Stay A Student

On September 3rd, queues were everywhere, running through YCBA doors, overflowing rooms, and rushing students and faculty to the livestream link. Why? Lord Norman Foster, YSoA’s most accomplished alumnus, came back to school for a conversation with Dean Deborah Berke.

Norman Foster volunteered to make an introduction, which was so long that everyone except for the dean could forget that the event wasn’t meant to be a lecture. He quickly connected with his main audience, students, by tracing his YSoA journey, peppered with values that still shape his practice: green thinking, teamwork, and connection. By 1:26 pm, he finally returned to his chair for the actual conversation.

Berke delved into his YSoA roots through Paul Rudolph, Serge Chermayeff, and Vincent Scully. Foster also mentioned his experience with Louis Kahn and Buckminster Fuller, talking about how his learning environment truly shaped his path. He recalled the intense “24-hour Snap Project,” when Rudolph would announce it, and no one slept. Berke, on the other hand, prefers healthy competition, maybe with a little sleep and a little personal hygiene. Seeming not to mind how often he’s asked, Norman Foster shared the recipe of success for graduating students:

1. Stay a student
2. Make things
3. Talk to people

Whether the audience is twenty students in a classroom or a flooded auditorium, he’s fully there. Lord Norman Foster walked into our class this week, eager to interact with students of his alma mater. He stood tall, dressed sharply, and excited, almost as if time had folded back on itself.

His rigour and enunciation made me wonder, is age really just a number? Perhaps staying curious and passionate is the secret, and it reflects on your mind and health. I’m sure a lot is going on behind the scenes for him to show up like this, just like his projects that seem to suddenly pop up in cities, opening with fanfare, photographed and posed to perfection.

Is it even possible to have a big-scale practice with a direct touch? Does the founder’s signature become a seal of trust, like DNA channeled into a signature on drawings? On the contrary, it left us wondering, what sustains a practice for six decades? Curiosity and keeping inspiration in the room, maybe that’s how personal values scale into a system. Norman spoke about engaging young architects in his London office, having them display projects for colleagues before the workday starts—a culture of being curious, young in mind, and engaging in conversations before reaching the desk.