AcharyaChanakya/simple-wikipedia huggingface dataset:
He was awarded with the first Prince of Asturias Award in sports category in 1987.
Coe was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 1982 and an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1990. He was created a life peer in 2000 as Baron Coe, of Ranmore in the County of Surrey.
In December 2005, Coe was given a Special award at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards ceremony. He was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2006 New Year's Honours List for services to sport.
Theme restaurant
Theme restaurants are.restaurants in which the idea for the restaurant takes priority. It influences the architecture, food, music, and overall "feel" of the restaurant. The food usually takes a backseat to the presentation of the theme. These restaurants generally attract customers only because of the theme itself.
One example is the "Rainforest Cafe" restaurants which have the obvious theme of a "Tropical Rainforest". "Medieval Times" has its theme of "Medieval Europe". The "Jekyll & Hyde Club" has an atmosphere of Jack the Ripper and Victorian horror novels. One strange but famous theme restaurant in Berlin, Germany is called "das Klo" (German for "The toilet"). It shows the insides of a toilet.
Many people consider the Rainforest Cafe to be biggest example of a theme restaurant. They also consider it the restaurant which kicked off the theme restaurant trend. Theme restaurants may be experiencing a decline in popularity, given the closings of several Planet Hollywood, Jekyll & Hyde Club, and Wilderness Cafe locations in recent years. Theme restaurants often depend on tourist business, since the theme soon becomes stale to locals. The focus is not necessarily placed on good food and service. Certain tourist destinations such as the Mall of America or Orlando, Florida have better chances of supporting theme restaurants. Theme restaurants are generally common at theme parks, such as Universal Studios.
John Laing plc
John Laing plc is a British developer and operator of privately financed, public sector infrastructure projects such as roads, railways, hospitals and schools. Before being bought by Henderson Private Equity in December 2006, John Laing plc was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was part of the FTSE 250 Index.
The business started in 1848. James Laing (born in 1816), along with his wife Ann Graham, and some employees whom they had hired, built a house on a plot of land that they had bought for £30 in Cumberland. The £150 proceeds from the first house financed the building of the next two houses on the same plot of land. One of these houses was kept by the Laing Family to live in. The family and the business later moved near Carlisle.
When James Laing died in 1882, his son, John Laing (born in 1842) took over the running of the company. John began to take larger contracts but kept the business in the Carlisle area.
John's son, John William Laing, (born in 1879) was working for the business before he was 20 years old, and so it became John Laing and Son. By 1910, John William Laing was running the business. More employees were recruited and larger projects were undertaken, including factory construction.
In 1920 the firm became a limited company, and two years later moved its headquarters from Carlisle to a thirteen acre (5 ha) site at Mill Hill in north-west London.
William Kirby Laing and John Maurice Laing, the fifth generation of the founding family, joined the company in 1950.
John Laing & Sons (Holdings) Ltd was first listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1952. The family and its trusts and charities held the majority of the shares. John William Laing became the chairman, and his sons became joint managing directors. By this time, the number of employees was around 10,000, and every site had a quality supervisor. John William Laing retired in 1957.
Under William Kirby Laing and James Maurice Laing, the company continued to expand. They gained contracts for power stations. They also worked on road construction while continuing to build houses. In 1985, Martin Laing, of the sixth generation of the founding family, became chairman.
Martin Laing determined that the company should begin to diversify. Home construction in the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Spain, and California was now one of the major sources of the company's growth.
As the company celebrated its 150th anniversary in 1998, it faced falling profits caused by cost overruns on the Millennium project and continuing problems within its construction division, related to competition and overcapacity.
In 1999 John Laing plc purchased a controlling interest in the Chiltern Rail franchise and by 2002 had structured itself into two main divisions, namely Homes and Investments. It underwent yet another change when Sir Martin Laing retired in early 2002. Bill Forrester took over as executive chairman. For the first time in its history Laing did not have a member of the founding family at the head of the company.
The business expanded rapidly in the late 1990s, such that for the year ended 31 December 2001 its turnover was in excess of £1 billion. Following significant losses on certain construction contracts it adopted a new policy of having the PPP / PFI businesses, in which it had been quite successful, as core activities. As a consequence it disposed of its construction division, which was sold to O'Rourke in 2001, its property developments divisions, which were sold to Kier Group, and its house building arm which was sold to George Wimpey in 2002.
In December 2006 John Laing plc was acquired by the Private Equity arm of Henderson Group.
The Laing Rail division - operators of Chiltern Railways and London Overground (with MTR Corporation), and holders of a stake in the open-access railway operator Wrexham & Shropshire - was put up for sale by in September 2007. The division was purchased by German rail operator Deutsche Bahn in January 2008, subject to approval by authorities.
In June 2008 John Laing formed a consortium with Hitachi and Barclays Private Equity called Agility Trains to bid for the contract to design, manufacture, and maintain a fleet of long-distance trains for the Intercity Express Programme. The bid was successful and the contract was awarded to the consortium on the 12 February 2009.
John Laing now has operations in the UK, North America, Europe and Asia.
