Photo gallery: The Art of Architecture: Foster + Partners at the Nasher in Dallas

by John P. Meyer

Spencer de Grey, head of design for the architectural firm Foster + Partners, hosted a show-and-tell tour at the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas on Friday (Sept. 25). The tour provided us with a "day-before-opening" sneak preview of the Nasher's new exhibit: The Art of Architecture: Foster + Partners.

The Art of Architecture is now open for public viewing during regular Nasher hours through Jan. 10, and it's highly recommended -- particularly for those interested in seeing some of the other structures designed and built by the firm responsible for the soon-to-be-opened Winspear Opera House.

The exhibit includes panoramic photos, drawings, renderings, and videos, but from a sculptural perspective, the standout pieces are the models, which are arranged along either side of the main floor gallery, spilling out into the lobby area. There's a room downstairs devoted entirely to the Winspear project.

In their practice, Foster + Partners (founded by Norman Foster) has focused on cultural buildings and civic spaces, with the intent of marrying structural forms to the natural environment. Spencer de Grey's remarks during the tour turned time and again to an underlying philosophy marked by concerns of low environmental impact.

Many projects undertaken by Foster + Partners involve interventions within existing (sometimes historical) structures; some projects don't involve "structures" per se at all -- such as the firm's redesign of London's Trafalgar Square, which resulted in it being partially closed to vehicular traffic and thus opened to pedestrian gatherings.

de Grey spoke of a "delicate visual intervention" when describing the firm's design of the Millennium Bridge in London, and noted the form-following-function aspect of the Stansted Airport terminal building. At Stansted, the layout of the terminal has been purpose-built to provide for a smooth flow of passengers, as they transition from arrival to check-in to security, and thence on to their departure gates -- all on the same level.

The models themselves range from "rough" (as per the model for the Free University of Berlin), to incredibly tricked out, with most of the models featuring cutaway views of interior space. Some of them are lit from within, just as in the actual buildings; one actually has a working elevator that moves up and down its shaft at the press of a button.

As de Grey put it: "We celebrate our work through models." And now the Nasher is celebrating the model-making work of the design teams at Foster + Associates.