Norman FosterEvery podcast appearance, updated as new ones drop

My guest for this episode is John Small, ex-partner at Foster and Partners (where he founded and led their Product Design Group); ex Director of Design at Steelcase; and ex tutor at the Royal College of Art, where he originally gained his Masters in furniture design and manufacturing. John is currently teaching interior design at Norwich University. Our conversation started and ended on the topic of trying to clear creative block or as he describes it, unlocking the door to creativity. We covered the subtle differences between crafting and creating, whether it’s possible to intentionally design an icon, the importance of collaboration, and how Norman Foster sees things that others don’t, inspiring many “why didn’t I think of that?” moments. John was speaking to me from his newly built, self-designed garden studio. He mentions his work on the LINC, Steelcase’s Learning and Innovation Centre in Munich. Both buildings are very inspiring on very different scales, and shifting between project sizes like this is another topic we covered.

This week we’re talking to Britain’s most revered architect, Lord Foster , and to the design guru and co-founder of the Design Museum , Stephen Bayley , about their quest to put beauty back at the heart of contemporary building. The registered charity, the Royal Fine Art Commission Trust , which Stephen chairs, staged its first ever Building Beauty Awards on Monday 21st November at the Stirling Prize winning Bloomberg building in the City – which Norman Foster designed. We discuss the winners across four categories: building, engineering, public spaces and little gems, the last designed to cheer residents and bring pride to a built neighbourhood. This is a rare chance to hear two such prominent figures from the world of architecture and design discuss what constitutes beauty in new building today. Building beauty reaps rich award – the winners received £10,000, the joint biggest prize in architecture and a Portland stone rhodium-plated trophy created by the jeweller Theo Fennell – who was also one of the judges. Tune in to find out who the winners of the prize were and to hear about the first Royal Fine Art Commission Trust International Building Beauty Prize at World Architecture Festival in Lisbon next week.

In this podcast – recorded as an exclusive guest chapter for this year’s Outlook 2022 report – Shenal Kakad, our Head of Private Markets, is joined by world-renowned architect Lord Norman Foster to discuss how rethinking urban design can help address some of the world’s most pressing environmental and social challenges.