Latest news with #Heatherwick
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
‘It's absolutely f---ed': Why Google's new £1bn London office is in crisis
The crowning glory of Google's new, massive headquarters in London's King's Cross is its rooftop garden. More than 300m long, with hundreds of trees across four stories and a running track, star designer Thomas Heatherwick envisaged it as a haven for the tech giant's 7,000 staff, as well as bats, bees, birds and butterflies. At least, it is meant to be the crowning glory. However, delays to the project have meant that, while it is still under construction, the building and its garden have been invaded by foxes. The vulpine skulk has taken advantage of the building's lack of human occupants, digging burrows in the manicured grass and leaving their droppings around. 'Fox sightings at construction sites are pretty common, and our King's Cross development is no exception,' a Google spokesperson said after a report on the London Centric website. 'While foxes have been occasionally spotted at the site, their appearances have been brief and have had minimal impact on the ongoing construction.' The foxes, pests though they are, may be the least of Google's problems. Today, visitors to the construction site are met with the cacophonous sounds of drilling and hammering; the sights of scaffolding and cherry pickers obscuring the view; the constant bustle of workmen coming and going. The 11-storey building, the cost of which has never been confirmed but expected to be well north of £1 billion, still appears to be a long way from being completed. Building site sources tell The Telegraph that all manner of things have gone wrong, from shoddy workmanship that was, in effect, 'hidden' because of the vastness of the project to wooden floors that became so saturated with rainwater that they need complete repairs. Much of the ground floor, which is supposed to house shops and other public spaces, remains a shell. The date for its opening, which was meant to happen last year, has been repeatedly pushed back. 'If they get this job done by the end of 2026 it would be a f—ing miracle,' one worker tells me. 'I don't think the people building it know what they are doing.' An electrician says: 'They have unlimited money so they throw out ridiculous dates. It's going to be interesting, but very stressful and long hours.' (Both Google and Heatherwick Studio declined to comment on these claims.) There is a sense of gloom among those working on site. One worker simply says: 'It's absolutely f---ed, mate.' Another, who only started working on the project on Monday, describes it as 's--t'. Some might say that Google bosses should not be surprised that building its landmark has not gone entirely smoothly. Heatherwick, 55, has a habit of designing ingenious objects and places that are later found to be impractical, from a sculpture to commemorate Manchester hosting the 2002 Commonwealth Games to a New York visitor attraction later called a 'suicide machine' and London's Routemaster buses to Boris Johnson's abandoned Garden Bridge in the capital. The $2 trillion technology giant launched its quest for a London headquarters in 2013, when it commissioned a more typical office block from architects AHMM; by 2015, those plans had been binned as they were apparently 'too boring' for the tastes of co-founder Larry Page. Enter Heatherwick, who can be described as almost anything except 'boring'. He turned the concept of a giant office building (almost literally) on its head, and designed a long structure parallel to King's Cross railway platforms that is longer (330m/1,083ft) than The Shard is tall (310m/1,106ft). The finished building – dubbed a 'landscraper', as opposed to a skyscraper – will have nap pods for weary workers, as well as a 25m swimming pool and a basketball court. Plus, of course, the garden. The final design is a collaboration between Heatherwick's eponymous studio and that of Bjarke Ingels, the Danish architect. The team also worked on Google's (completed) California headquarters. Heatherwick was unlikely to design a run-of-the-mill office and always makes a point of doing things differently. He had a bohemian childhood as the son of a pianist father and jewellery-designer mother, and attended two private schools – Sevenoaks in Kent and the Rudolf Steiner School in Hertfordshire – before studying design at Manchester Polytechnic and London's Royal College of Art. It was at the latter institution that he met Terence Conran, the founder of Habitat and the Design Museum, whom Heatherwick impressed by building an 18ft-high gazebo out of laminated birch that sat in his garden. Conran became Heatherwick's mentor and famously described him as 'the Leonardo da Vinci of our times'. He has had his fair share of successes, most notably when he designed the Olympic cauldron for the 2012 London Games. It consisted of 204 copper cones, one for each participating nation, attached to long stems that wowed people the world over when they came together to create one larger vessel. Heatherwick, who was awarded a CBE in 2013, was