I'd best stay out of this thread... probably his worst building... ever. Crass and over scaled. It's a "first year project"... a half-backed concept - poorly realised and a waste of a great building (the original sandstone building).
Completely disagree Alan.
One of Foster's strengths is that he can marry old and new architecture- like in the Reichstag, without being completely beholden to creating new forms, like Gehry (and to a certain extent Calatrava).
Its flamboyant, and a lot of people wont like it, but its built for the company founded by William Randolph Hearst, who knew something about the value of publicity