Canal de la Robine in southern France. 

The museum’s low, linear volume is raised on a podium, balancing ‘civic monumentality’, the architects say, with restraint. It is placed among lush, green architectural gardens and landscaping including an outdoor theatre, embedding the new structure into its surroundings. Stone mixes with steel and a distinctive concrete roof, making for a building that appears strong and firmly linked to the earth and its site. 

And while the exterior is defined by its relatively discreet, yet confident, presence, the interior clearly and unashamedly celebrates its content by placing it centre stage through the presence of a ‘Lapidary Wall’, a shelving grid featuring stone displays that belong to the collection. This architectural element is open for all to see, cleverly separating public galleries and restoration spaces where specialists are at work to preserve the museum’s precious cargo. Visitors can catch glimpses of the professionals at work through this semi-permeable wall that places the collection at the design’s heart.

The project also includes an array of public-facing spaces, such as galleries for permanent and temporary exhibitions, a multimedia education centre, an auditorium, a restaurant and a bookshop. Research, restoration and storage facilities, as well as offices, complete the building, which is brightly lit through swathes of glass in openings and floor-to-ceiling transparent walls. 

Foster + Partners has recently completed more work in France – namely the winery Le Dôme, which opened its doors to visitors a couple of months ago. It sits alongside older, iconic projects from the firm’s portfolio, such as the Millau Viaduct and the Carré d’Art in Nîmes. ‘Our work on Narbo Via extends a long relationship between the Foster studio and the south of France. The arts are vital to the life of a city, and a cultural building has the potential to reinvent and regenerate its “sense of place”, to break down physical and social barriers. Bringing together the old and the new, Narbo Via will renew the image of the museum, becoming not just a place for reflection but a creator of knowledge for future generations,’ says the practice’s renowned founder and executive chairman, Norman Foster. 

Looking to the future, the Narbo Via building also employs a comprehensive sustainability strategy. This, the architects note, has been inspired by ancient Roman technology. Natural ventilation is achieved through the clever concrete ceiling structure that helps push air to circulate throughout the interior, supporting a healthy environment for visitors, as well as its rich collection of Roman antiquities. 

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Whiteleys department store first opened in London's Bayswater in 1911, and the building went on to become a city landmark, all Grade II-listed historical architecture and cosmopolitan grandeur. The store closed in 2018 and the building is now celebrating the reveal of its new lease of life – its reinvention as The Whiteley, the newest luxury offering in London's residential development scene, designed by architects Foster + Partners with interiors by Finchatton. 

The structure, restored, redesigned and expanded by the Foster + Partners team, is set to host 139 homes, along with London’s first Six Senses hotel and spa. Wellness, residential architecture, and commercial space in the shape of 20 new shops, cafés and restaurants, a cinema and a large-scale gym, all come together in this scheme, which aims to revitalise the whole surrounding neighbourhood with an injection of high end design, and lifestyle-enhancing facilities. 

Spatial generosity and attention to detail defines the development of The Whiteley throughout. There is a painstakingly refreshed, glass rotunda and dome (with a nod to that of the Reichstag Building); tall ceilings in both the private and communal spaces, some of which reach heights of up to 6m; and a refined, subtly luxurious material and colour palette, which emphasises understated elegance and art at every turn.

Meanwhile, the Six Senses hotel's five star amenities are available to all the development’s residents, as well as hotel guests; these span from wellness spaces to co-working areas, and childcare facilities, while there is also a curated arts programme. 

Located a stone's throw from Hyde Park and central London, with a 21st century design by the world-renowned Foster + Partners and a majestic, historical building shell, The Whiteley is a tempting prospect for its future occupants. With the renovation works scheduled to be completed in 2023, this series of images should serve to fuel anticipation.

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Le Dôme winery is tucked away in Saint-Émilion, a medieval village near Bordeaux in the south-west of France. A patchwork of stone cottages, cobbled streets, Romanesque churches and world-famous wineries, the Unesco World Heritage Site might be home to just a few thousand residents, but it is a leading destination for discerning oenophiles. 

The owner of Le Dôme, Jonathan Maltus, an Englishman born in Nigeria, moved to Saint-Émilion in the 1990s. It was a radical period when a group of winemakers known as the Garagistes were ripping up the rulebook on how to make traditional red Bordeaux wines. Avoiding lengthy ageing processes and tannic flavours, the makers created limited runs of full-bodied, fruitier reds in small-scale – or ‘garage-sized’ – production areas. Maltus’ Le Dôme wine came about in 1996 and, after much critical acclaim, reached cult status among the cognoscenti; even today, bottles of it are hard to acquire.

More people will now be granted an insight into the realm of Le Dôme with the completion of its state-of-the-art winery by Foster + Partners. This is the third winemaking facility that the global studio has worked on in France (the first was Faustino Winery, and the second Château Margaux, was completed in 2015), but it is designed to specifically pay homage to the charming locale.

‘When Jonathan Maltus first approached us, he expressed a desire to create a distinctive new winery set against the unique backdrop of Saint-Émilion. He wanted the building to be a celebration of the beautiful site, focusing on the views of the vineyard and making the landscape the primary protagonist in the design,’ explains Norman Foster.

‘We also had to have extremely fruitful discussions with local heritage authorities, who commented that the building should make a positive contribution to the area by blending in with the landscape.’ Set towards the end of a tree-lined avenue, the winery features a sloping roof meant to imitate the gently undulating form of the site’s terrain. Beneath is a ring-shaped volume that has a wide panel of glazing wrapped around its circumference, allowing visitors and staff inside to have unrestricted 360-degree views of the surrounding vineyards. This volume has also been partially embedded into the ground to minimise the building’s visual impact on the landscape, and better its thermal mass performance.

Access to the winery is via a curving ramp that sits on the exterior of the building, further accentuating its connection with the outdoors. Internally there is a second ramp that winds its way through the winery’s two floors. The ground level is dedicated to wine production and storage, while the first floor is what Foster + Partners describes as the ‘social heart’ of the building, featuring entertaining areas, a wine bar and tasting tables. At the centre of the plan is a cavernous circular atrium, which means those on the winery’s upper level can look down and catch glimpses of the winemakers at work. The entire space is bathed in natural light streaming from a 6m-wide oculus set directly above, in the roof.

With their abundance of stainless-steel machinery, winemaking facilities can sometimes appear as somewhat cold, industrial spaces, but contrastingly Le Dôme winery is imbued with warmth and tactility. The base of the building, for instance, is made from concrete mixed with locally sourced stone aggregate. This has then been clad with panels of local oak, in a subtle nod to the barrels sometimes used to ferment varieties of wine. The same aggregate has been used in the winery’s interior to fashion terrazzo-like flooring on the upper level; furnishings here are also crafted from oak and upholstered in earth-tone leather.

‘The building uses local materials to reduce carbon emissions related to transport, while also embodying the spirit of the place,’ adds Foster. ‘The warm palette of materials and the fluid interior spaces blur the boundaries between workspaces and tasting areas, creating a welcoming space.’ Oak has also been used on the underside of the winery’s terracotta-clad roof. Spanning 40m in width, it has a twisting, reciprocal structure made up of mutually supporting beams. As no columns are required to bolster it, the floor plan can remain open, allowing staff to work in a more collaborative manner, much like the Garagistes did.

In the sphere of winemaking, the term ‘terroir’ refers to how particular elements of an environment such as soil type, climate or topography can affect the character and flavour of wine grapes grown there. In the case of this winery, the environment has had as much influence on the design of the building as it has on the produce. The resulting architecture is therefore much like bottles of Le Dôme – a rarity.

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ledome-saintemilion .com

Apple has raised the curtain on its new Los Angeles flagship, Apple Tower Theater. Open from Thursday (24 June 2021), the historic art deco theatre has been painstakingly renovated into a creative hub for the 21st century, that echoes Apple's global commitment to historical renovation.

A short history of Tower Theater

Opened in 1927, beloved local landmark Tower Theater has quite a history. Designed by renowned theatre architect S. Charles Lee, in what was his very first project of its kind, the first film showed was comedy The Gingham Girl. After entertaining LA for over half a century, Tower Theater finally closed its doors in 1988, becoming a protected piece of architecture the following year.

In its glorious heyday, the historic Broadway theatre district in downtown LA would have been ‘the place to go; full of life', says Stefan Behling, senior executive partner at Foster + Partners, longtime Apple design collaborator. He continues, ‘The area has since retained its edge, and relation to the arts.'

Apple: The Sequel

Working with a team of preservationists, the Apple design team, alongside a taskforce of local artisans and craftspeople, used innovative techniques like 3D laser scans and forensic paint studies to understand and replicate the original colours and textures found in the old theatre. More traditional techniques were used too, including ‘tipping', a stippling method used to prevent brush marks. ‘This project has been a true labour of love,' says Doo Ho Lee, director of retail design at Apple.

‘Everything was covered in this delicious brown,' says Behling, of the long-shuttered space, pre-renovation. Though the nicotine sheen gave a certain charm to the art deco crystal chandelier, it certainly dazzles now, since being lovingly cleaned in a process that took months of work and dedication. ‘You have to approach the restoration as you would approach the restoration of an old master painting, carefully peeling back the brine'.

Detailed bronze elements were discovered throughout, nowhere more impressively than the lobby staircase, the glamorous bronze handrail of which steals focus. Glance up, and a once cherub-filled ceiling mural has been toned down with a more minimalist blue-sky-and-cloud painting, created to mirror the California sky beyond. Elsewhere, plush leather seating is similar to that of the theatre in Apple Park, while also nodding to the cinema-style seating that archival photographs reveal once occupied the space.

Design collaboration

Despite designing during a pandemic, which forced many of the conversations online, the 12-year-long creative relationship between Foster + Partners and Apple continues to showcase results. ‘Apple will go all the way with the design details of a space; they treat their store design with the same love and care as they do a product,' says Behling.

