The official opening ceremony for the ‘Foster + Partners: Architecture, Urbanism, Innovation’ exhibition was held last Friday at the Sky Gallery, Mori Art Museum in Tokyo.
On display from 1 January 2016 to 14 February 2016, the touring exhibition is the first comprehensive survey of the work of Foster + Partners in Japan. Highlighting the incredible diversity of the practice’s work, it showcases Foster’s early collaboration with Buckminster Fuller in the 1970-80s, and looks through five decades of the practice’s work focussing on the integrated approach to design and engineering, while also reviewing some of the latest projects including a 3D-printed habitat on Mars and the Apple Campus.
Focussing on a wide range of projects, the exhibition offers visitors a unique insight into the workings of the studio and the integrated design process, in which architects and engineers work together, alongside specialists from many other disciplines, such as interiors, urban designers, environmental analysts and geometry specialists. It also explores the use of different tools – while the computer has revolutionised the way designers work, drawing and model making still play an important role.
Lord Foster, Chairman and Founder of Foster + Partners:
It is a pleasure to introduce our work in the exhibition of the Mori Art Museum. I would like to list some of the patterns that weave through our projects and have been constants since the birth of our studio nearly 50 years ago.
－ A social agenda which is rooted in the belief that the quality of the design of our environment can improve the quality of our lives.
－ Working with nature to reduce the energy demands of buildings and infrastructure, harvesting solar energy, using new and established technologies to do more with less.
－ Pursuing innovation to reinvent such building types as airports, towers and workplaces.
－ Encouraging the integration of art and architecture – of light and lightness.
－ Embracing the past in regenerating historic structures with the presence of the new.
－ Engaging with the city in creating and improving public spaces.
Many of these themes, especially sustainable design, are even more relevant now than they were in the past and they have the power to inform bold new initiatives for our future.
David Nelson, Senior Partner and Head of Design, Foster + Partners:
“We believe we have an ever-increasing responsibility to engage with the people who use, occupy and experience our projects. This is something we continue to focus on, through design and research. The exhibition also explores how the different teams in our studio work – and how, when it comes to design and innovation, an integrated approach sets Foster + Partners apart. This commitment to innovation, as an evolutionary process, is what allows new ideas to come to the forefront of an ever-evolving design process.”
