Norman foster education toolkit

The creation of the New European Bauhaus indicates how crucial architects and designers are to take meaningful action in an era marked by the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals for In this direction, architectural archives provide an excellent field for learning from particular interpretations of the built environment.

Despite its potential as a valuable tool for research, archives are often disregarded in architectural education, vacating their understanding and interpretation to art and architecture historians.

But what is the role of architectural archives in the contemporary teaching of architecture? What can younger generations learn from the lessons from the past? Can archives be not only a tool for research but also a tool for practitioners? This contribution aims to share the experience of bringing together institutions that have a role in designing the built environment through an architecture educational program, enhancing a multi-directional knowledge transfer in the same spirit of the New European Bauhaus agenda.

On one side, undergraduate students and professors of Architectural Analysis at the ETSAM Madrid School of Architecture (Universidad Politécnica de Madrid), and on the other, the Norman Foster Foundation (NFF) through its Archive, also located in Madrid.

The resulting pedagogical experiment encourages acquiring research tools that motivate new readings and understanding of archives as a proactive agency in producing a more sustainable future and society through design.

1. 1.

   Pritzker prize winner Foster is the Executive Director of Foster + Partners and the President of the Norman Foster Foundation.

   He is also Doctor Honoris Causa of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid.

2. 2.

   The Norman Foster Foundation was founded in London in In , its headquarters were transferred to Madrid, motivating the creation of an education and research program around the Foundation’s Archive. The author of this text was part of the founding team members of the Foundation, firstly as the Archive and Projects Coordinator (–), and lastly, as Head of Education and Research Units (–).

3. 3.

   Its last inventory identified , items in , with an ever-growing collection due to other fond acquisitions and Foster's ongoing work and active role in his practice.

4. 4.

   The author would like to acknowledge and thank the support from Prof.

   Javier Madera, the Departamento de Composición Arquitectónica (DCA) of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM), the Norman Foster Foundation (NFF) team members and Fundación Arquitectura COAM. I would also like to extend a special gratitude for the engagement and enthusiasm of the following students who made the exhibition possible: Maider Lavín Cachorro, Jaime de Andrés Lerma, Víctor Manuel Martín Sánchez and Ignacio Masoliver Sánchez.

Authors and Affiliations

1. Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain

   Gabriel Hernández

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gabriel Hernández .

Editors and Affiliations

1. ETSAM School of Architecture, Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain

   Manuel Blanco Lage

2. School Architecture, Design & Civil Eng, Zurich University of Applied Sciences, Winterthur, Switzerland

   Oya Atalay Franck

3. ETSAM School of Architecture, Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain

   Nicolas Marine

4. ETSAM School of Architecture, Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain

   Manuel Rodrigo de la O Cabrera

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG