Described by Vanity Fair as the hottest designer in the world today the multi-faceted Thomas Heatherwick
has designed everything from furniture to buses along with numerous impressive works of architecture.
He is currently working on some of the world's most exciting projects,
including the spectacular pier 55 floating park in New York
and Google’s new London headquarters, a collaboration with Bjarke Ingels.
Here we look at five projects that cemented Heatherwick's status as one of the world's top designers.
Before Heatherwick was a globe-trotting starchitect working on the world's most prestigious projects,
he was turning his hand to solving smaller scale problems.
Demonstrating an innovative approach to design that has become a hallmark of the Heatherwick Studio,
the Rolling Bridge is a pedestrian crossing like no other.
Situated in London’s Paddington Basin the moveable bridge can retract allowing boats to pass.
While the majority of opening bridges have a single rigid element,
this extraordinary structure is constructed from eight triangular segments,
hinged at the walkway, that fold the bridge open under the control of hydraulic pistons.
This causes the bridge to curl into an octagon, which sits on the canal side.
In 2010 Heatherwick propelled himself onto the global stage with his spectacular pavilion at the Shanghai expo.
Created for the UK government, the pavilion was designed to standout
among the hundreds of competing pavilions at the largest expo ever held.
Rising to this challenge, Heatherwick created the Seed Cathedral.
The structure is a simple timber box through which 60,000 transparent acrylic rods protrude,
each with a seed embedded in its tip.
The 25 foot (or 7.5 meter) long strands move gently in the breeze giving the cube a shimmering effect.
In total over 70 million people visited the six month expo.
Heatherwick's construction won the gold award for best pavilion design,
along with the RIBA Lubetkin Prize for the most outstanding work of international architecture.
In Cape Town Heatherwick is reinventing an abandoned grain silo as a not-for-profit cultural institution,
housing the most significant collection of contemporary art from Africa.
The historic structure is made up of 42 vertical concrete tubes, each 110 feet (or 33 metres) tall.
As it has no large central space an ellipse is being carved out of the densely packed silos
to create a grand atrium.
Once completed in 2017 the structure will provide over 65,000 square feet (or 6,000 square metres)
of gallery space together with a rooftop sculpture garden,
art conservation facility, bookshops, cafe and restaurant.
In Singapore Heatherwick designed an academic building with no corridors.
Built for the Nanyang Technological University, the learning hub aims to
redefine the aspirations of a university building.
Aware of the changing nature of education in the internet age, where students can learn anywhere,
Heatherwick created a building that fosters sociability and togetherness.
Abandoning traditional classroom arrangements, at the Hive each teaching area opens onto
a shared circulation space around the central atrium. This arrangement creates a dynamic environment,
encouraging incidental interactions between students and teaching staff.
Topping our list is the Vessel, Heatherwick’s 150-foot (or 45 metre) tall center piece
for the vast Hudson Yards development in New York.
While the Hive had no corridors, this structure is composed entirely of stairs.
Re-imagining an observation tower, the $150 million structure rises to the height of 15-stories
and consists of 154 flights of stairs connecting some 80 viewing platforms.
When complete, the project, which was inspired by the ancient step wells of India,
promises to be a viewing tower like no other.
Other projects that didn’t make our list, but are of course worthy of mention include,
the Bombay Sapphire Distillery in the UK, the redevelopment of an historic distillery for the famous gin maker.
Google Charleston East – a 595,000 square foot (or 55,000 square metre)
canopied campus for the tech giant in California.
And of course, the Olympic Cauldron – the centrepiece of London’s 2012 Olympic Games.
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