Architectural icon Norman Foster walks us through his most famous projects, from the Millennium Bridge and the “Gherkin”, to Apple Park and Berlin’s Reichstag. Encompassing his entire oeuvre, and packed with unpublished sketches and handpicked images, this is a chronicle of six decades of brilliant, beautiful, boundary-pushing architecture. Ahead of the Curve A comprehensive exploration of the life and work of Norman Foster Spanning more than six decades and crossing continents, Norman Foster’s career is among the most influential in modern architecture. Distinguished by restless innovation and a holistic approach to design, his work has reshaped skylines and redefined how buildings respond to technology, society, and the environment. This monograph presents his complete body of work, from early collaborations with Richard Rogers and Richard Buckminster Fuller to the global superprojects that established his star status from the 1980s onwards. It also offers rare and fascinating glimpses into the evolving working environments of Foster + Partners, from a modest Hampstead flat in the 1960s to today’s vast, light-filled studio overlooking the Thames. Foster’s architecture is marked by inventive modernity and a long-standing commitment to sustainability. He has delivered some of the world’s most recognizable buildings: Apple Park in Cupertino, the Reichstag in Berlin, the British Museum’s Great Court in London, the Millau Viaduct in France, and the Zayed National Museum in Abu Dhabi. With an expansive introductory essay and detailed profiles of more than 90 key projects, this collection captures a lifetime of achievement and originality. Foster worked closely with the book’s author and designer, selecting photographs, drawings, and sketches from his personal archives. These, alongside designs for furniture and fittings, reveal his attention to detail at every scale—making this not only a definitive architectural record, but also an intimate portrait of its legendary creator. The artist Norman Foster, Lord Foster of Thames Bank OM, is an architect whose career has spanned six decades. He has created landmarks across the globe that stand out for their innovative modernity and underlying concern for users. The Apple Park campus in Cupertino, California, the Millau Viaduct in France, and two new towers on Park Avenue in New York are all projects he has carried forward with his practice of Foster+Partners. He is one of the most outstanding architects of our time.
