16 September 2008
Lord and Lady Foster: New Patrons of the Swiss Global Artistic Foundation
the Swiss Global Artistic Foundation
The Swiss Global Artistic Foundation is honoured to announce that Lord and Lady Foster have become Patrons of the Foundation.
Lord Foster is Founder and Chairman of the practice Foster and Partners, and has been described as the world's most celebrated hi-tech architect and designer, having carried out a whole series of innovative urban masterplans, public infrastructure, private residences and airports (including most recently the Beijing International Airport, the largest public building on the planet), winning more than 470 awards in the process around the globe.
Norman Foster, created a British life peer, as Baron Foster of Thames Bank, in 1999, holds many international honours, including the British Order of Merit and the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, the world's principal architectural prize.
Lady Foster, born in Spain, and the former Professor Dr Elena Ochoa, is a graduate of Madrid University and a former journalist, lecturer at Cambridge University and Spanish television personality. An expert on Alzheimer's Disease, she is currently Chairman of the Tate International Council and founder of the Ivory Press publishing group.
The couple, with their two children, recently took up principal residence in the 18th century Château de Vincy on Lake Geneva. They have had strong ties with Switzerland for many years, owning an apartment he designed in St Moritz, with Lord Foster competing each year in the Engadine cross-country ski marathon.
Lord Foster will continue to oversee his practice from the château, and is not planning to retire.
Heather de Haes, Founder and President of the Swiss Global Artistic Foundation, which next year celebrates the tenth anniversary of its formation, and is now a registered public charity in Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States, commented : " We are delighted that Lord and Lady Foster have consented to join our Patrons. Their combined experiences in so many fields of the arts at the highest level will be of immense value to us in our future development."
