The Glasgow School of Art Oration for Andy Bow Andy Bow Sir Norma

The Glasgow School of Art Oration for Andy Bow Andy Bow Sir Norman Foster once said, “As an architect you design for the present, with an awareness of the past and for a future which is essentially unknown.” Andy Bow is a senior partner in Foster and Partners, arguably the world’s most consistently innovative post war architectural practice. Since its inception in 1963, the practice has won an unprecedented number of international awards and competitions. Its output ranges from city masterplans to door handles; from yachts and bridges to light fittings. Few practices have embraced the uncertainties of the future so positively and with such confidence. Andy Bow has always displayed the key qualities of the very best Mac graduate; a sense of adventure and unbounded energy, a predisposition to collaboration, a passion for drawing, a generous spirit and the ability to remain close to both local roots and international horizons. These were all in evidence when, shortly after graduating and in collaboration with his long-‐standing friends and current Mac tutors Ian Alexander and Henry McKeown, they won the prestigious Manhattan Waterfront Competition. Chancellor, Andy Bow was born in 1961 in Edinburgh. He attended George Watson’s College, Telford College of Further Education and the Mackintosh School of Architecture at the Glasgow School of Art. Like myself, he chose to mix practice and education by joining the Mac’s part time course; a heady mixture of daytime office responsibilities and evening classes. When he eventually became a full time student, his studio design reviews quickly attracted attention. The potent mixture of his astonishing drawings and memorable exchanges with staff, particularly professors Andy McMillan and the late Isi Metzstein became must –see events for his fellow students. On display was an exceptional gift for visual and verbal communication and it seemed then that the colour, brightness and sound had all been turned up slightly more with Andy than with others. He went on to win RIAS and RIBA awards, the City of Glasgow Silver Medal and The Glasgow School of Art Newbury Prize awarded to the year’s outstanding student (whose 2014 recipient we will be announcing shortly). He graduated with BArch in 1986 and Masters of Architecture in 1988. My first encounter of Andy was in West Berlin in the mid eighties where I was living and he was part of a Mac study trip. Following an intensive week of field study, the farewell gathering at the airport revealed a collection of ashen-‐faced, late arrivals at the check in desks; all clearly the worse for wear. The students on the other hand looked noticeably better. One bounded in, still full of energy, replete in donkey jacket and Heart of Midlothian scarf. My companion was aghast at the clash of local fashion in this global setting, coupled with the confident display of a life-‐long sporting allegiance, proudly worn in the country which hosted the world’s best football team. Andy Bow had entered the building. The early nineties were difficult times for us working as architects in London and the south east. Andy’s abilities however provided him with a stream of freelance opportunities in the studios of some of the capital’s emerging and important practices eventually leading to his first award-‐winning building with Jeremy Dixon and Edward Jones. By the time he became design director at Sir Terry Farrell’s office, his reputation as a leading designer and competition winner in national and international projects had been firmly established. Among those projects won were the Edinburgh Conference Centre, The Sir Eduardo Paolozzi Gallery, Transport Interchanges in Sweden, Hong Kong and Portugal, and the Juma Al Majid Centre for Islamic Studies in Dubai. These in themselves would make a fittingly-‐full portfolio for any career but Andy’s most significant and still ongoing contribution was still to take place when in 1996 he entered the extraordinary world that is Foster and Partners. Since joining the practice, he has become one of its most inspiring catalysts, nurturing successive generations of young architects and helping lead some of its most important projects across the world including the following which are completed or are currently under construction: • The Millenium Bridge • Trafalgar Square. • HQ for Greater London Authority, London • Queen Alia Airport, Jordan. • Yacht Plus Project • Beach Road Singapore • Anfa Plage, Casablanca, Morocco • Ba al Bahr, Masterplan, Rabat Morocco • Ilham Baru Tower, Kuala Lumpur • 3 Beirut, Residential Towers, Lebanon • KaiTak Ferry Terminal Hong Kong • Datong Art Museum, China • City Bank HQ, Hangzhou, China • Al Haramein High Speed Rail Link, Mecca-‐Medina, Saudi Arabia • Marseille Vieux Port, France To name but a few. These projects display a restless search for innovative solutions drawing on a deep understanding of climate, landscape, local culture and the very best of 21st century thinking in technology. Characteristically, he has always emphasised he is a member of a team and that the work he is associated with is the collective endeavours of hundreds if not thousands of very talented people. Whilst this is true, it is equally true that the person with the vision leads and Andy has displayed a particular talent for creative leadership throughout his career. The work of Foster +Partners has, over the decades been the subject of significant media and academic scrutiny. Regardless of workload, over the last 35 years, Andy has maintained a regular presence in schools of architecture throughout the world. As well as a regular contributor to the Mac’s long-‐standing Friday lecture programme, he has taught and lectured in over 30 schools in over 15 countries. He was an RIBA external examiner at the Bartlett University College, London as well as judge for the prestigious RIBA Architecture Awards and RIBA Silver and Bronze student medals. He has been a visiting professor at the University of Aarhus and currently runs an innovative design studio (characteristically in collaboration with the engineer Patrick Bellew of Atelier 10) as an Eero Saarinen Visiting Professor at Yale School of Architecture where he has ran studios in Bilbao/Madrid, Rio de Janeiro, Marakesh. He is a member of the RIBA and in 2012 was awarded a Fellowship by the RIAS. Le Corbusier once said, “I prefer drawing to talking. Drawing is faster and leaves less room for lies.” A current trend within Higher Education is to view architecture courses as the facilitator for other career paths outside of the discipline. I see this moment as an opportunity to celebrate the inherent interdisciplinarity of our discipline through the work of a consummate architect working in the diverse but inter-‐related fields of urban design, furniture and exhibition design, interior design, product design and naval architecture. Andy’s career links thinking and drawing in a special way and has not only helped realise a portfolio of exceptional projects across the world but generated many hundreds (perhaps thousands) of sketchbooks along the way (surely a long-‐overdue opportunity for a fantastic Glasgow School of Art exhibition on design methodologies?). Chancellor, good architecture of any scale is always the result of close collaboration between the architect and the clients, consultants and contractors. Characteristic of this architect, Andy has displayed an exceptional talent for developing creative and fruitful relationships across disciplines, generations and cultures and has helped inspire others to give of their best in the creation of extraordinary work. Characteristic of the man, he continues to do this while retaining an exceptionally close family life and long-‐standing personal friendships. Le Corbusier once said that an architect only really gets going when they reach fifty. If that is true, then we may this recipient return to this platform sometime in the future. END

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