Thomas Heatherwick is known around the world for his work in a variety of scales and genres, establishing his own eponymous studio at the age of 23 and winning numerous medals of honor since the age of 30, a mainstay of the British design scene today. Today he works in a variety of design fields - architecture, fashion, furniture, industrial, sculpture, and installation.
Thomas is a designer who has put into practice the philosophy of "from city to spoon", a design philosophy that many designers respect - a good designer can apply his talent to projects of all scales, from a spoon to a city, and Thomas is a man who has put this philosophy into practice. Thomas is a man who practices this philosophy to perfection.
What kind of experience and way of thinking behind every nerve of his inspiration has made a warm architectural inventor?
01
Family nurture
Father's "invention" and mother's "artistic soul"
"I think children are always creative, but I was lucky that nobody ever told me to stop, nobody ever told me that you should become an adult now." --ThomasHeatherwick
ThomasHeatherwick, born in 1971 to a more enlightened family in London, learned his first lessons in design aesthetics by ear as a child in his mother's pearl store.
Thomas' mother's jewelry store
His busy mother would often let young Thomas do the work from the sidelines, even if all he could do was count pearls. However, counting pearls is more than simply knowing how to count them. The truly fine, gentle and soft pearls are so delicate that oils and bacteria on the hands can oxidize them, so they have to be handled with special care. It is also important to be very sensitive to the color and size of the beads so that you don't get the wrong classification when counting.
"When I was growing up, I was exposed to a lot of manufacturing, handicrafts and materials industries. Whenever I looked at the huge buildings around me, I always found them very godless and cold. When I looked at the smaller pieces, like earrings and so on, I found them to be very substantial and full of charm. That was a big influence on my future designs."
It's easy to see the use of curved surfaces in Thomas's designs in the initial work.
© Heatherwick studio, Guy's Hospital - London, United Kingdom
© Heatherwick studio, Temple - Kagoshima, Japan
© Heatherwick studio, Boat - Nantes, France
© Heatherwick studio, Longchamp Store - New York, United States
His father used to take him to architectural exhibitions, "When I was a teenager, my father took me to architecture schools to see exhibitions, but these didn't really appeal to me, I didn't see any imagination present in them."
As he got older, he realized that the "invention profession" he was interested in was actually called "design. Thomas says he grew up wanting to be an "inventor" and that "even a building is 'invented'.
02
Famous teachers show the way
Support from the godfathers of British design
"What I'm doing now is the same as when I was seven years old, when my bedroom was like a cluttered workshop full of tools and materials from the hardware store, and I locked myself in there to try to make things by hand, to test my weird ideas. Now my studio is just an amplification of that; it's not the pristine white box that designers love, it's more like a lab or workshop, with material samples and models everywhere."
While studying in London, he met his life's mentor, Terence Conran, the old director of Royal Arts London, the godfather of British design, the master of design business, the founder of Europe's first design museum and the creator of the famous British home furnishing brand Habitat.
"He came to our college, but my tutor wouldn't let me talk to him, so I took the only chance I could get and blocked him in the fire escape inside the stairwell! I felt like a groupie at the time, but he was the only person I knew who understood how to relate design to the real world."
The two of them hated each other so much that Thomas even stayed at Conran's house. "He actually let me stay in his house! He had a workshop in his house for building furniture, and they allowed me to work there. Conlon provided amazing support to his own students."
Once he graduated, he was only 23 when he started his ownHeatherwickdesign studio.
Heatherwick studio
"I couldn't figure out who I wanted to work for at the time, and working for someone else was always a less-than-viable idea for me."
Thomas was poor and didn't have much available capital, so he used his residence as a studio, rushing to clean up if a client was coming to the door to talk, hiding the bed and dressing the eating table like an office desk. Thomas did not have to work to think about the way back, the young man was full of energy, "in case of a failure, but just to move back home to live with his mother and eat grandmother's cooking."
Heatherwick studio
Thomas' time spent with Conlon had such an impact on him that his studio is trying to do the same for young people. Located in London's famous King's Cross, Heatherwick studio now has a design team of over 200 people, mostly made up of architects, designers and model makers.
03
Self-formation
Empathy, subversion, creation
"I have thousands of flaws, but design is the only thing I feel I have a talent for." --ThomasHeatherwick
ThomasHeatherwickis known worldwide for his highly recognizable architecture - the crazy architectural inventor. Empathy with architecture, unconventional subversion and wild creation are the most distinctive qualities of him and his work.
