Foto: Pablo Gómez Ogando

Granting that it is a statistical mirage, one possible characteristic of great architects is longevity, judging from the venerable age that many of them have reached, from Michelangelo and Wren to Wright or Niemeyer. Living in incessant creative stimulus, staying in touch with numerous agents, and maintaining the hope of seeing a project materialized over long stretches of time have the effect of strengthening personal connections and giving life a clear purpose; factors as important as the presumable healthy habits. Norman Foster never tires of saying that the only constant is change; a maxim which has kept him as curious and active as when he started out, and so it is not surprising that he was recently seen going around Venice on a water bike, or that he celebrated his ninetieth year on 1 June visiting the ongoing construction in his Museum of Fine Arts in Bilbao: the latest lines of an admirable biography with chapters still to be written. Happy Birthday!