About this book
Norman Foster. Networks is the architect's own account of the thinking that sits beneath six decades of building. It is not a survey of projects but a gathering of eight essays, written and curated by Foster himself, each following one current that runs through the practice—roots, flight, nature, art, making, place, cities, and a long attachment to the Alpine landscape where he now lives in a house of his own design.
In 'Roots', Foster returns to a modest start in Manchester and to the fascination with aviation that has never left him. 'Flight' becomes both obsession and metaphor, feeding a lifelong pursuit of lightness, efficiency and technical elegance. The later essays on 'Place' and 'Cities' widen the frame to memory, identity and civic life, and to the way buildings collectively shape the public realm.
The volume began as the second half of Taschen's XXL monograph Norman Foster. Complete Works 1965–Today and is now issued on its own, in a format that can actually be read in an armchair. Where its companion Norman Foster. Works sets out the projects, Networks explains the sensibility behind them: architecture understood as a cultural practice grounded in craft, context and dialogue.
Key features
- Eight essays written and curated by Foster himself—a rare first-person account from an architect far more often written about than writing
- Nearly 1000 photographs, sketches, artworks and film stills assembled as a visual atlas of influence
- An introductory essay by Philip Jodidio placing the work in its wider cultural setting
- Traces the thinking behind Apple Park, the Reichstag, the British Museum's Great Court, the Millau Viaduct and the Zayed National Museum
- Reads as a companion to Norman Foster. Works, also stocked
What you'll discover
The pleasure of this book lies in its detours. A tetrahedral kite photographed in 1908, a piece of Brancusi, a still from a film, a hand-drawn section—Foster sets these beside his own buildings and lets the reader draw the line between them. The argument is cumulative rather than stated: that a building is the product of everything its architect has looked at, and that the discipline is far more porous than its professional edges suggest.
For anyone who has followed the work from the outside, it is a useful corrective. The high-tech label has always sat awkwardly on Foster, and these essays show why—the technical clarity is real, but it grows out of landscape, craft and a magpie's appetite for the visual world rather than out of engineering alone.
About the author
Norman Foster, Lord Foster of Thames Bank, is a British architect whose career now spans six decades. Through Foster + Partners, founded in 1967, he has built landmarks across the world, among them the Apple Park campus in Cupertino, the reconstructed Reichstag in Berlin, the Millau Viaduct and 30 St Mary Axe in London. He received the Pritzker Prize in 2000 and is president of the Norman Foster Foundation in Madrid.
Philip Jodidio, who contributes the introductory essay, studied art history and economics at Harvard and edited Connaissance des Arts for more than 20 years. He has written monographs on Tadao Ando, Renzo Piano, Jean Nouvel and Zaha Hadid, along with Taschen's Homes for Our Time series.
Specifications
- Format: Hardcover
- Dimensions: 228 x 289 mm
- Pages: 368
- Language: English
- ISBN: 9783754406823
- Publisher: Taschen
- Publication date: 2026
Perfect for
Architects and students who already know the buildings and want the reasoning; readers drawn to the essay as a form; anyone interested in how influence actually travels between aviation, landscape, art and the built environment. It also makes a substantial gift, and pairs naturally with Norman Foster. Works for a complete picture of the practice.