Heatherwick studio

Why do people nearly always prefer the old bits of cities to the new ones? It's because that's where they usually find buildings with variety and texture. The challenge if you work on a new urban development is to make a place that draws people in the same way. That’s why we try really hard to create interestingness and explorability. Large-scale projects like Azabudai Hills in Tokyo and our forthcoming district in Xi’an have been created intentionally to draw people together by playing with variations of scale, materiality and landscaping. It’s an approach we are bringing to our latest piece of district-level thinking: the revitalisation of a neighbourhood in South Miami (our very first project in Florida). We are working with Midtown Development to create new walkable streets and permeable buildings on the site of an under-loved and closed-off shopping mall. We'll introduce intimate alleyways and flexible spaces that cater to local businesses, gyms, independent stores, and pop-up ventures; while above this village, new homes will add density and bring more people and life to the area. Buildings will come in different shapes and sizes, with a particular focus on generating interest at ground level, and there will be plenty of terraces, gardens and open spaces to ensure this feels like a really human piece of the city. “People are social. We're drawn to places where other people gather,” explains Thomas Heatherwick. “Our idea is to get rid of the sterile atmosphere of the previous shopping mall and bring back streets influenced by the scale and charm of Sunset Drive. The plan is to extend the existing grid into the site and create continuous routes and a village of smaller, intimate spaces, framed in an extraordinary way by the apartments above.” Find out more about our vision for South Miami in this 5-mimute film. 

Take a look at the #Timber Hub at the UCB Campus we've designed with Heatherwick studio and the team! Proof not all #laboratory and #lifesciences buildings are the same!

Yesterday Sustainabuild attended a fascinating talk by Thomas Heatherwick of Heatherwick studio and The Humanise.org campaign at Edinburgh International Book Festival. There we heard about his book - Humanise 'a makers guide to building our world.' In 'our world' there are quite rightly a lot of debates about operational and embodied carbon and generally reducing damaging carbon emissions - but yesterday's talk made a valid point about our emotional connection and really loving the buildings that we build. Thomas pointed out that many commercial buildings are built, knocked down and rebuilt - every 40 years or so. If we made our buildings more lovable, interesting and joyful on the outside - then we would be less likely to dispose of them without a thought - and they could last for 1000's of years. The result is saving hundreds of thousands, or millions of tonnes of carbon. Can't argue with that. Thank you Thomas - a great and passionate talk about making our buildings more joyful and long-lasting - and not to forget less boring. We are also very excited to be hosting our first London Sustainabuild Breakfast in the fabulous Heatherwick studio next month. Visit our website for more details.

Great to see a packed audience in the brand-new auditorium of the Edinburgh Futures Institute for Thomas’s Humanise talk at the Edinburgh Book Festival. Some good questions from the audience, ranging from: - Why is it 200year old tenements seem to be repairable while 10year-old new build housing seems to be covered in scaffolding for half their life? - Have we forgotten how to make buildings repairable? - Is there a complacency where it has become too easy to knock down unloved buildings? - What can be done to make modern buildings more genuinely accessible for people living with disabilities, as most new buildings might meet regulations but don’t actually feel accessible? There was only time for a handful of questions but felt like there was enough hands going up for another hour. The last question was - what do you think of the building we’re in? For me, it couldn’t have been more fitting to be in this formerly derelict Royal Infirmary transformed into a contemporary educational institute, a building repaired! Being from Edinburgh though I will declare my bias! After the talk we went to Dovecot Studios, another great transformation, the first public baths in Edinburgh that were almost demolished but restored and reopened in 2008 as a public gallery and tapestry studio. Chris Ofili’s ‘The Caged Bird’s Song’ and its three years creation process is on display. Again, a very fitting venue to witness this very human craft being preserved. Calum Cole Campbell Zara Todd Jose Cadilhe Daisy Narayanan MBE Bennetts Associates Fiona McCoy Sophie McCarthy 7N Architects

