Lord Norman Foster, the 86-year-old architect, is mostly known for things that don’t move: grand, iconic edifices such as the Gherkin and the British Museum’s Great Court in London, the Reichstag in Berlin and the Apple Park campus in California, completed in 2018. OK, he was also part of the team behind the Millennium Bridge over the River Thames, which swayed so alarmingly on its opening day it was renamed “the Wobbly Bridge”, but that was resolved soon enough.
As a human being, though, Foster is constantly in motion. He lives between the UK, Switzerland, Spain and the United States. With his architecture studio Foster + Partners, and foundation, he has realised projects on six continents (come on Antarctica, commission him!). His favourite recreations all involve mobility and speed: sports cars, riding his racing bicycle and flying (he’s qualified to pilot both jets and helicopters). This past winter he completed his “28th or thereabouts” cross-country skiing marathon. Foster has a laser mind, so that number is almost certainly spot on. We did mention he was 86, didn’t we?