As well as a collaboration between Apple and Fosters + Partners, there's a sense that this is also a form of partnership with original architect S. Charles Lee, whom Behling refers to as ‘my esteemed colleague'. ‘We always ask, "What would the original architect think?"' As with all contemporary Apple retail architecture which is housed in historic buildings (see Washington DC, Rome, and Paris examples) preserving the charm of the original space is of great importance.

Introducing Today at Apple Creative Studios LA

Using the new downtown Los Angeles flagship as its first base (before rolling out in Apple stores in locations globally), a new community-centric initiative developed by the Today at Apple programme is also launching. The project will provide hands-on experience and mentorship to young creatives.

In collaboration with the nonprofit Music Forward Foundation, as well as Inner-City Arts and the Social Justice Learning Institute, Creative Studios LA will provide access to technology, creative resources, and hands-on experience, along with a platform to elevate and amplify up-and-coming talents’ stories over nine weeks of free programming. Noah Humes and his mentor, Maurice Harris – two artists who worked on a mural that spans one exterior wall of Tower Theater – will teach a virtual session.

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Foster + Partners presents the OVO series of chairs for Benchmark, a trio of seats made of solid oak and walnut, completing a larger collection of wooden furniture designs including tables, benches and shelving. The new additions to the OVO collection of furniture comprise an armchair, a stackable side chair, and a lounge chair, each crafted in solid European oak or American walnut

Chair design by Foster + Partners

Expressing both visual and tactile beauty, the collection originated from a single table design, later expanded into a full family of domestic furniture, and now including the three new chairs. 

The design is based on smooth joinery and soft geometries, resulting in a collection that is solid, timeless and durable, but that also invites touch. ‘We wanted it to be designed to express craft, to be tactile, natural,’ says Mike Holland, Foster + Partners’ head of industrial design, explaining that the chairs were conceived ‘from a rigorous and iterative process of making’.

Continues Holland: ‘The chair continues the OVO design philosophy, it celebrates the age-old tradition of craftsmanship in design objects. The pillowed surfaces invites the arms to rest softly, it really is an ergonomic detail that eliminates uncomfortable pressure points.’

Benchmark’s co-founder Sean Sutcliffe and team worked to achieve the tactility of the collection, combining traditional techniques with precise machinery. ‘As craftsmen, I think we all believe that our best tools are our hands, but there is no doubt that a 5-axis CNC machine comes a close second,’ he says. 

The chairs’ conception focused on both wellbeing, with an ergonomic design imagined for the body’s maximum comfort, and sustainability, something that Benchmark has been developing throughout its collections. ‘The only meaningful statements on sustainability are those that can be measured and verified,’ adds Sutcliffe, citing independently verified Environmental Product Declarations that demonstrate the cradle to grave environmental performance of the pieces. Each chair from the OVO collection, he explains, is carbon negative and manufactured to remain a carbon store for its entire life. 

Watch: the genesis of OVO chair by Foster + Partners for Benchmark

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Apple's new Rome store, created in partnership with Foster + Partners in the Palazzo Marignoli, is the largest of all 118 Apple stores in Europe. Despite its size, the design team has subtly transformed this 17th century palace into a detail-oriented and atmospheric boutique, where original features provide a counterpoint to the future-facing technology on display.

The building, originally constructed in 1873 by architect Salvatore Bianchi and a second renovation by architect Giulio Podesti, was once home to Marquis Filippo Marignoli and housed Caffè Aragno, one of Rome’s most notable gathering places in its day frequented by artists, writers and actors.

Now, technologists and modern-day creatives can be added to the list. On the upper floor, a new space has been created in the original ballroom of the Marquis’s palazzo, which will be home to the Today at Apple programming. Elsewhere, a courtyard filled with native Camphora trees provides space to unwind outside. The design ethos – consistent with many other Foster + Partners Apple stores – aims to create a spaces of learning, inspiration and enjoyment, rather than just places of transaction.

The defining feature of the Palazzo Marignoli store is its respectful restoration. As with many previous restoration projects undertaken by the brand – Champs-Élysées in Paris, Regent Street in London and Carnegie Library in Washington – Apple tapped a team of local restorers to help preserve original features. Notable restoration works in the Rome store include several pieces of art showcased in Caffè Aragno, including multiple graffiti panels created by Italian painter Afro Basaldella in 1950. The teams were also able to revive and integrate Fabio Cipolla’s Dawn and Ettore Ballerini’s Dusk – two large ceiling paintings that date back to the early 1900s.

Visitors will also find locally sourced Carrara marble throughout, including a monumental staircase dating back to 1888, alongside contemporary interventions like great glass windows that flood the main lobby with light. Elsewhere, the minimalist-leaning Apple aesthetic gives way to an intricately detailed, painstakingly restored geometric ceiling – which, with its technological precision, is the perfect accompaniment to the Genius Bar.

INFORMATION

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Physics loves a sphere, its preferred, purest form. For architects though, the box trumps the bubble. They’re easier to engineer and offer more useful space. The new Apple Marina Bay Sands store in Singapore goes with the physics. And, if not actually a complete sphere, it’s near enough to be considered a daring piece of architectural chutzpah.

Designed by Foster + Partners – the architects behind the Apple Park HQ building in Cupertino and many of the tech giant’s flagship stores – the new outlet appears to be a giant ball, floating if not bobbing in Marina Bay. The structure is actually a dome, 30 metres in diameter, 17 metres tall, made up of 114 glass panels and sitting on an existing concrete foundation.

‘It’s sort of an igloo,’ says Stefan Behling, Senior Executive Partner at Foster + Partners. ’It’s all structural glass with very thin, polished stainless steel ribs, which seem to dematerialise. And obviously no columns, which more or less goes without saying these days. You won’t find anything with a more delicate structure, probably in the world.’

Engineering the structure was tricky enough, but Foster + Partners spent as much time and effort engineering the experience it creates. ‘Let’s just say it’s a glass bubble,’ says Behling. ‘But if it was just that it would be too hot, too bright, too noisy. Not the right thing. The idea was that to come into a space was like living in a daylight light fitting.’

Crucial to the control and regulation of light inside the store, Apple’s third in Singapore, are a series of interior baffles, smaller versions of those on the exterior of Apple Park but doing a similar job. These triangular wedges are arranged into horizontal rings that get smaller as they progress up the sides of the dome and provide shade but also bounce light upwards. ‘You see the same effect at Apple Park,’ says Behling. ‘Light bounces off one baffle to the underside of the one above. And the effect is really astonishing.’

The effect within the Marina Bay store, continues Behling, is a natural, ‘magical diffused light’ that feels congruous with the diffused light common to Singapore. ‘We’ve been saying for years that the best way to see the product is actually to see outdoors.’ In fact, Behling hopes that being inside the store should feel like being outside, only better, given the air conditioning. (And, he admits, air conditioning was unavoidable. ‘I’m obsessed with natural ventilation but in this part of the world you just can’t do it.’)

The baffles, filled with foam and coated with fabric, serve another function; smoothing out what could have been disturbingly harsh acoustics. And the effects of the baffles on sound and light, as well as issues of larger structural soundness, were, says Behling, ‘obsessively modelled’ on computers and then tested with full-scale mockups.

Far simpler to model was the path of a disc of light created by a Pantheon-style semi-transparent three-metre-wide oculus at the top of the dome. ‘I can tell you exactly where that splodge of light will be at any time on any day of the year.’

The store’s diffused glow should be a pull, not just from the waterfront, connected to the store via a footbridge, but also from below. That underwater concrete foundation actually houses the store’s lower floor and links to an entrance within the Marina Bay Sands shopping mall.

Reaching the bubble from the basement requires two escalators and Foster + Partners have worked on making that journey as theatrical, in a controlled Apple way, as possible. ‘There is this really dramatic sequence,’ says Behling. ‘You come into quite a compressed store in the lower level, which has the display tables which feel familiar. But then you realise there’s a glow at the end. And you see these escalators which travel through a quite magical polished stainless steel tunnel which creates a crazy kaleidoscopic effect and then you enter this very spectacular space. It’s definitely not a store where you will say, “yeah, I’ve seen that before”.

And if a giant glass ball could come-off as extravagant and a little show-offy, it is intended to add something a little calmer to the cluttered and chaotic Singapore skyline. ‘We always say that with the stores we design from the inside out,’ says Behling. ‘That the most important thing is the product, people interacting with the product and making that a great moment. But there was also a huge responsibility here to be a new feature on the Singapore skyline. It’s a super pure shape but there’s an enormous amount of innovation and complexity involved.’

INFORMATION

Apple Marina Bay Sands opens on Thursday, 10 September 2020. Visits on opening day will be by appointment only, customers can visit apple.com/sg/marinabaysands to choose from available times

ADDRESS

2 Bayfront Avenue, B2-06, Singapore 018972

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Tomorrow morning, Apple’s anticipated Carnegie Library store will open its doors in Washington DC. Designed by Foster + Partners, the four-year-long project has seen the 200-year-old library painstakingly reinvigorated, in what is Apple’s most extensive historic restoration project to date.

The Beaux-Arts style building has a rich and varied history, which has been respected within the fabric of the new design. Once home to Washington’s Central Public Library, it opened in 1903, and was chiefly funded by Andrew Carnegie, renowned for his vision of public and free space for all.

Carnegie’s ethos chimes with Apple’s shifting retail philosophy. As the tech titan moves away from devices and into subscriptions, its store designs have changed shape too; into places for community and experience; where products are available to purchase, but aren’t the sole motivation for visiting. Instead, there’s designated space for Apple’s free programme of creative events, and the stacks have been converted into the ‘Genius’ area where tech-advice is doled out where the books once were.

‘Because of changes to traditional shopping patterns, Carnegie was about coming and exploring and feeling a sense of calm in what is a magical space,’ explains Chris Braithwaite, Apple's senior director of retail design. ‘If you then walk away with a positive feeling then we’ve done our job.'

