Quotes by Norman Foster - Page 1

I think you never stop learning.
Norman Foster / Architect
Never Stop Learning
Thinking
Learning Never Stop
Never Stop
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Architecture is an expression of values.
Norman Foster / Architect
Architecture
Expression
Values
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It takes a lot of effort to make a building look effortless.
Norman Foster / Architect
Building
Effort
Looks
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The Italians have long known what makes a livable town or city.
Norman Foster / Architect
Italians
Livable
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Everything inspires me; sometimes I think I see things others don’t.
Norman Foster / Architect
Inspire
Sometimes
Thinking
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If you weren’t an optimist, it would be impossible to be an architect.
Norman Foster / Architect
Architect
Impossible
Would Be
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I'm not a creature of habit. I like to find things from unexpected sources.
Norman Foster / Architect
Habit
Source
Unexpected
Creature
Sources
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I travel continuously, and I see many cities, but there is nowhere like London.
Norman Foster / Architect
Travel
Cities
London
See I See Like
Nowhere
Continuously
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Anything that reduces fuel consumption and cuts down on greenhouse gasses is good news.
Norman Foster / Architect
Consumption
Fuel
Good News
Good News Good News
Cuts
Greenhouse
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Everything we design is a response to the specific climate and culture of a particular place.
Norman Foster / Architect
Design
Climate
Particular
Response
Place
Specific
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You cannot separate the buildings out from the infrastructure of cites and the mobility of transit.
Norman Foster / Architect
Building
Citing
Infrastructure
Mobility
Buildings
Separate
Transit
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Our object in life should be to accumulate a great number of grand questions to be asked and resolved in eternity.
Norman Foster / Architect
Eternity
Numbers
Should
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The pencil and computer are, if left to their own devices, equally dumb and only as good as the person driving them.
Norman Foster / Architect
Architecture
Driving
Dumb
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As an architect you design for the present, with an awareness of the past, for a future which is essentially unknown.
Norman Foster / Architect
Bad Ass
Badass
Past
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As an architect, you design for the present, with an awareness of the past, for a future which is essentially unknown.
Norman Foster / Architect
Design
Future
Architect
Awareness
Past
Unknown
Essentially
Present
Which
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I tend to move between turtlenecks and shirts and ties. I don't really have a uniform in the sense that some people might.
Norman Foster / Architect
Moving
People
Shirts
Ties
Uniform
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I think cars encapsulate the history of innovation and style - it's the other side of the coin of the car being public enemy No.1.
Norman Foster / Architect
Enemy
Innovation
Coin
Encapsulate
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Google has already tested robot cars in San Francisco. If they can navigate San Francisco, they can probably manage just about anywhere.
Norman Foster / Architect
Car
Google
Manage
Navigate
San Francisco
Tested
Francisco
San
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I describe the design process as like the tip of the iceberg. What you don't see is the long haul: all the endless auditing and things like that.
Norman Foster / Architect
Design
Endless
Haul
Iceberg
Long
Process
Tip Of The Iceberg
Describe
Tip
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I was born in 1935, and as far back as I can remember, I was sketching designs. My first subject was an aircraft, which I imagined myself piloting.
Norman Foster / Architect
Design
Aircraft
Firsts
Sketching
Designs
Imagined
Subject
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I am always surprised by how much little emphasis schools of architecture, and indeed, many architects, place on the process of the mating of a building.
Norman Foster / Architect
Architecture
Littles
School
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Every time I've flown an aircraft, or visited a steelworks, or watched a panel-beater at work, I've learned something new that can be applied to buildings.
Norman Foster / Architect
Aircraft
Building
I've Learned
Something New
Time Work New
Applied
Buildings
Watched
Every Time
Work Time New
Flown
Visited
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Since Stonehenge, architects have always been at the cutting edge of technology. And you cant separate technology from the humanistic and spiritual content of a building.
Norman Foster / Architect
Technology
Cutting
Spiritual
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Since Stonehenge, architects have always been at the cutting edge of technology. And you can't separate technology from the humanistic and spiritual content of a building.
Norman Foster / Architect
Technology
Cutting
Cutting Edge
Humanistic
Spiritual
Since
Architects
Been
Content
Edge
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Joseph Bazalgette created a sewer system which he originally sized for London's needs of the time - he then doubled it to anticipate the future beyond. These are the qualities that I admire.
Norman Foster / Architect
Future
Admire
Anticipate
London
Needs
Then
Beyond
He
Created
Joseph
Originally
Qualities
Sewer
Sized
System
Which
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I would never wear anything with a logo. That I really find difficult. It's a frustration that I'll find a nice shirt or something and it's got 50 prints of the logo on it - why do they do this?
Norman Foster / Architect
Frustration
Logos
Nice
Prints
Shirt
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Control is the wrong word. The practice is very much about sharing, and, in any creative practice, some individuals, whether partners or directors, are much closer to certain projects than I could ever be.
Norman Foster / Architect
Creative
Directors
Partners
Practice
Closer
Individuals
Sharing
Wrong Word
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Manhattan, one of the most moneyed spots on the planet, also has one of the greatest concentrations of people in its skyscrapers. Its also, of course, the place where every architect wants to build his tower.