The empathizer of man and architecture
"The Kissing Bridge"
Rolling Bridge design, London
"Many times designers see themselves as more intelligent people, as if they have more experience and knowledge to make decisions; in my opinion, each person has its own intelligence, and I want to return to human needs as the starting point to design human-centered architecture/objects." Thomas' ability to empathize with architecture was evident early on in his career.
In 2004, Thomas was commissioned to design a bridge that opens and closes over London's Grand Union Canal. People were used to standing at one end of the bridge and watching it open and close on its own, but Thomas said he was "disgusted" by the way it opened and closed on its own.
"Ever since I saw that picture of the soccer player who was shoveling and another guy stepped on his knee while he was shoveling and then his leg broke like that, and then when we look at these bridges, we don't realize that this beautiful building is just ruined.
© Heatherwick studio
So Thomas had another idea for his design: "We liked the idea of the two ends of the bridge kissing each other".
© Heatherwick studio
© Heatherwick studio
This amazing retractable bridge in Paddington, London, UK, designed by Thomas Heatherwick, is 12 meters long and is unique in that it is normally just a normal steel and wood pedestrian bridge, not only because of the materials used, but also because of how it works.
© Heatherwick studio, Rolling Bridge - London, United Kingdom
"Hand in Hand Factory"
Coal drop Yard coal plant renovation
Thomas recalls the first time he saw the two buildings of the Coal Drop Yard coal plant conversion and described them as "two pieces of KitKat finger chocolate", and one of them had been bitten, so that one was a little shorter.
© Heatherwick studio
© Heatherwick studio
The building is vacuum-formed using 3D printing technology, and the non-linear herringbone roof connects the two separate buildings, fulfilling Thomas' wish for an aerial intersection once again.
© Heatherwick studio
© Heatherwick studio
© Heatherwick studio, Coal Drops Yard - London, United Kingdom
The overhanging, streamlined roof is supported by a freestanding structure that blends seamlessly into the original building fabric.
An unconventional disruptor
A square box pavilion that defies the norm
UK Pavilion at the World Expo
"When I was a kid, I was interested in inventors. Thinking that invention is the key to our future progress and a point of curiosity for everyone in society, whether it's in writing, food, painting, sculpture, science or mathematics, they all contain the idea of invention. There is no style to invention; invention is when you try to solve a problem." Subversion and unrestricted thinking provided much of the sustenance for Thomas's later architecture.
© Heatherwick studio, UK Pavilion - Shanghai, China
In 2010, Thomas beat many of his predecessors to the punch and the UK Pavilion was unveiled at the Shanghai Expo. The general commentary is that Thomas won because of the "tentacles", a subversion of the pavilion's spatial image. The pavilion itself is often thought of as a "box", even if the reports confirming Thomas' design use the phrase "magic box".
© Heatherwick studio
Thomas, however, says that the pavilion and the exhibits are not two completely different things. The current design of the pavilion is like a "sausage dunk", where the visitor goes in, goes out and follows the square box. The British pavilion is not just a pavilion building, it can make the visitors who are drowsy by the same old exhibition excited and crazy.
His subversion should be understood in a deeper sense.
After the pavilion design was confirmed, this restless designer, on the contrary, quieted down. He said that the formation of the exhibition content and the integrated idea of the pavilion took half a year. During the six months, he was contemplating.
He went to the Kew (EW) Millennium Seed Bank. This is currently the world's largest seed bank, which collects and stores seeds of 10 percent of the world's plant species, most of which are flowering plants.
© Heatherwick studio
© Heatherwick studio
The seeds are preserved in reference to the dinosaur DNA preserved in amber in the Jurassic Park movie - whether it is possible to preserve even the smallest of objects can be done delicately.
© Heatherwick studio
© Heatherwick studio
The design of the rounded cube may seem bland, but the addition of 60,000 Plexiglas tentacles on the outside makes a much stronger impression.
© Heatherwick studio
Thomas says that there is nothing in the world more pure than a seed. But the 60,000 seeds in the Acrylic rods are an awe-inspiring and thought-provoking expression of the diversity of life.
© Heatherwick studio
"It's an interaction, a prompting of ideas and feedback. It's a gift."
The World Expo in Shanghai opened the door for Thomas' "inventions" and he has since produced enough projects to take us on a world tour.
