Norman Foster Foundation in Madrid, NFF Workshop Spain, On Archives Masterclass News

Norman Foster Foundation Madrid News

22 October 2024
Winners of the Kharkiv Housing Challenge Architecture Competition

Kharkiv housing photograph © Norman Foster Foundation
Kharkiv Housing Challenge International Competition Winners

15 June 2023
Launch Of The Norman Foster Institute

photo © Pablo Gómez-Ogando / Norman Foster Institute

18 May 2023

Essential Homes Research Project
Venice Architecture Biennale 2023

Dates: 20 May – 26 November 2023

Location: Venice, Italy

Physical prototype on view at Marinaressa Gardens
Exhibition in Palazzo Mora

Essential Homes Research Project – Venice Architecture Biennale 2023

Madrid, 18th of May 2023 – The Essential Homes Research Project by the Norman Foster Foundation and Holcim was inaugurated in Venice at the occasion of 2023 Biennale of Architecture launch. In this partnership the Norman Foster Foundation designed the housing concept to meet essential human needs, providing safety, comfort and wellbeing for people in displacement, who can live in temporary settlements for decades. Holcim brought the project to life with a range of its sustainable building solutions, making it low-carbon, energy-efficient and circular, demonstrating how sustainable building can be possible for all.

A real-size prototype is placed in the Marinaressa Gardens, and an exhibition hosted in Palazzo Mora presents the development of the project. Perfectly in line with the Biennale’s theme ‘Laboratories of the Future’, this research project opens the conversation around providing essential housing for all.

Essential Homes Research Project, Venice Architecture Biennale, Venice, Italy, 2023

Norman Foster, President of the Norman Foster Foundation: ‘How can we ensure everyone, including some of our world’s most vulnerable populations, can have access to decent living conditions? During the Venice Biennale we show our work-in-progress on this idea; the outcome of a few months of intensive activity in collaboration with Holcim.’

Jan Jenisch, Chairman & CEO, Holcim: ‘I am very excited about the potential for impact coming out of this collaboration. It enables essential homes that are built with some of our low carbon, energy-efficient and circular building solutions, showcasing how sustainable building can be possible for all.’

The Essential Homes Research Project provides safety, comfort and wellbeing. Highly sustainable, this home has a 70% lower CO2 footprint compared to traditional structures. It includes a range of Holcim sustainable building solutions making it lowcarbon, energy-efficient and circular. It is made of:

• Low-carbon rollable concrete sheets serving as an external shell, providing physical safety.

• Permeable pathways made of ECOPact low-carbon concrete connecting the homes, including light-absorbing aggregates reflecting natural light at night, reducing energy use and light pollution.

• Energy-efficient insulation systems from Elevate boards to low-carbon Airium foam to ensure thermal and acoustic comfort.

• Driving circular construction, Holcim’s ECOCycle®, recycled construction demolition materials are used to make the base of the Essential Home more weather resilient.

• Circular by design with modular units, at the end of use, each component of the Essential Homes model can be reused or recycled.
The Essential Homes Research Project opens the fundamental conversation about making sustainable building accessible to all, to build a future that works for people and the planet.

Essential Homes Research Project, Venice Architecture Biennale, Venice, Italy, 2023

Norman Foster Foundation

The Norman Foster Foundation promotes interdisciplinary thinking and research to help new generations anticipate the future. The first mission of the Norman Foster Foundation is to make visible the centrality of architecture, infrastructure, and urbanism for the betterment of society. To this end, the second mission is to encourage new thinking and research across traditional boundaries in order to help younger generations anticipate the challenges of future change.

In particular, the foundation speaks to those professionals who are concerned with the environment architects, engineers, designers, urbanists, civic leaders, planners, and artists. This is at the heart of the Foundation’s holistic approach to design and is ever more relevant as populations shift to cities. With the implications of climate change, robotics and artificial intelligence, sustainable design is not about fashion but about survival.

The Foundation holds the Norman Foster Archive and Library, which provide a window into the larger narrative and history of our built environment through the work of Norman Foster. This is complemented and supported by drawings and models from other significant architects such as Claude-Nicolas Ledoux, Le Corbusier, Mies van der Rohe, Charles and Ray Eames, Buckminster Fuller, Richard Rogers, Zaha Hadid and Tadao Ando. Through its research initiatives and programmes, the Norman Foster Foundation encourages the transfer of advanced knowledge in a wide range of design fields. The Foundation’s educational initiatives are structured around research, workshops, fellowships and forums, built around the Foundation’s core objectives.

The Norman Foster Foundation acts from the United Kingdom, New York and Spain, with its headquarters in Madrid.

Holcim

Holcim is a global leader in innovative and sustainable building solutions. Driven by its purpose to build progress for people and the planet, its 60,000 employees are on a mission to decarbonize building, while improving living standards for all.

