Introduction

 

The Norman Foster Foundation's Archive was established in Madrid in 2015, and since then has continued its work of preserving and disseminating Norman Foster's architectural work. The Foundation also houses a reference library with a diverse selection of publications that have either inspired or documented the work of Norman Foster throughout the span of his sixty-year career. The documentation available through an open database to researchers, students and the general public. The application has been created according to archival standards, with an OAI-OMH (Open Archives Initiative - Protocol for Metadata Harvesting) repository and within the LOD (Linked Open Data) environment.

   The Archive 

       Norman Foster Foundation Archive & Library

The Norman Foster Foundation Archive comprises 116,302 items. These are:
31,151 Plans and Drawings
799 Dossiers
1,269 Sketchbooks
454 Models
79,494 Photographic material comprising:
  • 635 Negatives (glass)
  • 3,356 Negatives (plastic)
  • 7,760 Black folders
  • 5,363 Photographs
  • 60 Photographic collections
  • 274 Microfilms rolls
  • 2200 Aperture cards
  • 26 Audio-visual material

176 Awards 
150 Memorabilia

608 Lectures and presentations

127 Correspondence

720 boxes of Textual records

59,846 Slides 
1328 Multimedia files


 

 

 

Using the Website

The Classification Scheme shows, in a structured way, all the material catalogued up to now. The documentation spans chronologically from the 1950s through the present day. Materials relate to work from Norman Foster’s student years at Manchester and Yale University; projects and proposals by the firms founded by the architect (Team 4, Foster Associates, Sir Norman Foster and Partners and Foster + Partners) and within the foundation itself; utopian proposals created with lifelong collaborators such as Buckminster Fuller, etc.

The Collections are groups of works that show a common interest, distinctive architectural feature, the participation of certain professionals who collaborated with Norman Foster, etc. From this section you can access the complete documentation that is shown in the Classification Scheme by simply clicking on the objects of your interest. You can also make inquiries by using the Search option, whether general or specific.

The Archive currently has 116,302 documents, including plans and drawings, notebooks, models, photographic material, personal objects, etc. This material is continuously growing, following the work of conservation, organisation and digitalisation. To access the information, you only have to display the different levels from the top to the smallest documentary unit.

 

 

    

     For additional information, please contact archive@normanfosterfoundation.org