Technological Expressionism: Norman Foster in Hampstead
No. 15 (2014-12-01)Author(s)
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Carlos Solé BravoArquitecto por la Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura del Vallés (ETSAV-UPC). Máster en Proyectos Arquitectónicos Avanzados por la Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Madrid (ETSAM-UPM), donde cursa estudios de doctorado. Arquitecto colegiado por el COAC en España y el ARB y RIBA en el Reino Unido. Desde el 2002 trabaja en el estudio de Foster + Partners, del que es Associate Partner y en el que ha trabajado en las oficinas de Londres, Madrid y Panamá y ha participado en grandes proyectos como la Torre Cepsa en Madrid, las torres Omkar Worli en Mumbai o el Aeropuerto Internacional de Tocumen, en Panamá. csolebra@gmail.com
Abstract
In 1978 Norman and Wendy Foster designed their own house in the London area of Hampstead. Settled between the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts and the Bank of Hong Kong, this house, which never materialised, represented the first and only intent to apply in the field of domestic architecture the “well-serviced shed” model. This was primarily developed by the Team 4 and subsequently by Foster Associates during the sixties and seventies. The architects’ house —as in many other cases— shows, better than any other work, their inspirations, obsessions, dreams, and frustrations. The development of the project reflects the evolution of the study, which is immersed in an intense debate between the industrial functionality of the well-serviced shed and the technological expressionism of the so-called High-Tech movement.