The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) Competitions has announced that Foster + Partners has been selected as the winners of the Ipswich River Crossings competition, beating out proposals from a shortlist including Adamson Associates, Knight Architects, Marc Mimram and Wilkinson Eyre. The competition sought designs for three bridges crossing the Upper Orwell River that could reinvigorate and increase connectivity within Ipswich’s waterfront district.
The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) Competitions has announced a shortlist of 5 teams in the competition for the Upper Orwell Crossings Project in Ipswich, England. The project brief consists of 3 new bridges spanning the Upper Orwell River that will enable the redevelopment and regeneration of several districts of Ipswich, as well as relieve congestion and improve connectivity for multiple forms of transportation.
If Norman Foster were a household item, he would surely be a Swiss Army Knife. Foster, who turned 80 this year, is unrelenting in producing architectural solutions to problems that other architects can only theorize - just last Wednesday, for example, his firm released their design for a previously-unheard-of building typology, a droneport in Rwanda.
It is surprising then to find the man or his eponymous firm Foster + Partners absent from a list like Fast Company’s “The World's Top 10 Most Innovative Companies in Architecture,” organized into superlatives: MMA Architects, “for thinking outside the big box,” Heatherwick Studio, “for reimagining green space,” or C.F. Møller Architects, “for rethinking high-rise living.” This is not to say that Foster or his firm should be substituted for any of these deserved accolades, but rather that for five decades Foster and his firm have ceaselessly worked to enhance and expand on the human experience with architectural solutions that are both inventive and practical - a fact that is perhaps lost as a result of his position within the architectural establishment.
With that in mind, we thought it was worth highlighting the many occasions over the decades where Foster + Partners has shown themselves to be among the world's most innovative practices. Read on for more.
