How Much Do Your Personal Assets Weigh, Mr. Foster ?

In conjunction with the Foster + Partners exhibitions and seminars held in KL, and the screening of the documentary titled : How much does your building weigh, Mr. foster ? for 2 nights, here's a little more information on the architect...

Architizer News reported by Kelly Chan

Important news flash for parents who want their children to be famous, successful architects: Of this year’s list of the 2,000 wealthiest people in Britain, only one of them is an architect. That one architect — surprise — is Sir Norman Foster. 


Last year, Foster was joined by his colleague Zaha Hadid in Britain’s “Rich List,” though Hadid was absent from the elite manifest this year. But coming up strong at #522, Foster is keeping the myth of the moneyed, skyscraper-designing professional alive and well despite having seen a recent dip in profits at his firm Foster + Partners.

According to Dezeen, the architect has an estimated personal fortune of almost $230 million, a chunk of which comes from selling 40% of his practice in 2007 for $180 million. Foster continues to hold a 45% stake in the firm, which has its hand in everything, from the controversial renovation of the New York Public Library main branch, to the wildly over-budget Apple Campus in Cupertino, California, to a fantastical proposal to 3D-print houses on the moon. Foster was even the subject of a 2010 documentary called “How Much Does Your Building Weigh, Mr. Foster?”, which presented the architect’s projects as elegantly designed solutions to urban problems and reaffirmed that Foster is one of the few architects the general public knows by name.

Brutal simplicity of thought of the day #8

adapted from the Brutal simplicity of thought book by M&C Saatchi Worldwide

TREE or TOWER !?

       I always noticed this tree or not a tree look a-like object around the city. Till I found out is actually a telecommunication tower trying to blend with the 'green' of the surrounding....... which made me wonder why do they try to camouflage the structure in a very weird way that ended up becoming a more alien object than the surrounding !? 

       Well, not just me who have this interest, here are some photographers who have a collection on it, and they have better elaboration on it. Take a look at their work.

Photos of Cellphone Towers Disguised as Trees
Adapted from Exposure Guide article by Patricia Ramos



Function combined with form is always an achievement. Function however does not always carry aesthetics. This does not mean that an object’s usefulness is diminished, nor should it be condemned. Case in point is the ubiquitous cell phone tower. It is a web of these masts that allow telecommunications companies the ability to transmit voice calls and data to and from our smartphone devices. It is also part of the intricate Internet delivery system that we enjoy from our tablets, laptops and personal computers at home and at work. They surely have a well-deserved right to be called functional. But what an eyesore they are to behold. Thankfully our friends over at the telecom companies acknowledge this, and some have even mounted well-meaning efforts to camouflage these unsightly masts with dishes and antennas of varying sizes.



Being vertical, the towers were made to resemble trees. Regrettably, the attempt to blend the towers into the background did the opposite. Instead of obscuring the masts, there now stood this unidentifiable abomination. South African photographer Dillon Marsh‘s photo series called Invasive Species shows these foliage-adorned towers.

 “In certain cases the disguised towers might not be noticed,” “But then an undisguised tower might not have been noticed either.” - Mash.

The world’s first palm tree cell phone tower called The Palm Pole Tower. 
It made its debut in Capetown in 1996.

Another photographer, Robert Voit, has also documented tree cell phone towers in the United States, Parts of Europe, and Asia. Check out more of his work from his website.


photo source from Robert Voit webpage

To read more on the article, click here.

      Instead of just copying the preset from other examples, maybe we could try to modify it - at least the species of the so called tree is more to our climate, as what I saw at the moment is exactly in those photos from top.... that makes more sense to try to camouflage it, I think (at least the tower in the photo directly above tried...) The result may or may not be good, at least an afford is made to improved it; if not, might as well do something totally different then... hmmm...