The company empowers its customers across all regions to build better with less, with its broad range of low-carbon and circular solutions, from ECOPact to ECOPlanet. With its innovative systems, from Elevate’s roofing to PRB’s insulation, Holcim makes buildings more sustainable in use, driving energy efficiency and green retrofitting. With sustainability at the core of its strategy, Holcim is becoming a net-zero company with 1.5°C targets validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi).

10 Nov 2022

Norman Foster Foundation ‘Cities: Affordable Housing’ Workshop

14-18 November 2022

• How do we deliver affordable housing in our cities? The ‘Cities: Affordable Housing’ Workshop will look at how the various stakeholders can meet demand for housing in our cities and study what designers can do to meet the challenge.

• The challenge is unprecedented. We are facing rapid and unplanned urbanisation, climate change together with an energy crisis and rising cost of living, migration, and the financialisation of housing.

• Architects Alejandro Aravena and Norman Foster will address for the first time together in a public conversation, which will take place on 16 November in Madrid, the challenges of affordable housing in cities of different contexts globally.

Norman Foster’s House, Well Walk, Hampstead, London, United Kingdom, 1979:

image courtesy of architects practice

Norman Foster Foundation Workshop 2022

Madrid, 10th of November 2022 – The Norman Foster Foundation presents the Cities: Affordable Housing Workshop, which will take place 14–18 November 2022, with the support of the Holcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction.

How do we deliver affordable housing in our cities? The 2022 NFF Cities: Affordable Housing Workshop will look at how the various stakeholders can meet demand for housing in our cities and study what designers can do to meet the challenge.

The provision of Affordable Housing in our cities is central to delivering the UN Sustainable Development Goals and for people to continue to thrive in our cities through a period of urbanisation. The challenge is unprecedented. We are facing rapid and unplanned urbanisation, climate change together with an energy crisis and rising cost of living, migration, and the financialisation of housing. Productivity in our construction industry has remained flat for decades and we are slow to adopt new methods and technologies. We have resource scarcity leading in part to rapidly increasing material prices and a big carbon footprint associated with our traditional materials and methods.

The Workshop will explore this problem through three lenses: (i) innovative design and construction, (ii) urban planning and placemaking and (iii) social and public matters. With contributions from a multidisciplinary range of leading experts, the workshop will address the provision of affordable housing in cities of different contexts globally.

The workshop is supported by the Holcim Foundation and represents an opportunity to join an exceptional network of experts working globally to find sustainable solutions to the built environment.

The Academic Body brings together a wide range of practitioners from different fields related to housing, including: Alejandro Aravena, Executive Director, ELEMENTAL, Santiago, Chile; ELEMENTAL Copec Chair, Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile; Peter van Assche, Founding Principal, bureau SLA, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Lector of Architecture and Circular Thinking, Amsterdam University of the Arts, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; STO Foundation Visiting Professor, Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT), Karlsruhe, Germany; Tatiana Bilbao, Principal, Tatiana Bilbao Estudio, Ciudad de Mexico, Mexico; Jonathan Ledgard, Founder, Tropic Rossums Studio, Nairobi, Kenya; Former Director, Afrotech Future Africa Initiative (Afrotech-EPFL), École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland; Susana Saiz, Director, Arup Spain, Madrid, Spain, Stuart Smith, Director, Arup Germany, Berlin, Germany and Maria Vassilakou, Former Vice Mayor, Vienna, Austria. As Mobile Workshop Members, it will also include: Arenas Basabe Palacios Arquitectos, Madrid, Spain; Javier Camacho and Maria Eugenia Maciá, Founding Directors, cmA Arquitectos, Madrid, Spain; Professors of Architectural and Construction Projects, Escuela Politécnica Superior, Universidad CEU San Pablo, Madrid, Spain and Francisco Javier Sáenz Guerra, Professor of Architecture and Design, Escuela Politécnica Superior, Universidad CEU San Pablo, Madrid, Spain.

After reviewing hundreds of applications submitted by candidates from around the world, the selection committee awarded ten scholarships to students from the following universities and institutions: Institute of Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IaaC); Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, United States; Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich (ETH Zürich), Zurich, Switzerland; Harvard University Graduate School of Design (GSD); the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT); University of Cape Town (UCT), Cape Town, Technische Universität München (TUM), Munich, Germany; South Africa and Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP), Columbia University, New York, NY, United States.

Public Debates

Wednesday, 16 November from 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm

Fundación Francisco Giner de los Ríos, Paseo del General Martínez Campos 14, Madrid, Spain

Speakers include Alejandro Aravena, Tatiana Bilbao, Norman Foster, Jonathan Ledgard, Stuart Smith, Peter van Assche, and Maria Vassilakou.

The Norman Foster Foundation is based in Madrid and operates globally.

Holcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction

The Holcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction helps to drive systemic change towards a more sustainable built environment. It was founded in 2003 to define and promote the key principles of sustainability for the construction sector and is committed to accelerating the sector’s transformation so that people and the planet can thrive. The Holcim Foundation has investigated various aspects of sustainable housing via a series of roundtables and conferences with international experts. It has also recognised excellent contributions to the field of sustainable construction with the Holcim Awards, which are considered the world’s most significant competition for sustainable design.

Affordable housing solutions will play an important role to address the effects of rapid population growth and urbanisation combined with climate change. To address this issue, the Holcim Foundation is now joining forces with the Norman Foster Foundation to support the ‘Cities: Affordable Housing Workshop’. This workshop offers a platform for the next generation of researchers and practitioners to meet in a week-long laboratory. Talented students and experts from a range of universities and disciplines are coming together to reflect on and extend the possibilities for dignified housing solutions in cities. The workshops will work on case studies to identify challenges and propositions in relation to specific urban contexts in the world with respect to social, economic and environmental issues.

Previously on e-architect:

5 October 2022

Norman Foster launches UN San Marino Declaration and receives Equestrian Order of St Agatha

San Marino Declaration of the United Nations

5th of October 2022 – On Monday, 3rd October, Norman Foster launched the San Marino Declaration of the United Nations and its Principles for Sustainable and Inclusive Urban Design and Architecture. The event took place in the Kursaal conference centre of the Republic, on the occasion of the 83rd Session of the UNECE Committee on Urban Development, Housing and Land Management

Norman Foster was invited to deliver the keynote speech and to share his and his colleagues’ collective experience on issues of masterplanning and urban design. He endorsed the important role that the design professions could play in shaping cities in the present future, in addition to the architecture of individual buildings. He also talked about the importance of advocates – from civic leaders, mayors, politicians, governments, city managers and developers – in supporting visionary ideas that can effect transformational change in our towns and cities. He urged these interest groups, as well as architects and engineers to sign up to the principles of the Declaration and commit to implement them in their daily activities.

Norman Foster participated in the drafting of the Declaration which was formally adopted by member States at the meeting. Its development has been a true international collaboration of experts, advisors and leaders from diverse professions, all gathered in San Marino for this important event.

On the following day, in the Palazzo Pubblico, he was the first architect to be made a Knight Grand Officer of the Equestrian Order of St Agatha at The Hall of the Council of XII, San Marino. The ceremony was held in the presence of their Excellencies Captain Regent Maria Luisa Berti and Captain Regent Manuel Ciavatta, the Heads of State of San Marino, as well as the Minister of Territory and Environment, Stefano Canti. The order was established in 1923 and the last recipient was Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

Norman Foster, Founder and Executive Chairman of Foster + Partners and President of the Norman Foster Foundation, said: “It is truly a great honour to receive the Equestrian Order of St Agatha and to follow in the footsteps of so many distinguished recipients. It is a privilege to receive this personally, but I am mindful that as the first architect to be awarded the Order, it is recognition of the importance that the buildings and infrastructure of cities plays in all our lives. This has a particular resonance at this time because, here in San Marino, I also launched the San Marino Declaration, and its Principles for Sustainable and Inclusive Urban Design and Architecture. It is my belief that this declaration will significantly contribute to a brighter, more sustainable future for all.”

Afterwards, Norman Foster delivered the Lectio Magistralis in the 18th century Titano Theatre, where he was also appointed as the first honorary member of the Order of Architects and Engineers of San Marino.

Previously on e-architect:

26 May 2022

The Norman Foster Foundation Presents

the ‘Future Of Archives’ Conversations Series

Norman Foster Foundation Future Of Archives Conversations Series

Madrid, 26th of May 2022 – The ‘Future of Archives’ Conversations Series explores the most fundamental aspects related to architectural archives and libraries around the world. This series of ten virtual dialogues are hosted by Estrella de Diego, Professor at the Universidad Complutense of Madrid and Academician at the Royal Academy of Arts of San Fernando; and Hans Ulrich Obrist, Artistic Director of the Serpentine Galleries, and explore the present and future of archives alongside the following leading experts:

Deborah Berke
Dean, School of Architecture, Yale University, New Haven, CT, United States

Beatriz Colomina
Director, Program in Media and Modernity, School of Architecture, University of Princeton, Princeton, NJ, United States

Dennis Crompton
Founder, Archigram; Director, Archigram Archives, London, United Kingdom

Edmund de Waal
Artist and writer, London, United Kingdom

Kenneth Frampton
Professor Emeritus, Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP), Columbia University, New York, NY, United States

Julia Gonnella
Director, Museum of Islamic Art, Doha, Doha, Qatar

Justin W. Gunther
Director, Fallingwater; Vice President, Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, Pennsylvania, USA

Phyllis Lambert
Founder, Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA), Montreal, QC, Canada

Frédéric Migayrou
Deputy Director of the Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre de Création Industrielle (MNAM-CCI), Centre Pompidou, Paris, France

Andrew Perchuk
Deputy Director, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, CA, United States

Film on YouTube

The ‘Future of Archives’ Conversations Series follows the ‘Future of Cities’ Conversations Series, which considers the past, present and future of cities, and will be followed by the ‘Climate Crisis’ Masterclass and Conversation Series, in which the imminent challenges of climate change will be addressed by key visionaries within the field of sustainability.

