Norman Foster in conversation with Frank A. Bennack, Jr. | ‘The Vertical City’ at Hearst Tower

To mark the opening of 'The Vertical City' exhibition at Hearst Tower, Norman Foster, President of the Norman Foster Foundation, engaged in a conversation with Frank A. Bennack, Jr., Executive Vice Chairman and Former CEO of Hearst. This exhibition showcases Norman Foster’s design work focusing on skyscrapers, hosted in one of the architect’s most iconic buildings. The Norman Foster Foundation has contributed to this exhibition by lending 84 drawings from the Norman Foster Foundation Archive. ‘The skyscraper is emblematic of the modern-age city and is a reminder that the city is arguably civilization’s greatest invention. A vertical community, well served by public transport, can be a model of sustainability, especially when compared with a sprawl-ing, low-rise equivalent in a car-dependent suburb. Our own design history of towers is one of challenging convention. We were the first to question the traditional tower, with its central core of mechanical plant, circulation and structure, and instead to create open, stacked spaces, flexible for change and with see-through views.’ – Norman Foster, President of the Norman Foster Foundation