HSBC Building (Hong Kong)
Norman Foster · 1985
A suspended steel tower that replaced internal columns with external masts, prefabricated modules, and escalators—built at record cost to save a firm.
On design.briefs
Norman Foster
Foster didn’t invent transparency — he engineered it into structure, climate response, and daily life.
Reichstag dome
Norman Foster · 1999
The Reichstag dome is a reconstructed glass structure on the Reichstag building in Berlin. Norman Foster designed it from Gottfried Böhm’s idea. Waagner-Biro built it. It features a mirrored cone, two steel spiral ramps, an electronically tracked sun shield, and daylight-driven energy efficiency. It provides a 360° view of Berlin. It makes the Bundestag chamber visible from above. It symbolises German reunification and democratic transparency.