The Norman Foster Foundation officially opens its headquarters in Madrid

Renowned British architect, Norman Foster, and the Board of Trustees of the non-profit Norman Foster Foundation, recently presented this new independent institution, dedicated to interdisciplinary research, education, and the development of architecture, design, and urbanism projects. To mark the official opening of the headquarters in Madrid, the Future is Now forum was held on 1 June, which assembled prominent figures from the fields of architecture, urbanism, infrastructure, technology, and the arts.

The Norman Foster Foundation promote interdisciplinary thought and research in an effort to help new generations of architects, designers, and urbanists anticipate the future. At the core of this Foundation is its archive, which—created and established in Madrid in 2015—aims to preserve and disseminate the architectural work of Norman Foster. Students, researchers and the general public can access the archive through an open database available on the Foundation’s website. Since 2015, more than 74,000 documents have been added to the archive, and additional elements are constantly incorporated as the task of preserving, cataloguing, and digitising a wide variety of materials continues. Digitation phases 1-3 will be complete by the end of 2017 and phases 4 and 5 are expected to begin in early 2018.

The headquarters of the Foundation are situated in an old palace designed by Joaquín Saldaña in 1902, located on Madrid’s calle Monte Esquinza. Within the 1,700 m2 of this historic building are the archive, the library, and various research and workrooms. In the courtyard of the palace sits the Pavilion, a new space designed by the architecture studio that forms part of the Norman Foster Foundation team, which features large self-supporting, laminated glass panes upon which floats a fibreglass roof with no visible means of support. The artist, Cristina Iglesias, designed a sculpture that covers part of the entrance and provides shade for the Pavilion’s façade. This space will be used for the Foundation’s programmes and events, and will also house a selection of objects and materials that have inspired the work of Norman Foster throughout his career.

The definitive establishment of the Norman Foster Foundation in Madrid, as one of the world’s art hubs, signifies a major drive to attract international architects and designers to Spain’s capital, making it a global centre of research and development for architectural and urban-planning projects.