Event1: “Provocations: The Architecture and Design of Heatherwick Studio”

        I visited the exhibition of “Provocations: The Architecture and Design of Heatherwick Studio” at Hammer museum this weekend. The studio is started by a famous British designer Thomas Heatherwick, a genius for the uniquely creative nature of his work including large public and private architectural projects around the world, and small products such as handbag with design concepts.

       In the exhibition, I saw a lot of inventive design of architectures that impressed me a lot. I really like how the Heatherwick Studio combines practical concepts with natural factors when they design all the architectures. The designers endow their spirits of the harmony of man and nature into the building for the blend of the ancient and the iron-and-cement-made metropolis. For example, how can a traditional Chinese moon bridge meet today’s standards of accessibility? The Heatherwick studio adapted the elegant S-curves of historical Chinese moon bridges, but unlike a conventional drawbridge, this bridge is crossable in any position – up, down, or in between – visually accentuate the bridge’s transformative movement. This is allowed by a unique mechanized structure that rolls up into a circular snail-like form. The bridge is as beautiful when spanning the channel as when raised for water traffic.

        Also the Al Fayah Park built in 2010 in Abu Dhabi. The project evolved as a series of cracked pieces of the desert surface raised on columns to form a gentle dome across the site. If view from the top, it looks like huge pieces of earth cracks from the heat of the sun which embraced the idea of celebrating the beauty of the desert that the city is built on and its distinct surrounding landscape. These elevated pieces create a perforated canopy of partial shade under which a lush garden can grow, protected from the harsh excesses of the hot desert sun. It is a good place for families to gather and picnic, as well as a place for learning and festivals. Again, the Al Fayah Park fully embodies the idea of the harmony between man and nature.

        Engaging in a collaborative iterative design process, the studio asks questions, poses provocations, tests ideas, and makes models and prototypes to arrive at the best solution. As Thomas Heatherwick says, “people touch, experience, and live in the world”. In a nutshell, I highly recommend my classmates to go to this exhibition!

       

works cited 

 "Provocations: The Architecture and Design of Heatherwick Studio." HAMMER, 20 Feb. 2015. Web. 20 May 2015. <http://hammer.ucla.edu/exhibitions/2015/provocations-the-architecture-and-design-of-heatherwick-studio/> 

 "Al Fayah Park." Heatherwick Studio. Web. 21 May 2015. <http://www.heatherwick.com/al-fayah-park/>