The monograph as megaproject probably has reached its current apex in this stylish, humongous book-and-CD-ROM set that is devoted to every last detail of the work of Norman Foster, the British architect who, after parting ways with Richard Rogers some 25 years ago, has gone on to oversee a massive shop that has provided some of the more memorable sites of the world's urban postmodern landscape--particularly, in London and, increasingly, the Pacific Rim.
As its title cleverly suggests, this 814-page brick of a book, silver-backed and in a clear plastic jacket, is divided rather evenly between nearly 30 years of writings onFoster's work from such esteemed colleagues as former partner Rogers, R. Buckminster Fuller, Charles Jencks, Rodolfo Machado, Martin Pawley, and Robert A.M. Stern (to name but a few), and writings and speeches byFoster on everything from the process behind designing some of his more famous projects to the design virtues of handrails, tables, and bicycles; his response to the rigidly classicist architectural preferences of Prince Charles; and his appreciation of such other architects as Fuller, Antonio Gaudì, and Paul Rudolph.
But what really makes this mountain of text enlightening and even enjoyable is the accompanying CD-ROM, which allows users to click-and-drag their way through a vast and dazzling collection of color photographs of Foster's dozens of projects from the early 1970s to the present, many of which invite users to move around inside them for close-up, far-back, and 360-degree views of his often breathtaking exteriors and interiors. Nosing one's way around the projects while reading about their stylistic, technical, and environmental attributes brings the writing to life in ways that even the most lushly illustrated standalone book could not achieve--particularly for an architectural firm that has deservedly earned international recognition in the past 20 years for projects that unfailingly beguile the eye, stir the imagination, and satisfy the public appetite, even as they respond to ecological, energy-related, and financial sensitivities in ways that far exceed the initial demands of the clients who commissioned them.
In recent years, Foster's firm has become almost synonymous with the face of new London, with projects including the tallest building at the new Canary Wharf, the sleekly dramatic Millennium Bridge that spans the Thames, the Stansted airport, and the ingenious and deeply hospitable Great Court of the British Museum. Outside of the U.K., projects have included the new Hong Kong International Airport at Chek Lap Kok, and the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank (one of the more recognizable modern buildings in Asia); Tokyo's Century Tower; Frankfurt's Commerzbank Headquarters; and renovations to Germany's august governmental center, the Reichstag, that simultaneously turn the 1895 pile into a living museum of Germany's tumultuous 20th century and open it up to the possibilities of the 21st.
The sheer reach of the firm's presence across the world is mind-boggling in and of itself, but the real key to Foster's ever-growing reputation is the fact that nearly every one of these high-profile projects is as smart and practical as it is handsome and popular. Few monographs let us pick apart an architect's oeuvre in what seems like endless textual and pictorial depth, but On Foster...Foster On, with both its mammoth book and roomy CD-ROM doing double time, is guaranteed to satisfy--and even exhaust--both newcomers to the architect's exciting work and those who think that they already know it inside out. --Timothy Murphy
From Library Journal
England's preeminent contemporary architect, Norman Foster has to his credit designs across the globe in a broad variety of building types, from cultural institutions to office buildings. His idiom remains Miesian, but Foster has explored its possibilities, in combination with historic vocabularies, in projects such as an addition to the Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha, the Sackler Galleries at the Royal Academy of Arts in London, and the redesigned Reichstag in Berlin. With its reverential tone, this volume resembles a Festschrift, assembling 47 brief essays by as many critics and practitioners, followed by 50 short articles by Foster himself. Illustrated with small, uncaptioned black-and-white photographs, the essays on Foster are often insightful and intelligent. Similarly, Foster's comments on his work and that of other modern architects disclose his architectural values. Beautifully designed and worth the purchase price alone, the accompanying CD-ROM illustrates and describes Foster's oeuvre, classifying it by building type, with photographic images, plans, and sections. Recommended for all architecture collections. Paul Glassman, New York Sch. of Interior Design
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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