Norman Foster Writes About Memories and His New Building for Yale’s Student Paper

Rare is it that a college newspaper can land a starchitect to write a quick column for them, unless that college is Yale, which happens to be Norman Foster‘s alma mater. For them, he recently filed an essay somewhat about his time as a student at the architecture school there under Paul Rudolph, but mostly about how that time has inspired his designs for the new Yale School of Management. The plans were unveiled way back at the close of 2008, but the process in creating a 230,000 square foot building with starchitect’s plans is a slow one, so it’s been just inching forward ever since. Even though it’s a bit too loaded with details and not enough about memories, Foster’s piece is still an enjoyable, quick read, certain to rekindle excitement about the new building. Here’s a bit:

My own experience therefore spans the rich architectural heritage of the campus — from the seminal work of some of America’s greatest post-war architects to the Gothic Revival of the Memorial Quadrangle. This powerful architectural legacy has been the starting point for our own building for the Yale School of Management. In designing it, we have tried to set out a vision for a new building that expresses the forward-looking nature of the school while respecting the complex and evolving architectural language of the wider campus.

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