In 1961, while he was a master's student at the Yale School of Art and Architecture (as it was known before it was split into separate institutions in 1972), Lord Norman Foster '62 M. Arch. had to design a skyscraper.
A native of Manchester, England - an industrial city whose skyline at the time was still decidedly low-rise - Foster felt ill-prepared for the project. He asked Paul Rudolph, then the chair of Yale's Department of Architecture and already a leading figure in the field, if he could partner with an engineer.
"Of course, this was anathema to Paul Rudolph," Foster said during a Sept. 3 talk at the Yale Center for British Art (YCBA), explaining that the educator had firmly believed that engineers should follow the architect's lead. "Against all convention, he found an engineer to work alongside me and that has been a formative influence ever since."
For Foster, who today is one of the world's most distinguished architects, the experience was a lesson in the value of teamwork.
"I found I was empowered," he said. "I had more knowledge by that parallel working. I was stronger, if you like, as a designer."