The ‘Future of Archives’ Conversations Series is part of the Norman Foster Foundation’s Education + Research Programme and is currently available for viewing on Youtube.

This digital initiative supports the NFF’s extensive educational programme by promoting an exchange of knowledge across a range of geographic and disciplinary perspectives.

Previously on e-architect:

20 January 2022

Norman Foster Foundation Energy Workshop

Dates: 25 – 29 April 2022
Venue: NFF, Madrid, Spain

We bring you news of the 2022 Energy Workshop, supported by GS Energy – Open Call for current students to attend and participate.

Taking place at the Foundation’s headquarters in Madrid, Spain from 25 – 29 April 2022, the Energy Workshop will bring together international experts to explore sustainable solutions for overarching topics around the use of energy resources and their local and global implications. Currently, the NFF is in the process of selecting ten brilliant students from diverse backgrounds in architecture, urbanism, design, science, social science, engineering or environmental studies, to apply with their portfolio and an answer to the following question:

Energy problems are multidisciplinary in nature, spanning science, engineering, design and the social sciences. How do you think that your field might better contribute to the challenges of climate change and energy security?

29 July 2021

Norman Foster Foundation ‘On Archives’ Masterclass Series

Madrid, 29th of July 2021 – The Norman Foster Foundation (NFF) presents the ‘On Archives’ Masterclass Series, a series which explores the fundamental aspects related to architectural archives and libraries around the world. Given by fourteen leading experts in the fields of archiving, architecture, art, design and heritage management, this video series supports the NFF’s extensive educational programme by promoting an exchange of knowledge across a range of geographic and disciplinary perspectives.

Film on YouTube

While archives have, for centuries, been the core of cultural, historic and artistic institutions, these online lessons also acknowledge the relevance of archives for the performance of other disciplines, such as architecture and design, and for the future of society. From the Canadian Centre of Architecture (CCA) to the Vatican Museums, speakers will touch on key themes such as the materiality of archives, the concept of interarchive, the challenges of digitising archive materials, new preservation methods based on a dynamic order and how to manage special collections, among other topics.

In addition to an introductory masterclass given by Norman Foster (President, Norman Foster Foundation, Madrid, Spain / London, UK / New York, USA), in which he considers the important role that archives play in anticipating the future, contributing speakers include the following experts:

Giovanna Borasi, Director, Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA), Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Sol Camacho, Director, Instituto Lina Bo e P.M. Bardi – Casa de Vidro, São Paulo, Brazil; Estrella de Diego, Academician, Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, Madrid, Spain; Michelle Elligott, Chief of Archives, Library and Research Collections, MoMA, New York, NY, United States of America; Patricia Hartmann, Director, Sitterwerk Foundation, St. Gallen, Switzerland; Charles Hind, Chief Curator & HJ. Heinz Head of Drawings, British Architectural Library, RIBA, London, United Kingdom; Barbara Jatta, Director, Vatican Museums, Vatican City, Italy; Valerie Maasburg, Director, Bookshop and Artist’s Books Collection, Ivorypress, Madrid, Spain; Hans Ulrich Obrist, Artistic Director, Serpentine Galleries, London, United Kingdom; Mar Perez Morillo, Head of Division of Digital Processes and Services, Biblioteca Nacional de España, Madrid, Spain; Marcia Reed, Chief Curator, Associate Director and Head of Special Collections and Exhibitions, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, CA, United States of America; Mathias Schwartz-Clauss, Director, Domaine de Boisbuchet, Lessac, France; Bill Sherman, Director, The Warburg Institute, London, United Kingdom.

As part of the NFF’s upcoming digital initiatives, the ‘On Archives’ Masterclass Series will be soon followed by the release of the ‘Future Cities’ Conversation Series, a virtual dialogue series in which Norman Foster will reflect on the future of cities alongside ten leading voices and visionaries, as well as the release of the ‘On Archives’ Conversation Series, another virtual dialogue conducted by academician Estrella de Diego and art curator Hans Ulrich Obrist on the most compelling issues related to archives and libraries.

The masterclasses included in this series are part of the Norman Foster Foundation’s Education + Research Programme and have been developed thanks to the research fellowships supported by BYD, Crankstart Foundation, David and Nina Fialkow, Ford Foundation, Lisa and Richard Cashin and the Rolex Institute.

