Heatherwick Studio

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, masterplans, 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 completed projects include a number of internationally celebrated buildings, including the awardwinning Zeitz MOCAA in Cape Town, Learning Hub at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University and the UK Pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo 2010.

The studio is currently working on 30 live projects in ten countries. These include a new residential building for Related in Manhattan, a new park and performance space in New York due to complete in spring 2021, a terminal for Singapore’s Changi Airport (with KPF), as well as major new headquarters for Google in Silicon Valley and London (in collaboration with BIG).

Thomas Heatherwick
Thomas Heatherwick is a British designer whose prolific and varied work over two decades is characterised by its ingenuity, inventiveness and originality. Defying the conventional classification of design disciplines, Thomas founded Heatherwick Studio in 1994 to bring the practices of design, architecture and urban planning together in a single workspace.

Thomas leads the design of all Heatherwick Studio projects, working in collaboration with a team of highly-skilled architects, designers, and makers. Thomas’ unusual approach applies artistic thinking to the needs of each project, resulting in some of the most acclaimed designs of our time. Following the Gold Award success of the UK Pavilion for the Shanghai World Expo in 2010, Heatherwick Studio has gone on to win exciting design briefs including the Google campus in Silicon Valley, Coal Drops Yard in King’s Cross and the overhaul of London Olympia.

The studio has recently completed the 420,000 sqm Bund Finance Centre in Shanghai, a collaboration with Foster + Partners, and Zeitz MOCAA (Museum of Contemporary Art Africa) in Cape Town, the first museum of its kind in South Africa.

Thomas has been appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire, a Royal Academician and in 2004, became the youngest Royal Designer for Industry.

Stuart Wood
Stuart Wood joined Heatherwick Studio in 2002 making him the longest serving member of the design and leadership team. With a background in Industrial Design, Stuart has led the broadest range of projects and some of the most iconic for the studio. These include the award-winning UK Pavilion for the 2010 Shanghai World, Transport for London’s 1000 New Routemaster bus fleet and the design phases of Google’s two new 1 million+ sqft headquarters in California, now in construction.

He has lead projects of all scales and typologies from experimental furniture to strategic city planning. With a clear focus on innovation and technology’s impact on future city design, Stuart leads a diverse portfolio of projects around the world including the U.K., United States, Singapore and Europe. These currently include a 1 million sqft new home for Google in King’s Cross, London and a new terminal for Changi airport in Singapore (with KPF).

Elsewhere his group is delivering a 110m ice-breaking exploration vessel, and working with Sidewalk labs in Toronto, Canada on a new vision for part of the city built from the internet upwards.

In 2015 the studio created the role of Group Leader to support the growth in scale and number of its projects. Working with Thomas Heatherwick, Group Leaders are responsible for leading all aspects of a portfolio of projects from concept development through to delivery. They are also part of the studio’s senior management group, guiding business strategy, planning and process.

Laurence Dudeney
Laurence is currently leading two projects in New York for the Related Properties; 515 West 18th Street, a two-tower residential development that crosses both sides of the High Line, and Vessel, a new landmark for Hudson Yards.

On both of these projects Laurence has had a start-to-finish role as Project Leader, managing multiple teams in differing project stages concurrently. Each presented very different challenges; Vessel required close and careful monitoring of the complex fabrication of its bespoke design, whilst the more commercially-driven 515 West 18th Street required frequent dialogue with the client team and multiple stakeholders.

Past studio projects include the 420,000sqm Bund Financial Centre (a 50/50 collaboration with Foster + Partners) where Laurence was involved in the concept development across the whole site and then detail design focused on the Performing Arts Centre, which has since opened to critical acclaim in 2017.

Laurence was also instrumental in the schematic design and facade development of Sheung Wan Hotel, Hong Kong, and detail design for the Bombay Sapphire Distillery at Laverstoke Mill, Hampshire, which was completed in 2014.