Uniquely, Carnegie is also home to the new DC History Center, which includes the Kiplinger Research Library, three galleries and a museum store, all owned and operated by the 125-year-old Historical Society of Washington DC. The non-profit has benefited enormously from the Carnegie Library refit; but the relationship is a symbiotic one. Apple benefits too, through the Society’s community-orientated approach, and its emphasis on interaction and learning – key pillars in Apple’s own retail strategy.

Visitors are welcomed by the renewed grand entry plaza, onto which, the 100-year-old Vermont marble façade stands anew, complete with totally restored sculptures. A skylight that once illuminated the original library’s circulation desk has been blessed with a new design, creating a new double-height atrium – the impressive height of which offers the kind of visual punch common to Apple stores globally.

Inside, restorative flourishes are what Stefan Behling of Foster + Partners calls ‘subtle gains’. They will impress the eagle-eyed, and the design literate alike. Traditional wooden skirting boards have been assiduously matched-up to contemporary ones. A newly instated, but timeless, terrazo flooring could have been there forever – and now, probably will be, thanks to its durability.

‘Many architects deal with old and new, and some decide to go to the extreme of expressing new or elaborate shapes,’ Behling explains. ‘Our collective decision with Jony [Ive] was to go with a very careful and minimal differentiation. It's almost invisible – like the roof at Apple park, for example. It’s completely effortless. You’re not drawn to the skylight itself, but the sky beyond it.’

Apple's design chief officer Jony Ive was very much involved, and helped to instill a sense of respect for tradition throughout the project's duration. ‘With Jony, we agreed that it was important to know our place,' Behling continues. ‘The building has obviously been here for 100 years, but it will be here for another 100 to come.'

INFORMATION
For more information, visit the Foster + Partners website, and the Apple website

ADDRESS

801 K St NW
Washington
DC 20001, USA

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The mood is light and optimistic in West Palm Beach despite Trump’s arrival to Mar-a-Lago; the Norton Museum has reopened to the public with a new design by Foster + Partners. Respectful of site and context, Norman Foster has artfully reworked the original 1940s buildings by local architects Wyeth and King and submerged the museum into a tropical garden creating a private paradise for art. Instead of a Bilbao-style arrival, Foster’s plan celebrates history and builds on it with elegant additions, careful edits and coherent updates.

Equipped with a new architecture, the private collection now seeks to expand its role as a public institution. Once a casual collection begun by industrialist Ralph Norton and his wife Elizabeth, art collecting soon grew into a more serious occupation and the couple founded the Norton Museum in 1941. Now with over 7,600 works crossing multiple eras and styles, it required an institution. Norton Museum trustee Gil Maurer, long-time director at Hearst and business occupant in Foster’s Hearst Tower in New York City provided the connection, and the commission began.

Across the whole plan, only eight per cent is new building. So what has Foster and his hard-working team, headed up Michael Wurzel, partner in charge, with Spencer de Grey, head of design, been up to for the past eight years? ‘Every space has been touched in some way modified, referred or reconnected and when you move around you do have the feeling you’re in a new museum,’ says Norman Foster, reassuringly. Eight percent is 59,000 sq ft after all.

Northeast view of the Norton Museum of Art’s new Kenneth C. Griffin Building, designed by Foster + Partners, as seen from South Dixie Highway. Photography: © Nigel Young / Foster + Partners

So instead of a reinvention, the design enabled the museum to become a much better version of its original self. An integral change was moving the entrance of the museum from the west, to the north on S. Dixie Highway, reinstating yet reversing the original axis of the 1940s design where entry lay at the south. At the original south entrance you’ll see the decorative, quasi-postmodern, art deco style of architect Marion Sims Wyeth’s build. Interestingly, Wyeth and King were also behind the elaborate Spanish revival architecture of Trump’s ‘winter White House’, Mar-a-Lago, built in the 1920s.

Foster’s new entrance makes more sense to drivers approaching the museum, and has a typographic neon sign neatly stacked atop its facade and a new mascot, the wacky-looking 19ft high ‘Typewriter Eraser, Scale X’ sculpture by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje Van Bruggen floating on a square reflecting pool. As a rule of thumb across the museum, anything new added by Foster somehow seems already ‘inevitable’ – a word he uses himself when describing his approach.

It’s hard to miss the huge 65 ft banyan tree at the front of the museum, with colossal dripping roots, which is quite clearly not new. It’s been there since 1935. Foster’s vast new canopy curves in deference to the tree at 43 ft. It half-cocoons it in shiny metal, blurrily reflecting the dense form of its rain shower soaked bark. In an age of an architecture and public that demand new thrills and the next big thing, this deference is perhaps the most daring statement of all.

Major new elements such as the 210-seat auditorium, great hall, restaurant and sculpture gallery fall seamlessly into step with the existing core plan – only quietly reinstating their modernity with a muted grey micro-terrazzo flooring. On a rational path through the ground floor galleries – where one can find the best of the collection’s European, American and Chinese art – the flooring is the only indicator of new and old.

The new garden was another simple act of reconnection, this time with the local climate. Now the museum lives in an oasis of mahogany trees, hanging lobster claws (a species of shrub), Bahamian trumpets (a type of flowering tree) and other strange and beautiful sounding native and non-native species. Formations of square grassy plots divided up by long straight paved pathways, softly echoing the ground floor gallery plan, hold colourful sculptures by Leger, Lalanne and Rondinone.

Running the length of the new light-filled 150ft-long indoor sculpture gallery, a new colonnade layers the transition between inside and out. It’s a lighter, more modern version of Wyeth and King’s central courtyard colonnade, shaded by the generous overhang of the canopy that shields the hurricane-proof glazing of the gallery from direct sunlight. White chairs and tables by Richard Shultz, designed with the Palm Beach lifestyle in mind, gather on the restaurant terrace.

‘I was thrilled to be able to work with Foster because he is a modernist. I knew they weren’t going to give me a piece of sculpture, they were going to give me a building that worked,’ says Hope Alswang, outgoing director of the Norton, who sees the museum as public institution in the making. Her wish was for the museum was to be ‘profoundly practical’ and reflect an American classical modern, in reference to the ‘golden age of American museums’ – she cites the Breuer Building and the MET.

While from the outside the museum appears as a series of white cuboids, it is far from a ‘white cube’ gallery inside. Toeing a conservative line between classical and modern, the design positions the Norton as a museum with great aspirations – as seen in the Great Hall, which Alswang describes as the Norton’s living room.

This is Palm Beach, so it’s of a substantially higher pedigree than your average living room – but comfortable and welcoming nonetheless. The room has wide oak flooring, soft fabric and timber wall panelling and a specially commissioned tapestry by Pae White. Chairs by Eames and Saarinen cluster about, their formations adjusting frequently as people arrive and depart. High above the classical proportions, midcentury design and polite conversations, is a scooped oculus casting down the warm Florida light.

The oculus was a late addition to the design – ‘it completely changed the room’ says Alswang. Likewise was the neon sign – which Alswang fought for planning for from the City: ‘We had to prove that the sign wasn’t advertising, but that it was part of the architecture,’ she says.

‘Some way into the design, I found myself sketching and drawing [the neon sign],’ explains Foster. ‘We approached the museum and they got excited about it. In the studio in London, where we have a big double-height space, I had the team experiment with really large letters, profiling and incorporating light and colour. That’s one of those design exercises that emerged quite late in the day, but I would like to think when you see it now, it looks as inevitable as the Typewriter Eraser does coming out of that reflecting pool.’

It’s interesting to learn how these identity-defining moments, modern linchpins across the conservative design, emerged almost by chance. Maybe it’s linked to really understanding a place and a context, and once grasping that, being able to contribute to the specific nature of that site. ‘In a world which is becoming increasingly homogeneous and anonymous, anything that makes one place different from the other [is important]. Which other museum celebrates an 80-year-old tree, or a relic from an analogue typewriter past?’ asks Foster.

Despite being known for designing for a future on Mars, Foster is more than comfortable in the realm of the past, seeking a contextual solution for each project, wary of the layers of history. Similarly to the Norton, restoring the original 20th-century Beaux Arts plan was integral to the solution for the Museum of Fine Arts Boston expansion completed in 2010. While Foster’s first museum project in the US in 1994, a new wing for the Joslyn museum in Omaha, Nebraska, gracefully extended the original art deco building from 1931 with matching pink Etowah Fleuri marble sourced from the same Georgian quarry as the original material.

In Europe, his notable intervention at the Great Court at the British Museum restored accessibility and extended function to the central courtyard with a glass roof, while preserving all original functions of the museum. Now Foster & Partners is working on an renovation of the Prado in Madrid where a similarly radical yet respectful intervention is being made: ‘We are bringing to life and conserving the oldest most venerated internal space the Hall of Realms then creating the biggest most flexible space with 17m spans on top of it for contemporary art,’ says Foster.

Throughout the Norton project, Alswang recognised Foster and his team’s love of art. Walking through the galleries, Foster exclaims at the brilliance of a Donald Judd stacked on the wall, and pauses by a Danh Vo explaining how the work is a piece of a scale version of the statue of Liberty. Foster’s own sketches of the Typewriter Eraser sculpture outside the museum are on display in an exhibition – he presented them to collector Ronnie Heyman, who gifted the museum its forecourt mascot, to show her how it would appear in situ.

Over the next 12 years, the Norton Museum campus will continue its organised sprawl further still with a second phase of expansion towards the water, which Foster will oversee. Phase one has already attracted new donations, as well as the atmosphere of optimism in West Palm Beach, and the next few years will show how the architecture might also contribute to the community through its extended programming, evening events and its free admission days on Fridays and Saturdays.

INFORMATION

The Norton Museum opens to the public on 9 February. For more information, visit the Foster and Partners website, the CBT, executive architects, website, and the Norton Museum website

At its recent product launches in Apple Park California and New York's Brooklyn Academy of Music, Apple gave great weight to its continued environmental focus. Now, it has followed suit in its new Paris store, which opened this week on the Champs-Élysées.

