In this exclusive video interview filmed as part of our high-tech architecture series, British architect Norman Foster explains how the headquarters he designed for HSBC in Hong Kong in the 1980s transformed his architecture firm into a global brand.
The 44-storey-high Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corporation Headquarters was completed in 1985 by Foster Associates, which the British architect established with his then-wife Wendy Cheesman.
Located near the harbour in central Hong Kong, the project was instrumental in establishing the firm as an international practice, according to Foster.
HSBC banking headquarters in Hong Kong was designed by Foster Associates and completed in 1985
"It was not just inventing a particular kind of tower that hadn't been done before," Foster told Dezeen in an exclusive interview at his London office. "But it was also starting to re-inform and redesign [the practice] as a design organisation. In that sense, Hong Kong was more than just a building."
The building was originally conceived in response to a 1979 competition held by global financial firm Hongkong Shanghai Banking Corporation, known as HSBC, which called on architects to create "the best bank building in the world".
Now referred to as HSBC Main Building, the tower shares motifs with many of Foster's early projects, including visible cross bracing, open-plan interiors and an abundance of steel and glass.

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