Richard T. Foster (March 21, 1919 – September 13, 2002.) was a

modernist architect Modern architecture, or modernist architecture, was an architectural movement or architectural style based upon new and innovative technologies of construction, particularly the use of glass, steel, and reinforced concrete; the idea that Form f ...

who worked in the New York City area, and also around Greenwich, Connecticut. Foster is best known for his collaborations with architect

Philip Johnson Philip Cortelyou Johnson (July 8, 1906 – January 25, 2005) was an American architect best known for his works of modern and postmodern architecture. Among his best-known designs are his modernist Glass House in New Canaan, Connecticut; the pos ...

Life

Foster was born in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

and educated at the

Pratt Institute School of Architecture The Pratt Institute School of Architecture is located in New York City with courses being taught at Brooklyn and Manhattan campuses. In 2012 the journal 'DesignIntelligence' ranked it in the ten best architecture schools in the United States. Alum ...

, graduated in 1950, and was hired into Philip Johnson's office directly out of school. Foster worked on the designs in Johnson's office of the 1950s, notably the

Glass House The Glass House, or Johnson house, is a historic house museum on Ponus Ridge Road in New Canaan, Connecticut built in 1948–49. It was designed by architect Philip Johnson as his own residence. It has been called his "signature work". The Glas ...

located in New Canaan, Connecticut. Foster left in 1962 to form his own firm, Richard Foster Associates, but as an independent architect returned to work on major projects with Johnson into the 1970s. His own designs included the

Round House Roundhouse may refer to: Architecture and buildings Types * Roundhouse (dwelling), a kind of house with circular walls, prehistoric and modern, all over the world ** Atlantic roundhouse, an Iron Age stone building found in the northern and weste ...

, a circular rotating house in Wilton, Connecticut, published in ''

Popular Mechanics ''Popular Mechanics'' (sometimes PM or PopMech) is a magazine of popular science and technology, featuring automotive, home, outdoor, electronics, science, do-it-yourself, and technology topics. Military topics, aviation and transportation o ...

'' in 1968. Foster continued to work and live in Wilton until his death in 2002.

Work

Foster's work includes: *

New York State Pavilion The New York State Pavilion is a historic world's fair pavilion at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Flushing, Queens, New York. It was designed in 1962 for the 1964 New York World's Fair by architects Philip Johnson and Richard Foster, with str ...

at the

1964 New York World's Fair The 1964–1965 New York World's Fair was a world's fair that held over 140 pavilions and 110 restaurants, representing 80 nations (hosted by 37), 24 US states, and over 45 corporations with the goal and the final result of building exhibits or ...

, NYC (with Philip Johnson, 1962–64) * Kline Geology Laboratory, Science Hill, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut (with Johnson, 1963) *

New York State Theater The David H. Koch Theater is a theater for ballet, modern and other forms of dance, part of the Lincoln Center, at the intersection of Columbus Avenue and 63rd Street in the Lincoln Square neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. Originally ...

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 millio ...

, NYC (with Johnson, 1964) *

Kline Biology Tower Kline Biology Tower is a skyscraper in New Haven, Connecticut. The building is home to the Yale University Department of Biology and is currently the tallest building on the Yale campus and the fourth-tallest building in New Haven. It was the ta ...

, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut (with Johnson, 1966) * Kreeger Residence, now the

Kreeger Museum The Kreeger Museum is a modern and contemporary non-profit art museum located in Washington D.C. It is located in the former home of David Lloyd Kreeger and Carmen Kreeger and it contains the art collection they acquired from 1952 to 1988. Arch ...

, Washington D.C. (with Johnson, 1967) * Circambulant House (or

) in Wilton, Connecticut (1968) *

Elmer Holmes Bobst Library The Elmer Holmes Bobst Library ( ), often referred to simply as Bobst Library or just Bobst, is the main library at New York University (NYU) in Lower Manhattan, New York City. The library is located at 70 Washington Square South between LaGuard ...

at New York University (with Johnson, 1972) * Tisch Hall at

Stern School of Business The New York University Leonard N. Stern School of Business (commonly referred to as NYU Stern, The Stern School of Business, or simply Stern) is the business school of New York University, a private research university based in New York City. I ...

(with Johnson, 1972) * Hagop Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

, NYC (with Johnson, 1973) * Congregation Shaare Tova synagogue,

Kew Gardens, Queens Kew Gardens is a neighborhood in the central area of the New York City borough of Queens. Kew Gardens is bounded to the north by the Union Turnpike and the Jackie Robinson Parkway (formerly the Interboro Parkway), to the east by the Van Wyck Exp ...

, NYC (1983)

References

External links

Website about Circambulant House

Richard T. Foster Bio on Architectuul
1919 births 2002 deaths 20th-century American architects Modernist architects Pratt Institute alumni Architects from New York (state) Architects from Pittsburgh {{US-architect-stub