This year's laureate, announced this week, is another Brit: England's Sir Norman Foster, 63.
The program will also feature interviews with some of the world's leading architects including Lord Norman Foster, Zaha Hadid and Wolf D Prix.
Mr Ai says officials dismissed suggestions that Beijing airport's new terminal, designed by Sir Norman Foster and opened for the games, should be adorned with modern art.
The wing, designed by Norman Foster, also adds a suite of "period" rooms outfitted to reflect America's tastes before and after the Revolutionary War, including imported wallpapers, Pembroke tables and silverware.
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British architect Lord Norman Foster, who designed London's Gherkin tower and the dome on the Reichstag building in Berlin, described Niemeyer as an "inspiration" who "stood accepted wisdom on its head".
He drove his F1 car around the Norman Foster-designed building's ornamental lake, parked it outside the main entrance and entered to huge cheers from the McLaren staff and applause from the media.
That skyline also attests to Hong Kong's rapacious appetite for the new: Few examples of traditional Chinese or more recent colonial architecture stand outside of museums, while contemporary works by Norman Foster and I.
"We were driven by the scale of the idea and a shared passion for the poetic dimension of engineering and its sculptural potential, " says Norman Foster in "Millau Viaduct, " a slim monograph on the bridge.
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But after Sir Norman Foster, the scheme's architect, had outlined the advantages of a promenade through the heart of London, the politicians, led by the deputy prime minister, John Prescott, gave it their enthusiastic backing.
Between trips to London and his foundry in Germany, he is building a piece for Norman Foster's garden near Geneva and discussing the possibility of building something for the courtyard of the Prado in Madrid.
Almost all the international stars -- Norman Foster, Nigel Coates and Philippe Starck among them -- as well as leading local talents such as Kurokawa Kisho and Maki Fumihiko have had a hand in remaking Tokyo.
Architect Sir Norman Foster elegantly combined a refurbished British-era military structure surrounded by manicured green lawns with curved, metal-clad modern hotel buildings and villas that tumble down a hillside to the South China Sea.
Alan Faena, the developer which counts with the support of billionaire Len Blavatnik, is set to revolutionize the Miami beachfront with the Faena Saxony, featuring the work of all-star architects Norman Foster and Rem Koolhaus.
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Forthcoming London projects, including the 41-storey Swiss Re building, a re-developed Elephant and Castle and the headquarters of the Greater London Authority, could make it seem that Norman Foster is redesigning the capital in his own image.
"Even though you're being welcomed in, it sill feels a little bit naughty" said 29 year-old Londoner Becky Stevens, on her way to catch a glimpse from the top of the iconic "Gherkin" tower -- Norman Foster's elliptical skyscaper in London's financial district.
Designed by star architect Norman Foster and located on the northern shore of Victoria Harbor near the International Commerce Centre, it will include major performance venues, a flagship museum for contemporary visual art, a sizable park, rehearsal and studio areas, as well as dedicated spaces for recitals and shows when finally complete.
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There have also been three different plans to build airports in the Thames estuary - a floating airport designed by architects Gensier, another plan known as Boris Island after it was backed by London mayor Boris Johnson, and proposals for a hub airport on the Isle of Grain designed by architect Norman Foster.
Those who fear that the city's historical buildings are in danger of being literally overshadowed by modern monoliths might take comfort in the global economic crisis, which has caused some of Moscow's most ambitious new developments, including Norman Foster's 600 meter-high Russia Tower and 450 meter Crystal Island building, to be put on hold.
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