The 1960s were over, but they had ushered in what came to be known as high tech. Exciting change was in the air, and this was not just to do with clip-together buildings: it was to do, basically, with trying to find out what on earth was going on in the world. Architects and their clients needed to be able to predict and provide, technologically and socially. They needed what we now call Big Data. The editorial opener in the June 1970 issue of the RIBAJ was headed: 'Department of Applied Futurology'. This was the magazine's nickname for an institutional initiative, officially named The Intelligence Unit, the task of which was to predict the needs of the profession and to provide accordingly. At this moment Norman Foster entered the building. He didn't need any of that. He already knew.
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