40 years, 40 projects, and 40 themes central to the success of Foster + Partners.
In 2007 Norman Foster celebrates 40 years of independent practice. Founded in 1967 as Foster Associates and now known as Foster + Partners, for over four decades his studio has grown to become one of the largest and most respected in the world. Since its inception, the practice has received more than 400 awards and citations for excellence and has won more than 70 international and national competitions. The new book celebrates 40 years of Foster's most important projects, together with 40 themes that have consistently underpinned his work. Echoing the spirit of Foster's architecture, the book itself is designed around a pioneering format which allows the content to be accessed interactively. This inventive volume provides an extraordinary view into the ideas that drive Foster's seemingly inexhaustible creative energy.

'The nature of colour should change - no longer just a thin layer of change, but something that genuinely alters perception' - this stipulation of Rem Koolhaas is echoed by the world famous architects and designers Alessandro Mendini and Norman Foster. In this volume, they present between them a total of 90 colours - each covering half a page - accompanied by comments on the background, the significance and the applications of the colours. Studies of colours from each office form the basis of this book, and were previously only available in extravagant individual editions. With this comprehensive and consistent presentation of the varying approaches to colour, we have a compendium which shows the wide use of colour in today's technologically advanced architecture with its modern, post-modern and deconstructive orientation. The range of examples of the colours in practice includes load-bearing structures, facades, interior design, furnishing and the entire spectrum of product design.

In A Country of Cities, author Vishaan Chakrabarti argues that well-designed cities are the key to solving America's great national challenges: environmental degradation, unsustainable consumption, economic stagnation, rising public health costs and decreased social mobility. If we develop them wisely in the future, our cities can be the force leading us into a new era of progressive and prosperous stewardship of our nation. In compelling chapters, Chakrabarti brings us a wealth of information about cities, suburbs and exurbs, looking at how they developed across the 50 states and their roles in prosperity and globalization, sustainability and resilience, and heath and joy. Counter to what you might think, American cities today are growing faster than their suburban counterparts for the first time since the 1920s. If we can intelligently increase the density of our cities as they grow and build the transit systems, schools, parks and other infrastructure to support them, Chakrabarti shows us how both job opportunities and an improved, sustainable environment are truly within our means. In this call for an urban America, he illustrates his argument with numerous infographics illustrating provocative statistics on issues as disparate as rising childhood obesity rates, ever-lengthening automobile commutes and government subsidies that favor highways over mass transit. The book closes with an eloquent manifesto that rallies us to build "a Country of Cities," to turn a country of highways, houses and hedges into a country of trains, towers and trees.

One of the world's greatest institutions of learning and art, the British Museum sees nearly six million visitors annually. Yet until Norman Foster's remarkable transformation of its courtyard, the enormous rambling structure was like a city without a park. Numerous photographs reveal the court from a variety of perspectives and show the cutting-edge technology of the spectacular glazed canopy that shelters what is now the largest covered public space in Europe. Involving the magnificent restoration of the Reading Room, the creation of new galleries for African art and a range of educational resources, the Great Court project was a herald of the British Museum's wider transformation. The project and this book illuminate Foster + Partners' holistic and ingenious approach to contemporary design.

Founded in 1870, Boston's Museum of Fine Arts is not just an impressive museum - it is also housed in one of America's most distinguished buildings. When it was time to add an extension to accommodate the museum's holdings, Foster + Partners conceived of a brilliant strategy, one that reinforced the logic of the original Beaux-Arts footprint while adding a few neo-Modernist twists such as the insertion of a freestanding glazed structure between the building's two principal spaces. This "crystal spine" encloses an existing courtyard in a glass "jewel box," which creates spaces for visitor orientation and a cafe and leads to the new Art of Americas wing. This book provides a detailed history of the 120,000 square foot project, from the museum's founding to the triumphant unveiling of the new wing.

A generously illustrated
volume on the design and
construction of the International
Terminal of Beijing Airport by
the acclaimed architectural
firm Foster + Partners. Imagine an airport that welcomes you as visitor or neighbor;
that takes you efficiently from terminal to plane; that is
sustainably designed and filled with light and air; that you ll
be happy to linger, shop, and eat in. Not only does this
airport exist it was built by Foster + Partners. In copious
photographs and architectural plans along with informative
text, this book celebrates the architecture and technology of
the Beijing Airport s International Terminal. Readers will learn
how the building is designed to cope with the unpredictable
nature of the aviation industry and how it incorporates a
range of environmental strategies that make it energy
efficient and economical to operate. In text and illustrations,
this book shows what makes the International Terminal of
the Beijing Airport a standard for all others to follow.

With the donation in 1973 of their extraordinary art collection to the University of East Anglia, Sir Robert and Lady Sainsbury sought to establish the Sainsbury Centre as an academic and social focus within the campus. They believed that the study of art should be an informal, pleasurable experience, one not bound by the traditional enclosure of object and viewer. As a result the Sainsbury Centre is much more than a conventional gallery. The original building brought a new level of refinement to the practice's early explorations into lightweight, flexible enclosures and set the scene for Norman Foster's international reputation.

Primarily conceived with a spirit of equality, the architectural innovations of Willis Faber & Dumas included the use of escalators in a three-storey structure, as well as the social dimension offered by its swimming pool, roof-top restaurant and garden. Designed for long-term flexibility, the building pioneered the use of raised office floors, which anticipated the revolution in information technology. Externally, the building was equally distinguished for its state-of-the-art glass facade, and its free-form plan, which responded to the medieval street pattern. This monograph follows the building's evolution from concept through execution, including numerous illustrations and comprehensive essays, and will appeal to those interested in architecture and design.

Hearst Tower revives a dream from the 1920s, when the publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst commissioned a six storey Art Deco building on Eighth Avenue in New York, USA, anticipating that it would one-day form the base for a tower. The challenge in designing such a tower was to establish a dialogue between old and new, and in the process create something fresh. The tower's distinctive facetted silhouette - unique on the Manhattan skyline - is complemented by a lobby conceived on the scale of a bustling town square. Occupying the entire floor plate of the old building, this space provides access to all parts of the tower and a social focus for the Hearst community. This is a monograph that will appeal to all those interested in architecture and design.

This book introduces readers to one of Europe's iconic buildings and documents its rehabilitation by Foster + Partners through full-colour photographs, plans, and sketches, along with informative essays. The new Reichstag's cutting-edge and environmentally sustainable features; the preservation of its historic details; and the cupola's new identity as an urban landmark are all discussed in the book, confirming Foster's innovative vision.