Issue link: https://www.balharbourdigital.com/i/780216
208 BAL HARBOUR were acclaimed but largely located inside Britain. But the "Seed Cathedral," the U.K. Pavilion at the Shanghai Expo 2010, launched him into a new orbit. The addition of 250,000 seeds to tiny fiberglass strands made part of the pavilion seem like a living, hairy being, both a statement about biodiversity and a cool icon. The pavilion was really all about a magician's misdirection. The attention was focused on the seeds, but most of the useable part of the building, off to the side, was architecturally basic and eminently practical for large crowds. By diverting attention with the seeds, Heatherwick got both the sizzle and the steak. To prove that nothing is beneath him or foreign to him, Heatherwick immediately jumped to redesigning London's buses. His "Routemaster" bus designs lets in more light and improves safety—and, as always with Heatherwick, it pleases the eye too, with its diagonally draped front windshield. London has naturally been home to the most Heatherwick architecture, as the designer has long been a resident of that city. But as demand has exploded, the work has gone fully global, especially in Asia, where his Learning Hub (The Hive) at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore has helped rethink how university classrooms, offices and public spaces can be arranged for maximum communication. With the Vessel project now fully underway, and Pier 55 not geographically very far away, New York is becoming a Heatherwick hub of sorts, too. Stephen M. Ross was so happy with the Hudson Yards design that he hired the studio to do a couple of residential buildings, too. Private structures like those are relatively rare for this designer—overall the most striking thing about his career is that his work has been largely comprised of public projects, places that anyone can enter and enjoy, products that anyone can buy (if they can afford it), and structures that somehow serve as links, like bridges. In the end, his greatest passion may be to let the whole world share in his ingenuity.