Event #4: Provocations: The Architecture and Design of Heatherwick Studio

Provocation: an action or speech that makes someone annoyed or angry, especially deliberately.

I'm testing out Heatherwick's Spun chairs

Perhaps Heatherwick planned for his art to be unique in such a way, that would elicit intense emotion from the viewer. Maybe that is why his architecture, his art and his designs appear to be strange, to be… alien, in a way. The art and architecture in Provocations was truly unique, ranging from buildings whose structures regularly appear in science fiction to a truly delightful chair that uses the moment of inertia and balance to keep from falling over.

The Garden Bridge, stretching over the River Thames, is already in progress

Heatherwick’s architecture, however, is not for specifically art buildings. Structurally, his designs work to benefit the purpose of the building. For example, one of Heatherwick’s designs for a bridge creates a structure that traverses the Thames River in London, while supporting gardens simultaneously. This is a clear representation of combining science and art into a single form that serves multiple purposes. Architecture is an artform that naturally utilizes mathematics and physics to stabilize structures and minimize damage and death. Heatherwick takes this one step further, adding an additional purpose in the form of a garden.

A dissected Spun chair, displaying its natural balance

Heatherwick’s Spun chairs, composed of polyethylene, maintain a certain balance that is only possible due to its perfect symmetry and rotational form, a topic we covered in Lecture 2. The focus on a perfect symmetry is reminiscent of the symmetry that exists in nature’s Golden Ratio.

Me with the Provocations sign at Hammer Museum

Going to Heatherwick’s exhibit made me realize how much I’ve learned from taking DESMA 9 this quarter. Every exhibit I saw, in addition to those I’ve described in this posting, reminded me of something I learned in lecture, or in reading fellow student’s blog. 

Website:

http://hammer.ucla.edu/exhibitions/2015/provocations-the-architecture-and-design-of-heatherwick-studio/