Like all of its facilities, Apple Champs-Élysées is powered by 100 per cent renewable energy. But this time, the team – which includes chief design officer Sir Jonathan Ive, senior vice president of retail Angela Ahrendts, and decade-long architectural collaborator Foster + Partners – has drawn particular focus to its energy-producing design initiatives.

A faceted glass roof covers the impressive internal courtyard, casting shards of sunlight on the space below, and generating renewable energy with integrated photovoltaic panels. Inspired by cubism, the roof is pleasing to the eye and the environment. The dappled light effect changes dependent on the time of day, not dissimilar to the relaxing Breathe App recently released on the new Apple Watch, in which light and colour shift across the screen, to aid meditative breathing.

Elsewhere, an integrated rainwater collection system makes the most of Paris' changeable forecast, providing water for the bathrooms, trees and foliage-filled interior.

As well as benefiting from the environmental emphasis vital to new constructions, the design aims to revive the original spirit of the Haussmann-era apartment building inside which the store stands. The team aimed to restore its detailing and interconnected spaces, while nodding to the historical gravitas of Paris' most storied street. Celebrating the city was particularly important for Ive, who loves Paris. ‘The charm and allure of the city is encapsulated by the scale and energy of the Champs-Élysées, and Apple Champs-Élysées is an extension of that vitality, wrapped within a historic envelope, with a careful juxtaposition of new and old,’ he says.

Fittingly, Apple-esque ingenuity runs through the historical fault lines of the structure, which has seen a number of iterations in its 200-year lifetime. It was once home to aviation genius Alberto Santos-Dumont; a visionary whose innovation contributed greatly to the development of the aviation industry as we know it today. The new Apple store celebrates the vision of pioneers like Santos-Dumont, by creating a space that encourages creativity, innovation and interconnection between its customers.

Explore our global edit of architectural Apple stores, and where to find them

As such, the store's community focus is key. The interior courtyard, complete with sky-lit views across Paris, will be dedicated to the brand's Today at Apple sessions (which first launched in May 2017, as a way of engaging the wider community in Apple's cultural initiatives).

Though these programs are available in every Apple store worldwide, including on the dedicated Piazza at the recently completed Milan flagship, the location for these free, themed events is arguably the grandest yet. ‘This is one of the most unique Apple flagships in the world, located along the world’s most beautiful avenue,’ says Stefan Behling, head of studio, Foster + Partners. ‘In true Parisian style, it is rich in texture and envelopes a range of experiences that stimulate your senses. This is emblematic of the idea of juxtaposition that runs throughout the interior spaces, bringing together the historic and contemporary, interior and exterior, and ground and sky.' 

INFORMATION
For more information, visit the Apple website, and the Foster + Partners website

ADDRESS

102 Avenue des Champs-Elysées
75008, Paris, France

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There are few worldwide honours to match the UK's RIBA Stirling Prize so its annual announcement around this time of the year is always an event to be eagerly awaited and savoured. So there must have been cheers and the sound of champagne corks popping at Foster + Partners' tonight, when their Bloomberg headquarters in London was announced the winner of the 2018 RIBA Stirling Prize.

The award ceremony takes place at a prestigious location – often different each year – over dinner and tonight the presentations took place at North London's Roundhouse, where the celebrated architect's innovative office design scooped the honour of best building 2018. 

This is a design that has been hailed as the ‘world's most sustainable office' and is also thought to be the largest stone building in the City of London since St Paul’s Cathedral. Restrained from the outside but dynamic and expressive on the inside, this building, which occupies a whole city block, balances an exterior that sits comfortably against its City of London historic context, while providing state-of-the-art facilities for the organisation. 

A spiral staircase at the complex’s heart – clad in bronze to match the project's bronze facade fins – is a real centrepiece for the interior that also features a dramatic, swirling timber-clad lobby, green walls, bespoke art and far reaching views. This complex scheme also incorporates retail, as well as a museum displaying the Roman Temple of Mithras, which was discovered on the site 60 years ago.

Bloomberg's HQ beat stiff competition from Bushey Cemetery by Waugh Thistleton Architects, Chadwick Hall by Henley Halebrown, New Tate St Ives by Jamie Fobert Architects with Evans & Shalev, Storey's Field Centre and Eddington Nursery by MUMA, and The Sultan Nazrin Shah Centre in Oxford by Niall McLaughlin Architects. Yet the judging panel, chaired by Sir David Adjaye OBE, was unanimous in its decision. 

‘Bloomberg is a once-in-a-generation project which has pushed the boundaries of research and innovation in architecture', says Adjaye. ‘The design process involved unprecedented levels of research, innovation and experimentation, with pioneering new details and techniques tested, prototyped – sometimes at 1:1 scale – and rigorously improved.' 

The same evening saw two more gongs announced. The beautifully understated countryside home in Yorkshire, Old Shed New House, by Tonkin Liu won the Stephen Lawrence Prize 2018, and developer Argent was named 2018 RIBA Client of the Year. Now, anticipation mounts as we are getting closer to the RIBA's two remaining accolades to be announced later in autumn, the RIBA House of the Year and the RIBA International Prize. 

INFORMATION

For more information visit the RIBA website

Apple has unveiled its new flagship store in gaming capital Macau. Designed as ‘an oasis of calm’ by Foster + Partners and Apple’s in-house team headed up by chief design officer Sir Jonathan Ive, Apple Cotai Central aims to offer a meditative complement to the buzz and excitement of Macau – a city monikered ‘the Las Vegas of Asia’.

Set within a quiet, bamboo-strewn plaza, the store is a geometrical masterclass; the near-perfect cube bares the exact spatial inverse of the plaza. Blending outside and in, bamboo has been plucked from an external forest and placed in an internal grove that penetrates the soaring central atrium. It is capped by a large central skylight with punched pyramidical apertures that brings natural light deep into the interior spaces.

‘We wanted to create something very simple and pure – a beautiful and elegant building that complements the sounds, sights and colours of Macau, while embodying a sense of clarity and quietude,’ explains Stefan Behling, head of studio, Foster + Partners. ‘The design creates two distinct spaces, one inside and one outside, imbued with a sense of authentic beauty arising from the innovative use of natural materials.’

The material palette remains consistent with the now ingrained global Apple store aesthetic – think great swathes of glass, grey stone, concrete – while continuing Foster + Partners commitment to making each store unique, and specific to its locality. Apple Cotai Central diverts through its use of a new form of ‘translucent stone’, which spans the facade. The first-of-its-kind glass-stone-composite comprises five layers of glass integrated with incredibly thin stone layers, which gives the building its distinctive stained glass-like materiality. It shines warmly at night; a meditative beacon against the skyful of flashing lights.

The new store continues Apple’s mission to make its stores cultural, civic spaces, as opposed to mere vessels for product purchasing. As with the Chicago flagship that opened in 2017, surprisingly little square footage is dedicated to actually buying things. Instead, the generous central atrium and balmy external grove offer a mindful meeting place that fits with the late Steve Jobs’ raison d’etre for Apple Retail: ‘to enrich lives.’

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the Foster + Partners website

He may have died over 30 years ago, but the Italian modernist architect Osvaldo Borsani is definitely having a moment. In recent years his furniture has become highly collectable and also gained favour with the likes of architect Peter Marino, who has utilised classic pieces in his luxury store interiors. During the recent Salone del Mobile in Milan his elegant villa in Varedo was opened up for public tours by his daughter and grandson, Valeria Borsani and Tommaso Fantoni respectively, under the guidance of Ambra Medda.

Such an intimate introduction to Borsani’s creativity and technical innovation was an enticing prelude to this year's main event though – ‘Osvaldo Borsani’, a comprehensive retrospective which celebrates the genius of the architect, designer and founder of the Tecno furniture brand which has just opened at the Triennale di Milano. Fantoni, his grandson co-curated the exhibition with fellow architect Norman Foster, who had worked with Borsani and Tecno on several important projects including the Nomos table and various furniture solutions for airport and museum projects. 

Foster and Fantoni have created a monumental wooden grid-like structure that runs around the entire perimeter of the exhibition, inside which 300 objects, works of art and reconstructions of rooms are displayed in chronological order. The structure is reminiscent of the ‘archi-sculptures’ of Sol LeWitt and perfectly illustrates Borsani’s key values such as moderation, innovation and beauty.

Drawings, documents and photographs of each of the projects are displayed on the opposite wall telling the story of the creative process of each piece selected. ‘The central theme of a timeline will enable the visitor to walk through the different periods in the work of this not so well-known but significant design pioneer and along the way find insights into the wider process of design,’ explains Foster.

Also on show are pieces made in collaboration with Borsani’s artist friends such as Fontana, Crippa, Castellani and Pomodoro, plus the designs of colleagues that he particularly valued and repeatedly involved in his projects such as De Carli, Ponti, Day and Magistretti. The catalogue, curated by Giampiero Bosoni and published by Skira, brings together the indepth research involved in preparing the exhibition, including the studying of archives held at his former home. Such an all-encompassing survey should guarantee Borsani’s legacy for sometime to come.

INFORMATION

‘Osvaldo Borsani’ is on view at the Triennale di Milano Exhibition until 15 September 2018.
For more information visit the website

ADDRESS

Triennale di Milano
Viale Alemagna 6
20121 Milano

Modern yet homely apartment interiors, state-of-the-art architectural design and superb communal spaces form the residential development trifecta; the conditions with the power to transform a scheme into the perfect urban retreat. Foster + Partners’ One Hundred East Fifty Third Street in New York seems to be hitting all the right notes with its sleek design, great location off Park Avenue and contemporary interiors – as well as its newly unveiled residents’ club.

Seen now for the first time, and located in the complex’s third and fourth floors are the residents’ amenities, which include a 60-foot swimming pool and state-of-the-art wellness facilities, such as a cardio room, weight room, pilates/ballet room, yoga room, sauna, steam room, spa treatment rooms, changing rooms and showers. William T Georgis, who is known for his work on The Grill and The Pool restaurants and the Gramercy Park Hotel, is behind the luxurious interiors and furnishings.

