A disciple of Corbusier claimed that, “the aeroplane is the symbol of the new age”, and Foster chips in with: “I am really quite passionate about flying.” Riverside Three, the factory from which Foster’s chilling global projects emerge, has been praised by the ­architectural writer Martin Pawley as “uncompromisingly modern”; it is a near rectangular, eight-storey, concrete-frame structure, with an interior that “recalls the dull murmur of an airport lounge”.

Indeed, Foster’s buildings might better suit the sky than the earth, where ordinary mortals live. In 1999, Foster proposed the Millennium Tower for Tokyo. It was to be over 800 metres high with 170 storeys — twice the height of anything so far built — “a virtually self-sufficient, fully self-sustaining community in the sky”. This remained unbuilt, unlike his “wobbly” Millennium Bridge in London, which had to be closed for eight months while £8 million was spent on correcting its faults.