also the driving force behind Coal Drops Yard, a stone's throw from Google's King's Cross building, that is a thriving hub of shops and restaurants after decades as a derelict wasteland. But for every Heatherwick triumph, there has been a misstep. His sculpture for the Commonwealth Games – named B of the Bang – was a cluster of metal spikes coming from the top of a column to imitate an explosion, but it was completed late and over budget. More concerningly, a tip of one of the spikes fell off shortly before it was unveiled and, when others threatened to do the same, it was dismantled in 2009. Manchester City Council sued Heatherwick and his contractors; the case was settled out of court. Other notable misses include Heatherwick's Routemaster buses, which were commissioned by Johnson when he was Mayor of London, which were much more expensive than other models and had a tendency to overheat in summer months, and the aborted plan for a Garden Bridge across the River Thames, which ultimately cost taxpayers £43 million without anything to show for it. Most destructive was the Vessel, a visitor attraction in New York's Hudson Yards. The copper-coloured network of 154 staircases and 80 landings was supposed to be New York's answer to the Eiffel Tower, but it was closed down in 2021 (after less than two years) after four people had killed themselves by jumping from it. Carla Fine, a local who is an expert on the matter, told The Telegraph at the time that it was a 'suicide machine'. It only reopened last October after netting was installed. 'The project met all the safety standards, and actually it went above them. It was just an extremely tragic, sad use that the project got put to,' Heatherwick told the Financial Times in 2023. 'Nobody predicted Covid and what that would do for people's mental health.' His current projects include transforming the Kensington Olympia in West London and turning the capital's BT Tower into a high-end hotel. Not a trained architect himself (but the employer of large numbers of them at his studio), Heatherwick has said that we are in the grip of an 'epidemic of boringness', with soulless glass-and-steel buildings populating cities all over the world. Heatherwick's eccentricity, which has been a characteristic for decades, is almost designed to attract opprobrium or eye-rolls from others in the field. As he finished his postgraduate studies, rather than make a business card Heatherwick made ice lollies that had his phone number on the stick; on various occasions he has shipped a snowball to China so that somebody there could experience British snow, and taken a kebab to Italy for someone else. 'I'm not a fan, because I think he doesn't know the difference between a building and a CD rack,' says Ellis Woodman, an architect and the director of the Architecture Foundation. 'There's no sense of scale, no sense of an urban idea that the buildings are contributing to. They disregard architectural history or the character of the spaces in which they stand. [The Google building] is not a building that's interested in making relationships with things around it. The work is always the most important building on its site, whatever he's doing. There's never a sense that the role of a building might be to contribute to the definition of a space with other buildings.' Heatherwick has become a big brand in the building world, in the way that Norman Foster and Zaha Hadid did before him. Woodman says that, with the quasi-utopian ideals he set out in his 2023 treatise Humanise, Heatherwick is 'carrying on that 'architecture-as-a-marketing tool' tendency'. 'He's not seriously engaged with the problems of housing or sustainability,' Woodman adds. 'It's a succession of projects like the Vessel, which one might ask if the world ever really needed.' Others in the design world reckon that Heatherwick's regular criticism by architects stems from a resentment that an interloper could gatecrash their industry without having to go through the same formal training. 'I'm very 'pro' him. He's a very creative and inventive figure, but he's divisive because he was trained in industrial design in Manchester, not in architecture,' says Charles Saumarez Smith, the former director of the National Gallery and National Portrait Gallery who is a distinguished historian of art and design. 'Architects view themselves in a professional way, and so obviously have not been so enthusiastic about him being globally successful as he has been as an architect. I think that is at the root of it.' Saumarez Smith tells me that he thinks Heatherwick's Google building is 'mind-boggling' and 'vast, but in a way it manages to disguise its scale. I'm looking forward to seeing it in more detail when it's finished'. How long before the Google building is finished, and what it will be like when it is, is anyone's guess. 'You can't fully know whether something's going to work until it's finished,' Heatherwick told The Telegraph in a 2018 interview. 'Anyone who says otherwise is lying. I get worried when my team aren't worried. Worry is a useful energy.' One wonders if Heatherwick feels worried about the Google HQ at the moment. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Fashion Network
