Foster's new gospel

Architectural Review, The, May, 2004 by John Winter

NORMAN FOSTER--WORKS VOLUME I

Edited by David Jenkins. London: Prestel. 2003. [pounds sterling]60

This is a big book for a big architect. 1989 saw the start of a series of five volumes chronicling the work of Foster and his office; edited by Ian Lambot and designed by Otl Aicher, they seemed to offer a good overview of the work. The death of Aicher led to a rethink, and it was decided not to continue the series with another designer, but to start all over again with David Jenkins as editor. This is the first in the new series which we are told will consist of six volumes (how do they know when the work of Foster will cease?). Some of the material is re-used from the old series, but much is new and it is generally made more splendid.

This volume covers the period 1965-83. That is the most interesting period of all, as it covers the time when a student developed into a world class architect, and we can all try to search for the moment when he ceased to be one of us and became one of the greats. This book will not tell you when or why this moment occurred, but it will give you the information and the illustrations that you need to make your own guess.

We English tend to be dismissive when we find a star in our midst. But this book gives him proper star treatment. Not since the Butler volumes on Lutyens has a publisher served an architect so well.

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