“FFUB is delighted for the opportunity to present Lord Foster with this award in honour of his life's work because he has brilliantly enriched the field of architecture on several continents,” said Hélène Sostarich-Barsamian, Executive Director of FFUB. She noted his magnificent work on the Reichstag Dome in Berlin, City Hall in London, as well as the new library currently being constructed for the Freie Universität Berlin. Prof. Dr. Dieter Lenzen, President of the University, said, “We are immensely looking forward to the completion of Lord Foster’s new Philology Library later this year. We are very pleased that FFUB in New York has chosen to honour Lord Foster at this time with the 2004 the Transatlantic Bridge Award.”

Lord Foster graduated from Manchester University School of Architecture and City Planning in 1961 and won a Fellowship to Yale University where he gained a Master’s degree in architecture. In 1967 he established Foster Associates, now known as Foster and Partners. The practice has project offices worldwide with its main studio in London. It has received over 260 awards and citations for excellence and won over 55 national and international competitions. He was awarded the RIBA Royal Gold Medal for Architecture in 1983, the Gold Medal of the French Academy of Architecture in 1991 and the American Institute of Architects Gold Medal in 1994. Also in 1994, he was appointed Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters by the Ministry of Culture in France. In 1999 he became the distinguished 21st Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate. He was granted a knighthood in the Queen’s Birthday Honours of 1990, appointed by the Queen to the Order of Merit in 1997 and in 1999 was honoured with a life peerage, taking the title Lord Foster of Thames Bank.

Lord Foster’s work is renowned on several continents. Last fall in New York, he was appointed one of three architects by developer Larry Silverstein to design high-rise towers at the World Trade Center site. This project is demonstrating to the world the resilience, resolve, strength and faith of those dedicated to liberty and freedom. “We are committed to making sure that all the new buildings at the World Trade Center are architecturally distinguished,“ Silverstein said in a written statement. Chancellor Gerhard Schröder wrote, “Conferring on Lord Foster the Transatlantic Bridge Award, FFUB is paying tribute to a man whose life’s work has had a truly international impact.”

The Freie Universität Berlin was founded to espouse ideas of political freedom and intellectual independence in Germany after World War II. Established largely with support from the United States, the University continues its dedication to the founding principles contained in its motto: “Truth, Justice and Liberty.” Friends of Freie Universität Berlin was created in New York City in January 2003 to reaffirm the University’s transatlantic relationship. Proceeds from this event benefit FFUB in its support of the University’s continued academic excellence on a global scale, as well as to facilitate new and innovative research centers and programs.