23-05-2025
- Business
- Fashion Network
Longchamp's revamped La Maison Unique demonstrates a fresh approach to sustainability
Retail's golden rule has always been that the ground-floor storefront is the only option. However, in some cases, it turns out that subsequent higher floors offer the most square footage for retail selling. Such was the case for French accessories giant Longchamp when they purchased a building at 132 Spring Street over 20 years ago. They scored a design coup by enlisting world-renowned architect Thomas Heatherwick of Little Island and The Vessel fame, among other masterpieces, as the English designer is not known for retail designs. As the innovative design he created for the New York store dubbed "La Maison Unique" approaches the 20-year mark, Longchamp CEO Jean Cassegrain and Heatherwick sat in conversation at the store's penthouse floor and shared with an audience the journey of the distinctive store and its new look. CEO Cassegrain walked through the space, pointing out the design changes. "We had several goals to make the store brighter, so we removed some of these wooden wall units and set them back from the windows to create more natural light as these units are beautiful from behind too," Cassegrain said as he pointed to massive corner windows, now adorned with a neon green logo. "We wanted people to flow more freely. So, we've opened the space toward the street and the daylight," he added. The floors were sanded to reveal a light blonde finish, and new lighting and display hooks using magnet technology were also installed. Heatherwick further designated the space in the roughly 4,000-square-foot floor by covering the classic architectural columns typical in SoHo's cast-iron buildings with a green carpet that oozed out into a green-patterned circular rug, designating sections of the space. Custom consoles and movable shelving, like a layered Lazy Susan, were used to display products. Side chairs, curved "croissant" couches, and a Gio Ponti side table are among the new furniture that inhabit the spaces. There are also bits of vintage bric-a-brac, including vintage leather-covered pipes to hold tobacco in a nod to the brand's origins, all a visual feast for mid-century modern lovers. As lovely as it is, Cassegrain quickly points out that the concept is just for New York. "It's made for here; the scale and location make it unique and special and meant to stay here. There is no intention to duplicate it," he continued. The revamp, which is less wasteful and has less negative environmental impact than a complete gut and redo, is a result of the brand's retail reset post-COVID. "We've been putting more emphasis on welcoming the customer, making the space geared toward the customer rather than designed to solve our internal problems. Some constraints don't exist anymore, which has allowed us to give more space to the customer, create places that can be enjoyed, which is also why we have brought in some artwork," Cassegrain explained, pointing out a Japanese ceramic sculpture on a coffee table. "In the past four or five years, we've redone most of our stores worldwide. So this one is being redone too, but in its own unique way, with the same brand DNA and principles but still on brand," he added. During the chat, Heatherwick recalled the design problems that needed solving when he entered the space with a small first-floor footprint. "We had to design a staircase that wasn't too imposing or unwelcoming. Even the balustrade was carefully considered, not only for safety concerns but also because glass panes define space with harsh edges and reflections. Hence, we made a giant 'toaster' to melt this acrylic panel, which gives a softer edge," Heatherwick told the crowd of the infamous green 'lanes' that flow upwardly in a curvy pattern to the second and third floors on the open-design staircase, which is bathed in light thanks to the hole in the ceiling the designer said he made to let in the light. Heatherwick joked that discussing how the building presented design challenges and how they worked it out "felt like a therapy session" and added the numerous meetings with the various multi-generation family members and teamwork, which he remembered fondly. To celebrate the brand, Heatherwick and co. hosted a reopening party attended by some of the buzziest VIPs currently, such as Emma Roberts, Ego Nwodim, Natalia Dyer, Maisie Richardson-Sellers, Isabela Merced, and more, a DJ set by Amrit Tietz and Mona Matsuoka, and a specially choreographed dance performance inspired by the space from Jacob Jonas The Company. To manage the new opening and share news with the public, event coordinators tried to get a permit to block a traffic lane, only to discover it was just a sliver of the street, to their surprise. It's the same for guests arriving at the compact ground floor of the 8,600-square-foot space in SoHo. "It's a place to discover. It's unassuming because you don't see it from the street," Cassegrain noted.