These may be private areas for residents only, but the full One Hundred East Fifty Third Street experience begins right from the get go, with a ground floor lobby area designed by Georgis and featuring bespoke artwork by Rachel Feinstein; meanwhile the building also plays host to a restaurant by Michelin-starred chef Joël Robuchon.

One Hundred East Fifty Third Street consists of 63 storeys and 94 residences as a joint venture by developers RFR and Vanke. ‘Perfectly designed and expertly curated, the private residents’ club at One Hundred East Fifty Third Street offers a wellness respite from the bustle of city life,’ says Aby Rosen, co-founder and principal of RFR. ‘We are proud to officially introduce the luxurious lifestyle offerings at One Hundred East Fifty Third Street now that the building is nearing completion and residents will soon be able to enjoy a five-star experience right in their home.’

The building is set to complete by the end of this year, with residents beginning to move in during the summer.

INFORMATION

For more information visit the Foster + Partners' website and William T. Georgis' website

For the architecture buffs among us, the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts in Norwich is pretty iconic. This was the first ever public building designed by Norman Foster, and one of the key architecture landmarks of the second half of the 20th century that heralded the era of the ‘High Tech’ movement. A new wave of British architects experimenting with new technologies, materials, forms and structures soon followed.

Marking its 40th anniversary, the Centre is now launching its celebratory show SUPERSTRUCTURES: The New Architecture 1960-90, raising the glass to the genre and exploring ‘architecture’s fascination with technology in the post-war decades’. The exhibition will showcase the architects who challenged conventions with their experimentation and interest in engineering and industrial production.

Visitors can browse through drawings, sketches, furniture, film, photography and models of relevant buildings, such as the Reliance Controls Factory by Team 4 (Norman Foster, Wendy Cheesman, Georgie Wolton and Richard Rogers), the Pompidou Centre by Rogers and Renzo Piano, Rogers’ Lloyd’s of London Building, Waterloo International Rail Station by Nicholas Grimshaw and the Hopkins House by Michael and Patty Hopkins. These sit side-by-side with a brand new three-metre-long model of the Sainsbury Centre itself, to be explored and admired.

Theory and unbuilt experimentation surrounding the era is not ignored. ‘The exhibition will explore the seminal influence of figures such as Buckminster Fuller, Jean Prouvé, Charles and Ray Eames and Cedric Price’, explain the organisers, adding that the show also delves into how techniques were adapted from the automotive, nautical, aerospace and information industries and introduced into the world of building and architecture.

The exhibition is accompanied by a specially published book, which is available on site.

INFORMATION

’SUPERSTRUCTURES: The New Architecture 1960-90’ is on show until the 2 September 2018. For more information visit the Sainsbury Centre website

Row New York
Harlem River
Groundbreaking expected: 2022

Row New York, a passionate non-profit rowing club with a mission to make the sport accessible to all, has announced plans for a new Foster + Partners designed boathouse and community learning centre that will enable the organisation to expand outreach and house all of its programmes under one roof. Located on a stretch of the Harlem River, the design of the boathouse – which is being undertaken pro-bono by Foster + Partners in association with Bade Stageberg Cox – has a large folding timber canopy that pays homage to the 20th century timber structures that dotted the riverbanks. Image: Rendering of Row New York Boathouse and community learning center. Designed by Foster + Partners.

House of Wisdom
Sharjah
Completion: TBC

The House of Wisdom will be a new two-storey library designed to celebrate Sharjah as the 2019 UNESCO World Book Capital. Located on Sharjah International Airport Road, the cultural project ‘conceptualises the library as a social hub for learning, supported by innovation and technology,’ says Gerard Evenden, head of studio at Foster + Partners. Its curved shell will be created from rolled steel plates cut by computer-guided lasers. Four core clusters feature large sculptural staircases, a series of pod spaces, exhibition areas, a prayer room and women-only spaces. Gerry Judah’s art work The Scroll will be installed within the panoramic gardens that surround the building.

Goldsun HQ
Taipei
Scheduled completion: TBC

Foster + Partners will make its mark on the Nangan urban regeneration project with new headquarters for the Goldsun Group. By replacing the existing Goldsun factory, the new headquarters building will perpetuate the regeneration project’s drive to introduce a mixed-use typology to the area. Office, retail and residential facilities will orbit a central courtyard that will act as a social hub.

Goldsun HQ
Taipei
Scheduled completion: TBC

The HQ will include skygardens on various levels across the complex, featuring photovoltaic panels and further sustainable features. Further below, six glazed ‘floating volumes’ support the building blocks, combining both structure and service. ‘It has been a wonderful challenge working with our client to transform this existing industrial site into a unique contemporary urban complex,’ says Grant Booker, head of studio at Foster + Partners. ‘We hope that it will be a vibrant new social focus that will bring life to the area and form the centrepiece of its regeneration.’

Dajiang Innovation HQ
Shenzhen
Scheduled completion: TBC

World-leading robotics company DJI’s new headquarters in Shenzhen is stapled to be the company’s ‘heart of innovation’. Looking to counter the traditional office space setup, Foster + Partners has been challenged with the task of combining research and development spaces, offices and staff facilities with public areas to form an expanding creative community. Linked by a sky bridge, a pair of twin towers features large, column-free spaces with unique quadruple-height drone flight testing labs. A public exhibition space on the ground floor acknowledges DJI’s technological advancements in drone technology, and a new theatre provides the perfect space for product launches.

Principal Tower
London
Scheduled completion: 2019

At Principal Place, a mixed-use development a stone’s throw from the City of London in the borough of Hackney, the landmark building, Principal Tower is nearing completion. Soaring 175 m in height with 50 storeys, it will be one of London’s tallest residential buildings. Comprised of three volumes, it’s reflective of the urban identity of the surrounding city plan. On the more residential side of Shoreditch, one tower appears lower, while on it’s City of London side, the height of the second tower is emphasised, while a slim elegant tower rises up between the two. The building is clad in fins that shade the apartments and almost every residence has its own curved balcony with bronze exterior detailing. The tower has a combined heat and power plant, roof-mounted photovoltaic panels and grey water harvesting, designed to reduce energy use. 

Haramain High Speed Rail
Saudi Arabia
Scheduled completion: 2019

A major infrastructure project for Saudi Arabia, the Haramain High Speed Rail will connect the cities of Makkah, Madinah, Jeddah and the developing King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC). Foster and Partners has designed vast stations for the rail track that will accommodate an anticipated 60 million passengers (expected to increase to 135 million passengers by 2042). The modular approach to the stations’ design is complemented by variations in colour, which signify the four cities while remaining emblematic of the HHR system. Colours and design will connect to the historic architecture of each locations, yet the stations will also be united by the 25m-high arches rising from the concourse complemented by smaller 9m arches at platform level that connect to form a gracefully vaulted roof. Chandeliers suspended between the arches, provide focused lighting, mediating between the scale of the roof and concourse level and accentuating the rhythm of the structure.

Samba Head office
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Scheduled completion: 2019

This 40-storey tower in the Financial Plaza at the heart of
Riyadh’s new King Abdullah Financial District will be a symbol for Samba’s new headquarters. The building has a distinct three-dimensional facade that will distinguish it amongst a tightly grouped cluster of towers. In total, the scheme provides 1 million sq ft of office accommodation above ground, in addition to basement retail levels that connect to the district-wide mall. The tower is topped by a 70-metre high spire, which is illuminated at night as a landmark for Samba. The spire also acts as a radiator, capturing cooling northerly breezes and using water to cool the roof-mounted array of advanced photovoltaic panels, thus enhancing their efficiency.

Arcoris Mont’ Kiara
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Scheduled completion: 2019

Mont’ Kiara 20, or MK20, is a hybrid live, work and social scheme stretching 1.5 million sq ft in a mostly residential area of the city. The scheme will look inwards towards a central green space lined with cafes, shops and terraces, yet be open and easy to access via pedestrian routes designed to forge civic interactions with the surrounding community. The complex is devised of a series of projecting volumes that articulate the residential apartments bringing individual identity to each unit. 

Datong Art Museum
Datong, China
Scheduled completion: 2019

The 32,000sq m Datong Art Museum features exhibition spaces, a children’s gallery, group entrance lobby, café, restaurant and support spaces – which are arranged around sunken courtyards to draw in daylight. The building’s form is conceived as an erupted landscape, with only the top of the roof visible at ground level. Like natural peaks, the roof is clad in earth-toned corroded steel. By sinking the building into the new plaza, it relates in scale to the three other cultural buildings in the group, balancing the overall composition of the district masterplan while maximising the internal volume. A vast open exhibition space named the Grand Gallery will be used for artists’ commissions – stretching 37 m high and spanning 80 m the flexible space can be accessed directly by an articulated 40-foot container vehicle to install large-scale sculptures, stage and lighting equipment.

Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences
Jerusalem, Israel
Completed 2018

This pioneering research facility at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem is designed to be a gateway between the university campus and city. The building is arranged as two parallel wings around a central courtyard. The upper levels house 28 highly flexible laboratories linked by social hubs, which are conceived to encourage interaction and the exchange of ideas between students and staff. At ground floor, there are teaching facilities, a 200-seat auditorium, a library, café and a publically accessible gallery for the display of brain art. The courtyard at the heart of the scheme unites these different functions, establishes new circulation routes through the campus and draws the greenery of the surrounding landscape into the building. Planted with citrus trees and with a water feature along its length, the courtyard forms a quiet, reflective space and a cool microclimate, which can be further mediated by a retractable ETFE roof.

