Heatherwick Studio provides insight into creative process at LA’s Hammer Museum

An installation view of the exhibition; showing a plethora of models, mock ups and experimental elements
An installation view of the exhibition; showing a plethora of models, mock ups and experimental elements
(Image credit: press)

The literature related to the Hammer Museum exhibition 'Provocations: The Architecture and Design of Heatherwick Studio' singles out the firm’s 'astonishing range.' For one time in the history of press packets, this is a profound understatement.

As the show illustrates, the brilliant, mercurial office’s portfolio is perhaps the most eclectic in existence. It includes, but is not limited to, spinning chairs, extruded metallic sofas, and transformable tables, and scales up to Olympic cauldrons, buses, bridges, buildings, and city plans.

Like Heatherwick’s creations, the meandering exhibition, curated by Brooke Hodge with coordinating curator Aram Moshayedi, has no hierarchy, although it does lean more heavily on recent work, much of it in the public realm, which Heatherwick acknowledges is his passion.

Projects are grouped into what show designer Neil Hubbard calls 'organised chaos,' informal clusters that allow viewers to make their own connections and conclusions. The emphasis is on the studio’s process, which, as the exhibit title suggests, starts with a question and leads to hands-on, ruthlessly logical responses.

Each object is accompanied with a query, like 'How can a seaside building relate to the sea?' (the wavy, layered East Beach Café in Sussex, England), and 'Can a building stand up on the architectural equivalent of matchsticks?' (the porcupine-like Belsay Sitooterie in Northumberland, England). The show is light on renderings and heavy on models, mock ups, and test elements, making it refreshingly tactile and reinforcing the image of a firm that follows through on its intricate and brash, yet very accessible, proposals.

'The workshop is the heart and soul of the studio,' said Hodge, who also curated Provocations’ iteration at the Nasher in Dallas last fall, and will direct the show at the Cooper-Hewitt in New York this summer. 'The ingenuity is so mind boggling to me. It’s fresh because they’re never doing the same thing.'

For those who question Heatherwick’s transition to buildings and infrastructure, the answer is in the spectacular results— such as the lushly planted Garden Bridge in London, the hive of textured, cylindrical columns at the Learning Hub in Singapore, and a contemporary art museum in Cape Town built into forty two vertical concrete tubes—which rethink what’s possible in a way that only someone who insists on being what Heatherwick calls 'an expert at not being an expert' can.

To such naysayers Hodge asks, 'Why not? Does he have to keep making handbags and chairs?'

'There’s always some friction in change. It would be weird if there weren’t,' adds Heatherwick. 

In true Heatherwick style, each project is an insightful and eccentric resolution to an underlying initial question

In true Heatherwick style, each project is an insightful and eccentric resolution to an underlying initial question.

(Image credit: Sam Lubell)

Projects are assembled in informal clusters, in order for the visitor to configure their own network between each

Projects are assembled in informal clusters, in order for the visitor to configure their own network between each.

(Image credit: Sam Lubell)

Heatherwick Studio Hammer Museum

Learning Hub, one of Heatherwick Studio's larger projects within the exhibition. The design forms part of the Nanyang Technological University's £360 million scheme for redevelopment.

(Image credit: Courtesy of Heatherwick Studio)

British designer Thomas Heatherwick has been hailed as a genius for the inventive nature of his work

British designer Thomas Heatherwick has been hailed as a genius for the inventive nature of his work

(Image credit: Thomas Heatherwick)

Thomas Heatherwick's East Beach Cafe in Littlehampton, UK is influenced by eroded seaside objects and the texture of British shingle coastlines

Thomas Heatherwick's East Beach Cafe in Littlehampton, UK is influenced by eroded seaside objects and the texture of British shingle coastlines.

(Image credit: Andy Stagg )

Another installation view from the exhibition. Heatherwick's most recent work is featured more heavily throughout, much of which is within the public realm of building and design

Another installation view from the exhibition. Heatherwick's most recent work is featured more heavily throughout, much of which is within the public realm of building and design.

(Image credit: Sam Lubell)

Beautifully sculpted in polished copper, each rod of Heatherwick's 2012 Olympic Games Cauldron was lit and elevated to form one united burning flame

Beautifully sculpted in polished copper, each rod of Heatherwick's 2012 Olympic Games Cauldron was lit and elevated to form one united burning flame

(Image credit: press)

The polished copper rods that joined to create Heatherwick's 2012 Olympic Games Cauldron

The polished copper rods that joined to create Heatherwick's 2012 Olympic Games Cauldron.

(Image credit: Edmund Sumner)

A view of the Oasis, from Heatherwick's Al Fayah Park in Abu Dhabi. The project became realised after a demand for more public space and park areas within the bustling city

A view of the Oasis, from Heatherwick's Al Fayah Park in Abu Dhabi. The project became realised after a demand for more public space and park areas within the bustling city.

(Image credit: Courtesy of Heatherwick Studio)

The exhibition illustrates the fact that the brilliant, mercurial office’s portfolio is perhaps the most eclectic in existence

The exhibition illustrates the fact that the brilliant, mercurial office’s portfolio is perhaps the most eclectic in existence

(Image credit: press)

An exterior view of Zeitz MOCAA, a cultural institution for Contemporary Art in Cape Town, South Africa. Galleries and circulation spaces are carved out from the existing silos' organic concrete structure

An exterior view of Zeitz MOCAA, a cultural institution for Contemporary Art in Cape Town, South Africa. Galleries and circulation spaces are carved out from the existing silos' organic concrete structure.

(Image credit: Courtesy of Heatherwick Studio)

The exhibition showcases not only the studio's larger scale works, public transport, architecture and city planning but also their smaller projects in furniture design

The exhibition showcases not only the studio's larger scale works, public transport, architecture and city planning but also their smaller projects in furniture design.

(Image credit: Sam Lubell)

'Spun', Heatherwick's completely symmetrical, rotational chair design, in use.

'Spun', Heatherwick's completely symmetrical, rotational chair design, in use.

(Image credit: Susan Smart)

A reliance on models and mock ups reinforces the image of a firm that follows through on its intricate and brash, yet very accessible, proposals

A reliance on models and mock ups reinforces the image of a firm that follows through on its intricate and brash, yet very accessible, proposals

(Image credit: press)

Heatherwick Studio was commissioned to design the new and improved London buses in 2010, the first to be designed specifically for the capital in over 50 years

Heatherwick Studio was commissioned to design the new and improved London buses in 2010, the first to be designed specifically for the capital in over 50 years.

(Image credit: Iwan Baan)

Heatherwick Studio's infamous, porcupine-like, UK Pavilion design for the Shanghai Expo 2010. From every external angle, an image of the Union Jack can be seen within the arrangement of hairs on the pavilion

Heatherwick Studio's infamous, porcupine-like, UK Pavilion design for the Shanghai Expo 2010. From every external angle, an image of the Union Jack can be seen within the arrangement of hairs on the pavilion.

(Image credit: Iwan Baan )

Alongside Heatherwick’s buildings and infrastructure are his other designs, including handbags and chairs

Alongside Heatherwick’s buildings and infrastructure are his other designs, including handbags and chairs

(Image credit: Thomas Heatherwick)

ADDRESS

Hammer Museum
10899 Wilshire Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90024

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