Art Knowledge News
The Art of Architecture: Foster + Partners Opens at the Nasher Sculpture Center |
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| Written by Spencer de Grey |
| Monday, 28 September 2009 04:10 |
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Architectural models, along with drawings, renderings, photographs and videos, give insight into the formal and conceptual underpinnings of the practice’s work and provide a context for better understanding the new addition to the panoply of modernist architecture in Dallas. “The Nasher is pleased to present an exhibition which showcases Foster + Partner’s greatest architectural works and explores the firm’s philosophy that the quality of surroundings has a direct influence on the quality of lives and the culture and climate of place,” said Jeremy Strick, Director of the Nasher Sculpture Center. “With the opening of the Foster-designed Winspear Opera House, Dallas will be the only city in the world that has four buildings within one contiguous block designed by Pritzker Architecture Prize winners, including the Renzo Piano-designed Nasher Sculpture Center.”  Foster + Partners’ philosophy was born out of early
experimental projects undertaken with R. Buckminster Fuller in the 1970s that
attempted to align the built environment more closely with natural forms and
processes. Focusing on cultural buildings and civic spaces, as well as select
infrastructure projects, The Art of Architecture: Foster + Partners will present
important milestones in the firm’s practice that reflect its emphases on
structural innovation and sustainable design and provide important precedents
for the Winspear Opera House. The exhibition will feature some of the largest
and most notable structures in the world, including the Great Court at the
British Museum, the Reichstag in Berlin, Trafalgar Square in London, and the new
Terminal 3 at the Beijing International Airport. In their practice, Foster + Partners (founded by Norman Foster) has focused on cultural buildings and civic spaces, with the intent of marrying structural forms to the natural environment. Spencer de Grey's remarks during the tour turned time and again to an underlying philosophy marked by concerns of low environmental impact. Many projects undertaken by Foster + Partners involve interventions within existing (sometimes historical) structures; some projects don't involve "structures" per se at all -- such as the firm's redesign of London's Trafalgar Square, which resulted in it being partially closed to vehicular traffic and thus opened to pedestrian gatherings. Spencer de Grey spoke of a "delicate visual intervention" when describing the firm's design of the Millennium Bridge in London, and noted the form-following-function aspect of the Stansted Airport terminal building. At Stansted, the layout of the terminal has been purpose-built to provide for a smooth flow of passengers, as they transition from arrival to check-in to security, and thence on to their departure gates -- all on the same level. The models themselves range from "rough" (as per the model for the Free University of Berlin), to incredibly tricked out, with most of the models featuring cutaway views of interior space. Some of them are lit from within, just as in the actual buildings; one actually has a working elevator that moves up and down its shaft at the press of a button. As de Grey put it: "We celebrate our work through models." And now the Nasher is celebrating the model-making work of the design teams at Foster + Associates. Visit the Nasher Sculpture Center at : http://www. Click on logo below to add this article to your favorite Social Website ~ |
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