Norman Foster already listed
Introduction
Norman Robert Foster (Manchester, June 1, 1935) is a British architect, awarded the Pritzker Prize in 1999[1] and the Prince of Asturias Prize for the Arts in 2009.[2].
Biography
He studied architecture at the University of Manchester and later obtained a scholarship to continue his studies at Yale University. Back in England, Foster worked for a time with the architect Richard Buckminster Fuller. In 1963 he founded the architectural firm Team 4, together with Wendy Cheesman, Richard Rogers, Su Brumwell (Su Rogers) and Georgie Wolton. Georgie Wolton was the only one with an architect qualification, which allowed the studio to execute the architectural projects. Wolton left Team 4 a few months later, when the others were already with their exams. Team 4 operated until 1967 when it split into two studios, Foster and Partners with Wendy Cheesman as co-founding partner and studio director, and the Richard + Su Rogers studio.[3][4].
Foster's initial projects are characterized by a very pronounced "High-tech" style. Later on, the lines of its buildings soften and that technical character taken to the extreme largely disappears. In any case, the projects of Foster and his partners carry a marked industrial seal, in the sense that they use elements in the buildings that are repeated many times, which is why they are manufactured in places far from the work. Components are often designed specifically for a building, reflecting a style of good manufacturing.
Foster was knighted in 1990 (Sir Norman Foster) and in 1997 he was awarded the Order of Merit. In 1999, Queen Elizabeth II granted him the life peerage of Baron Foster of Thames Bank. In July 2010 he was one of the 5 members of the House of Lords who resigned his seat to avoid, in compliance with a new law, establishing his tax residence in the United Kingdom.[5][6] He retained the title of knight (lord), because it is for life.
He has also received several important architecture awards, such as the gold medal of the American Institute of Architecture, the prestigious Pritzker Prize in 1999 and the Prince of Asturias Award for the Arts in 2009.[7].
In November 2016, it was chosen for the new expansion of the Prado Museum, which will consist of the renovation and adaptation as a gallery of the Salón de Reinos building, once belonging to the Buen Retiro Palace.[8].