September 2012

I came across this extraordinary project during the recent broadcast of the London 2012 Olympics. Thomas Heatherwick, of Heatherwick studio, is the designer behind London’s Olympic flame, which comprised the elegant coming together of individual flames in metallic petals, one for each competing nation, to form a single, unified flame.

It was a very modest yet beautiful approach to the lighting of the Olympic flame during the Opening Ceremony, when most viewers were wondering what individual would light the flame, and how? While David Beckham bending a free kick of a burning football would also have been great, this outcome was amazing, with each country to be given their petal back to take home, a beautiful gesture for the many countries which will not have medals to display back home.

However it was this pedestrian bridge, across a canal Paddington Basin, London, which also reflected Heatherwick’s capacity for thinking differently, and arriving at strikingly unique and innovative design solutions.

Needing to open to allow the passage of boats, this bridge, rather than breaking and lifting or rotating, slowly and smoothly curls up from a straight bridge to a circular sculpture which sits on the bank of the canal. It then unfurls itself to reach across the canal again, through a series of hydraulic rams between the balustrade elements.

This is one of those rare examples of the capacity for urban infrastructure to captivate, inspire and delight those that experience it in the city environment.

All images Heatherwick Studios