Forget all those AARP ads about redefining old age. Just queue up a current project list from Sir Norman Foster, the prolific Mancunian and Pritzker Prize winner who today turns 80, and you may start questioning how you define "busy." Noted for his tech-savvy glass structures, the onetime friend of Buckminster Fuller has devised the shapes of landmark buildings across the globe, and his firm has an array of high-profile projects in the works—such as the Apple Campus in Cupertino, California, the London SkyCycle, or the Battersea Power Station Development—that would define a career by themselves. Here's a look at some of the more recently finished projects and proposals from Foster + Partners.
Evans Hall at Yale University (2014)
Foster gave back to his alma mater, already graced by the work of Paul Rudolph and Louis Kahn, with this airy and open building at the center of the Ivy League campus, designed to promote openness.
Mexico City International Airport (2062)
Foster made a statement with his design for Hong Kong's airport, a massive project on a man-made island that lets passengers stare at planes through a shell of glass. He just did it again with his plans for this forthcoming Mexico City project. Designed in conjunction with Fernando Romero of FR-EE and Arup, the single building—a 555,000-square-meter space that will fit beneath one giant shell—will not only cut down on material costs, but reduce the need for transit systems between buildings and make heating and cooling more cost efficient.
Manchester Maggie's Center (Due in 2016)
Foster's addition to the notable string of cancer treatment centers features a single-story, natural wood-frame structure. Foster battled back from bowel cancer a decade ago, so this project in his hometown has special resonance.
The Bow (2013)
A bold statement in Alberta's biggest oil town, Canada's tallest building outside of Toronto features six-story atria that enliven the structure with green space, and ground-floor commercial space meant to link it to a developing commercial corridor.
Zorlu Center Apple Store in Istanbul (2014)
At first glance, this looks like something we've seen before, a next-gen Apple retail space within a translucent glass box. But the Istanbul Apple Store uses single panes of glass to support a carbon fiber roof with minimal additional supports, a creative example of engineering that won a pair of awards from the The Institution of Structural Engineers last year.
· Complete Norman Foster coverage [Curbed]