After studying three-dimensional design at the Royal College of Art in London, Heatherwick established his namesake studio in 1994 to continue his rigorous research into interesting ways of using materials. The few showcased on his website are a fraction of over 100 studies that are detailed in his monograph, aptly titled Making.   

Like basket weavers, he has woven metal mesh strips for the willowy entrance of Guy’s Hospital in London and made straight-faced adults chuckle in his swivelling Spun chair for Magis. In a Longchamp store in New York, rolled steel and glass ebb and flow in a staircase that garners as much, if not more, attention than the exquisite leather goods.

Heatherwick’s ingenuity has earned him countless honours. This includes being the youngest practitioner to be appointed a Royal Designer for Industry by the British Royal Society of Arts in 2004; he was then 34 years old. But all the affable designer wants to do is create meaningful and soulful work.

“I think it’s important to make designs that connect with people’s humanity and there are many different ways to do that. There’s an ugliness to repeating a formula everywhere in the world,” he says. “Copy-pasting designs does not respect context and a project’s users. We find beauty in things that are generous to us,” he says.

See also: How Architects Are Bringing More Greenery To Singapore With Biophilic Design
 

In the Eden condominium in Singapore, this means giving occupants the best of tropical living with large, shaded balconies and three-way cross ventilation.

“The beauty there, I hope, is the integration of the gardens (into the architecture),” says Heatherwick of the design that embraces biophilic principles and extends Singapore’s lush greenery upwards. Unlike the surrounding glass-and-metal towers, scalloped balconies hang between three structural blades finished in earth-toned concrete that Heatherwick accords texture and narrative to, by using abstract mouldings of the Singapore map.

Glass apartments are barely soulful, he says. “Glass reflects light and is very harsh and clinical. It’s not good for your soul if you were hermetically sealed in a glass box. You need nature—the breeze, sound of rain—and Singapore has all of that.”

In Singapore, Heatherwick designed Changi Airport Terminal 5 in partnership with American architecture firm Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF), which will “consider the humanity of the traveller”. This mega airport project, however, is currently on hold due to changes to air travel demand caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Heatherwick Studio also worked on the Learning Hub at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), which features British artist Sara Fanelli’s artwork etched into concrete walls like cave drawings alongside construction bubbles and marks. Informally dubbed the “dim sum basket building” for its assemblage of rotund rooms, it has a rustic look that the designer likens to archaic spaces. 

“I feel excited about using concrete with the spirit of a potter—mixing colour into the clay, the pouring process, the qualities that emerge. The modern movement in architecture was trying to suppress imperfections, but perfection often creates boring things. We make those imperfections something we can cherish in the same way we cherish handmade ceramics,” says Heatherwick, referencing the Japanese wabi-sabi aesthetic concept that acknowledges beauty in impermanence and incompleteness.

The modern movement in architecture was trying to suppress imperfections, but perfection often creates boring things. We make those imperfections something we can cherish in the same way we cherish handmade ceramics

These qualities are what make older architecture timeless. “It’s hard to find examples where the structure gets better the older it gets, and yet some places on the planet that we love are full of imperfections,” says Heatherwick. History has provided him with many precedents; in his controversial Vessel, a spiral staircase in New York’s Hudson Yards, the 2,500 steps mimic India’s ancient step wells to foster spontaneous social interactions among visitors.

In these unsettling times of the pandemic and thereafter, emotionally engaging spaces are increasingly vital. “We’ve learnt how important our homes are, so the places that aren’t our homes will have to be really meaningful or we won’t go there,” reflects Heatherwick. “It makes the physical places that we will share more important than ever.” 

See also: How Toyo Ito Designs Architecture That's Made For Life, Including This Building In Singapore

More of the British designer's notable projects here:   

For the continent’s first museum dedicated to contemporary African art, Heatherwick retained the character of an old grain silo while updating it for its new cultural functions. The firm carved into the tightly packed concrete structures, creating a large central space with cathedral-quality light from gem-like windows fritted with a pattern by West African artist El Loko that is repeated on the adjoining grading tower.

See also: LWK + Partners Designs Architecture That Celebrates Human Connections

Critics have commented on King’s Cross Central’s gentrification with this project, but there is no doubt its dramatic form has livened up the district. Formerly used to receive coal from South Yorkshire before it was transported into London, two Victorian warehouses were restored and connected with a “kissing roof”. The gesture also adds 20,000sqft of glazed retail space within.    

This project is a case study in biophilic architecture. Heatherwick employs natural, tactile materials to create a haven for cancer patients who visit for practical and emotional support. Tracing the site’s sloped contours, the building is constructed with a prefabricated and sustainably sourced timber system. Inside, the glulam timber fins rise like tree trunks to support roof gardens that give back to the St James’s University Hospital its last grassy spot.

Little Island is a new 0.97-hectare public park and outdoor performance space on Manhattan’s Pier 55. After facing setbacks in its initial phases that ballooned project costs to US$250 million (S$342 million), the venture is now underway. Inspired by the old timber piles protruding from the Hudson River, 132 new concrete piles extend out to support an elevated platform with bulbous bases that also serve as planters.