The ‘On Archives’ Masterclass Series is currently available for viewing on Youtube.

24 Jan 2019

Norman Foster Foundation Digital X Workshop 2019

The natural world and the artificial world are becoming interchangeable. Change will happen very rapidly

18 – 22 February 2019

• The Norman Foster Foundation presents the second edition of its annual Digital X Workshop with public debates in which practitioners from the fields of design and innovation will participate, including Amber Case, W. Daniel Hillis, Mary Lou Jepsen, David Moinina Sengeh, Nicholas Negroponte and Ben Vickers.

• The 2019 Digital X Workshop is designed to pose key questions and come up with some considered conclusions in a week-long event hosted in the Madrid headquarters of the Norman Foster Foundation.

• A distinguished group of specialists will engage with ten selected students from ten universities around the world who share a common interest in the subject. The workshop mentor is Nicholas Negroponte, co-founder and former director of MIT Media Lab.

Image from the first edition of the Norman Foster Foundation Digital X Workshop (2018)

photo © Norman Foster Foundation

Madrid, 23 January 2019

The second edition of the Norman Foster Foundation Digital X Workshop will take place on 18-22 February 2019, in association with e-flux Architecture.
‘All things digital are simultaneously local and global, large and small, inside and outside of any given boundary’ states workshop mentor Nicholas Negroponte. ‘The digital world brings together previously separate worlds, like those of discovery, invention and expression. It does that because it has become the DNA of each. The natural world and the artificial world are becoming interchangeable. Change will happen very rapidly. Fasten your seatbelts.’

With that concept as a background, the workshop is designed to pose an key questions and come up with some considered conclusions . Can you build a city without infrastructure: no roads, no sewers, no water or power? Why bother? The answer is to renovate slums without bulldozing them, which is something that could impact two or three billion people. Call it a new autonomy, that of a house or a small community, taking some pages from outer space and bringing them back to earth.

The Academic Body spans a wide range of practitioners from the fields of design and innovation, including Amber Case, Co-founder of CyborgCamp, Cambridge, MA, United States; W. Daniel Hillis, Co-founder of Thinking Machines Corporation and of Applied Invention, Cambridge, MA, United States; Mary Lou Jepsen, Founder of Openwater, San Francisco, CA, United States; Hasier Larrea, Founder and CEO of Ori Inc., Cambridge, MA, United States; David Moinina Sengeh, Chief Innovation Officer at the Government of Sierra Leone, Freetown, Sierra Leone and Ben Vickers, Chief Technology Officer at the Serpentine Gallery, London, United Kingdom

After reviewing applications submitted by hundreds of candidates from around the world, the selection committee awarded ten scholarships to students from the following universities and institutions: American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon; American University in Dubai, Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Ashesi University, Berekuso, Ghana; Cambridge University, Cambridge, United Kingdom; Cape Town University, Cape Town, South Africa; Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands; George Washington University, Washington, DC, United States; Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, IL, United States; Polytechnic University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain and the University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.

These ten students will be asked to park reality at the door. Inviting them to bring their most advanced thinking, craziest ideas, whether they relate to architecture or not, to apply them, their derivatives or simply their point of view to the needs of the world’s poorest people, especially the increasing number who live in slums.

The Digital X Workshop will include seminars, lectures, one-to-one tutoring and architectural tours to learn more about the context of Madrid culminating in a five day workshop led by the Atelier mentor, Nicholas Negroponte, co-founder and former director of MIT Media Lab.

e-flux Architecture will join this year’s edition of the Digital X workshop as its editorial partner. Editors Nikolaus Hirsch and Nick Axel will conduct a series of interviews during the duration of the workshop, the result of this joint initiative will be unveiled in Spring 2019.

Public Debates

Tuesday 19 February 2019, 12:30 p.m. – 2:20 p.m.
Fundación Francisco Giner de los Ríos
Paseo del General Martínez Campos 14, 28010, Madrid, Spain
With the participation of Amber Case, W. Daniel Hillis, Mary Lou Jepsen, David Moinina Sengeh, Nicholas Negroponte and Ben Vickers.

Tim Stonor, Managing Director of Space Syntax, London, United Kingdom, and part of the Advisory Board of the Norman Foster Foundation, will chair the debates.

e-flux Architecture

e-flux Architecture is a sister publishing platform of e-flux, archive, and editorial project founded in 2016. The news, events, exhibitions, programs, journals, books, and architecture projects produced and/or disseminated by e-flux Architecture describe strains of critical discourse surrounding contemporary architecture, culture, and theory internationally.