John Laing’s former construction division, Laing Construction, undertook a number of landmark projects including:
The M1 motorway completed in 1959, Coventry Cathedral completed in 1962, Clifton Cathedral completed in 1973, the Sizewell B nuclear power station completed in 1995, the Second Severn Crossing completed in 1996, the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff completed in 1999 and Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital completed in 2001.
The subsidiary Laing Rail owned and operated Chiltern Railways and was joint operator of London Overground (with MTR Corporation) and Wrexham & Shropshire (with Renaissance Trains). In 2008 Laing Rail was sold to Deutsche Bahn.
Christian Dannemann Eriksen (born 14 February 1992) is a Danish footballer who plays for the Italian club Inter Milan and the Denmark national team as an midfielder. He made his debut for the Denmark national team in March 2010, and was the youngest player of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.
In 2011, Eriksen was named Danish Football Player of the Year, Dutch Football Talent of the Year, Ajax Talent of the Year (Marco van Basten Award), and made the UEFA Euro U-21 Team of the Tournament. He won the Eredivisie with Ajax in 2010–11, 2011–12, and in 2012–13 before signing with Tottenham Hotspur in August 2013. He won the Tottenham Hotspur Player of the Year award for the 2013–14 season and in 2015, he won the Danish Football Player of the Year award for the second year in a row.
Eriksen started playing football in his hometown Middelfart before his third birthday. In 2005 he switched to Odense Boldklub, who competed in the Danish youth championships. His team lost the semi-final against Brøndby IF, but afterwards he was named "Best Technical Player" of the tournament. The following year OB won the tournament, when Eriksen scored the only goal in the final. After some good performances for OB's U-16 team and later on U-19 team and the Danish U-17 team, major European football clubs including Chelsea and Barcelona began to take notice. The player had trials with Barcelona, Chelsea, Real Madrid, Manchester United and Milan, but finally decided to move to Ajax, stating ""My first step should not be too big. I knew that playing in the Netherlands would be very good for my development. Then Ajax arrived and that was a fantastic option"".
On 17 October 2008 it was announced that Eriksen had signed a two-and-a-half-year contract with Amsterdam-based Ajax. The transfer fee received by OB was estimated at €1 million (£847,199). He worked his way through the youth teams, and was promoted to the first team squad in January 2010, where he was given the number 51 shirt. Within the month, he made his first team debut for the Dutch team in the Eredivisie on 17 January 2010 against NAC Breda. Ajax manager Martin Jol compared him to the likes of Ajax youth products Wesley Sneijder and Rafael van der Vaart and described him as a good reader of the game in the traditional "number 10" role like the two Dutch internationals and Danish legend Michael Laudrup, who also played for Ajax.
On 25 March 2010 he scored his first goal for Ajax in a 6–0 win against opponent Go Ahead Eagles in the Dutch Cup. On 10 April 2010, Eriksen extended his contract with Ajax until the summer of 2014, stating ""I can still learn a lot here, I'm not finished yet and I hope I can mean a lot for the club."" On 6 May 2010, Eriksen played in the second match of the final of the 2009–10 Dutch Cup as Ajax beat Feyenoord 1–4, with 1–6 on aggregate. At the end of his first professional season at Ajax, Eriksen had played 21 competitive matches, scoring one goal, and had made his international debut for Denmark. For his second season in the first team of Ajax, Eriksen was given the number 8 shirt.
Eriksen started the 2010–11 season well, scoring his first Ajax league goal on 29 August 2010 in an away victory over De Graafschap. On 11 November 2010, Eriksen scored his first goal at the Amsterdam ArenA a 3–0 Cup victory over BV Veendam. In December, Eriksen was named Danish "Talent of the Year". Several days after receiving this award, Eriksen once again proved his value to Ajax by scoring the only goal in a 0–1 away league victory over Vitesse. On 17 February 2011, Eriksen scored his first goal in a European tournament, the Ajax goal to 2–0, when Ajax beat Anderlecht 3–0 in the 2010–11 UEFA Europa League. On 13 March 2011, Eriksen scored a solo goal, running from the half way line to finish it off with a strike to secure a 3–1 win over Willem II.
During the rest of the season, Eriksen became more and more important for Ajax, due to his growing capabilities as the team's playmaker, providing many assists. After a good season during which he developed himself into an undisputed starter in the side that won the 2010–11 Eredivisie (Ajax's first Eredivisie title in seven years), he was named Ajax's Talent of the Year. On 23 May 2011 he was named Dutch Football Talent of the Year, the second Danish player to win the award since Jon Dahl Tomasson in 1996. He was elected by a jury under command of Holland's all-time best player Johan Cruyff. ""He's a player I really like with all my heart,"" Cruyff praised Eriksen. ""This prize is just the beginning, a stimulus to get the maximum out of his career. The talent is there, the recognition also; now it is up to the player himself. He is a typical product of the Danish school. You can compare him with Brian and Michael Laudrup. Only time will tell if Eriksen can reach the same level as them."".