Norman Foster / Architect
People
Towers
Want
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You can find, occasionally, some absolutely fantastic things in hunting shops. I've got one jacket that I just happened across which is a kind of unwashed leather - completely anonymous but absolutely special.
Norman Foster / Architect
Fantastic
Hunting
Leather
Shops
Anonymous
Jacket
Occasionally
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Manhattan, one of the most moneyed spots on the planet, also has one of the greatest concentrations of people in its skyscrapers. It's also, of course, the place where every architect wants to build his tower.
Norman Foster / Architect
Architect
Manhattan
Spots
Skyscrapers
Tower
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The only honourable work my parents knew was blue-collar. But while my father Robert ran a pawnbroker's shop, and my mother was a waitress, I moved into a middle-class world with a level of security they never knew.
Norman Foster / Architect
Blue Collar
Ran
Waitress
Honourable
Shop
Robert
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The most amazing lesson in aerodynamics I ever had was the day I climbed a thermal in a glider at the same time as an eagle. I witnessed, close up, effortlessness and lightness combined with strength, precision and determination.
Norman Foster / Architect
Amazing
Determination
Lightness
Most Amazing
Precision
Thermal
Climbed
Close
Combined
Eagle
Lesson
Same Time
Witnessed
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I hope that any expansion of London will learn from the planning examples of some of its most desirable areas such as Chelsea, Notting Hill, Belgravia and Mayfair. All are characterised by high density and a generosity of green spaces.
Norman Foster / Architect
Chelsea
Density
Desirable
Expansion
Generosity
Green
Planning
Examples
Spaces
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We now think it hilarious that medieval streets were used as open sewers. Equally, our descendants will say: 'You won't believe this, but people were once allowed to hurl a couple of tons of dangerous metal around smashing into each other.'
Norman Foster / Architect
Hilarious
Descendants
Medieval
Smashing
Streets
Believe People Will
Equally
Hurl
Metal
Tons
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Surveys often show people would prefer a detached house with a lawn and driveway to an apartment. I understand this. It's not my place to presume to tell people where they can live. But perhaps that dream will simply not be possible in the future.
Norman Foster / Architect
Detached
Driveway
Surveys
Lawn
Presume
Show People
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There's a snobbery at work in architecture. The subject is too often treated as a fine art, delicately wrapped in mumbo-jumbo. In reality, it's an all-embracing discipline taking in science, art, maths, engineering, climate, nature, politics, economics.
Norman Foster / Architect
Art
Architecture
Climate
Discipline
Economics
Engineering
Math
Reality
Snobbery
Treated
Fine Art
Maths
Wrapped
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I love flying; I love aircraft, and you could say I've had a love affair with flight since I was a child. I travel a huge amount. I use airports, and as a pilot, I've flown in and out of airports thousands of times, so really, I have a fairly broad perspective.
Norman Foster / Architect
Affair
Aircraft
Flight
Flying
Love Affair
Perspective
Fairly
Airport
Broad
Huge Amount
Pilot
Thousands
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There are those airports which make you feel better, and there are those airports that, when you go there, your heart sinks: you can't wait to get out of there. They both function as airports, but it's the things that you can't measure that make them different.
Norman Foster / Architect
Function
Heart Your Better
Airport
Wait
Measure
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In Britain, the idea one could go from blue-collar beginnings to the university was so far out, it was quite unthinkable. I took a variety of jobs to pay for tuition - from ice-cream salesman to night-club bouncer. Whatever earned the most money in the least time.
Norman Foster / Architect
Blue Collar
Britain
Salesman
Tuition
Unthinkable
Variety
Time Money Go
Beginnings
Earned
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Didn't think her vision was consistent with the ORC, especially the way the Council wishes to work with the ORC. For example, with regard to the zoning ordinance, the Council sees a comprehensive approach, the ORC wants to review the ordinances and simplify them. Pam's vision was counter to that.
Norman Foster / Architect
Thinking
Vision
Wish
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When the Great Fire of London destroyed most of the medieval city in 1666, Christopher Wren was invited to design a new one. Within days, he had drawn up an elegant grid of broad boulevards leading to majestic squares, but it came to nothing - the existing landowners wanted things as they had been.
Norman Foster / Architect
Design
Destroyed
Elegant
Fire
Invited
London
Majestic
Medieval
Squares
Wanted
Great Fire City
Within
Broad
Days
Came
Christopher
City
Drawn
Existing
Grid
Leading
New One
Wren
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A life-threatening illness or two certainly gives you an awareness of your own mortality. It heightens your sense of gratitude for things that previously, if you've not taken them for granted, you perhaps never appreciated how precious they were. That's almost a platitude, but one has to state the obvious.
Norman Foster / Architect
Appreciated
Awareness
Granted
Illness
Mortality
Obvious
Heightens
Life-Threatening
Precious
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I hope that any expansion of London will learn from the planning examples of some of its most desirable areas such as Chelsea, Notting Hill, Belgravia and Mayfair. All are characterised by high density and a generosity of green spaces. They are all pedestrian-friendly with shops, entertainment, restaurants and pubs within easy walking distance.
Norman Foster / Architect
Space
Chelsea
Density
Desirable
Distance
Entertainment
Expansion
Generosity
Green
Planning
Pubs
Restaurants
Shops
Examples
Hill
Spaces
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