# Norman Foster and Banking Architecture at the Turn of 21st Century. Between Creativity and a Now-Fashionable the Style

Hubert Bonin

► To cite this version:

Hubert Bonin. Norman Foster and Banking Architecture at the Turn of 21st Century. Between Creativity and a Now-Fashionable the Style. 2025. hal-05279456

HAL Id: hal-05279456

https://hal.science/hal-05279456v1

Submitted on 23 Sep 2025

HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access
archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci-
entific research documents, whether they are pub-
lished or not. The documents may come from
teaching and research institutions in France or
abroad, or from public or private research centers.

L'archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est
destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents
scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non,
émanant des établissements d'enseignement et de
recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires
publics ou privés.

<figure><img src="image_1.png" /></figure>
# Norman Foster and Banking Architecture at the Turn of 21st Century. Between Creativity and a Now-Fashionable the Style

*Hubert Bonin, ex-professor at Sciences Po Bordeaux and BSE Research Centre-Bordeaux University*

Like French architect Jean Nouvel, Norman Foster (born in 1935) emerged in the 1980s-1990s as a "star" of large and tall buildings symbolising a move towards the presence of art, creativity, and imagination among day-to-day mass culture, transit, and business life. To focus there on banking architecture, buildings had to contribute to the assertion of pride to join or to stay with largely globalised finance companies; the power and the legitimacy of which were propped up by such an architectural impetus. Emerging from basic "neutrality" or even mediocrity of numerous buildings packed together in commonplace business centres, such initiatives were intended to transport the banking corporation away from anonymous dullness.

## Norman Foster's architectural philosophy

It is well known that this British architect trained in Manchester and abroad at Yale. He reached his creative profile because he put together a team of imaginative architects (Richard and Sue Rogers, Wendy Foster, then Buckminster Fuller), which achieved a competitive edge from the end of the 1960s to the 1980s. Foster & Partners had been set up in 1967 and established in London, with more than 600 architects gathered all over the world). It created its "corporate brand image" owing to schemes which took into consideration architecture and urbanism, people's movements and adaptation to space.

Norman Foster considered "the services that allow [a building] to work, the ecology of the building-whether it is naturally ventilated, whether you can open a window, the quality of natural light, the material used-their mass or their lightness, the character of spaces, the symbolism of the form",<fnref n="1" /> all this being summed up by some "connecting people". "We use technology, but not just for its own sake", alongside an untold rule favouring a flexible but sustainable business city.

Norman Foster's aims were an internal functionality and an openness to city life, with some part devoted to a few doses of utopia, which helped him move away from the "minimalist" architectural trends of the 1970s (William Rogers, for instance), and to rehabilitate the "curved lines"-this being depicted in the London *Swiss Re* tower. Last, the originality of Norman Foster's studio was its attachment to a global scope of design: "The central concern of the practice is design excellence, achieved through active collaboration with clients and specialists-from structural end environmental engineers to cost consultants [...]. A wide range of supporting skills underpins the work of the practice, including model making, materials research, specialist computer modelling, visualisation, as well as in-house communications, photographic and printing systems".<fnref n="2" />

This led to a renewed emphasis on "urban projects" instead of sticking an extra building in a business area. Norman Foster's cabinet has thus piled up contracts with institutions where buildings had to integrate working locations for employees and people's daily routines. This has been the case for some refurbished parts of the British Library or of the British Museum (both in 2001). Libraries and museums (the *Prado* in Madrid, the *Carré d'art* in Nîmes, etc.) have even been surpassed, according to public opinion, by some of the best-known airports (London-Standsted in 1981, Hong Kong in 1998) or the Canary

<footnote n="1">¹ [N. Foster, 2000]</footnote>

<footnote n="2">² [N. Foster website].</footnote>
Wharf station of the *Jubilee Line* extension (2000). All were perhaps emulated by the rebuilding of the dome of the *Reichstag* in Berlin for the *Bundestag* (in 1992-1999).

Beyond his very talents and his balance between imagination and technics, which are supposed to be the basis of architects’ know-how, Norman Foster succeeded in building his own reputation through the informal weaving of some kind of a “philosophy” for his studio and thanks to a worldwide “circuit” of lecturing in universities and arts schools. This enabled him to appear as a kind of “guru” of forms able to handle materials and to produce useful *chefs-d’oeuvre*—like the London Millenium Bridge or, moreover, the recent Millau bridge in France.<fnref n="3" />

Indeed, the message did lose its previous originality. Rather, it carried an uncompromising desire for the exploration of high-tech innovations and forms in general, whilst devoting much attention to the heritage of craftsmanship. The aim was to provide perfect achievements in grappling meticulously with the detailed design of tiny parts of each overall project—even if industrialised and modular building-parts are often used to place a ceiling on costs, so common everywhere in big architectural projects—or to reach a much more efficient occupation of space.