A tower that turns the norm on its head
Vancouver Twin Towers Complex
In the "mountains" like podium, two "tree" like towers "grow" out. The outer skin of the building extends and winds outward, with a contraction from top to bottom. The overall structure and the sheet structure of the façade form a large balcony with a planter built into the projecting edge of the terrace to facilitate rainwater collection from the building.
© Heatherwick studio
The podium is sculpted in form around a four-story high atrium, a public plaza. The curved structure contracts in the air and separates at the bottom, providing a special experience for the commercial space.
© Heatherwick studio
Huge glass skylights in the plaza allow sunlight to pour in. Structurally, the atrium structure is predominantly wood at this stage.
© Heatherwick studio
A city center that turns the norm on its head
Nottingham City Centre Redesign
Thomas's designs are really unconventional, and the redesign of Nottingham City Centre earlier this year appears to be much more connected to the city center under the fog of the epidemic, but still with Thomas's reflections on challenging the shortcomings of city center design.
© Heatherwick studio
"This should be an occasion to bring people together, not just for commercial retail. Rather than demolishing all the structures, we propose to keep the existing frame components and give them a new lease of life, and then create an urban center that can accommodate the diversity and activity that, after all, is lacking in many cities."
© Heatherwick studio
© Heatherwick studio
The project proposes to build 750 homes near Castell, Nottingham. The original structure of the existing Broadmarsh Shopping Centre will be partially retained and transformed into a community-led events center for performance, dining and entertainment needs.
© Heatherwick studio
The scheme is also intended to revitalize its cave network to create new entrance spaces and to transform the existing residences into a tourist hotel to stimulate and extend the tourism potential of the area.
The creator of the sky
Cutting out the "kaleidoscope"
Zeitz MOCAA Museum of Contemporary Art, South Africa
"I find innovative elements between what is already there, and once I have the opportunity to redefine something, that's when I'm happiest. I'm not trying to make artworks, but I'm trying to try to make something playful so that it's interesting." On the path of architectural design, never-ending exploration has become the norm for Thomas.
© Heatherwick studio
© Heatherwick studio
The concrete tubular structure was originally used to store grain. Thomas' team scanned one of the corn kernels and used its shape to scale it up to the building's volume, using it to cut the tubular structure inside the building.
© Heatherwick studio
© Heatherwick studio
The 42 massive concrete hollow columns retain the charm of the old building and the modernity of the modern building, making Thomas more of an archaeologist with an artistic temperament.
© Heatherwick studio
By adding hand-cut glass to the façade, the kaleidoscopic steel bar form and the transparent glass window effect, Thomas has revived an old factory building that had been left unused for a long time.
© Heatherwick studio
The interior of the cut-out building is an open social space that allows those in the building to have an unobstructed view of the original structure, while on the other hand "the industrial history of Africa is preserved through the cut-out design and connects emotionally with the people who walk through it today."
© Heatherwick studio
Innovation can require risk-taking
The Vessel, a New York landmark building
However, "innovation" and "risk-taking" are best friends.
© Heatherwick, studio Vessel - New York, United States
When a building is designed with a waist-high railing, and the building is built high, people will jump from it (Audrey Wachs published an article on potential safety hazards back in 2016).
If the railing is 10cm high, the added difficulty of climbing it may reduce the suicidal impulse.
© Heatherwick studio
But this incredibly subversive building has chosen to be partially "risky" for effect.
In early February 2020, the first suicide occurred at the Vessel Public Landmark, designed by Thomas Associates.
In the following two years, four young people jumped to their deaths at Vessel, and the New York authorities ordered the indefinite closure of Vessel. It also raises the question of which is more important: artistic vision or public safety?
04
In the end
Back to the connection between people and architecture
In the "New Generation British Creation: Into the Hazewick Studio" architectural exhibition, we see Thomas' many works in three detailed design steps, starting from Beginning, Thinking, Making and Storying, through his 20 years of work.
© Heatherwick studio
He reviews each of his works to provide an understanding of the nature of the intimate interaction between people and architecture behind each stunning work.
© Heatherwick studio
While admiring the stories behind each work, one cannot help but marvel at Thomas' amazing brain. In his view, urban space design and architectural design are more like a collection of various designs and objects (not simply added together, of course, but iteratively influenced by each other). And the concept of architect in the traditional education system or professional role division is thin. "Before I wanted to become a designer, my first thought was actually to be an inventor; it's the truly creative ideas that drive society."
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