The Coolest Man Alive (No, Really)

Photo by Andy Miah

If you were to ask the average tech-nerd the question of “Who is the Coolest Man Alive?” he would probably say Elon Musk. And why not? Many people have compared Musk to Tony Stark. He’s an entrepreneur, a science enthusiast, and a high-tech visionary. Oh, yeah—and he’s a billionaire. A self-made billionaire, in fact, which puts him ahead of Stark in one respect. (Stark, however, still has the upper-hand in the flying robot suit department— at least as far as we know).

But if Elon Musk is the coolest man alive for the under-forty demographic, then Norman Foster must surely hold the title on the Senior Tour. As one of the world’s greatest architects for the past four decades, he has created some of the most beautiful and iconic buildings in the world, including the Millau Viaduct, The Reichstag Dome, and the new Apple HQ. Like Musk, he’s an evangelist of new technologies, especially green tech. And, as if all that weren’t enough, he’s a cross-country skier, a glider pilot, and a cancer survivor.

And he’s a baron. No, really—he’s a freaking baron.

No establishing shot of London in any James Bond or other adventure film is complete without showing 30 St. Mary Axe or the Millennium Bridge, both of which are his creations. But while most people in the world recognize his buildings instantly, few know his name.

In fact, I don’t remember when I first became aware of Foster, either as an architect or a celebrity, but it wasn’t until the past decade or so. I think it was when I watched an episode of Mega Engineering about the Millau Viaduct, which is both a beautiful structure and also one of the most laudable engineering feats of modern times. The documentary was, obviously, focused on the construction of the viaduct and never once mentioned Foster’s name. But I was sufficiently intrigued to research the Viaduct on my own and was startled to learn that the architect, Foster, had also designed the famous Shanghai Bank building, which became the prototype for open-floor, integrated office building throughout the next three decades.

Photo by Aurelien Guichard 

In fact, the deeper I looked into Foster’s history, the more amazed I was. An early advocate of aluminum and glass as building materials, Foster can be credited with inventing the high-tech post-modern style of architecture that we now associate with super-hero and James Bond films. The headquarters building featured in Marvel’s latest set of Avengers movies might well have been designed by Foster. (Indeed, perhaps it was.)

Foster was also involved in the ill-fated Masdar City project which, while never completed, laid the groundwork for a new generation of small, green, manufactured cities which might appear all over the world in the coming years.

And yet, for all this achievement, no major biography has been written about Foster. And unlike several other “starchitects” like Frank Gehry and Santiago Calatrava, few people in mainstream America have ever heard of him. The closest he has come to mass-exposure is the indie film How Much Does Your Building Weigh, Mr. Foster, which is a fascinating documentary about Foster’s life. (The title is an allusion to a question Buckminster Fuller once asked of Foster—a deceptively childlike question which Foster, to his eternal embarrassment, couldn’t answer.)

Foster’s relative obscurity in America can be explained, at least in part, by the fact that most, if not all, of his greatest works have been erected overseas, mostly in Europe and Asia. He has created only one building in New York City, the elegant but little-praised Hearst building. However, he will soon have a second building in the city. We’ll see if it has a greater impact on his reputation.

In the meantime, check out the movie when you can (you can get the DVD from Netflix), or listen to one of Foster’s many excellent talks on YouTube. He is one of my heroes, and I suspect he might become one of yours, too…

Photo by Stefan Krause