Architects in Conversation: Lord Norman Foster

Lord Norman Foster and Dean Deborah Berke discuss designing buildings and other spaces for the display of art. About this program Lord Norman Foster, founder and executive chairman of Foster + Partners and president of the Norman Foster Foundation, and Deborah Berke, Edward P. Bass Dean and J. M. Hoppin Professor of Architecture, Yale School of Architecture, and founding principal of TenBerke Architects, in conversation about how architecture shapes our experience of art, the influence of Louis I. Kahn on his architectural practice, and contemporary concerns in architecture, such as sustainability, accessibility, and the changing needs of audiences. About Lord Norman Foster Norman Foster is founder and executive chairman of Foster + Partners, a global studio for architecture, urbanism, and design rooted in sustainability. Over more than five decades, the practice has pioneered a sustainable approach to architecture and urbanism through a wide range of work, from master plans to offices, cultural buildings, airports, and industrial design. He has been awarded architecture’s highest accolades, including the Pritzker Architecture Prize, the Praemium Imperiale Award for Architecture in Japan, the RIBA Royal Gold medal, and the AIA Gold medal. He is president of the Norman Foster Foundation, based in Madrid. In 1999 he was honored with a life peerage, becoming Lord Foster of Thames Bank. About Deborah Berke Deborah Berke is the J. M. Hoppin Professor and the Edward P. Bass Dean of the Yale School of Architecture, the first woman to hold the position. She is the founder of the New York–based architecture firm TenBerke. Among the firm’s most significant works are the residential colleges at Princeton University, the Rockefeller Arts Center at SUNY Fredonia, the Yale School of Art, and the 21c Museum Hotels across the South and Midwest. This year, she was awarded the 2025 AIA Gold Medal, the Institute’s highest honor; she was also the recipient of the 2022 AIA/ACSA Topaz Medallion, the highest honor for architectural education. In 2017, TenBerke was honored with a National Design Award from Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. In 2012, Deborah Berke was the inaugural designate of the Berkeley-Rupp Prize at the University of California at Berkeley, which is given to an architect who has advanced the position of women in the profession and whose work emphasizes a commitment to sustainability and the community. About “Architects in Conversation: To Build for Art” “Architects in Conversation: To Build for Art” is a series of discussions with architects who have designed buildings for the display of art. The talks aim to address how architects rethink the museum experience in our contemporary world, exploring such topics as sustainability and how the environment plays a role in museum design, accessibility, ethnic attributes in museum design, representing history through museum architecture, designing performance spaces in museums, and other considerations. This program is presented through the generosity of the Terry F. Green 1969 Fund for British Art and Culture.