About thirty years ago, Paola Antonelli saw an episode of Building Sights (BBC), starring Norman Foster, who showed the Boeing 747 as his favourite building. Antonelli, who had always been a fan of airplanes, thought his choice was brilliant.

Talking about Lord Foster’s architecture, Antonelli asserts that ‘he changed the course of history’ with his ‘british approach’, being capable of ‘transforming engineering into poetry’. In other words, he managed to ‘push architecture forward’. She also focuses on the Norman Foster Foundation, and how it contributes to society, especially by chosing projects that maybe couldn’t have found support elsewhere.

Paola Antonelli is senior curator in the department of architecture and design of the Museum of Modern Art, where she has worked since 1994. She has lectured worldwide in settings ranging from peer conferences to global interdisciplinary gatherings such as the World Economic Forum in Davos, and she has served on several international architecture and design juries.