On 18 October 2011, Eriksen scored his first goal in the UEFA Champions League when Ajax beat Dinamo Zagreb 2–0 in the group stage, making him the 2nd youngest player to score in the 2011–12 season. In the second match versus Dinamo Zagreb on 2 November he provided assists to Gregory van der Wiel and Siem de Jong as well as being involved with the third goal, as Ajax cruised to a 4–0 victory. He was named Danish Football Player of the Year on 7 November after helping Ajax win the Eredivisie the previous year and guiding the national team to a successful Euro 2012 qualification campaign, after receiving the award Eriksen said, ""I am extremely honoured to be standing here tonight. I did not expect it, it really means a lot to me. I would like to thank my team-mates in the national team as well as my team-mates at Ajax"". Following the success of Eriksen's third consecutive Eredivisie title in the 2012–13 season, he opted not to renew his contract with Ajax, and with one year still remaining on his current contract he was permitted to search for a new club. Having come to terms with Tottenham Hotspur in England, Eriksen left Ajax having appeared in 113 league matches, scoring 25 goals and 41 assists. He played in 16 matches for the KNVB Cup, scoring four goals and making four assists. He made 30 appearances on the continental stage for Ajax, scoring three goals, and making 9 assists all together. Having also competed in the Johan Cruijff Shield three years in a row.
On 30 August 2013, Tottenham Hotspur announced that they had completed the transfer of Eriksen from Ajax, in a deal believed to be worth £11 million (€13.5 million), after Eriksen passed a medical at the club. Eriksen joined the club on the same day as Erik Lamela, who joined from Roma, and Vlad Chiricheș, who joined from Steaua București, and took the club's total spending for the 2013 summer transfer window to £109.5 million.
On 14 September 2013, he made his Premier League debut against Norwich City, providing an assist for Gylfi Sigurðsson. "Spurs" manager André Villas-Boas commented: ""It was a great debut for Christian, he is a pure number 10, a creative player and his individual quality made all the difference.""
On 19 September 2013, Eriksen "clipped a wonderful dipping shot" over the goalkeeper to score his first Tottenham goal and complete a 3–0 win over Tromsø IL in the Europa League. He added to his Tottenham goal tally with a goal from a free kick in a 1–1 draw against West Bromwich Albion on Boxing Day 2013, and the second goal in "Spurs"' 2–1 win against Manchester United on 1 January 2014. On 23 March, after goals from Jay Rodriguez and Adam Lallana had given Southampton a 2–0 lead against Tottenham at White Hart Lane, Eriksen scored twice to level the score and assisted Gylfi Sigurðsson to score the winning goal.
On 12 April 2014, he scored a stoppage-time equalizer as "Spurs" came from 3–0 down to draw 3–3 at West Bromwich Albion. By the end of the season, Eriksen had scored 7 goals in the Premier League.
Throughout the 2014/15 campaign, Eriksen played an integral part in many Spurs victories. The Danish international had a habit of scoring late winners, most notably against Swansea City, Sunderland, Hull City and many others.
On 10 January 2015, Eriksen was voted Danish Football Player of the Year twice in a row, making him the first player to do so since William Kvist.
On 28 January 2015, Eriksen completed his greatest performance of the campaign in the Capital One Cup semi-final second leg against Sheffield United to send Tottenham into the League Cup Final. His first goal, a 30-yard curling free kick, was plauded by the likes of Michael Owen and Gary Neville among others on Twitter. Despite a late threat from the Blades, Eriksen then scored a second late-on to send Spurs to Wembley.
Eriksen completed the 2014/15 campaign having featured in every Premier League game for Mauricio Pochettino. The Dane became the third Spurs player to reach double figures in the league, alongside Nacer Chadli and Harry Kane, scoring 10 goals.
On 9 June 2015, Eriksen confirmed to Danish media whilst on international duty that he would stay at Tottenham for the foreseeable future. Eriksen was quoted as saying: "I feel right at home at Tottenham and I haven't thought about leaving yet."
Eriksen was called up to the Denmark national under-17 football team in July 2007, and impressed in his debut for the team on 31 July. In 2008, he scored 9 goals in 16 games for the U-17s, and was named Danish "U-17 Talent of the Year" by the Danish FA. He was also one of four nominees for the 2008 Danish "Talent of the Year" award, which was won by Mathias Jørgensen. He played 27 games for the under-17 team until February 2009. He played a total of 8 games for the Denmark U-18 and Denmark U-19 teams during 2009. Eriksen was also called up for the Danish U-21 squad to the European championship in Denmark in 2011, the Danish team only participated in the group stage and Eriksen scored a goal against Belarus.
He received his first senior Denmark call-up in February 2010, making his debut in Denmark's friendly match against Austria in March, to become Denmark's fourth youngest full international, being the youngest debutant since Michael Laudrup.
On 28 May 2010, Denmark coach Morten Olsen announced that Eriksen would be part of the final squad of 23 participating in the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. He was the youngest player participating in the tournament. At the World Cup, Eriksen played two matches, against the Netherlands and Japan, but Denmark were unable to progress beyond the group stage.
