Heatherwick Studios- Garden Bridge project in London

About Heatherwick Studios 
Created by Thomas Heatherwick in 1994, Heatherwick studio is a design studio well known for its work in areas such as : urban infrastructure, sculpture, architecture, design and strategic thinking. The studio has 180 workers including architects, designers and makers and works at a studio and workshop in Kings Cross, London. The studio is focused on artistic thinking, experimentation and coming up with innovative design solutions. They have worked in many countries and with many commissioners and are particularly adept at large scale projects and unusual projects.  The studio’s work includes quite a few noteworthy projects for the UK, including the award-winning UK Pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo 2010, the Olympic Cauldron for the London 2012 Olympic Games, and the New Bus for London.


The Garden Bridge

The concept for the garden bridge came about when  Transport for London  (TfL) called for proposals to improve pedestrian links across the River Thames. Along with Dan Pearson and Arup, Heatherwick Studio came up with the Garden Bridge, a beautiful garden stretching across the River Thames and connecting North and South London. From the garden bridge website they state that

" The Garden Bridge is a new 366m-long footbridge that will stretch across the River Thames, from the top of Temple underground station on the Northbank to the South Bank. The bridge will hold an expansive garden. Footpaths will weave through the garden, creating a new pedestrian route which will be free and open to all between the hours of 6am–midnight. "

As London is one of the greenest cities of its size in the world, the bridge seeks to celebrate this fact while providing a safe and accessible environment for the public, to be accessed whenever they like. The creators also plan to host special events, apprenticeships, educational programmes and be a symbol for promoting environmental causes. The bridge will not only celebrate the UK's biodiversity but will also be a nice space for the public to interact in, whether people want to simply use the garden bridge to get across London or have a picnic or simply just enjoy the scenery. It will feature many plants, trees and shrubs native to the UK, Northern Europe and other areas in the world.

Though the bridge is still in development I think this is a really thoughtful community project that provides a  potential new cultural landmark that actually contributes to the surrounding area and environment. The project has been well thought out, with the organisers gaining charity status (Garden Bridge Trust) and being privately funded so that the project can fund itself rather than asking money from the public. Many photographs have been made by artists and designers, such as the one above, to give a clear view of what the garden bridge will look like throughout the year and the website details a lot of helpful information about accessibility and answering general questions about the project, giving the public a clear view of what the bridge might be like. The project also has high public approval with 78% of Londoners saying that they support the making of the bridge.

Although the Garden Bridge project is much larger in comparison to our community project, the principles of it can still be applied to our project, they are using London's already existing greenery and biodiversity as inspiration to achieve their goal, using quite a creative approach to a construction project. By using this approach in our project we can take the Crescent students' skills, however small and give them space to create and teach them new skills and approaches to how they create art. We can teach them how to express their creativity through drawing and painting by letting them do whatever they want with materials before focusing them.
The project also takes a unique perspective on culture, drawing on the specific species of plant native to the UK and other places. By doing this they celebrate an aspect of the UK as well as bringing in aspects of other countries. This could be key to capture in our project in a different way , as many of the students have heritage from different countries and the culture of the UK is hugely influenced by many different cultures around the world.