In the period immediately after the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank much of the work came from outside the UK; until 1988, with the completion of the ITN building in Gray’s Inn Road, Foster had no major building in London, and it is only in recent years that he has started to make a significant impact on the capital.Life in the practice was not helped much when in 1992 Foster married Sabiha, the ex-wife of Rupert Murdoch’s right-hand man, Andrew Knight. Sabiha was not a trained designer but was keen to be involved with the work of the practice, something that did not endear her to those of greater experience. When she was in court charged with assaulting a customs officer, it was made clear to members of staff that it was in their interest to take time off work to go to court and provide moral support.There was some relief in the office when she was replaced in 1996 by the charming and erudite Elena Ochoa. Lady Foster is Spanish, a psychopathologist and, despite being dubbed Spain’s answer to Anna Raeburn because of a column on sex advice she used to write, an expert on Alzheimer’s disease.Some critics have been eager to suggest that recent Foster projects lack the depth and character of the early work such as the Willis Faber Dumas building in Ipswich or the Hong Kong Bank. With work in Britain, Germany, Malaysia and Saudi Arabia, how can Foster provide the attention to detail and care it deserves?What such commentators fail to take into account is the way that the practice has matured. It has become a jumbo where Foster is still definitely at the controls, but he no longer serves the cocktails.

Foster and Partners (as the firm is now called having evolved from Sir Norman Foster and Partners) has always been a disciplined firm with a strong theoretical base. It has a methodology that allows the team to produce a wide range of buildings which, while they may lack the personal touch of the early work, is of a standard far higher than that of the majority of Foster’s peers.Experienced developers such as Greycoat, Minerva and Gemini are hiring Foster for their office buildings in increasing numbers. They commend the firm for its professionalism and responsiveness, and are willing to pay Foster’s higher fees for that level of service.When John Gummer was Secretary of State for the Environment he criticised the fact that so many lottery projects were going to “architects over 60″, meaning Lords Rogers and Foster. There is a concern that so many of the plum jobs are going to Foster that younger architects are not getting the sort of chances which Foster himself enjoyed early in his career Sadly for them, Foster shows no sign of letting up. At 65, lithe, tanned and horribly fit – he still takes part in competitive cross-country ski marathons – Foster is unlikely to be put off his stride by the publicity created by a wobbly bridge.

The 590ft, 41-storey “gherkin” building for Swiss Re, which won planning permission last week, will reinvent the office tower again and make a real impact on the London skyline; his planning scheme for Elephant and Castle, which also includes a tower (this one designed by the Malaysian architect Ken Yeang and based on ecological principles), tackles the fashionable architectural game of urban regeneration; the new Greater London Authority building will become one of the icons of the capital.While his old partner Lord Rogers will shape the architectural politics of London under Mayor Livingstone, it will be Foster who will give the capital its form and its image.. ne glance at any news-stand and you might be forgiven for thinking that every attempt to lure the fashion-conscious, sexually aware, youthful woman had been done to death – all niches plumbed, every whim catered for. ne glance at any news-stand and you might be forgiven for thinking that every attempt to lure the fashion-conscious, sexually aware, youthful woman had been done to death – all niches plumbed, every whim catered for.
Well, you’d be wrong. While there’s been been a flurry of launches in the past two years in the quest by publishers to keep up with the perceived changing demands of the new millennium’s independent Ms, stand by for a further flurry.Last week Condé Nast, home of upmarket Vogue, Tatler and Vanity Fair, announced its descent into the mainstream monthlies’ circulation war with plans for the spring launch of a UK version of Glamour, a women’s title that sells 2.2 million copies every month on its home territory in America. A top-notch editor, Jo Elvin, now at New Woman, has been poached and a mammoth £5m set aside to be spent on marketing the title to the UK’s twentysomethings.

Aside from competition from established glossies such as Cosmopolitan, Elle, New Woman, Marie Claire, the newish Red, the newer Nova … (and the list does indeed go on), there will be other new girls on the block to contend with too. Also launching in the spring is a UK version of the US monthly In Style, from Time-Life Inc.Grüner Jahr, publishers of Prima, are working on “Project Florence”, an autumn launch; and journalists at John Brown Publishing, of Viz fame, are busy tweaking the final elements of Bare, also set for an autumn début Even the BBC believes it knows what every woman wants. Under its commercial Worldwide wing, Gill Hudson, former editor of New Woman and Company, is preparing the launch next month of Eve. With an advertising budget of £2m, it will be BBC Worldwide’s biggest launch to date.According to Jo Elvin, the frenzied activity in the monthly market is good news It just proves there is always room for something fresh “You’d be surprised,” she says. “Readers’ appetites for the new and different are insatiable.” How new and different, though, can the familiar mix of beauty, fashion, celebrity and lifestyle be?”The thing about magazines that people underestimate is that they’re a very, very creative genre,” Elvin patiently explains “Obviously every magazine needs certain staples to sell.