Norman Foster Foundation Tour Skin & Bones “Skin and Bones” refers to the varied expressions of building structure and the possibilities they offer for the experience of interior space. Among the models presented in this room, “skin” describes buildings which conceal their structure such as the Willis Faber and Dumas headquarters and Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts. Alternately, the HKSBC tower and Reault Distribution Centre clearly externally articulate their structural “bones.”
The Willis Faber and Dumas model’s green roof patio and glazed-skin which follows the contours of Ipswich’s streets attest to the way in which h the building enters into a relationship with the city and its residents. As seen in the open-plan floors of the sectional model, The Willis Faber and Dumas headquarters strove to integrate programmatic uses in order to dissolve workplace hierarchies. The HKSBC continues this development of flexible workplace floors by placing all service systems in the four vertical cores visible the model’s elevation.
As seen in its sectional model, the Sainsbury Centre creates a highly functional skin by placing all service elements in the space between its trusses. This configuration enables the flexible, unobstructed interior seen in the full model which easily accommodates expanded artistic practices and changing exhibition configurations.