LORD NORMAN FOSTER was recognized on Tuesday, May 27th as The Skyscraper Museum presented him with the Making New York History Award. More than 200 guests gathered at the Diagrid Club of 425 Park Avenue, a Foster + Partners skyscraper completed in 2021, to raise a toast to the architect and celebrate the firm's towering contributions to the New York skyline.

Colleagues and admirers from across the professions of architecture, engineering, construction, development, and academic communities networked in the cathedral-like space created by Foster's sloping stainless steel trusses. From the terraces high above Park Avenue, they could also see Foster's nearly completed supertall, the new global headquarters for JPMorgan Chase at 270 Park. Guests then assembled for a program of toasts to Norman Foster's outstanding achievements across the decades and around the world.

Museum Director CAROL WILLIS began the series of tributes, calling Foster "an honorary New Yorker." Proclaiming Lord Foster "the current King of Park Avenue," she pointed out the firm's two new skyscrapers on the avenue (and one more to come) and commended the architect for his reinvention of the tall building typology since the early 1980s.

Chairman of the Museum and President of Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates JAMES VON KLEMPERER cited Foster's skyscrapers across the globe and called his work in New York a "great fruition." He praised Foster for his versatility and attention to careful detail and urban values." Noting the high standards for others, von Klemperer called Foster "one of the greatest architects of his time."

Museum trustee BILL BAKER, engineer and Consulting Partner for SOM, started his tribute by noting that this year marked the 40th anniversary of the completion of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank HQ, one of Foster's most significant projects. Calling the firm's portfolio a "remarkably consistent body of work," he commended Foster for his philosophical basis in design: "a fine Vitruvian aesthetic that's been adapted to the issues of our time." Raising a glass at the end of his speech, Baker praised all the Foster partners in the room for producing architecture that makes the world a better place.

Finally, Norman Foster delighted the crowd with an extended reminiscence of his relationship to New York City, from his first trip in 1961 and his student projects at Yale. He explained how from his earliest tall buildings, he sought to challenge and reinvent standard skyscraper formulas. He further defined the tall building as the most sustainable form for cities which value density, walkability, and public transit and civic spaces.