Norton Museum of Art
West Palm Beach, US
Completed 2019

Built in 1941 to house the art collection of the industrialist Ralph Hubbard Norton and his wife, Elizabeth, the Norton Art Museum was laid out by the architect Marion Sims Wyeth as an elegant series of art deco-inspired single storey pavilions around a central courtyard. Subsequent expansion has broken the symmetry of the original arrangement, and the creation of an additional car park to the south of the museum has led to the relocation of the main entrance from South Olive Avenue to the side of the building. The new masterplan restores the logic of Wyeth’s plan, reasserting the clarity of the main axis, balancing the different building heights and providing flexible, welcoming visitor facilities to attract a wider local and international audience. The project aims to transform the existing assemblage of buildings into a world-class cultural destination within a sub-tropical garden setting. A new street frontage on South Dixie Highway to the west redefines the museum’s relationship with the city and reasserts the main entrance on the central axis – visitors will once again be able to see through the building via a new, transparent entrance lobby and refurbished glass and iron courtyard doors.

Narbo Via
Narbonne, France
Scheduled completion: 2020

The Narbo Via is a new landmark at the entrance to Narbonne on a site adjacent to the Canal de la Robine. The building incorporates galleries for permanent and temporary exhibitions, a multimedia education centre and library, as well as restoration and storage facilities. The centrepiece of the museum is a collection of more than 1,000 ancient stone relief funerary blocks excavated nearby. Their display forms a natural barrier at the heart of the simple, rectilinear building, separating the public galleries from the more private restoration spaces. Visitors will be able to glimpse the work of the archaeologists and researchers through its mosaic of stone and light, and the flexible display framework allows the reliefs to be easily reconfigured and used as an active tool for learning. Inspired by formal French gardens and the Roman courtyard, the museum’s grounds feature an amphitheatre for open-air displays and events. 

Tocumen International Airport
Panama City, Panama
Scheduled completion: 2019

The masterplan for the expansion of Tocumen International Airport is planned to increase capacity from 5.8 to 18 million passengers a year by 2022, establishing an important new hub for the Americas. The new terminal is designed to reflect the Panamanian landscape – at the heart of the new airport is a lush open garden, planted with the trees and flora of Panama’s tropical forests, visible within a curved glass enclosure. Two symmetrical wings of piers extend to the east and west from the garden and central concourse, and the entire building is unified beneath an aerodynamic bronze-coloured roof. 

China Resources Land
Shenzhen
Scheduled completion: 2019

Located at the heart of the Shenzhen High-Tech Industrial Park, the Dachong Village masterplan has been designed as a ‘timeless development’ that is a benchmark for sustainable architecture in the city. The area will be a mixed-use community, bringing together offices, a hotel and a dynamic public realm, animated by shops, restaurants and a range of new civic spaces. Located pivotally at the eastern entrance to the SHIP along Shen Nan Avenue, the buildings are laid out as blocks dissected by streets and squares that connect to established pedestrian and public transport nodes within the greater masterplan. Public spaces are arranged to create a dense development as part of the city fabric while enhancing connectivity, maximising views, and adding an exciting social dimension with landscaped public spaces. 

DUO Central Park
Sydney, Australia
Completed 2018

Part of the Central Park masterplan designed by Foster + Partners in Sydney that extends the Chippendale area to the north, Duo is a mixed-use development of two adjacent buildings located at the intersection of Broadway and Abercrombie Street. The proportions of the building aim to visually unify Sydney’s modern and historic architecture, with the design drawing inspiration from the early 20th-century art deco-style of the Australian Hotel building located nearby. At ground level, the two buildings are bisected by a new pedestrian promenade lined with cafes and shops, while the buildings above which reach 17 storeys, hold 313 luxury apartments.

Comcast Innovation and Technology Center
Philadelphia, USA
Scehduled completion: 2019

The Comcast Innovation and Technology Center is a mixed-use tower combining high-tech research and development spaces with a hotel at 1800 Arch Street in Philadelphia, next to the existing Comcast Tower. At 1121 feet (341 metres), it will be the city’s tallest building and America’s tallest outside New York and Chicago. The tower features a vertical series of ‘pocket parks’ and inspiring social spaces, the tower will provide a unique, highly flexible workplace that can nurture innovation and help the world’s largest media company attract the industry’s leading talent. At its base there will be state-of-the-art television studios for NBC and a 12-storey hotel above.

National Bank of Kuwait
Kuwait City, Kuwait
Scheduled completion: 2020

This 300m tower, the headquarters for the National Bank of Kuwait, is loacted in Kuwait’s financial district, Sharq. The building is designed to be passively efficient in the face of Kuwait’s extreme climate that reachs 40-degrees in the summer. The tower’s cylindrical form opens like a shell to the north to avoid solar gain and to the south is shaded by a series of concrete fins, which extend the full height of the tower to provide structural support. Tapering towards the base, the design maximises floor space in the upper levels and promotes self-shading, as the overhanging floor plates shelter the offices below. The 60 floors of office space for the bank encompass three sky lobbies and the chairman’s lounge at the apex offers panoramic views. 

South Quay Plaza
London, UK
Scheduled completion: 2021

Located in the up-and-coming Marsh Wall area of London, South Quay Plaza will add to this booming working and residential neighbourhood and play a pivotal role in revitalising the historic docklands. The scheme features two buildings – a residential tower and a smaller development to the south that connects to the evolving streetscape of Marsh Wall with retail spaces and a vital new public plaza for the thriving working and residential community. Landscaping and public space will reconnect the area to the waterfront and improve the vibrancy of the area.

Few locations in Hong Kong better capture the spirit of modernism than the Murray Building. Built by British architect Ron Phillips, the 27-storey tower opened in 1969 as a government office. Soaring, unadorned arches at ground level and a gleaming white façade lent it a handsome, almost austere, appearance, while recessed windows and the concrete fins that separated them kept out the sweltering heat, and made the building a pioneer in sustainability.

As such, it remained a widely admired landmark long after a concrete jungle sprouted in its vicinity. And once the government moved on to newer digs in 2011, it became a ripe opportunity for redevelopment. Enter local hospitality group Wharf Hotels, which acquired the building and enlisted Foster + Partners to transform it into  first-rate accommodation.

Named the Murray, the new hotel has opened to much fanfare, its 336 rooms and suites some of the most spacious in the city. The famous recessed windows have been enlarged, opening up views of Hong Kong Park and its adjacent zoological gardens, as well as neighbouring skyscrapers such as the HSBC Building, also by Foster + Partners. Inside, richly textured furnishings in understated tones, and bathrooms in black and white Calacatta marble, are a vision of relaxed refinement. The pared-back aesthetic continues through the well-appointed gym, indoor pool and five spa suites.

Eager for guests to ‘rediscover the romance of going to a hotel’, Foster + Partners devoted special attention to the arrival experience, creating a forecourt around a majestic old cotton tree (carefully sustained through the hotel’s construction), and a generously proportioned, sunlit lobby featuring a chandelier-like charcoal work by Korean artist Seon-ghi Bahk. A grand staircase leads guests to the garden level, home to a lush terrace and two restaurants – the smart European Tai Pan, and the more laidback Garden Lounge, which offers both dim sum and French patisserie.

The next few months will see more dining options open. Occupying its own glass pavilion will be a branch of Michelin-starred Cantonese restaurant Guo Fu Lou, with interiors by André Fu and an expansive terrace. And the rooftop restaurant and bar, serving cocktails and international tapas, will be the perfect spot to rub shoulders with Hong Kong’s movers and shakers, while drinking in the spectacular skyline.

ADDRESS

22 Cotton Tree Drive
Central

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In December our thoughts turn to entertaining, and we offer up an enticing menu of design, architecture, art, fashion and, of course, food. For us, creativity really is at the heart of life-enhancing entertaining. For starters, we love the pairing of artists and cuisine; and in this issue we serve up Gillian Wearing’s lentil, potato and leek soup, as well as Liz Swig’s innovative oatmeal offerings, with extra ingredients by the Campana brothers.

We also talk to Jony Ive and get the very first sitting at Apple Park’s super-sized staff restaurant, Naoto Fukasawa-designed chairs and all. (Good food is so central to Apple’s working culture that the company operates its own fishing boat.) Apple Park spaces, cooked up by Foster + Partners and Ive’s industrial design studio, encourage the social aspect of working, with the restaurant being the hub of a network of collaborative spaces, places for chance encounters and off-the-cuff creativity.

We’ve nourishment for the eyes courtesy of Ive’s limited-edition cover, using Apple’s original colour spectrum and, naturally, generous white space. We also prepare heart-warming, spirit-calming recipes in a John Pawson-designed Welsh retreat.

We’ll always champion great photography, but this issue celebrates illustration, too, as a fresh way of looking at interiors, adding a dash of personal interpretation and history to the visual narrative. I have a long-held appreciation of illustration, from my formative days as a graphic design student and, later, commissioning works by the likes of Ian Wright, Ralph Steadman, Noma Bar and George Hardie – true mark makers. The first in our new series of occasional illustrated Space stories is a Wallpaper* debut for Dutch artist Leonie Bos (her work also appears on our newsstand cover). A play, and sure hand, with texture and colour are central to Bos’ approach and she brings a unique warmth and vigour to our pages.

The illustrator’s practice, the conjuring of imagined worlds, is a fascination for us. Once we had selected key design pieces to feature, Bos went away and created her fantastical Wallpaper* entertaining space. Her early sketch, above, is an insight into the creative process. Illustrations can be literal, abstract, decorative, conceptual. And so much more. Properly served up, they are a true celebration of print, its tactility and devourability.

Sarah Douglas, Editor

As originally featured in the December 2017 issue of Wallpaper* (W*225)

INFORMATION

The December 2017 issue of Wallpaper* is out now. Subscribe here

What does your desk say about you? According to a new photographic exhibition at the showroom of German furniture manufacturer Walter Knoll, examining the way in which we work today could help us explore how we might work better tomorrow.

Called ‘DeskTop’, the exhibition offers a glimpse of the workspaces of some of London’s most inspirational minds including Serpentine Galleries director Yana Peel, architect Sir Nicholas Grimshaw, curator Johanna Agerman-Ross, designer Luke Pearson of Pearson Lloyd, architect Matthew Blain of Hassell, architect and designer Sevil Peach, designer Mike Holland of Foster + Partners and our very own Tony Chambers, Wallpaper* brand and content director.