On 9 February 2011, in a 1–2 friendly loss at home against England, Eriksen was named Man of the Match, and was praised for his performance by a number of prominent footballing figures, including Chelsea star Frank Lampard, Man Utd star Rio Ferdinand (on Twitter), manager Morten Olsen and several media experts in Denmark and England. On 4 June 2011 Eriksen scored his first national team goal, to give Denmark a 2–0 lead over Iceland in their Euro 2012 qualifier. In doing so, he became the youngest Danish player ever to score a goal in European qualification, being 9 days younger than Michael Laudrup when he scored his first goal in 1983.
In 2012, Eriksen signed a sponsorship kit deal with American sportswear and equipment supplier, Nike. He appeared in an advert for the new Nike Green Speed II alongside Raheem Sterling, Stephan El Shaarawy, Mario Götze, Eden Hazard and Theo Walcott in November 2012.
Christian then transitioned from Nike's Mercurial range, to the more 'creative' orientated Magista.
Norman Foster (architect)
Norman Robert Foster, Baron Foster of Thames Bank, (born 1 June 1935) is an English architect. His company, Foster and Partners, has an international design practice. He is the United Kingdom's biggest builder of landmark office buildings.
He is one of Britain's most prolific architects of his generation. In 1999, he was awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize, often referred to as the Nobel Prize of architecture. In 2009 Foster was awarded the Prince of Asturias Award in the Arts category.
Early life
Foster was born to Robert Foster and Lilian Smith in 1935 in Reddish, Stockport, Cheshire. They moved, soon after his birth, two miles to 4 Crescent Grove in Levenshulme, Manchester, which they rented for fourteen shillings (70p) a week: Foster has no recollection of Reddish. Foster's parents were diligent, hard workers – so diligent that Foster, as an only child, felt their heavy workload restricted his relationship with them and he was often looked after by neighbours or other family members. He attended Burnage Grammar School for Boys in Burnage. In a "Guardian" interview in 1999, Foster said he always felt 'different' at school and was bullied and he retired into the world of books. He considered himself quiet and awkward in his early years often making faux pas.
Foster described Manchester as "one of the workshops of the world" and "the embodiment of a great city", his father, Robert, worked at Metropolitan-Vickers, Trafford Park which fuelled Foster's interest in engineering and design. He was fascinated with engineering and the process of designing. He says that caused him to pursue a career designing buildings. Specific interests included aircraft, a hobby he maintains today; and trains, generated by viewing passing trains on the railway outside his terraced home during his childhood.
He left school at 16 and worked in the Manchester City Treasurer's office. Next, he joined the National Service in the Royal Air Force. After he was discharged, in 1956 Foster attended the University of Manchester's School of Architecture and City Planning. He graduated in 1961. Later, Foster won the Henry Fellowship to the Yale School of Architecture, where he earned his Master's degree Foster also met Richard Rogers at Yale. He then travelled in America for a year. He returned to the UK in 1963. Then he set up an architectural practice as Team 4 with Rogers and the sisters Georgie and Wendy Cheesman. Georgie (later Wolton) was the only one of the team that had passed her RIBA exams. This allowed them to set up in practice on their own. Team 4 quickly earned a reputation for high-tech industrial design.
Foster took a job as assistant to a contract manager with John Bearshaw and Partners, a local architectural practice.  The staff advised him, that if he wished to become an architect, he should prepare a portfolio of drawings using the perspective and shop drawings from Bearshaw's practice as an example. Bearshaw was so impressed with the drawings that he promoted the young Foster to the drawing department of the practice.
In 1956 Foster won a place at the University of Manchester School of Architecture and City Planning. Foster was not eligible for a maintenance grant so took up a number of part-time jobs to fund his studies, becoming an ice-cream salesman, night-club bouncer and working night shifts at a bakery to make crumpets. He combined these with self-tuition via visits to the local library in Levenshulme. Foster took a keen interest in the works of Frank Lloyd Wright, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier and Oscar Niemeyer and graduated from Manchester in 1961.
Foster won the Henry Fellowship to the Yale School of Architecture, where he met future business partner Richard Rogers and earned his master's degree. Vincent Scully encouraged Foster and Rogers to travel in America for a year. After returning to the UK in 1963 he set up an architectural practice as Team 4 with Rogers and the sisters Georgie and Wendy Cheesman. Georgie (later Wolton) was the only one of the team that had passed her RIBA exams allowing them to set up in practice on their own. Team 4 quickly earned a reputation for high-tech industrial design.
After Team 4 went their separate ways, Foster and Wendy Cheesman founded Foster Associates, which later became Foster and Partners in 1967. A long period of collaboration with American architect Richard Buckminster Fuller began in 1968 and continued until Fuller's death in 1983. They collaborated on several projects that became catalysts in the development of an environmentally sensitive approach to design – including the Samuel Beckett Theatre project.
Originally they concentrated on industrial buildings. The turning point was the 1969 administrative and leisure center for Fred. Olsen Lines in London Docklands, where workers and managers are not separated any more. Foster and Partners' breakthrough building in the UK was the Willis Faber & Dumas headquarters in Ipswich, of 1974. The client was a family run insurance company which wanted to restore a sense of community to the workplace. Foster created open plan office floors long before open-plan became the norm. In a town not over-endowed with public facilities, the roof gardens, 25 metre swimming pool and gymnasium enhanced the quality of life for the company's 1200 employees. The building has a full-height glass façade moulded to the medieval street plan and contributes drama, subtly shifting from opaque, reflective black to a glowing backlit transparency as the sun sets. The design was inspired by the Daily Express Building in Manchester a work Foster admired in his youth. The building is now Grade I* listed.
The Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, an art gallery and museum on the campus of the University of East Anglia, Norwich, was one of the first major public buildings to be designed by Foster, completed in 1978, and became grade II* listed in December 2012. In 1990 Foster's design for the Terminal Building at London Stansted Airport was awarded the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture / Mies van der Rohe Award.
Foster gained a reputation for designing office buildings. In the 1980s he designed the HSBC Main Building in Hong Kong for HSBC. The building is marked by its high level of light transparency, as all 3500 workers have a view to Victoria Peak or Victoria Harbour. Foster said that if the firm had not won the contract it would probably have been bankrupted. Foster believes that attracting young talent is essential, and is proud that the average age of people working for Foster and Partners is 32, just like it was in 1967.
Today, Foster + Partners works with its engineers to use computer systems. They pay attention to basic physical laws such as convection. They have created efficient buildings like the Swiss Re London headquarters in London. The walls let in air for passive cooling and then let it out as it warms and rises.
Foster's earlier designs reflected a sophisticated, machine-influenced high-tech vision. His style has evolved into a more sharp-edged modernity. In 2004, Foster designed the tallest bridge in the world, the Millau Viaduct in Southern France, with the Millau Mayor Jacques Godfrain stating; "The architect, Norman Foster, gave us a model of art."
In January 2007, "The Sunday Times" reported that Foster had called in Catalyst, a corporate finance house, to find buyers for Foster + Partners. Foster does not want to retire, but wants to sell his 80-90% holding in the company valued at £300M to £500M.
Foster is a member of the board of Trustees for the architectural charity Article 25. They design, construct and manage safe, sustainable buildings in dangerous parts of the world. He has also been on the Board of Trustees of The Architecture Foundation.
The reason for his wealth is he receives 15% of the building cost.
In 2007, he worked with Philippe Starck and Sir Richard Branson of the Virgin Group for the Virgin Galactic plans.
Foster designed the Apple Campus in Cupertino and is currently designing most of their Apple stores. He is also designing Bloomberg's headquarters in London. He also recently designed the Monaco Yacht club and the McLaren technology centre.
Foster currently sits on the Board of Trustees at architectural charity Article 25 who design, construct and manage innovative, safe, sustainable buildings in some of the most inhospitable and unstable regions of the world. He has also been on the Board of Trustees of the Architecture Foundation.
He has recently set up the Norman Foster Foundation which promotes interdisciplinary thinking and research to help new generations of architects, designers and urbanists to anticipate the future.
Foster recently set up his personal Instagram account under the username @officialnormanfoster where he publishes photos of his everyday life
Foster was knighted in 1990 and appointed to the Order of Merit in 1997. In 1999, he was created a life peer, as Baron Foster of Thames Bank, of Reddish in the County of Greater Manchester. He is a Crossbencher.
Norman Foster is the second British architect to win the Stirling Prize twice: the first for the American Air Museum at the Imperial War Museum Duxford in 1998, and the second for 30 St Mary Axe in 2004.
Foster was awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 1999.
He is also a Fellow of the Chartered Society of Designers and winner of the Minerva Medal, the Society's highest award. In Germany Lord Foster received the Order Pour le Mérite.
Most recently, in September 2007, Foster was awarded the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, the largest architectural award in the world, for the University of Technology Petronas, in Malaysia.
It was announced in January 2008 that Foster was to be awarded an honorary degree from the Dundee School of Architecture at the University of Dundee. In 2009 Foster was awarded the Prince of Asturias Award in the category "Arts".
In 2012, Foster was among the British cultural icons selected by artist Sir Peter Blake to appear in a new version of his most famous artwork – the Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" album cover – to celebrate the British cultural figures of his life that he most admires.
In 2017, he was awarded the Freedom of the City of London for his contribution to contemporary architecture.
Foster married business partner Wendy Cheesman. She died in 1989, leaving him with four sons. whilst he was greiving, he was also diagnosed with bowel cancer. He next married Indian-born Begum Sabiha Rumani Malik. Sabiha was married to Andrew Knight when she and Foster met. Knight was Chairman of News International. Foster and Sabiha divorced in 1998. Foster is now married to Elena Ochoa, Chairman of the Tate International Council, and founder of Ivory Press. He has five children and three grandchildren.
Foster flies his own private jet and helicopter between his homes in London, France, Switzerland, Marthas Vineyard, New York and Madrid.
Foster has established an extremely prolific career in the span of four decades. The following are some of his major constructions:
The Bow, Calgary, Canada, 500 Centre Street SE
London, UK (1993–2001)
Foster's other design work has included the Nomos desk system for Italian manufacturer Tecno, and the motor yacht "Izanami" (later "Ronin") for Lürssen Yachts.