Fashion Network
23-05-2025
- Business
- Fashion Network
Longchamp's revamped La Maison Unique demonstrates a fresh approach to sustainability
Retail's golden rule has always been that the ground-floor storefront is the only option. However, in some cases, it turns out that subsequent higher floors offer the most square footage for retail selling. Such was the case for French accessories giant Longchamp when they purchased a building at 132 Spring Street over 20 years ago. They scored a design coup by enlisting world-renowned architect Thomas Heatherwick of Little Island and The Vessel fame, among other masterpieces, as the English designer is not known for retail designs. As the innovative design he created for the New York store dubbed "La Maison Unique" approaches the 20-year mark, Longchamp CEO Jean Cassegrain and Heatherwick sat in conversation at the store's penthouse floor and shared with an audience the journey of the distinctive store and its new look. CEO Cassegrain walked through the space, pointing out the design changes. "We had several goals to make the store brighter, so we removed some of these wooden wall units and set them back from the windows to create more natural light as these units are beautiful from behind too," Cassegrain said as he pointed to massive corner windows, now adorned with a neon green logo. "We wanted people to flow more freely. So, we've opened the space toward the street and the daylight," he added. The floors were sanded to reveal a light blonde finish, and new lighting and display hooks using magnet technology were also installed. Heatherwick further designated the space in the roughly 4,000-square-foot floor by covering the classic architectural columns typical in SoHo's cast-iron buildings with a green carpet that oozed out into a green-patterned circular rug, designating sections of the space. Custom consoles and movable shelving, like a layered Lazy Susan, were used to display products. Side chairs, curved "croissant" couches, and a Gio Ponti side table are among the new furniture that inhabit the spaces. There are also bits of vintage bric-a-brac, including vintage leather-covered pipes to hold tobacco in a nod to the brand's origins, all a visual feast for mid-century modern lovers. As lovely as it is, Cassegrain quickly points out that the concept is just for New York. "It's made for here; the scale and location make it unique and special and meant to stay here. There is no intention to duplicate it," he continued. The revamp, which is less wasteful and has less negative environmental impact than a complete gut and redo, is a result of the brand's retail reset post-COVID. "We've been putting more emphasis on welcoming the customer, making the space geared toward the customer rather than designed to solve our internal problems. Some constraints don't exist anymore, which has allowed us to give more space to the customer, create places that can be enjoyed, which is also why we have brought in some artwork," Cassegrain explained, pointing out a Japanese ceramic sculpture on a coffee table. "In the past four or five years, we've redone most of our stores worldwide. So this one is being redone too, but in its own unique way, with the same brand DNA and principles but still on brand," he added. During the chat, Heatherwick recalled the design problems that needed solving when he entered the space with a small first-floor footprint. "We had to design a staircase that wasn't too imposing or unwelcoming. Even the balustrade was carefully considered, not only for safety concerns but also because glass panes define space with harsh edges and reflections. Hence, we made a giant 'toaster' to melt this acrylic panel, which gives a softer edge," Heatherwick told the crowd of the infamous green 'lanes' that flow upwardly in a curvy pattern to the second and third floors on the open-design staircase, which is bathed in light thanks to the hole in the ceiling the designer said he made to let in the light. Heatherwick joked that discussing how the building presented design challenges and how they worked it out "felt like a therapy session" and added the numerous meetings with the various multi-generation family members and teamwork, which he remembered fondly. To celebrate the brand, Heatherwick and co. hosted a reopening party attended by some of the buzziest VIPs currently, such as Emma Roberts, Ego Nwodim, Natalia Dyer, Maisie Richardson-Sellers, Isabela Merced, and more, a DJ set by Amrit Tietz and Mona Matsuoka, and a specially choreographed dance performance inspired by the space from Jacob Jonas The Company. To manage the new opening and share news with the public, event coordinators tried to get a permit to block a traffic lane, only to discover it was just a sliver of the street, to their surprise. It's the same for guests arriving at the compact ground floor of the 8,600-square-foot space in SoHo. "It's a place to discover. It's unassuming because you don't see it from the street," Cassegrain noted.
