God is in the Details

These are walnut pews with ash expansion joints.  Thomas Heatherwick's details for Worth Abbey are on par with MVDR or Scarpa... graciously understated.

Tourniquet

Thomas Heatherwick is at the top of my dance card.
To mark the transition into this under recognized London hospital, he bandaged it's skeletal structure with braided stainless steel frames.  With a Tensor Bandage je ne sais quoi, his installation supports the weight of the structure, resuscitates the cement and glass fabric of the neighborhood and subdues the overbearing scale of the cityscape.

Let there be light

The lighting installation that Thomas Heatherwick designed for Konstam restaurant at the Prince Albert is a twist between Miss Havisham's parlor and a cave sketch from Scooby-Doo.  Hung from 57 windows are fine metal chains that create a lighting web over each table.  In total, 110 kilometers of stainless steel chain were used to rather effectively screen the exterior road from vantage points within. The intimacy this creates for the occupier of the space is fabulous.

kiosk curiosity

Thomas Heatherwick was commissioned to upgrade London's traditional newspaper stands in Chelsea.  The walls of his output remind me of a stack of fanned magazines.  An engineering whiz, he designed the sides with hinges to allow the kiosk to open like a blooming onion-love it.

heatherwick

Thomas Heatherwick designed this fabulous cafe along the water in Europe.  It's structural steel shell reminds me of a gear set of a bicycle.
I only wish that the perfunctory parking stalls were a little more thoughtful and played with the surrounding architecture.

Art Imitating Nature

How fabulous is this terrain in Arizona's sandstone Coyote Buttes? It reminds me of Heatherwick's staircase installation in SOHO. What a trip.

Company's Coming

I get an architectural kick out of watching cities structurally resuscitate once winning their bid to host the Olympic Games.
This ritual reminds me of my mother preparing for one of her extreme dinner parties. (Floral arrangements grow from thin air, dance tents erupt in the backyard, oyster shukers prepare their ice beds on the patio, musicians rehearse in the living room, candy dishes are extolled of cashew dregs while the caterers go bananas in the kitchen.) There is a huge degree of work involved to master the fine art of entertaining.
In London's case, the scale is exponentially extruded. The world is coming to visit. Their improvements campaign to bolster their urban infrastructure is well underway. On my radar is Heatherwick's Olympic Cauldron (yet to be unveiled) and the King's Cross Station renovation by John Mcasian + Partners (above).

Harvey Nichols, London

Thomas Heatherwick's "Autumn Intrusion" is an infusion of iconoclastic design theory that arrests the pedestrian from the expansion joints of the sidewalk. It's an architectural portmanteau. To amalgamate the interior and exterior spaces, he simply stitched a luminous thread through the two entities. Love it.