ABSTRACT
Of all the projects in which Foster Associates participated at the beginning of the 1990s, Millennium Tower is the most spectacular. At first glance it appears as Foster's entry in the competition for the highest building in the world, and in fact it could beat its rivals by several lengths: if this tower of the century were to be built, its 840 m would make it twice as high as the Sears Tower. Yet the project is equally a part of current international progress; it symbolizes Japan's response to the challenges of today; and, not least, it attempts to offer a solution to the problem of the city of today. On this subject the architect writes: 'Every decade has its turmoil, but it seems the 1990s will be particularly tumultuous. This, the last decade of the twentieth century, promises in terms of international perceptions to totally overturn assumptions which have been unquestioned for a generation and more. The inevitability of radical change in fundamental geopolitical alignments is already apparent. These changes, where only recently immutable truths seemed established, have occurred so rapidly, nothing now can be considered absolute. Comprehension of super power politics, military resourcing, economic systems, racism, consumerism to name a few, has become so volatile as to make any preconceptions questionable.
