Porsche design, architecture and the future of mobility

Porsche and the Norman Foster Foundation: a shared quest for classic design

Introducing the Gateway to Venice’s Waterway installation for The Art of Dreams Venice

May 8, 2025 | 6 min read

A unique collaboration ponders the future of mobility and more via groundbreaking The Art of Dreams Venice installation

At the heart of all design you will find a dream, no matter how big or small. The dream, for example, of a designer or an architect, to turn their ideas, their vision, into reality. And for that vision to help shape a better future.

When it comes to automotive design and architecture, few have done so with such success as Porsche and Lord Norman Foster. So, it comes as no surprise that these two creative forces have come together on a unique collaboration for the latest chapter in the art series from Porsche – The Art of Dreams Venice.

What is the Gateway to Venice’s Waterway?

The centrepiece of the collaboration is Gateway to Venice’s Waterway. Unveiled at Biennale Architettura 2025 in the Italian city, this unique architectural structure has been designed by Porsche and the Norman Foster Foundation as an innovative transportation hub that explores future mobility in Venice and beyond.

The 45-metre-long, animal-like structure, takes inspiration from the likes of Venice’s vast network of historic bridges as well as the lightweight technology used in Porsche racecars, such as the iconic 917. It can connect seamlessly with the latest in electric transport solutions, including waterbikes and electric-powered motorboats, like the Frauscher x Porsche 850 Fantom Air, which incorporates an adapted Macan electric engine.

Who better to explain more about the collaboration and dive deep into the shared values of Porsche and the Norman Foster Foundation, the shared language of design and architecture and the future of mobility than Michael Mauer, Vice President Style Porsche, and Lord Foster himself.

Lord Norman Foster, in burgundy velvet suit, gesturing during interview — Lord Norman Foster is one of the world’s most celebrated and decorated architects. Along with Porsche, the Norman Foster Foundation has created a unique and thought-provoking installation – Gateway to Venice’s Waterway – for the latest in The Art of Dreams series from Porsche Photo: Porsche

Why Venice is a model for the future

That the installation has been revealed in Venice is no coincidence. It is no mere backdrop. Here is a city steeped in history, of timeless beauty, that’s a living case study in innovation. A place where generations of Venetians have grappled with the challenge of evolving solutions for mobility and living and working together within the limitations of this unique city built on more than one hundred islands in a lagoon.

“I think Venice is in many ways a model for the future because it’s compact, it’s walkable, it’s mixed use,” says Lord Foster, whose many designs include the Reichstag building in Berlin and Apple Park in Cupertino. “You haven’t got a zone where people live and the zone where they go to shop or where they go to work. It’s a complete mixture.”

“If you want to look far ahead than first look far back,” adds Lord Foster. “The inspiration in Venice is really there before us. I mean, first of all, it’s stunningly beautiful. The aesthetic dimension, the quality of urban living. But that’s coupled to the innovation. You think about the technology embedded in Venice, which enables it to function today, [it’s] rooted right in the past.”

Connecting the worlds of automotive design and architecture

Lord Foster points to the early Porsche 356 as an example of innovation as well as the shared values between architectural and automotive design.

“In one sense it’s utilitarian,” says Lord Foster of the 356. “It took a standard chassis and many standard components. But out of that came something that’s really beautiful and highly functional. It was delivering a higher performance. It was doing more with less. And perhaps [that] comes down to the classic design, which is the ultimate fusion of aesthetics and functionality.

Gateway to Venice’s Waterway installation at Biennale Architettura 2025 — The Gateway to Venice’s Waterway installation from Porsche and the Norman Foster Foundation, unveiled at Biennale Architettura 2025, has been designed as an innovative transport hub of the future Photo: Porsche

“I think that there are common values in the quest for classic design,” says Lord Foster, drawing parallels between the approach of Porsche design and his own. “I seem to remember one of my mentors, [renowned American architect and futurist] Buckminster Fuller, who said that he never really thinks about beauty when he’s designing – but if the outcome is not something beautiful, then somehow there’s something wrong.”

In other words, beauty isn’t the goal per se, rather it’s the inevitable result of getting everything else right. It’s a sentiment present in Foster designs and Porsche sportscars alike. Both are led by clear principles – nothing is added without purpose, and every curve, every element is justified by its performance and meaning.

Lord Foster: great design features a complex series of interactions

The link between automotive design and architecture goes beyond the basic tenets of creating a form, a ‘product’. Lord Foster, for example, sees it too in the extraordinary range of diverse disciplines that come together to create mobility solutions, like Porsche, mirroring how he has worked over the years. “I have promoted, over many decades, the building up of a team of diverse skills and talents,” he says. “A bridge, for example, looks deceptively simple. It just goes from one side of a river to the other. But the hidden story is really extraordinarily complex interactions between disciplines.”

“The combination of historic elements, innovation and, let’s say, the expression of Porsche should always be on the humble side,” says Michael Mauer of the Porsche design philosophy. “On the exterior, it’s very nicely done, but it’s not too expressive. But underneath, if you talk about the technology and the performance of the car, a Porsche doesn’t have to hide.”

Michael Mauer, Vice President Style Porsche, with classic Porsche sportscars — “Porsche has always been very good at combining functionality and aesthetics,” says Michael Mauer, Vice President Style Porsche Photo: Porsche

How designing with limitations encourages innovation

Another strong theme emerging from the discussions with Lord Foster and Michael Mauer is how working within certain constraints can help drive innovation. Whether you’re designing a new office building or a new Porsche, both disciplines are guided by rules, to a certain extent. These can include limits imposed by engineering, environmental regulations, the demands of the user or some type of historical legacy.

However, rather than curtail creativity and innovation, these limitations and the tensions they can kick up can be elevated by them. For Michael Mauer, the very strong heritage of Porsche means finding a way to develop new models that still keep a connection to its history.

“Porsche has always been very good at combining functionality and aesthetics,” he says. “And we have to find the best balance between both. On one hand, the engineers are forcing us to make their requirements, to translate that into a very aesthetic design language. While we [the designers] are forcing them to find engineering solutions for what we believe is the most aesthetic solution.”

Lord Norman Foster, in sunglasses, on London’s Millennium Bridge — “A bridge looks deceptively simple. It just goes from one side of a river to the other. But the hidden story is really extraordinarily complex interactions between disciplines”: Lord Foster on London’s Millennium Bridge – designed by Lord Foster himself, and opened in 2000 Photo: Porsche

Returning to the Gateway to Venice’s Waterway itself, Michael Mauer sees plenty of synergy between its design and the philosophy of Porsche.

“When I look at the design that Norman and his team has developed,” he explains, “I would say the design language, the surface treatment – this kind of softness, the materials that are used and this very puristic and clean approach – the mindset and the spirit, it’s very, very close to how we design our products here at Porsche.”

The Gateway to Venice’s Waterway installation will be open to the public at the Arsenale in Venice from 10 May 2025 for the duration of the Biennale Architettura 2025

Consumption and emission information

911 Carrera GTS (WLTP): Fuel consumption combined: 11.0 – 10.4 l/100 km (preliminary value); CO₂ emissions combined: 248 – 236 g/km (preliminary value); CO₂ class: .

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