Since its inception, e-flux Architecture has maintained a dynamic international program of projects and events in collaboration with leading institutions and practitioners. Editorial content commissioned and published by e-flux Architecture consistently showcases rigorous, critical, sincere and engaged theoretical work being produced today in and around the fields of architecture, urbanism, and design.
For more information, visit https://www.e-flux.com/architecture/

7 Sep 2018

Norman Foster Foundation Urban Mobility Workshop

Could the new technologies change the reality and perception of new ways of transportation?

Dates: 17-21 Sep 2018

Location: Monte Esquinza 48, Madrid, Spain

The Norman Foster Foundation presents its Urban Mobility Workshop with a public debate with the participation of Alfredo Brillembourg, Tilly Chang, Norman Foster, Carlo Ratti and Tim Stonor. The 2018 Urban Mobility public debate will explore how new technologies could open up an exciting range of opportunities in the infrastructure of movement.

Norman Foster Foundation Urban Mobility Workshop

26 May 2018

Norman Foster Foundation Madrid News in 2018

Norman Foster Foundation presents its annual ‘On Cities’ Workshop with the support of Bloomberg Philanthropies

NORMAN FOSTER FOUNDATION WORKSHOP 18-22/06/2018 – ON CITIES

• The 2018 On Cities Workshop will explore the premise that emerging urban innovations can create more livable, entrepreneurial communities and dramatically reduce resources consumed by cities, in a week-long event hosted in the Madrid headquarters of the Norman Foster Foundation.

• A distinguished group of specialists will engage with ten selected students from ten universities around the world sharing a common interest in the subject. This year’s workshop mentor is Kent Larson, Director of MIT Media Lab City Science Group and Initiative.

Madrid, 25 May 2018

The Norman Foster Foundation On Cities Workshop will take place on 18-22 June 2018, supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies, closing the 2017-2018 Educational programme initiative. The workshop will focus on Autonomous Innovative Communities, selecting a district in Madrid as a case-study for a research project that will be developed throughout the week.

Can each community locally produce all of the energy, food, and clean water needed for basic living— requiring no centralised infrastructure? Can humans transition from ownership to sharing, while living and working in compact, agile, supportive environments? This workshop explores the premise that emerging urban innovations can dramatically reduce resources consumed by cities while simultaneously creating more livable, entrepreneurial communities.

‘We are living in an era of extreme urbanisation and rapid global warming’, states workshop mentor Kent Larson. ‘The challenges of both call for more than mere incremental adjustments.’

After reviewing applications submitted by hundreds of candidates from around the world, the selection committee awarded ten scholarships to students from the following universities and institutions: American University of Dubai, Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Harvard Graduate School of Design, Cambridge, United States; London School of Economics and Political Science, London, United Kingdom; Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago de Chile, Chile; Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Copenhagen, Denmark; Technische Universiteit Delft, Delft, the Netherlands; Tongji University, Shanghai, China; Tsinghua University, Beijing, China; Universidad Politécnica de Cataluña, Barcelona, Spain and University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.

These ten students will engage with a group of specialists through a series of seminars and lectures culminating inafive day workshop led by the mentor Kent Larson, Director of MIT Media Lab City Science Group and Initiative, and his team.

The Academic Body spans a wide range of practitioners working in different fields interrelated with the City, including: Beatriz Colomina, Director of Graduate Studies, School of Architecture, Princeton University, Princeton, United States; Luis Cueto, General Coordinator for the Mayor in Madrid, Madrid City Hall, Madrid, Spain; Anupama Kundoo, Principal, Anupama Kundoo Architects, Madrid, Spain/Auroville, India; Winy Maas, Co-Founder and Director of MVRDV and Director of the Why Factory, Delft, the Netherlands; Tim Stonor, Managing Director of Space Syntax, London, United Kingdom; Leonor Tarrasón, Director of Environmental Solutions, Norwegian Institute for Air Research, Oslo, Norway; Belinda Tato and José Luis Vallejo, Founders and Directors of Ecosistema Urbano, Madrid, Spain/Miami, United States.

The On Cities Workshop will include seminars, lectures, one-to-one tutoring and urban architectural tours to learn more about the context of Madrid and it’s districts. During the course of the workshops, participants will have the opportunity to engage with the Norman Foster Foundation’s archive and research projects.

Nicholas Negroponte, Co-Founder and former Director of MIT Media Lab, Cambridge, United States will act as the Chief Advisor of the workshop tutoring the students through the research process.

