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Now, he's arguably responsible for more of the world's instantly recognizable buildings than any other architect.

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Certainly here in London and around Europe, 

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but what drives the designs of Norman Foster and what does he make[s] of today's age of architecture is part of this month's "Spirit of Architecture" program. 

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Becky Anderson sits down with the master designer.

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He may be based in London, but his appeal and attitude is truly international. 

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I caught up with Lord Norman Foster in Barcelona and began by asking him what the purpose of architecture is.

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Since man came out of the cave, [he] needed to be protected from the elements, 

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and then it becomes apparent that the quality of that environment affects the quality of your life, so the other dimension. 

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In that sense, it's about society; it's about civilization; it's about a social agenda. 

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It also is about symbolism. It's about the things that you can't measure. 

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How do you measure the quality of the light, a view, sunshine?

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When you look at a building, what makes you feel happy and what makes you feel angry?

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What makes me feel good is when the environment, if I use it in the broadest sense, 

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has been taken seriously by everybody involved, and they've insisted on quality.

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And quality is not about money; it's about attitude; it's about the quality of the thinking.

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You go to Rockefeller Center -- you know, that's a public space; there's a place there. 

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You go to Central Park; it's an extraordinary thing. 

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You can't think of New York without Central Park. It's part of the infrastructure.

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Of course, there are iconic buildings -- overused word --

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but buildings which over time still command our respect and attention, and, you know, they roll off the tongue. 

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There's the Seagram Building, you know? There's the Chrysler Building, the Empire State and so on.

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Does every building that you're involved with have to be memorable and / or unique?

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I don't think it has to be memorable. 

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If you come to our studio, you'll see schools, and we can talk about the way those schools have changed the lives of the children in terms of their academic standard. 

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You can measure that. 

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You can measure it from the school they were in before. It's not just the architecture. It's also about the teaching.

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How would you describe or characterize the age of architecture that we're in at the moment?

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It's an age of rapid change. It's an age of rapid urbanization. It's an age of extraordinary opportunity. 

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And over time, I'm sure that, you know, future generations will sit back and say, "Well, they did that well. They did that, you know, not-so-well." 

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It's a time of dynamic change, and many approaches, but also extraordinary opportunities through competition systems which didn't exist in the past.