It has been said that if you wish to see far ahead in time then you must first look back to see lessons from the past. Looking back over my five and a half decades of experience in practice there are a number of lessons that inform the creation and the very nature of the Norman Foster Foundation, the ideals that it should promote and the means to achieve them.

The birth of our Foundation as an independent institution wishing to promote research and projects, and separate from my own architectural practice of Foster + Partners, grows out of several aspirations. One of these is to help new generations to be better prepared to anticipate the future, especially in times of profound global uncertainty – in particular those professionals who are concerned with the environment. In other words, young architects, designers, engineers, civic leaders and artists.

First we wish to promote interdisciplinary thinking. True collaboration between seemingly disconnected fields of design and thought is at the heart of a holistic approach to design that I have pioneered over the years with many colleagues. It is even more relevant today as populations shift to cities and face new interactions with artificial intelligence, robotics, energy demands and climate change. Sustainable design needs to engage all the professions right from the start in a shared endeavour – it is not about fashion but survival...[+]