A website dedicated to design (designboom.com) summed up this “philosophy position”: “The key to Foster’s approach is that he seems always to be aspiring to an elsewhere, another world, partly that of a long-gone age—the world of industrial pioneers, the mystical and fascinating world of Jules Verne, a world too of contemporary futurism, space conquest, science fiction and cartoon strips, a world of supra-human places. Norman Foster’s single-minded individualism is exceptional, he refuses to be lumped in with the ‘high-tech’ style, he recognized no professional peers.” This explains the way of life of his studio, with one large open space, free of subdivisions to encourage good communication between the teams, with its own model workshop, graphics department and photographic studio.

A pragmatic historian’s point of view must take into account this way of establishing a “legend” of a living guru of architecture. But, as appears more clearly afterwards, we can pretend that Norman Foster joined some “chic” trend in the 1990s. He therefore drew orders from companies aspiring to still more recognition and legitimacy through a token architectural gesture.<fnref n="4" />

## Norman Foster and a few key banking buildings

Norman Foster’s studio was recruited for half a dozen buildings dedicated to finance. The first bank to recruit it was the **Hong Kong & Shanghai Bank** or its headquarters in Hong Kong; a continuing process had led to the construction of a first building as soon as 1869, to its destruction in 1933 and the construction of a new building in 1935. But the bank had outgrown its headquarters, and it decided to regroup all its scattered departments within a single new tower in 1978. From the conception in 1979 to completion in 1986 (for US$668 m), the N. Foster studio used 30,000 tonnes of steel and 4,500 tonnes of aluminium to erect a modular construction, which symbolised somewhat the renaissance of Hong Kong as the bridgehead to an emerging new market-oriented China—even if all the components were imported from abroad (from the UK and US,

<footnote n="3">³ See the studio website [http://fosterandpartners.com].</footnote>

<footnote n="4">⁴ See: Daniel Threiber, *Norman Foster*, Hazan, 1998. Norman Foster & Martin Pawley, *Norman Foster. A Global Architecture*, Universe Publications, 1999. David Jenkings, *On Foster-Foster On*, Prestel Verlag, 2000. Hashim Sarkis, *Norman Foster Works*, Prestel, 2003.; and the series of books published by the studio: *Norman Foster. Works*.</footnote>
essentially). The building was innovative because it lacked any internal supporting structure, thanks to eight groups of four aluminium-clad steel columns, which ascend from the foundations up through the core structure, and the five levels of triangular suspension trusses which are locked into these masts—which allowed the building to profit from natural sunlight throughout its levels. Since the HSBC group<fnref n="5" /> is now located in London, this building became the centre of its activities throughout Asia.<fnref n="6" />

The **Commerzbank** tower was erected amid the harsh competition between German banks to brighten up the Frankfurt *Innenstadt* business area, and it succeeded in overcoming its rivals. It remained the tallest European building from 1997 to 2004, with a height of 259 meters and 56 stories... Large space is available because a triangular plan has pushed the core areas to the corners. Four-stories of gardens are interspersed as the building rises and provides green oases for office workers.<fnref n="7" />

Opened in April 2004, the London **Swiss Re** headquarters became notorious because of the design of the *Pinnacle Gherking* 41 storeys tower, which broke off from the straight design of numerous London skyscrapers—such as those denounced by Prince Charles...— and was endowed therefore with is “gherkin” nickname because it looks like a plump green pickle—or one might think of a cucumber with upward spiralling strips – in view of the *Aviva* classical parallelepiped tower. This rethinking of the conception of buildings in the business sector paved the way to a few other experiences—like in Barcelona, for instance, by his competitor Jean Nouvel for the *Agbar* tower. But Norman Foster’s building keeps its originality indeed: owing to its steel truss work and a system of diagonal braces, the structural envelope permits space, free from the columns. The building also contains a spiral of indoor gardens that admit light into interior spaces: “Those become the lungs of the building. They allow fresh air, light and views into the interiors” (N. Foster).

A key case study will focus on the now well-known project of the HSBC group to duplicate its **Hong Kong tower** with a new one that should proclaim the new globalised dimension of the bank. Thus, at 8, Canada Square in London, in the business district, developed from the 1980s in the ancient dockyards of London harbour, Canary Wharf, work began in May 1999 for a 45-storey project, designed by Norman Foster's studio. It became the second tallest building in London (210m) after the Canary Wharf Tower. Stability against the wind was provided by the use of a central (34m x 30m) concrete core weighing 150,000 tonnes, with a curtain walling developed by Simon Webster from Arup Façade Engineering. The 110,000 m² of space welcomed the staff from September 2002 before an official inauguration in April 2003. About 8,500 employees were then gathered in the building instead of the previous situation in which close to twelve locations in the City. Three of the largest trading floors in the City (with 900 dealers) are active there.