Cessna 152
Thomas Heatherwick
Thomas Heatherwick (born 17th February 1970) is an English designer and artist. He is known for innovative use of engineering and materials in public monuments and sculptures. He heads the Heatherwick Studio, which he founded in 1994.
Born in London, he studied three dimensional design at Manchester Polytechnic and at the Royal College of Art, winning several prizes. Shortly after graduating from the Royal College of Art after a two-year furniture MA course in 1994, he was commissioned by Harvey Nichols department store in Knightsbridge to design a temporary structure for the shop's facade. His design was a ribbon of laminated wood that wound through the storefront windows. The design was widely acclaimed and won him a D&AD yellow pencil (the gold award) in 1997.
He founded Thomas Heatherwick Studio (now called just Heatherwick Studio) in 1994. His aim was "to bring architecture, design and sculpture together within a single practice". Originally based at Camden Mews, the studio moved to larger premises in Kings Cross in 2000. It presently comprises a thirty-strong team which includes architects, landscape architects, designers and engineers. Work is carried out from a combined studio and workshop where concept development, detailing, prototyping and small scale fabrication take place. The studio's work spans commercial and residential building projects, masterplanning and infrastructure schemes as well as high profile works of public art.
Heatherwick is a Senior Fellow and external examiner at the Royal College of Art. He is a fellow of the Royal Academy and was recently chosen to become a Royal Designer for Industry. He has served on numerous judging and advisory panels and has given talks at various institutions including the RIBA, Bartlett School of Architecture, the South Africa Design Indaba conference and the Royal Academy.
In 2004 he curated an exhibition at the Design Museum consisting of 1,000 'every day' design objects that he had collected.
The "B of the Bang" was a £1.42 million 56m-high sculpture of 180 giant spikes, erected outside the City of Manchester Stadium to celebrate the 2002 Commonwealth Games. Safety problems happened soon after it was completed in 2004 when one spike came apart. Eventually 22 more were removed as a safety measure. The object was rewelded and fenced off. It continued to cause concern and debate over its future. Finally Manchester City Council took legal action against Heatherwick studio and their subcontractors, who in November 2008 agreed to pay £1.7 million in damages. The installation was removed in 2009.
The 'East Beach Café' is a building on Littlehampton Sea Front, West Sussex, UK created by Heatherwick. Commissioned in 2005, the large steel structure houses a Café by daytime and restaurant in the evening. The concept allowed the steel to rust and the colours to develop over time before being fixed in a transparent oil. It won the 2008 RIBA Award in the South East region.
Thomas Heatherwick was awarded an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Arts by Manchester Metropolitan University - his alma mater - on July 21, 2007. It is in recognition of his design work across a broad spectrum of architecture, engineering and public art, achieving national and international acclaim for his innovative use of materials, his eclectic range of projects, and the resolution of them in new and exciting ways.
Louver
A louver (American English) or louvre (British English), from the French "l'ouvert"; "the open one") is a window, blind or shutter with horizontal or, less often, vertical slats. They are angled to allow light and air in. They also keep out rain, direct sunshine, and noise. The angle of the slats may be adjusted.
Louvers come from the Middle Ages as lantern-like constructions in wood that were fitted on top of roof holes. They were put in large kitchens to allow ventilation while keeping out rain and snow. They were originally rather rough constructions consisting only of a barrel. Later they became more elaborate designs made of pottery. They took the shape of faces where the smoke and steam from cooking would pour out through the eyes and mouth. They also became more like modern louvers, with slats that could be opened or closed by pulling on a string.
More modern louver windows are made of slats of glass, opened and closed with a metal lever. They may also be shutters of wood, plastic or other material.
Some modern louver systems serve to improve indoor daylighting. Fixed mirrored louver systems can limit glare and of redirect diffuse light. Such louvers may be put in between two panes of double glazing.
Louvers are rarely seen as primary design elements in the language of modern architecture. They are rather simply a technical device. However, there are examples of architects who use them as part of the overall aesthetic effect of their buildings. The most well-known example is Finnish modernist architect Alvar Aalto who would create aesthetic effects in the facades of his buildings through the combination of different types and sizes of louvers. Some are fixed and some are moveable. They are made mostly from wood (e.g. the various buildings of the Helsinki University of Technology). A second example, taking influence from Aalto, is the second-generation modernist architect Juha Leiviskä.
Additionally, louvers are used as semi-passive means of thermal control on spacecraft. They are also available as an accessory for some automobiles.
Lost (season 6)
The sixth and final season of the American television series "Lost" began broadcast in the United States and Canada on February 2, 2010. In the final 18 TV episodes, the writers showed the fate of the remaining survivors, and explained the powers which the Island held in their lives. The sixth-season premiere was the first to climb in the ratings year-over-year since the second season, drawing 12.1 million viewers. The series finale aired on May 23, 2010. The final episode ran 2.5 hours starting at 9/8 CDT, pushing the late-night news back a half-hour. It was followed by the previously announced post-finale special, "Jimmy Kimmel Live: Aloha to Lost", at 12:05 a.m. (11:05 CDT). The season continued the stories of the survivors of the fictional September 22, 2004 crash of Oceanic Airlines Flight 815, on an unknown island in the South Pacific. The survivors must deal with two outcomes of the explosion of a nuclear bomb on the island in the 1970s. While the on-island story continues, a set of "flash sideways" scenes show a second timeline, in which Flight 815 never crashes. The season is scheduled to be released on DVD and Blu-ray on August 24, 2010, alongside a complete series boxset.
