BACK TO PAGE 1

Foster’s interest in aviation eventually led him to become licensed to fly both jet aircraft and helicopters. Foster studied the evolution of aircraft design and adapted the use of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software used to virtually model aircraft performance, to study the effects of airflow around and through buildings. Foster’s firm used CFD technology in the design of the Commerzbank in Frankfurt to “establish the optimal placement, size and angles of the windows and air vents, and the relationship of office floors to the ‘sky gardens’ that acts as the building’s lungs.” (Foster 2000, 686)

Norman Foster’s early career in the 1960’s involved the design of industrial buildings. In 1968 he won the commission for Computer Technology’s temporary manufacturing facility at Hemel Hempstead north of London, and then the new IBM offices at Cosham in 1970. (Pawley 1999, 41) These two projects began Foster’s involvement with office building design and the fledgling technology of computers. Although these projects did not demonstrate any advancements in sustainability, his suggestion to locate computer wiring below the floor in the computer facility at the IBM complex became one of the innovation precedents in his first commission to attract international attention, the Willis, Faber and Dumas building in Ipswich.

Foster’s Willis, Faber and Dumas insurance company building, completed in 1975, revolutionized the office building concept in a variety of ways. The building’s footprint hugs the irregular shaped site formed by the medieval town’s organic street grid. In response to the community’s complex architectural heritage, Foster chose to clad the four story building in dark, tinted glass, effectively reflecting Ipswich’s eclectic vernacular architecture by day, then revealing the building’s inner character by night. Vertical panes of flat glass on a curving facade reflect “non-adjoining subject matter”, creating the effect of a collage. (Banham 2000, 43) Rather than competing with the adjacent context, Foster celebrates it. More important than the building’s response to site, in terms of sustainability, is the use of an open floor plan with escalators traversing a four-story top lighted atrium. The open plan represented the “democratization” of the workplace while the provision of natural daylight promotes worker productivity and well being. An employee cafeteria on the roof level looks out on a pedestrian-accessible green roof, the first application of a green roof in office building design. (Jenkins and Weaver 2005, 86) Although completely clad in glass, the building’s four story, deep plan organization represents a low ratio of glass to internal volume, and the turfed green roof provides an effective thermal blanket, making the building reasonably energy efficient. The translucent, lightweight trussed canopy over the atrium bathes the interior in natural daylight, greatly reducing the need for electric lighting. The raised access floor concept for mechanical services and cabling Foster pioneered at IBM was used throughout Willis, Faber and Dumas, anticipating the coming personal computer and information technology revolution. Competing insurance companies were forced to build new facilities to accommodate IT infrastructure, while Willis, Faber and Dumas made the transition seamlessly, according to Norman Foster. (Jenkins and Weaver 2005, 7) This groundbreaking adaptability concept reduces or eliminates the need for costly and disruptive building modification or replacement. The raised access floor also reduces the initial cost of HVAC equipment by allowing lower temperature supply air to be delivered to each workstation, rather than being forced down through warmer, stratified air at ceiling level. Air is supplied low where people and equipment need it, and is allowed to rise naturally through convection to be exhausted above, reducing fan energy requirements. (Mendler and Odell 2000, 258-59) Today, raised access floor office environments are ubiquitous in Europe, and rapidly gaining acceptance in the United States.

In 1980 Foster and Partners revolutionized the modern airport concept at Stansted, London’s third airport. Foster’s vision centered on the idea of relocating mechanical services and support functions to an “undercroft”, allowing the roof to become a lightweight canopy admitting daylight and shedding rain, while allowing clear sight lines to arriving and departing aircraft, facilitating easy pedestrian orientation. (Jenkins and Weaver 2005, 60) Completed in 1991, this completely daylighted space features operating costs 50% lower than the next efficient British airport terminal, and delivers a quality of natural light unprecedented in any airport complex to date. “Before Stansted,” explains Foster, “that model had the structure carrying huge amounts of ductwork at roof and ceiling level, and substantial amounts of artificial lighting. Artificial lighting generates a great deal of heat, which in turn means that you need more cooling with increasingly large ducts and a larger refrigeration plant. All that equipment in the ceiling and on the roof had to be supported structurally so the structure had to be enormous. Not only did this cost a great deal of money, it was incredibly wasteful of energy.” (The Pritzker Architecture Prize) Foster’s Stansted solution has become the standard application for airport design worldwide. (Pawley 1999, 120)

PAGE 3

Stansted Airport.

Foster's early exposure to utilitarian, lightweight hanger structures and contact with the intentionally lightweight and streamlined space frames of aircraft is clearly expressed throughout his diverse portfolio of projects.

David A. Gross / 970-901-988 / 1631 Emerson Street 309, Denver CO 80218

architect architecture design building information management colorado denver boulder crested butte gunnison salida vail