Thus, once more, the Norman Foster studio reached its aims to balance architectural originality, cost control and speed (of the construction), with the needs of the users (with

<footnote n="5">⁵ See [hsbc.com.hk].</footnote>

<footnote n="6">⁶ See Norman Foster, Chris Seddon, J. Zunz, M. Glover, T. Fitzpatrick, Deyan Sudjic, Kenji Sugimura, *Foster Associates: Hong Kong Bank*, in A+U: extra edition, 5/1988, p. 1-150. T. Ho, N. Matsuda, Norman Foster, Chris Seddon (et alii), *Foster Tower: Hong Kong Bank. A Re-evaluation of Tall Buildings*, in *Process: Architecture*, 1986, 70, p. 1-203. Ian Lambot & Gillian Chambers, *One Queen's Road Central. The Headquarters of Hong Kong Bank since 1864*, 1986. Chris Abel, Chris Seddon & Kenji Sugimura, *Norman Foster: 1964-1987*, Londres, A + U Publishing Co. Ltd.. 1st. 1988.</footnote>

<footnote n="7">⁷ See Colin Davis, *Commerzbank Frankfurt: Prototype for an Ecological High-Rise*, Birkhauser Verlag & Watermark Publications, 1997. Volker Fischer, Norman Foster, H. Gruneis, R. Richter, Norman Foster and Partners, *Commerzbank*, Frankfurt-am-Main, Edition Axel Menges, 1998.</footnote>
a maximum structural flexibility). The HSBC tower could therefore sum up Norman Foster's "philosophy", which mixes modernity in design and architecture, and managerial modernity in project development.<fnref n="8" />

More recently, Norman Foster's studio was recruited in Australia to deliver its first tower there, the so-called **Deutsche Bank Place** in Sydney, in December 2005: "The building explores new strategies of adaptable, column-free office space, and is firmly connected at ground level to the context and the spirit of the city" [N. Foster], owing to a large busy square. A mega-grid of aluminium cladding structures the thirty-one storeys tower every three floors. It is extended above the occupied building to create a roof feature which seems to pull the tower upwards alongside a vertical trapezium like some business flag.

**The Deutsche Bank Place** in Sydney (on 126, Philip Street, with top Floor 39 at 486 feet high above street level, even if the spire peaks at 787 feet)—became the headquarters of the German bank in Australia.<fnref n="9" /> Norman Foster then committed to enhance the rapid progression of a Spanish savings bank during the last financial and banking boom. In Madrid his studio conceived a tower which exemplifies the challenge launched to the “classical” banks (Banco Santander, BBVA) by so-called new forces of banking—before the crash of 2007-2008. This tower was completed precisely in 2008 and the *caja de ahorros* intended to occupy half of it, under the name **Caja Madrid Tower**! But the uncertain fate of the Madrid *Caja*—which had to be rescued and then amalgamated into Bankia in 2011 with six other savings banks — explains why the building took the name of *Cepsa Tower* in 2009 (250 m high).<fnref n="10" />

## As remarks of conclusion

The success of mighty banks led to many calls for Norman Foster's genius and technicity: cooperating with such a star could only feed a positive brand image and contribute to strategies of corporate communication, as it had been the case for the *Société Générale* towers at Paris-*La Défense*. It has been a kind of “fad” to trust in higher and more challenging buildings. Norman Foster has been recognized as a pioneering conceptor of buildings mixing innovative architecture concepts and techniques on one side, and leverage forces to enhance the “glory” and valuation of big banks—and also, later on, companies, like Apple in the USA<fnref n="11" />.

Nowadays, it has become somewhat more fashionable to choose less “God-defying” towers in favour of low-key, eco-contributing condominiums, like those of BNP Paribas at Paris-Pantin and Porte d’Aubervilliers (in the north of Paris), *Crédit Agricole* at Paris-Montrouge (in the south of Paris) and even buildings for entities of *Société générale* at Paris-Marne-la-Vallée (in the east of Paris), along the type of a “business campus”. Indeed, the “Middle East/Canary Wharf/*La Défense*” architectural model no longer aspires towards hegemony, even if it still welcomes several firms, despite a recent loss of attractiveness of the whole La Défense area from the 2010s.

<footnote n="8">⁸ See HSBC: *A Proud Heritage. Images from the History Wall at HSBC Group Head Office 8 Canada Suare, London, 2002* [HSBC website; www.arup.com].</footnote>

<footnote n="9">⁹ See [www.fosterandpartners.com/projects/deutsche-bank-place].</footnote>

<footnote n="10">¹⁰ See [www.fosterandpartners.com/projects/torre-caja-madrid-tower/].</footnote>

<footnote n="11">¹¹ See Wikipedia, *Norman Foster*. Deyan Sudjic, *Norman Foster: A Life in Architecture*, Londres, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2010 (320 p.). Look at the website of Foster + Partners [https://www.fosterandpartners.com/].</footnote>
SUMMARY:

The text reconstitutes the involvement of the cabinet of architecture led by the great British architect Norman Foster on the field of the banking sector. It insists on specific buildings that symbolise the rise of a type of modern architecture that intended to enhance the values and "greatness" of big banks on a few financial market-places.

* A first version of this text had been published in: "Norman Foster and Banking Architecture Between Creativity and a Now-Fashionable Style", *Bulletin-Newsletter of EABH-European Association for Banking & Financing History*, 2/2006, p. 33-36. The text has been complemented, and precised in September 2025.