Sir Norman Foster and the new to be built Qatar Soccer Stadion
ABOUT THE STADION: HE Sheikh Mohammed bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, Chairman of the Qatar 2022 Bid, said:
"The Lusail Iconic Stadium will serve as the perfect venue for the opening and final matches of the World Cup. The stadium will inspire a new generation of regional and international sports venues, incorporating environmentally friendly cooling technologies to ensure the ideal conditions for players and spectators alike. The design of the stadium provides fans with optimum views of the action in a cool and comfortable setting. Its beauty and ambition represent the pride and enthusiasm that we have displayed in our bid thus far and will continue to display until the day FIFA awards the 2022 World Cup and beyond."
ABOUT THE ARCHITECT - NORMAN FOSTER
Norman Foster was born in Manchester in 1935. After graduating from Manchester University School of Architecture and City Planning in 1961 he won a Henry Fellowship to Yale University, where he gained a Master’s Degree in Architecture.
He is the founder and chairman of Foster + Partners. Founded in London in 1967, it is now a worldwide practice, with project offices in more than twenty countries. Over the past four decades the company has been responsible for a strikingly wide range of work, from urban masterplans, public infrastructure, airports, civic and cultural buildings, offices and workplaces to private houses and product design. Since its inception, the practice has received 470 awards and citations for excellence and has won more than 86 international and national competitions.
Current and recent work includes the largest single building on the planet, Beijing Airport, the redevelopment of Dresden Railway Station, Millau Viaduct in France, the Swiss Re tower and the Great Court at the British Museum in London, an entire University Campus for Petronas in Malaysia, the Hearst Headquarters tower in New York, Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Robert and Arlene Kogod Courtyard at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington and research centres at Stanford University, California.
He became the 21st Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate in 1999 and was awarded the Praemium Imperiale Award for Architecture in 2002. He has been awarded the American Institute of Architects Gold Medal for Architecture (1994), the Royal Gold Medal for Architecture (1983), and the Gold Medal of the French Academy of Architecture (1991). In 1990 he was granted a Knighthood in the Queen’s Birthday Honours, and in 1999 was honoured with a Life Peerage, becoming Lord Foster of Thames Bank.
