Heatherwick Studio is a team of over 200 problem solvers dedicated to making the physical world around us better for everyone. Based out of our combined workshop and design studio in Central London, we create buildings, spaces, master-plans, objects and infrastructure. Focusing on large scale projects in cities all over the world, we prioritise those with the greatest positive social impact. Working as practical inventors with no signature style, our motivation is to design soulful and interesting places which embrace and celebrate the complexities of the real world. The approach driving everything is to lead from human experience rather than any fixed design dogma.

 

The studio’s founder Thomas Heatherwick comes from a background immersed in materials and making. His curiosity and passion for problem-solving matured into the studio’s current design process where every architect, designer, landscape architect and maker is encouraged to challenge and contribute ideas. Positive and pragmatic, the studio’s team are collaborators whose role is to listen, question, then lead the conception and construction of special and unusual places. Ingenuity and inspiration are used to make projects that are affordable, buildable and sustainable. And our client is vital, who comes on the journey and challenges our thinking, searching together for opportunities that might traditionally be overlooked.

We think our best future projects are the ones that will teach us the most.

 

In 2022, Thomas delivered a TED Talk about the studio’s design philosophy:

 

Heatherwick Studio has won more than 100 international awards for design excellence, including the Prix Versailles and the RIBA National Awards. Some of the most recent include:

 

RICS Award China 2022 – Construction Project of the Year – 1000 Trees

Prix Versailles Regional winner for Asia 2022 – 1000 Trees

Architizer A+ Awards 2022, Public Parks & Green Spaces Category – Little Island

Dezeen Awards 2022, Landscape project of the year and public vote winner – Little Island

Innovation by Design Awards 2022 (Fast Company) – Little Island

ENR Global Best Project Award 2022 for Project of the Year and Best Office 2022 – Google Bay View

Civic Trust Award 2021 – Maggie’s Centre, Leeds

Stephen R. Kellert Biophilic Design Award 2021 – Maggie’s Centre, Leeds

2021 SARA NY Award for Innovation in Civic Work – Little Island, New York City

CTBUH Award 2020 Best Tall Building 100m-199m – Eden, Singapore

RIBA National Award 2019 – Coal Drops Yard, London

World Architecture Festival 2019 – Coal Drops Yard, London; and Vessel, New York City

Prix Versailles 2019 – Coal Drops Yard, London

Civic Trust Award 2019 – Zeitz MOCAA, Cape Town