As a way to disseminate knowledge and ideas, the public lectures will be recorded and documented for publication in series of annual books published by the Norman Foster Foundation

Public Debates

19th June 2018 6 p.m.- 8 p.m.
Fundación Francisco Giner de los Ríos
Paseo del General Martínez Campos 14, 28010, Madrid, Spain

6:00 p.m. – On Cities: Governance
• Introduction by Kent Larson
• Keynotes by Beatriz Colomina, José Luis Vallejo, Leonor Tarrasón and Luis Cueto
• Debate between Beatriz Colomina, José Luis Vallejo, Leonor Tarrasón and Luis Cueto, moderated by Kent Larson

7:00 p.m. – On Cities: Transformations
• Introduction by Workshop mentor Kent Larson
• Keynotes by Winy Maas, Belinda Tato, Anupama Kundoo and Tim Stonor
• Debate by Winy Maas, Belinda Tato, Anupama Kundoo and Tim Stonor, moderated by Kent Larson

8:00 p.m. – Wrap up
• Dialogue between Norman Foster and Kent Larson

Bloomberg Philanthropies

Bloomberg Philanthropies works in over 120 countries around the world to ensure better, longer lives for the greatest number of people. The organisation focuses on five key areas for creating lasting change: Arts, Education, Environment, Government Innovation, and Public Health. Bloomberg Philanthropies encompasses all of Michael R. Bloomberg’s charitable activities, including his foundation, corporate and personal giving. In 2017, Bloomberg Philanthropies distributed $702 million.

For more information, please visit www.bloomberg.org or follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter.

8 Jan 2018
The Norman Foster Foundation presents its annual Digital X Workshop with the support of Future Planet Capital

NORMAN FOSTER FOUNDATION WORKSHOP

15-19 Jan 2018

DIGITAL X

• Norman Foster Foundation presents its first Digital X Workshop with the support of Future Planet Capital.

• The 2018 Digital X Workshop will explore the kinship of Architecture and the Digital World in a week-long event hosted in the Madrid headquarters of the Norman Foster Foundation.

• A distinguished group of specialists will engage with ten selected students from ten universities around the world sharing a common interest in the subject. This year’s Atelier mentor is Nicholas Negroponte, cofounder and former director of MIT Media Lab.

The first Norman Foster Foundation Digital X Workshop will take place on 15-19 January 2018, supported by Future Planet Capital.

‘All things digital are simultaneously local and global, large and small, inside and outside of a given boundary’, states Atelier mentor Nicholas Negroponte. ‘The digital world is not crisp; it is porous and diffuse. It brings together previously separate worlds, like those of discovery, invention and expression. It does that because it has become the DNA of each. Architecture does that too.’

What happens when the natural world and the artificial world become one and the same? How does society change when direct brain communication occurs among humans, and between humans and machines? The workshop will focus on this kinship, that of architecture and the digital world, how the two play together now, and how they will change the world together, going forward, discussing things that, outrageous today, will be commonplace tomorrow.

After reviewing applications submitted by hundreds of candidates from around the world, the selection committee awarded ten scholarships to students from the following universities and institutions: Architecture and Geomatics, University of Cape Town, South Africa; Architecture and Urbanismo Faculty (USP), Sao Paolo, Brazil; Bartlett School of Architecture, London, UK; Centre for Urban Science and Engineering IIT, Bombay, India; City Futures Research Centre, University New South Wales, Australia; National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore; Stanford Department of Civil and Environmental, California, US; Technion Institute of Technology, Tel Aviv, Israel; Technische Universiteit Delft (TU), The Netherlands and Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain.

These ten students will develop an essay ontheme of Digital X tutored by a group of specialists through a series of seminars and lectures culminating in a five day workshop led by the Atelier mentor, Nicholas Negroponte, co-founder and former director of MIT Media Lab.

The Academic Body includes: Ricky Burdett, Director of LSE Cities and Urban Age Programme; Hugh Herr, Co-Director of the MIT Center for Extreme Bionics; Kent Larson, Director of MIT City Science Iniacitive; Amanda Levete, Founder and Principal of AL_A; Greg Lynn, Professor at UCLA School of Arts and Architecture; Farshid Moussavi, Principal of Farshid Moussavi Architecture and Benedetta Tagliabue, Principal of Miralles Tagliabue EMB Architects.

The Digital X Workshop will include seminars, lectures, one-to-one tutoring and architectural tours to learn more about the context of Madrid. Architectural critic and writer Jonathan Glancey will act as the Editor-inChief of the workshop tutoring the students to think ahead and to elaborate an essay with their personal view on the subject

As a way to disseminate knowledge and ideas, the public lectures will be recorded and documented for publication in series of annual books published by the Norman Foster Foundation. During the course of the workshops, participants will have the opportunity to engage with the Norman Foster Foundation’s archive and research projects.