For a summary of the final season's storyline, see below: ""Season 6 plot summary"".
On May 7, 2007, ABC Entertainment President Stephen McPherson announced that "Lost" would end during the 2009–2010 season with a "highly anticipated and shocking finale". "We felt that this was the only way to give "Lost" a proper creative conclusion," McPherson said. Beginning with the 2007–2008 television season, the final 48 episodes would have been aired as three seasons with 16 episodes each, with "Lost" concluding in its sixth season. Due to the 2007-2008 writers' strike, the fourth season featured 14 episodes, and season 5 had 17 episodes. Season six was planned to have 17 episodes, too. However, on June 29 it was announced that the final season would feature an additional hour, making the number of episodes 18.
Executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse stated that they "always envisioned "Lost" as a show with a beginning, middle, and end," and that by announcing when the show would end that viewers would "have the security of knowing that the story will play out as we've intended." Lindelof and Cuse stated that securing the 2010 series-end date "was immensely liberating" and helped the series rediscover its focus. Lindelof noted, "We're no longer stalling." The producers also planned to wrap up long-standing mysteries, such as the nature of the smoke monster, the reason the Dharma periodic resupply drops continue after the purge, and the "bird" from "Exodus Pt. 2" and "Live Together, Die Alone Pt. 1". While the destruction of the four-toed statue of Taweret was revealed in the ninth episode of the final season, Lindelof hinted that the identity of the statue's builders would not be addressed. The producer also indicated that Walt's unusual abilities may be explained, although not necessarily with the character's direct involvement. In a podcast, Cuse and Lindelof stated that they would explain the "Rules" first stated in an episode in season four, but only those that are "important for the narrative they are telling." Matthew Fox said in an interview that in the final season, the characters of Jack Shephard and John Locke "will come head to head." It was also claimed that a third of the way through the final season, the two timelines would be "solidified into one" and "will be very linear – no more flashbacks, nothing;" however this was still not the case by the season midpoint. He also claimed to be the only cast member to know the ending of the series, though Lindelof has clarified that Fox only knew things that were relevant to his character.
During Comic-Con 2009, numerous sixth-season reports were made. Carlton Cuse stated both the time travel and flash-forward seasons were over, and they were moving into something different for the sixth season. Josh Holloway stated his character Sawyer would revert to his old self after the loss of Juliet. Though Cuse and Lindelof stated that the Dharma Initiative would no longer play a large role in the show, they have said that the "Dharma-Michigan connection" would play a significant role in season six. Lindelof stated that the producers had a direct hand in the production of the season six promotional poster that was first displayed at Comic-Con, and that everything in it was intentional; he also made a reference to the Abbey Road cover in connection to the poster. Season six was the first and only season of Lost ever to not feature any kind of preview or official promotional material such as sneak peeks and promo pictures for future episodes since the Lost producers considered any single frame from the first episodes to be too revealing. According to Lindelof, "even a single scene from the show would basically tip what it is we're doing this year, and what it is we're doing this year is different than what we've done in other years." Lindelof has also emphasized that the flashes-sideways are important, stating "People are saying [they] don't need these stories and all we can say is they're absolutely 100 percent necessary to tell the story of Lost, and hopefully by the end of the season it will be more obvious as to why." He also noted that the term "flash-sideways" was deliberately used instead of "alternate reality" because viewers might otherwise "infer that one of them isn't real, or one of them is real and the other is the alternate to being real." When asked to describe the last three episodes, Lindelof said "Water."
ABC charged advertisers $900,000 USD for a 30-second commercial during the series finale, in contrast to the standard 2010 season price of $214,000.
The cast features fifteen major roles with star billing: eleven return from the fifth season, one returns from the fourth season after a year's absence, and three are new regular cast members. Unlike the latter half of the previous season, in which the cast was divided into two groups following two separate storylines, Season Six features an alternate universe scenario which the producers call "flash-sideways," and almost all the main characters participate in both storylines. Returning from the fifth season are the survivors' leader Dr. Jack Shephard (Matthew Fox); former fugitive Kate Austen (Evangeline Lilly); millionaire Hugo "Hurley" Reyes (Jorge Garcia); former torturer Sayid Jarrah (Naveen Andrews); con artist James "Sawyer" Ford (Josh Holloway); medium Miles Straume (Ken Leung); former mob-enforcer Jin-Soo Kwon (Daniel Dae Kim) and his privileged wife Sun Kwon (Yunjin Kim); leader of the island's native population (known as the "Others") Ben Linus (Michael Emerson); and deceased crash survivor John Locke, who lives on in the sideways timeline but has been possessed in the original timeline by the mysterious Man In Black. Emilie de Ravin returns in her role as Claire Littleton, a new mother who was absent for one season after disappearing on the Island, and Henry Ian Cusick also returns as Desmond Hume, who starts the season off the Island. The new main cast roles go to pilot Frank Lapidus (Jeff Fahey), Richard Alpert (Nestor Carbonell), an ageless advisor to the Others, and mysterious Flight 316 leader Ilana Verdansky (Zuleikha Robinson). Carbonell was named a main cast member by the executive producers at Comic-Con 2009, after guest starring in the previous three seasons, and Fahey and Robinson were confirmed after appearing in recurring roles in the fourth and fifth seasons.
