i was unemployed looking for work and I took a 1 hour pre-game interview warm-up at Barnes&Nobles at Union Square NY, NY. There I found this book and read the intro about Sir Norman Foster.
What struck me was, he came from a working class background, and a point made by his neighborhood childhood friends was - look at my hands they say I've worked, what are you doing? ...and then there was this authors observation of Norman walking into some media school architectural event with the utmost confidence, etc...followed by foster doing drafstmen like shit to get into the English school he was aiming at, and the building department guy asking him what he wanted to be...at like 30 years old. he met Rogers, did a study abroad at Yale when Bucky was there, did an intern at some no name NY firm, went back to England, and the rest is history...
he's my hero because he comes from a background many of share....
this profession based on a Pritzker like status is geared towards those who can open a firm with no profit, or those who say "I love architecture and don't do it for the money" (because they can afford to do it, which they dont' tell you how, because mommy and daddy made sure of it).
recent Architect Mag had an article on why the Pritzker should be abolished...in this architect there was a pic of Charlie Rose with (4) architects: Renzo, Zaha, Gehry, Nouvel...only Renzo was not wearing all Black...Renzo's brother was a contractor, Renzo builds, nothing predictable.
in short
blue collar mentality in a white collar profession will guarentee dominance, it's just philosophical theoretical bull shit that will hinder you from accepting your dominate status...
and usually this bull shit works...you find yourself making tons of money for some rich prick, because you take pride in your work and they have the friends.
take their clients...take your mentality...this is your profession.
He is a good architect. His projects tend to be HUGE though with amazingly large budgets. It hard for up and comers to break into that market these days.
And I think the Pritzer is good. It gets people talking about architecture. It puts architecture on the front page of newspapers and TV news shows. And it does highlight some great lesser knows architects from time to time: Glenn Murcutt, Zumthor, and Paulo Mendez da Rocha to name a few.
easy fella .....not so fast..... the reality is that you can either be born well or marry well. Most star architects fall in to one of two categories I am not certain but isn't Sir Norman's wife well off?
he sold a significant stake of his firm to a private investment company and despite having HUGE profits prior to the recession he laid off almost a quarter of his employees when things started to get tough. yep... definitely my hero.
he moved to swissland to avoid taxation! he's my hero also.
This makes no sense to me. It is absurdly expensive to live in Switzerland. Yeah, y'ain't paying taxes but you're paying up the wazoo for everything else...
cost of living in zuerich is really no more than london. besides, when you are wealthy, cost of living doesn't really affect you. what will is tax rates in london being nearly what, double that in switzerland?
he already owns his own Schweizer-pad.
[img]http://www.swisscastles.ch/Vaud/chateau/photo/vincy5.JPG[img]
so it's not like he'll be paying US$4,000 a month for renting a place.
whether you're an ass, rich or whatnot, what matters is the end product... if your building does not reflect the purpose its supposed to reflect with grace, then you failed.
But on the flip side, Architecture is a business and not being tough will have its consequences too. Foster's not one of my favorites, but the fact that he accomplishes what he is paid to do--- in spades and with style--- makes him a good architect.
whether you're an ass, rich or whatnot, what matters is the end product... if your building does not reflect the purpose its supposed to reflect with grace, then you failed.
But on the flip side, Architecture is a business and not being tough will have its consequences too. Foster's not one of my favorites, but the fact that he accomplishes what he is paid to do--- in spades and with style--- makes him a good architect.
whether you're an ass, rich or whatnot, what matters is the end product... if your building does not reflect the purpose its supposed to reflect with grace, then you failed.
But on the flip side, Architecture is a business and not being tough will have its consequences too. Foster's not one of my favorites, but the fact that he accomplishes what he is paid to do--- in spades and with style--- makes him a good architect.
i think if you were to seriously review the full portfolio of "Foster and Partners" for the last 10 years, you would see a very mixed palette. some have been really great - the bridge in france for instance - but there have been any number of 2nd rate, matter-of-fact, churn 'em out projects. Foster is a brand, where the actual product is different to the projected image built up over the last 30 years.
maybe the economic downturn will be good for his quality quotient.
May 4, 09 9:12 pm ·
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norman foster my hero because!!!
i was unemployed looking for work and I took a 1 hour pre-game interview warm-up at Barnes&Nobles at Union Square NY, NY. There I found this book and read the intro about Sir Norman Foster.
What struck me was, he came from a working class background, and a point made by his neighborhood childhood friends was - look at my hands they say I've worked, what are you doing? ...and then there was this authors observation of Norman walking into some media school architectural event with the utmost confidence, etc...followed by foster doing drafstmen like shit to get into the English school he was aiming at, and the building department guy asking him what he wanted to be...at like 30 years old. he met Rogers, did a study abroad at Yale when Bucky was there, did an intern at some no name NY firm, went back to England, and the rest is history...
he's my hero because he comes from a background many of share....
this profession based on a Pritzker like status is geared towards those who can open a firm with no profit, or those who say "I love architecture and don't do it for the money" (because they can afford to do it, which they dont' tell you how, because mommy and daddy made sure of it).
recent Architect Mag had an article on why the Pritzker should be abolished...in this architect there was a pic of Charlie Rose with (4) architects: Renzo, Zaha, Gehry, Nouvel...only Renzo was not wearing all Black...Renzo's brother was a contractor, Renzo builds, nothing predictable.
in short
blue collar mentality in a white collar profession will guarentee dominance, it's just philosophical theoretical bull shit that will hinder you from accepting your dominate status...
and usually this bull shit works...you find yourself making tons of money for some rich prick, because you take pride in your work and they have the friends.
take their clients...take your mentality...this is your profession.
nothing more blue collar than Architecture.
he moved to swissland to avoid taxation! he's my hero also.
He is a good architect. His projects tend to be HUGE though with amazingly large budgets. It hard for up and comers to break into that market these days.
And I think the Pritzer is good. It gets people talking about architecture. It puts architecture on the front page of newspapers and TV news shows. And it does highlight some great lesser knows architects from time to time: Glenn Murcutt, Zumthor, and Paulo Mendez da Rocha to name a few.
easy fella .....not so fast..... the reality is that you can either be born well or marry well. Most star architects fall in to one of two categories I am not certain but isn't Sir Norman's wife well off?
he sold a significant stake of his firm to a private investment company and despite having HUGE profits prior to the recession he laid off almost a quarter of his employees when things started to get tough. yep... definitely my hero.
yeah but he's also an egomaniac. Rodgers' from what i understand is a much more personable guy, he's also a better architect.
so is piano - in my opinion.
rogers is the more even keeled of the two.
but yeah, i was a little shocked at the 1/4 staff dislodging after doing so well for so long.
This makes no sense to me. It is absurdly expensive to live in Switzerland. Yeah, y'ain't paying taxes but you're paying up the wazoo for everything else...
cost of living in zuerich is really no more than london. besides, when you are wealthy, cost of living doesn't really affect you. what will is tax rates in london being nearly what, double that in switzerland?
he already owns his own Schweizer-pad.
[img]http://www.swisscastles.ch/Vaud/chateau/photo/vincy5.JPG[img]
so it's not like he'll be paying US$4,000 a month for renting a place.
typo> he moved "HIS CITIZENSHIP' to swissland to avoid taxation!
that's why the royal is about to take away his "sir" title.
lord, not sir, whatever though
whether you're an ass, rich or whatnot, what matters is the end product... if your building does not reflect the purpose its supposed to reflect with grace, then you failed.
But on the flip side, Architecture is a business and not being tough will have its consequences too. Foster's not one of my favorites, but the fact that he accomplishes what he is paid to do--- in spades and with style--- makes him a good architect.
whether you're an ass, rich or whatnot, what matters is the end product... if your building does not reflect the purpose its supposed to reflect with grace, then you failed.
But on the flip side, Architecture is a business and not being tough will have its consequences too. Foster's not one of my favorites, but the fact that he accomplishes what he is paid to do--- in spades and with style--- makes him a good architect.
whether you're an ass, rich or whatnot, what matters is the end product... if your building does not reflect the purpose its supposed to reflect with grace, then you failed.
But on the flip side, Architecture is a business and not being tough will have its consequences too. Foster's not one of my favorites, but the fact that he accomplishes what he is paid to do--- in spades and with style--- makes him a good architect.
i think if you were to seriously review the full portfolio of "Foster and Partners" for the last 10 years, you would see a very mixed palette. some have been really great - the bridge in france for instance - but there have been any number of 2nd rate, matter-of-fact, churn 'em out projects. Foster is a brand, where the actual product is different to the projected image built up over the last 30 years.
maybe the economic downturn will be good for his quality quotient.
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