Fashion Network
23-05-2025
- Business
- Fashion Network
Longchamp's revamped La Maison Unique demonstrates a fresh approach to sustainability
Retail's golden rule has always been that the ground-floor storefront is the only option. However, in some cases, it turns out that subsequent higher floors offer the most square footage for retail selling. Such was the case for French accessories giant Longchamp when they purchased a building at 132 Spring Street over 20 years ago. They scored a design coup by enlisting world-renowned architect Thomas Heatherwick of Little Island and The Vessel fame, among other masterpieces, as the English designer is not known for retail designs. As the innovative design he created for the New York store dubbed "La Maison Unique" approaches the 20-year mark, Longchamp CEO Jean Cassegrain and Heatherwick sat in conversation at the store's penthouse floor and shared with an audience the journey of the distinctive store and its new look. CEO Cassegrain walked through the space, pointing out the design changes. "We had several goals to make the store brighter, so we removed some of these wooden wall units and set them back from the windows to create more natural light as these units are beautiful from behind too," Cassegrain said as he pointed to massive corner windows, now adorned with a neon green logo. "We wanted people to flow more freely. So, we've opened the space toward the street and the daylight," he added. The floors were sanded to reveal a light blonde finish, and new lighting and display hooks using magnet technology were also installed. Heatherwick further designated the space in the roughly 4,000-square-foot floor by covering the classic architectural columns typical in SoHo's cast-iron buildings with a green carpet that oozed out into a green-patterned circular rug, designating sections of the space. Custom consoles and movable shelving, like a layered Lazy Susan, were used to display products. Side chairs, curved "croissant" couches, and a Gio Ponti side table are among the new furniture that inhabit the spaces. There are also bits of vintage bric-a-brac, including vintage leather-covered pipes to hold tobacco in a nod to the brand's origins, all a visual feast for mid-century modern lovers. As lovely as it is, Cassegrain quickly points out that the concept is just for New York. "It's made for here; the scale and location make it unique and special and meant to stay here. There is no intention to duplicate it," he continued. The revamp, which is less wasteful and has less negative environmental impact than a complete gut and redo, is a result of the brand's retail reset post-COVID. "We've been putting more emphasis on welcoming the customer, making the space geared toward the customer rather than designed to solve our internal problems. Some constraints don't exist anymore, which has allowed us to give more space to the customer, create places that can be enjoyed, which is also why we have brought in some artwork," Cassegrain explained, pointing out a Japanese ceramic sculpture on a coffee table. "In the past four or five years, we've redone most of our stores worldwide. So this one is being redone too, but in its own unique way, with the same brand DNA and principles but still on brand," he added. During the chat, Heatherwick recalled the design problems that needed solving when he entered the space with a small first-floor footprint. "We had to design a staircase that wasn't too imposing or unwelcoming. Even the balustrade was carefully considered, not only for safety concerns but also because glass panes define space with harsh edges and reflections. Hence, we made a giant 'toaster' to melt this acrylic panel, which gives a softer edge," Heatherwick told the crowd of the infamous green 'lanes' that flow upwardly in a curvy pattern to the second and third floors on the open-design staircase, which is bathed in light thanks to the hole in the ceiling the designer said he made to let in the light. Heatherwick joked that discussing how the building presented design challenges and how they worked it out "felt like a therapy session" and added the numerous meetings with the various multi-generation family members and teamwork, which he remembered fondly. To celebrate the brand, Heatherwick and co. hosted a reopening party attended by some of the buzziest VIPs currently, such as Emma Roberts, Ego Nwodim, Natalia Dyer, Maisie Richardson-Sellers, Isabela Merced, and more, a DJ set by Amrit Tietz and Mona Matsuoka, and a specially choreographed dance performance inspired by the space from Jacob Jonas The Company. To manage the new opening and share news with the public, event coordinators tried to get a permit to block a traffic lane, only to discover it was just a sliver of the street, to their surprise. It's the same for guests arriving at the compact ground floor of the 8,600-square-foot space in SoHo. "It's a place to discover. It's unassuming because you don't see it from the street," Cassegrain noted.