Curated by writer and editor Jonathan Openshaw, the eight workspaces are presented through photographs taken by Anton Rodriguez – the photographer behind the 2016 book Residents: Inside the Iconic Barbican Estate.

‘We were interested in what kind of spaces London’s creative community work in and what they require from a physical environment,’ says Openshaw, who writes a monthly column for Mr Porter on the future of the workplace. ‘We had a list of around 20 names for this, spread across design, architecture, curation, journalism etc, and were really please with the eight who said yes the quickest!’

Openshaw and Walter Knoll CEO Markus Benz hope that the show will generate questions about how the office space needs to innovate in order to remain relevant, and the role that office furniture can play in these changes.

‘I think a lot of people are grappling with the future of the workplace at the moment, and as business and leisure merge into each other more and more, design brands are looking at how they can apply their expertise from the home to the office,’ says Openshaw, who leapt at the chance to work with Walter Knoll on the brief. ‘DeskTop asks questions about the way we work today and how we might work better tomorrow.’

As well as revealing their desks, each participant was asked to choose one object that captures an element of their way of working, which is displayed beside their corresponding photograph. For example, Johanna Agerman Ross chose a thesaurus and dictionary because she loves browsing the ‘many possibilities of vocabulary’ rather than just searching for words online. Tony Chambers makes reference to his training in graphic design and work as an editor with a magnifying lens and loupe; while Sevil Peach chose a tape measure that she got in a Christmas cracker and always carries with her because it helps her to orient herself in a new space.

‘What I found most interesting is trying to decipher the clues to the personality or modus operandi of each person, through their desks as well as through the objects they chose to display,’ reflects Openshaw. ‘Sir Nicholas Grimshaw’s desk was in a conference room for example, where he meets with his team and oversees multiple projects. Yana Peel’s was also a communal table where she meets artists and curators – it was all about conversation rather than screen time.’

‘The exhibition feels a bit like playing detective as each image is anchored with the back of an empty chair in the centre,’ he continues. ‘So hopefully the viewer is encouraged to imagine the person who’s just stepped out of the frame and think about what this space says about them.’

With statistics from the Bank of England estimating that AI will replace anything up to 48 per cent of existing jobs by 2025, ‘DeskTop’ serves as reassurance that our attachment to the physical is in no danger of disappearing.

‘At the end of the day, humans are physical animals,’ concludes Openshaw. ‘We’re tactile, we need to relate to each other. We cannot exist in VR enhanced digital bubbles. Digital tools are wonderful things and technology advances our potential and output massively, but I think there will always be a place for wood, paper and ink in how we work through ideas and make imaginative leaps.’

INFORMATION

‘DeskTop’ is on view until 30 November. For more information, visit the Walter Knoll website

ADDRESS

Walter Knoll
42 Charterhouse Square
London
EC1M 6EA

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Apple has unveiled its latest store in Chicago, moving down the road from its first US flagship on Michigan Avenue to a new location that bridges the historic Pioneer Court with the city’s river. The store opened on Friday to much fanfare from locals, tourists and Apple super-fans, while Apple CEO Tim Cook was present to hand the Chicago team the keys to their new home.

Foster + Partners has created an exquisite curved glass pavilion on the Chicago riverfront that melds quietly into its surrounds. The carbon-fibre roof – designed to be as thin as possible (and not unlike a MacBook Air in its profile) – is virtually invisible when viewed from across the river or above. The entire 111 by 98 ft structure is supported by four interior pillars, which allow the 32ft glass façade to remain unobstructed. ‘At night, it is even more extreme: there is no building,’ says Stefan Behling, senior executive partner at Foster + Partners. ‘The building is making itself quite respectful. It could have gone King Kong, but it is trying to be humble.’ The store’s architecture certainly whispers to the city, rather than shouts.

There’s a palpable sense of inclusivity at Apple Michigan Avenue, from its design to the services offered in-store: ‘The Chicago Series’ programme – co-created with local non-profits and creative organisations – is intended to foster community spirit. ‘All of the locations are completely different. Here [in Chicago], it was all about breaking down the barrier,’ says Behling, whose firm worked closely with the City of Chicago on the project. ‘That was a special problem about this particular location that we felt very strongly about fixing.’

Inside, it’s a textural treat, from the white oak ceilings to the Castagna limestone walls. The architect says that ‘connoisseurs’ will recognise design elements in Michigan Avenue from Apple Park: the stone is the same used in the Steve Jobs Theater, for example, while the timber benches in the plaza are exact replicas of their Park counterparts.

True to form for Apple, the attention to detail is almost fanatical. ‘We [Jony Ive and Foster + Partners] love curves. There are hundreds of models to get this curve right, explains Behling of the limestone walls. ‘It looks like a “nothing” detail, but the work, the obsession... that’s what Jony and everyone does all the time. To make something look really simple is sometimes incredible work.’

The new store heralds the next chapter for the brand’s retail evolution, first touted at the Apple keynote last month Angela Ahrendts, Apple senior vice president of retail. Since taking the helm of Apple’s retail offerings in 2014, Ahrendts has been championing connection, creation and collaboration in-store – the foundations for these, of course, were carefully laid by Steve Jobs.

‘We look forward and envision forward – but I would also say we also look backwards,’ explains Ahrendts. ‘When Steve opened up the very first store, he told all of the teams and everyone that was hired for those 16 years of commerce that the purpose of Apple Retail was “to enrich lives”. Those were his words.’ To wit, one of the most striking traits of the store is how little space is dedicated to products.

Instead, much of its square footage is dominated by features from Apple’s Town Square retail blueprint, including the Genius Grove, a leafy, revamped version of its Genius Bar; The Boardroom, where business customers can network or receive advice and training; The Forum, an amphitheatre-like space that hosts a 6K video wall and the brand’s Today At Apple programme; and The Plaza, an outdoor seating area with free WiFi that is open to the public 24/7. Entirely brand new to the Chicago store is the Genius Gallery, comprising bleacher-like granite steps with cushion seating overlooking the Forum and 6K screen below.

‘If you really study the stores of the last five years, they all are almost like a product. Every one is a little design evolution,’ Behling explains. A long-term collaborator, Foster + Partners was responsible for the design of Apple’s first ‘global flagship’, opened last year in Union Square, San Francisco; the redesign of the London flagship; and its new spaceship-like HQ in Cupertino.

Of course, there’s the usual smattering of criticism being levelled at the tech giant. But ventures such as Apple Michigan Avenue go some way in proving that the brand’s agenda isn’t perhaps as cynical as believed. ‘A lot of the discussions that we have with Angela are almost philosophical,’ says Behling. ‘What is the future of cities, of retail? What do you want in five or ten years’ time? What should it be like when you go into a city? Do we need a shop? It is a really fundamental question: “What is your vision for the future?”’

With flagship openings slated for Paris, Milan and Bangkok next year, Apple and Foster + Partners seem intent on answering those questions on a global scale. Behling likens his firm’s eight-year partnership with Apple to a marriage. ‘You know each other well, and everything is a continuation, a refinement – it gets better and better,’ says Behling. ‘It’s a life process. And there’s a deeper dream in all of this.’

INFORMATION
For more information, visit the Apple website and Foster + Partners website

ADDRESS

Apple
401 Michigan Avenue
Chicago IL 60611

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Now in its third year, built environment symposium Vision takes place at Olympia Central in west London and is aimed at architects, designers, specifiers and their clients working in the commercial, health, education and retail sectors.

Big names featuring in the seminar programme include Foster + Partners, RIBA, Arup and the Netherlands’ UNStudio. Roger Ridsdill Smith will talk about the clever use of innovative materials in Foster’s recent projects, while RIBA president-elect Ben Derbyshire will present 'Supurbia', a vision to transform London’s suburbs.

Programme highlights include presentations from leading thinkers at the forefront of architecture and innovation. When he isn't working on international architecture projects as lead architect at ZHA, Stefano Paiocchi has been busy working on his project 'Code-Structed Skins: Design as Research', which sheds light on how the fields of architecture and fashion might co-operate. In his talk at Vision 2017, Paiocchi will liken the human body to a complex built structure which needs to be covered, and will suggest that the world of fashion design can borrow from architecture’s computational principles and methods.

Andrew Lawrence of Arup will pick through the engineering challenges that he faced to build The Smile, Alison Brooks Architects’ centrepiece for the 2016 London Design Festival, and Andy Young, head of BIG’s London office, will outline his practice’s ‘yes is more’ approach to architecture and the formula for future contemporary office design.

Meanwhile, Caroline Bos from UNStudio is to unveil new research exploring the impact of the circular economy on the built environment. She will explore how traditional retail and architecture typologies struggle to meet the needs of today. There is an increasing focus on the digital marketplace and the sharing economy, she believes, and a shift from the commercial consumption of goods to experiences.

According to UNStudio, the future of retail will be mixed-use entertainment, co-working spaces and fitness centres, which still hang on to an element of retail. Up-and-coming talent will include ex-Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners architect Benjamin Garcia Saxe. Via a live link from Costa Rica, he will speak about tropical architecture and will question what is nowadays meant by sustainability.

INFORMATION

Vision 2017 runs from 6-7 June and is free to attend. For more information or to register for tickets, visit the website

ADDRESS

Olympia Central
Hammersmith Road
London W14 8UX

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For 40 years, British artists Langlands & Bell have decoded the structures of buildings to illuminate human relationships – their subjects have included Le Corbusier’s Cité Radieuse, the British Museum, Millbank Penitentiary and, most famously, the house of Osama bin Laden (a work which earned them a nomination for 2004’s Turner Prize). For their new exhibition, opening this month at London’s Alan Cristea Gallery, they are turning their attention to the futuristic architecture of internet giants.

The show consists of 24 editioned prints, depicting in-progress or recently completed ‘campuses’ belonging to Apple, Facebook, IBM, the Gates Foundation and Nvidia. Stripped of texture and context, they are shown in distilled form against sharply coloured backgrounds that accentuate their shape. Most of them are laid at an oblique angle, so viewers ‘feel like God looking down at a Lilliputian landscape’, and experience a rare sense of power over companies that have influenced almost every aspect of our lives.

