y a c h t i n g
LUXURY YACHT
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March 2009 | www.lifestyleliving.in
creative colossus
The world’s most productive and ambitious architect stands head and shoulders above his peers LL BUREAU NORMAN FOSTER’S attitude matches his attire–cord suit, black polo neck and loafers– relaxed, comfortable and confident. The 70plus veteran wears his age lightly even as his experience as a pilot and skier lends agility to his movements. The fact that his monumental project–Terminal 3 of Beijing Capital International Airport–reflects his passion for flying, is no coincidence. It’s a
project aligned to his interests and this is where he brings his forte into play: the dexterous use of vast spaces. He has always managed to seamlessly marry the heavyweight art of architecture with the latest lightweight technologies and materials. His love for flying first saw shape in the most exquisite hangar built yet–the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts in Norwich,
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LUXURY YACHT
completed in 1978 and a salute to creativity. The colossal project of the construction on Terminal 3 of Beijing Capital International Airport saw the largest covered structure ever built–40,000 workers on site, working eight-hour shifts round-the-clock. Completed well in time for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the roof of the dragon-like structure covers a space 3.25km long by 785m wide. A train connects various parts of the terminal, along with 175 escalators, 173 lifts and 437 travelators. By 2020, it is estimated, 55 million people will pass through each year. "To get an idea of the scale," says Foster, "imagine Heathrow terminals 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 together under one roof and then add an extra 17 per cent of floor space. It's so big that under a certain amount of light, you
can't see one end of the building from the other." Of course, Foster is a workaholic. He doesn’t know where his work and his persona separate. It’s a passion that has seen him travel for more than 30 years–from Sydney to New York to Malaysia and Kazakhstan–creating landmark structures that include Berlin's Reichstag building, the Swiss Re "Gherkin" in London, the Greater London Authority's City Hall, Chek Lap Kok airport in Hong Kong, the Nîmes Médiathèque, the Millau Viaduct... and so on. Known for his high-tech forms, Foster has a long history of designing thoughtful additions to wellknown historical structures, including the British Museum in London and the Reichstag in Berlin. He delights in the quality of steelwork, great rising columns and subtle, compound curves. He bows in reverence
FREE UNIVERSITY IN BERLIN One of Foster’s first projects is the Free University in Berlin, in which the design of a new library for the Faculty of Philology is far ahead of its time. The new library’s four floors are contained within a naturally ventilated, bubble-like enclosure, clad in aluminium and glazed panels and supported on steel frames with a radial geometry. An inner membrane of translucent glass fibre filters in the daylight and creates an atmosphere of concentration, while scattered transparent openings allow momentary views of the sky and glimpses of sunlight. The serpentine profile of the floors creates an edge pattern in which each floor swells or recedes with respect to the one above or below it. Amusingly, the library’s cranial form has already earned it a nickname–The Berlin Brain.
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