Norman Foster - Sketchbook 1996-2000

Norman Foster - Sketchbook 1996-2000

This introductory volume launches a new series that reflects on architect Norman Foster’s career from the 1970s until today, through his sketchbooks. Edited by architectural historian Jorge Sainz, more than 500 drawings are presented in a comprehensive collection which contains insights into the design process of Foster’s most influential projects, as well as his inspirations. After all, a particular kind of drawing happens in an architectural sketchbook, something at once very personal, reflective, and portable. Through these fascinating sketches, drawings, and notes, readers can trace how Foster’s complex concepts are made manifest and develop on paper.

Norman Foster (Manchester, 1935) is the founder and executive chairman of Foster + Partners, a global studio for architecture, urbanism and design, rooted in sustainability. He was born in Manchester, and after graduating in Architecture and City Planning from Manchester University in 1961, he won a Henry Fellowship to Yale University, where he was a fellow of Jonathan Edwards College and gained a Master’s Degree in Architecture. He is president of the Norman Foster Foundation, based in Madrid with a global reach, promoting interdisciplinary thinking and research to help new generations of architects, designers and urbanists anticipate the future.

Jorge Sainz (Madrid, 1955) is a Senior Lecturer in Architectural Composition at the Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura (ETSAM), Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM), where he has headed the Architectural Composition Department (2012-2020) and teaches the subjects ’An Introduction to Architecture’ and ’Degree Diploma Project’. He holds a Ph.D. in Architecture and works as editor and translator.