Fashion Network
23-05-2025
- Business
- Fashion Network
Longchamp's revamped La Maison Unique demonstrates a fresh approach to sustainability
Retail's golden rule has always been that the ground-floor storefront is the only option. However, in some cases, it turns out that subsequent higher floors offer the most square footage for retail selling. Such was the case for French accessories giant Longchamp when they purchased a building at 132 Spring Street over 20 years ago. They scored a design coup by enlisting world-renowned architect Thomas Heatherwick of Little Island and The Vessel fame, among other masterpieces, as the English designer is not known for retail designs. As the innovative design he created for the New York store dubbed "La Maison Unique" approaches the 20-year mark, Longchamp CEO Jean Cassegrain and Heatherwick sat in conversation at the store's penthouse floor and shared with an audience the journey of the distinctive store and its new look. CEO Cassegrain walked through the space, pointing out the design changes. "We had several goals to make the store brighter, so we removed some of these wooden wall units and set them back from the windows to create more natural light as these units are beautiful from behind too," Cassegrain said as he pointed to massive corner windows, now adorned with a neon green logo. "We wanted people to flow more freely. So, we've opened the space toward the street and the daylight," he added. The floors were sanded to reveal a light blonde finish, and new lighting and display hooks using magnet technology were also installed. Heatherwick further designated the space in the roughly 4,000-square-foot floor by covering the classic architectural columns typical in SoHo's cast-iron buildings with a green carpet that oozed out into a green-patterned circular rug, designating sections of the space. Custom consoles and movable shelving, like a layered Lazy Susan, were used to display products. Side chairs, curved "croissant" couches, and a Gio Ponti side table are among the new furniture that inhabit the spaces. There are also bits of vintage bric-a-brac, including vintage leather-covered pipes to hold tobacco in a nod to the brand's origins, all a visual feast for mid-century modern lovers. As lovely as it is, Cassegrain quickly points out that the concept is just for New York. "It's made for here; the scale and location make it unique and special and meant to stay here. There is no intention to duplicate it," he continued. The revamp, which is less wasteful and has less negative environmental impact than a complete gut and redo, is a result of the brand's retail reset post-COVID. "We've been putting more emphasis on welcoming the customer, making the space geared toward the customer rather than designed to solve our internal problems. Some constraints don't exist anymore, which has allowed us to give more space to the customer, create places that can be enjoyed, which is also why we have brought in some artwork," Cassegrain explained, pointing out a Japanese ceramic sculpture on a coffee table. "In the past four or five years, we've redone most of our stores worldwide. So this one is being redone too, but in its own unique way, with the same brand DNA and principles but still on brand," he added. During the chat, Heatherwick recalled the design problems that needed solving when he entered the space with a small first-floor footprint. "We had to design a staircase that wasn't too imposing or unwelcoming. Even the balustrade was carefully considered, not only for safety concerns but also because glass panes define space with harsh edges and reflections. Hence, we made a giant 'toaster' to melt this acrylic panel, which gives a softer edge," Heatherwick told the crowd of the infamous green 'lanes' that flow upwardly in a curvy pattern to the second and third floors on the open-design staircase, which is bathed in light thanks to the hole in the ceiling the designer said he made to let in the light. Heatherwick joked that discussing how the building presented design challenges and how they worked it out "felt like a therapy session" and added the numerous meetings with the various multi-generation family members and teamwork, which he remembered fondly. To celebrate the brand, Heatherwick and co. hosted a reopening party attended by some of the buzziest VIPs currently, such as Emma Roberts, Ego Nwodim, Natalia Dyer, Maisie Richardson-Sellers, Isabela Merced, and more, a DJ set by Amrit Tietz and Mona Matsuoka, and a specially choreographed dance performance inspired by the space from Jacob Jonas The Company. To manage the new opening and share news with the public, event coordinators tried to get a permit to block a traffic lane, only to discover it was just a sliver of the street, to their surprise. It's the same for guests arriving at the compact ground floor of the 8,600-square-foot space in SoHo. "It's a place to discover. It's unassuming because you don't see it from the street," Cassegrain noted.