The belle of the ball is the new Apple HQ in Cupertino, California – a ring-shaped, spaceship-like building commissioned by the late Steve Jobs and designed by Foster + Partners. With a circumference of one mile, it is unprecedented in scale and ambition. But by presenting it in top view, the artists emphasise its circular shape, which has parallels throughout historical architecture. ‘You can see the connection between the Apple building and the Coliseum, and between architecture, power and spectacle,’ the duo contends. Like the Coliseum, and by extension the Roman Empire, the Apple building stands for universal vision, but also the centralisation of might.

The simplicity of Langlands & Bell’s prints belies meticulous research and production. The artists began by constructing physical models based on building plans downloaded from municipal websites. These were photographed from various perspectives, then redrawn on a computer. It’s a reflection of the artists’ belief that old and new ways of working can complement each other. ‘The camera didn’t make painting irrelevant, but it changed painting significantly. Similarly, virtual making hasn’t made physical model making redundant.’

There are also two wall sculptures, one depicting Apple’s campus at Sunnyvale, the other Facebook’s HQ at Menlo Park. The latter was designed by Frank Gehry, but eschews the flamboyance that characterises the architect’s other work. Instead, it comprises a single floor on stilts with a garden-like roof. Langlands & Bell contend that Facebook is reluctant to reveal the extent of its power – it avoids monumental architecture lest it appear as a monolithic conglomerate. Accordingly, the wall sculpture does not show the building’s façade, but presents a model of the interior, colour-coded for both functional purpose and aesthetic impact. The grey area represents open-plan office space for 2,800 employees, making it the single largest room in the world. The artists call it a ‘spectacle of endless access’, a deliberate display of transparency that contrasts with the way some say that Facebook has enslaved its users.

The artists look forward to continuing the series beyond this exhibition, yet they question if the architecture of internet giants might have the same symbolic force as ‘the cathedrals of the Middle Ages, the baroque palaces and gardens of the Enlightenment, and the factories and railway stations of the Industrial Revolution’. As impressive as the buildings may be, it remains to be seen whether architecture will remain a potent social force in the information age.

As originally featured in the May 2017 issue of Wallpaper* (W*218)

INFORMATION
‘Infinite Loop’ is on view 27 April–3 June. For more information, visit the Alan Cristea Gallery website

ADDRESS

Alan Cristea Gallery
43 Pall Mall
London SW1Y 5JG

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Celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, the Brick Awards laud innovative projects featuring clay bricks and pavers. On a mission to demonstrate the versatility of the material across the building industry, the Brick Development Association awards its members for craftsmanship, design and skill.

Out of the 14 awards, Caruso St John’s Newport Street Gallery was the notable receiver of three, scooping the BDA Craftmanship, Best Public Building, and the Best Specialist Brickwork Contractor awards – the latter going to Grangewood Brickwork Specialists, who worked on not only Newport Street but also London’s Gagosian Gallery, together with TateHindle architects.

Elsewhere in the UK, Best Outdoor Space went to Maggie’s Centre in Manchester by Foster + Partners, where Staffordshire Blue plain clay pavers, carpeted with plants, roll out from interior to patio. First prize for Innovative Use of Brick and Clay Products was awarded to Harvey Nichols in Birmingham by Virgile + Partners, who used Dudley Blue extruded brick slips to weave an interior backdrop feature.

Duggan Morris Architects picked up Best Refurbishment for its use of reclaimed bricks at New Loom House in East London, a converted wool mill originally built in the 1870s. The arched pavilion of the Brentwood School Learning Resource Centre in Essex, designed by Cottrell & Vermeulen and built with a distinct Ibstock brick in heritage red blend, nabbed the Best Education Building title.

The Gort Scott's Hills Road development in Cambridge won Best Commercial Building using a Coleford mixed antique brick

A series of housing gongs form a number of the remaining categories: DallasPierceQuintero’s Courtyard House won Best Individual Housing Development; Foundry Mews by Project Orange and Hindmans Yard by Foster Lomas Architects jointly received Best Small Housing Development; Hawkins\Brown scooped Best Large Housing Development for the first phase of its Peabody estate, St John’s Hill; and Best Large House Builder Award was awarded to Linden Homes in Gloucester.

Best Urban Regeneration project went to Allies and Morrison for its Block E West Hendon masterplan using a soft yet solid Cambridge cream brick from Wienerberger. Meanwhile, in Cambridge city, Best Commercial Building went to Gort Scott’s Hills Road project.

Apple’s UK flagship store on London’s Regent Street has re-opened after an extensive overhaul by Foster + Partners. The brand's inaugural European store, it's now the first on the continent to adopt Apple’s new retail format, unveiled in San Francisco in May this year. The new look will now be rolled out across all the brand's European flagships.

Apple is adamant that the new store designs will be less formulaic and more site-specific, especially when housed in historic buildings. Part of the mezzanine level of the Regent Street store has been removed to create a double height grand hall, bringing more natural light into the store and revealing the grand arches of the façade. It has also opened up enough space to introduce 12 Ficus Alii trees. The mezzanine level is now accessed by twin staircases, with handrails hand-carved into the store’s stone walls. The store will also feature what Apple says is the longest luminous ceiling panel in the world.

The Union Square design put more emphasis on the Apple store as public space and what Foster + Partners calls 'civic generosity'. Regent Street includes many of the same innovations including an area tagged the Forum, anchored by a large video wall, which offers talks and classes on photography, music and art, while the Boardroom offers advice from app developers and entrepreneurs to budding startups.

The Regent Street store has served 60 million customers since it opened 12 years ago and helped spur a regeneration of what was a tired run of tourist-centric retail. Foster + Partners collaborated with Sir Jonathan Ive, Apple’s chief design officer, and Angela Ahrendts, VP of retail and online stores, on the new store concept. 'Like many great cities, London’s historic architecture has great significance to the community,' Ive says. 'On Regent Street we preserved the incredible exterior façade while opening up the interior of the store to enhance the transparency and flood the space with natural light. By choosing materials sympathetic to the historic nature of the building, we’re able to modernise the space while remaining authentic to its surrounds.'

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the Apple website

ADDRESS

Apple
235 Regent Street
London, W1B 2EL

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Three heavyweights of contemporary architecture go on show during the Venice Architecture Biennale. Pictured: the Norman Foster Foundation’s Droneport project at the Arsenale’s gardens was conceived as a response to Africa’s exploding population and lagging infrastructure.

There’s a saying that the writer and chef Anthony Bourdain likes to use to epitomise the attainment of success, and the perpetual recognition that said success tends to create. To paraphrase, one goes to see a band like the Rolling Stones because you know that they’re going to play Satisfaction, and peering through the crowds, thronging a trio of exhibits at this year’s Venice Architecture Biennale, one gets the feeling that, come rain or shine, the crowd-pleasing combination of blockbuster names and dramatic centrepieces will always pull the masses in.

Such sentiments do not diminish in the least the power of these exhibits; if anything, they make the displays during this year’s Biennale by Frank Gehry, Lord Foster and the recently departed Zaha Hadid even stronger.

Gehry’s exhibition at the Espace Louis Vuitton near the city’s teeming Piazza San Marco retraces the story of the architect’s dream of ‘designing a magnificent vessel for Paris that symbolises France’s profound cultural vocation’, referring to his dramatic design for the Fondazione Louis Vuitton in Paris that opened in 2014. Entitled ‘Building in Paris by Frank Gehry con l’intervento di Daniel Buren’, it was initially unveiled in Paris for the inauguration of the Fondation, but has been imparted new life via a special redesign by Gehry Partners. The building’s architecture is being presented via a series of scale models.

The Canadian-American architect’s display is evenly matched by artist Daniel Buren’s spectacular in-situ installation that shares main billing with the exhibition, which works with the space’s glass roof to create a striking multicoloured vision in line with the artist’s best work.

Literally flying closer to the Biennale’s ‘Reporting from the Front’ theme is the Droneport concept, revealed by the Norman Foster Foundation at the Arsenale as its inaugural project. Conceived as a response to Africa’s exploding population and lagging infrastructure, each Droneport will serve as a base from which Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) can deliver emergency medical supplies to remote communities previously difficult to access by conventional means, with the maiden flight set to launch later this year in Rwanda.

‘The Droneport project is about doing “more with less”, capitalising on the recent advancements in drone technology – something that is usually associated with war and hostilities – to make an immediate life-saving impact in Africa,’ says Foster. The structure’s vaulted form is made from two layers of a new type of compressed earth block dubbed Durabric, developed by the LafargeHolcim Foundation in conjunction with researchers at the Block Research Group from ETH in Zurich and Meco Concept in Toulouse.

Last, but certainly not least, is an artfully grand tribute to the late Zaha Hadid, organised by the Fondazione Berengo cultural institution and set within the walls of the spectacular 16th century Palazzo Franchetti. While no tribute or retrospective could truly encompass the breadth of Hadid’s work and process, this abridged version will more than suffice for most. Spanning her early works – including the distinctive, competition winning Peak in Hong Kong – all the way to works set to be completed by her studio ZHA this year (such as the Port House in Antwerp), the exhibition will offer new appreciation and insight to both experienced observers and architectural neophytes.

In particular, longtime fans will be glad to see familiar works juxtaposed with detailed visualisations; three milestone projects (the evergreen Vitra Fire Station, Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art in Cincinnati and the MAXXI Museum of 21st Century Arts in Rome) are given their own dedicated spaces, alongside a room reserved for Hélène Binet’s powerful images of the studio’s built work. In a career decorated with innumerable accolades and awards, it’s fitting that the architect's first tribute exhibition takes place during what is considered by most to be the world's biggest architecture celebration.

INFORMATION

The Venice Architecture Biennale will run until the 27 November. For more information, visit the Biennale’s website