Public Debates

16th January 2018 at Colegio Oficial de Arquitectos Madrid – COAM (Hortaleza, 63, 28004 Madrid, Spain)

• 6:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.: Keynote by Nicholas Negroponte
• 6:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.: Dialogue between Hugh Herr and Kent Larson, moderated by Ricky Burdett.
• 7:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.: Dialogue between Greg Lynn and Benedetta Tagliabue, moderated by Luis Fernández-Galiano.
• 7:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.: Dialogue between Norman Foster and Amanda Levete, moderated by Jonathan Glancey

31 Oct 2017
Norman Foster Foundation Robotics Atelier 2017

NORMAN FOSTER FOUNDATION ATELIER 2017 – ROBOTICS

• Norman Foster Foundation presents its first annual Robotics Atelier with the support of the Rolex Institute

• This year’s Robotics Atelier, related to design and building, will be explored in a week-long event hosted in the Madrid Headquarters of the Norman Foster Foundation.

• A distinguished group of specialists will engage with ten selected students from ten universities around the world who share a common interest in the subject. This year’s Atelier mentor is Professor Mathias Kohler from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich.

The first Norman Foster Foundation Robotics Atelier will take place on 20-24 November 2017, supported by the Rolex Institute.

Society is on the edge of being transformed through robotics and artificial intelligence. These technological innovations have the potential to change every aspect of our lives in far-reaching ways. Last June, in the Norman Foster Foundation’s inaugural forum ‘Future is Now’, a glimpse was given into how the world of construction would be revolutionised by these developments in what could prove to be a second digital era.

Ten scholarships have been given to students selected by the following universities and institutions: The Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London, UK; Institute for Computational Design and Construction (ICD), Stuttgart, Germany; Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM), Madrid, Spain; National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore; Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Mumbai, India; Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), MA, USA; Universidad Iberoamericana de Ciencias y Tecnología, Santiago, Chile; Ashesi University, Accra, Ghana; Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zurich, Switzerland; Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC), Barcelona, Spain.

The selected students will engage with a group of specialists through a series of seminars and lectures culminating in a five days workshop led by the Atelier mentor, Professor Mathias Kohler and his team. Leading robotics manufacturer Universal Robots will loan three units of their highly flexible robot arm, the UR5 Robot, to the Atelier.

Contributors to the workshop include Luis Miguel Ciprés, CEO of Barrabés Next, Pablo Jarauta, Coordinator of the European Institute of Design (IED) Scientific Committee, Amelie Klein, Curator at Vitra Museum, and Gijs Van der Velden, Co-CEO of MX3D.

The Robotics Atelier will include workshops, seminars, lectures, one-to-one tutoring, and development of projects by the students. As a way to disseminate knowledge and ideas, the public lectures will be recorded and live-streamed through the Norman Foster Foundation’s website: www.normanfosterfoundation.org. The lectures will be documented for publication in an annual series published by the Norman Foster Foundation.

During the course of the workshops, participants will have the opportunity to engage with the Norman Foster Foundation’s archive and research projects.

Public lectures

22nd November at Auditorium Fundación Telefónica – Fuencarral 3 28004 Madrid, Spain

• 18:00 h Lecture “The Robotic Touch” by Matthias Kohler, Gramazio Kohler Research, ETH Zurich, Switzerland

• 19:00 h Matthias Kohler in conversation with Amelie Klein, Curator, Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein, Germany

NORMAN FOSTER FOUNDATION

The Norman Foster Foundation promotes interdisciplinary thinking and research to help new generations of architects, designers and urbanists to anticipate the future. We believe in the importance of connecting architecture, design, technology and the arts to better serve society and in the value of a holistic education that encourages experimentation through research and projects. The Norman Foster Foundation holds the Norman Foster Archive and Library, which provide a window into the larger narrative and history of our built environment through the work of Norman Foster.

The Norman Foster Foundation is based in Madrid and operates globally.

ROLEX INSTITUTE – Encouraging individual excellence through philanthropy and education

Driven by an unwavering pioneering spirit, Rolex SA is renowned for its many technical innovations in watchmaking that have made it a symbol of excellence around the globe. The company brand values of quality, know-how and individual achievement pervade all of its endeavours. Rolex is closely linked to many of the world’s highest achievers and, since its beginnings, has supported visionary men and women in a variety of fields.

The Rolex Institute embodies this philosophy. Comprising the company’s philanthropic programmes and educational initiatives, it aims at recognizing excellence and making a significant contribution to society.

23 Sep 2017

Norman Foster Foundation, Spain

Norman Foster Foundation in Madrid

“I believe that cities can change the world for good. They are doing so. Cities are the future now.”
— Norman Foster

On June 1st 2017, the Norman Foster Foundation officially launched in Madrid with the forum, ‘Future is Now’. Scholars, students, thinkers, and practitioners from the fields of architecture, design, and technological innovation were invited to discuss the most pressing concerns regarding the built environment.

The forum successfully challenged preconceived ideas about the future of our cities through diverse points of view.

Forum – Future is Now | Norman Foster Foundation from Norman Foster Foundation on Vimeo.

More than 2,100 people attended the event, 1,057 of whom were students from 32 international universities.

To watch the complete forum go to Forum – Future is Now.