Several former cast members are scheduled to return to the show, or have been asked back. Elizabeth Mitchell returns as fertility specialist Dr. Juliet Burke. Mitchell has stated that her return is "instrumental to the story". Dominic Monaghan returned as rock star Charlie Pace in four episodes. Jeremy Davies returned as physicist Daniel Faraday in multiple episodes. Ian Somerhalder also returned as Flight 815 crash survivor Boone Carlyle in several episodes. Rebecca Mader, who portrays anthropologist Charlotte Lewis, also returned. The producers have also confirmed that Harold Perrineau and Cynthia Watros, who portray Michael Dawson and Libby Smith, respectively, returned in the second half of the season. About the return of Libby, Cuse stated, "Finally, all of your questions [about Libby] will be answered", however, Lindelof jokingly responded, "No, they will not". Michelle Rodriguez, another second season star, returned as police officer Ana Lucia Cortez, following a brief cameo in the fifth season. Maggie Grace, who portrays Shannon Rutherford, Boone's stepsister, was asked to return at the beginning of the season, but Grace was unable due to her schedule; she appeared later in the season, instead. Furthermore, the producers wished to bring back the character of Walt Lloyd, however Malcolm David Kelley, who portrays Walt, has aged significantly and the producers are working to overcome this obstacle.
Recurring characters who returned include: Jack and Claire's father, Dr. Christian Shephard (John Terry), wealthy industrialist and former Other Charles Widmore (Alan Dale), Desmond's wife Penny Widmore (Sonya Walger), former Other Eloise Hawking (Fionnula Flanagan), Locke's ex-girlfriend, Helen Norwood (Katey Sagal), Hurley's former boss, Randy Nations (Billy Ray Gallion), mysterious Flight 316 passenger Bram (Brad William Henke), Sayid's wife, Nadia (Andrea Gabriel), deceased Frenchwoman Danielle Rousseau (Mira Furlan), science teacher Leslie Arzt (Daniel Roebuck), the Others' doctor Ethan Rom (William Mapother), Ben Linus' father Roger (Jon Gries), mercenaries Martin Keamy (Kevin Durand) and Omar (Anthony Azizi), and Vincent, a dog who survived the crash of Flight 815 and lives on the island. Mark Pellegrino returns in his role as Jacob, the mysterious figure in charge of the island, while Titus Welliver also reprises his role as the mysterious unnamed character, known only as "The Man in Black", who appeared to be antagonistic to him in the season 5 finale. L. Scott Caldwell and Sam Anderson returned in their roles as Rose and Bernard respectively, as does Kimberley Joseph who plays 815 stewardess-turned-Other Cindy. Also, Academy Award-winner Fisher Stevens returns as communications officer George Minkowski from the first few episodes of the fourth season in the eleventh episode. Kevin Tighe returns as Anthony Cooper, Locke's father.
Several new recurring characters were introduced in the sixth season. "Deadwood" actor John Hawkes was cast to portray a character named Lennon and Japanese actor Hiroyuki Sanada obtained the role of ; both men are Others stationed at the temple. Also, William Atherton was cast in a guest role as the principal of the school where Ben works. Sheila Kelley has been cast in a recurring role that was initially described as "Kendall" and later confirmed to be "Zoe".
The season premiered on February 2, 2010, with a double-length episode (two hours including commercials) preceded by a one-hour clip show, entitled "Lost: Final Chapter". The show continued from February 9 at its new timeslot of Tuesdays at 9 pm, with a total of 18 episodes airing in 16 broadcasts, ending with a two and a half hour, two-part series finale, the latter part of which aired Sunday, May 23, 2010. Additionally, the first hour of the premiere episode was screened to an estimated 15,000 fans on Waikiki Beach on January 30. In the following table, "Series #" refers to the episode's number in the overall series, whereas "Season #" refers to the episode's number in this particular season. "U.S. viewers in millions" refers to the number of Americans in millions who watched the episodes live or recorded them and watched them within seven days of broadcast.
<onlyinclude></onlyinclude>
The sixth season followed two timelines, each an outcome of the explosion of a hydrogen bomb in the previous season finale. In the first timeline (referred to as "flash sideways"), Oceanic Flight 815 never crashes but lands with all leaving the airplane at Los Angeles LAX airport. In the second timeline, the remaining survivors return to the present day (on the Island) and must deal with the demise of "Jacob", whose death has been caused by the mysterious Man in Black, the Smoke Monster. According to show producer Damon Lindelof, the term "flash-sideways" was deliberately used instead of "alternate reality" because it might then imply "that one of them isn't real, or one of them is real and the other is the alternate to being real."