Foster + Partners

About Foster + Partners

Foster + Partners is a global studio for architecture, engineering, urban and landscape design, rooted in sustainability. Founded by Norman Foster in 1967 and headquartered in London, the practice has grown into one of the most influential architectural organisations in the world, with studios across multiple continents.

Despite that geographic spread, the practice describes itself as working as a single entity - ethnically and culturally diverse, with people central to all its endeavours. Operating as one studio rather than a federation of regional offices means design standards and technical knowledge are held in common rather than duplicated.

Integrated Disciplines

What distinguishes Foster + Partners from most architectural practices is the range of expertise held in-house. Rather than coordinating external consultants, the studio employs specialists across the disciplines a complex building requires.

• Architecture - the core practice across every building type
• Structural engineering - working alongside architects from concept stage
• Environmental engineering - energy, daylight, thermal comfort and building physics
• Urban planning and landscape design - masterplanning at district and city scale
• Interiors and workplace consultancy - internal environments and how organisations use them
• Industrial design - furniture, fittings and products
• Project management and design management
• Applied research and development - materials, fabrication and emerging technologies

Having structural and environmental engineers in the same studio as the designers is decisive on technically ambitious buildings, where form, structure and energy performance cannot sensibly be resolved in sequence.

Sustainability

Sustainability has been a central theme of the practice for more than five decades - a commitment that predates the mainstream environmental movement in architecture by a considerable margin. The studio audits its projects not only against global standards but also against its own Responsibility Framework, which covers ten sustainability themes and sets requirements beyond those imposed externally.

Research and Innovation

A dedicated applied research and development capability investigates materials, structural systems, fabrication methods and computational design. The practice has explored territory well outside conventional architecture, including studies for extreme environments and off-planet construction - work that tends to feed back into terrestrial projects through advances in materials and automated fabrication.

Project Types

The portfolio spans airports and transport infrastructure, tall buildings and headquarters, cultural and civic institutions, higher education and research facilities, workplace and commercial development, residential projects, retail and hospitality, and city-scale masterplanning. Few practices operate credibly across such a range, and fewer still at this scale.

Global Practice

Studios across Europe, the Americas, the Middle East and Asia allow the practice to work in very different regulatory and climatic contexts while maintaining consistent technical standards. Projects are frequently delivered in joint venture with local architects and engineers who bring code and construction-market knowledge.

Market Position

Foster + Partners sits at the very top of global architectural practice, competing for the most prominent commissions worldwide. Its clients include governments, airport authorities, global corporations, cultural institutions and major developers - organisations whose projects carry public visibility and long design lives.

Why AEC Teams Should Know Foster + Partners

For architects, engineers and clients, the studio remains one of the essential reference points in the built environment, particularly for integrated design, environmental engineering and technically ambitious long-span and tall building work.