Today we would like to share some more design details of our project for Hanwha Galleria, a famous department store in Seoul. The Galleria consists of two symmetrically opposed twin buildings - alike but not identical - which are connected underneath by a subway. Above, their silhouettes resemble rippled hourglasses, where on the inside, the narrower necks act as nature-filled public spaces. On the ground level, the twins’ unusual shapes come together to frame the view of the river when looking both through and between the buildings. As visitors ascend the redesigned existing subway, the airy light-filled entrance atria draw them into two landscaped plazas on the ground level. Their journey continues to an open mid-level garden dotted with cafes, restaurants and shops. The outdoor spaces are designed to provide natural interest throughout the year with a choice of native plants and careful landscaping. Both buildings have a double layer skin which offers better sustainability credentials while also creating a canvas for art exhibitions and events. The crystalline glass exterior of the buildings creates an impression of softness as it glistens in the day. At night the outer skin comes alive when used as a backdrop for glowing projections. Neil Hubbard, Partner at Heatherwick Studio, said: “Traditionally, department stores are quite inward facing, they feel closed off to the surrounding streets. But here we have an important intersection in Apgujeong with two buildings, east and west, that felt like an opportunity to bring people together. Combined with Hanwha’s ambition to bring more activity to the buildings, we wanted to provide a strong overall silhouette that creates a gateway, but also gives Seoulites new garden-like spaces to meet, shop and enjoy their city." The studio’s design for the site was selected as part of competition organised by the Seoul Metropolitan Government. Together with the local authorities and HAEAHN Architecture they will now work on the detailed design and development of the project. Images: DEVISUAL

Heatherwick Studio is working on a project for Hanwha Galleria, one of Seoul’s best-known department stores. The brief asked for a design that challenges conventional notions of city shopping and nods to the country’s prominence as a forward-looking cultural powerhouse. Hanwha Galleria lies at a major crossroad framing the Han River in the distance. Located in the Apgujeong-dong neighbourhood in Seoul, our project acts as a focal point between the residential and the shopping districts of Gangnam and responds to the city's vision to revitalise the banks of the Han River. We proposed a design that redefines the store's connection to the local area. Unlike a traditional, inward-facing shopping centre, here the façade, and the areas around, become public spaces accessible to all, whether they are shopping at the mall or simply enjoying the area. The Galleria consists of two symmetrically opposed twin buildings - alike but not identical - which are connected underneath by a subway. Above, their silhouettes resemble rippled hour glasses, where on the inside, the narrower necks act as nature-filled public spaces. On the ground level, the twin’s unusual shapes come together to frame the view of the river when looking both through and between the buildings. In this film, we talk through the design concept for the project. Keep an eye out here tomorrow for more design details and visuals. 

📣 We’re excited about renowned designer #ThomasHeatherwick CBE speaking at our annual conference at RIBA London! Come and meet him in person at on 15 November 2024, where he’ll be talking about his campaign ‘Humanise’ and combining art and architecture in public spaces. Tickets are now on sale with student and young artist tickets available. Tickets here: https://lnkd.in/eUQJYFyi #architecture #design #publicart Heatherwick studio

This is really exciting news for the team. Gradient Canopy is now one of the largest work buildings in the world to have LEED Platinum certification. Learn more about the project here: https://lnkd.in/e3UwFvpC In the words of Eliot Postma, a Group Leader and Partner at the studio: “The design shows that even on the scale of a global HQ we can and should build with the health of the employee, the manufacturer and the planet in mind.” 

A wooden hub for medical research. UCB Collaboration Hub in Windlesham (UK), designed by Heatherwick studio, connects the existing facilities around it with a warm timber centrepiece. The 15-metre high CLT outer walls fold in and out, supporting three storeys of mass timber slabs and beams. It is constructed from discretised flat CLT segments prefabricated to embed every required connection detail. The inner and outer CLT layer of the curved walls is milled to match the intended curvature. Special attention was paid to the quality, details, fibre direction, and finish of the CLT elements as most of them remain visible once the construction is complete! We supported the German timber contractor HESS TIMBER with project management, detail development, setting out and reference geometry, and created a fully detailed parametric model. Ultimately, we detailed and created digital fabrication data for 1'251 timber elements. Completion is planned for 2025 Client: UCB UK & Ireland Architect: Heatherwick studio+ Veretec General Contractor: ISG Construction Limited Timber Contractor, Supplier & Engineering: HESS TIMBER Digital Planning & Parametric Modelling: Design-to-Production Pictures 1,3 and 5 by ISG #digitalfabrication #designingthefuture #masstimber #curvedCLT

Exciting times for the Humanise.org campaign - with Citu becoming the first UK developer to sign up as an official partner. Over the next two years, they will take two of the core ideas at the heart of Humanise and apply them to their developments in Leeds and Sheffield: first, measuring the impact of the buildings and places on people's emotions and second, accessing the value of greater visual complexity and making buildings more interesting. Heatherwick Studio is a founding partner of the Humanise Campaign. Speaking about the partnership, Thomas Heatherwick said: “It is brilliant to find a partner who is already challenging the status quo and playing an active role in ending the blandemic. Citu completely understands that more human places create more value, for your customers and for the community. I think we’ll start to see a wave of developers creating much more loveable and interesting places.”