Thomas Heatherwick takes on task of keeping nature on Nodeul Island

Arts & Design

Published: 03 Jul. 2023, 13:53

Thomas Heatherwick takes on task of keeping nature on Nodeul Island

A model of the UK pavilion at the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai, designed by Thomas Heatherwick [SHIN MIN-HEE]

Thomas Heatherwick is one of the seven candidates for Seoul’s public project to redesign Nodeul Island on the Han River.

Seoul city posted videos on YouTube earlier this year for each competitor, introducing how they plan on transforming the tiny island into a major landmark. As of date, the 53-year-old British designer’s video has the most views with over 11,000.

Named “Soundscape,” Heatherwick’s proposal reimagined Nodeul Island as a “new musical space” that includes seven musical areas for everyday use, like a karaoke space, a musical cafe, a classical music recital space, artist studios and an anechoic silence chamber.

It is Heatherwick's attempt to “amplify and enhance the life that’s there,” and citizens have been showing their approval and support in the comments.

“I think Nodeul Island has potential [in that] you can escape and get away from the city,” Heatherwick told press on Wednesday. “Most cities don’t have that opportunity to create that special space in the middle of the city. So it was an idea competition to get thinking, but we felt that there is an opportunity not about design but to make it more public and make it somewhere emotionally you go to, and making it social.”

A 1:1000 presentation model for "Soundscape," Thomas Heatherwick's proposal on redesigning Nodeul Island on Han River. [SHIN MIN-HEE]

For Heatherwick, who is the founder of his own design practice Heatherwick Studio, it’s the emotion behind the structures that he puts emphasis on. He is globally recognized for designing the UK pavilion at the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai, the Vessel in New York City, the Olympic cauldron for the 2012 Summer Olympics and London’s New Routemaster bus.

Heatherwick is visiting Korea for his latest exhibition “Building Soulfulness,” which is being held at the Culture Station Seoul 284 in Jung District, central Seoul. The show is filled with 30 of his major projects and features models of his works, photographs and videos.

It was originally held at the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo but has been re-organized and brought to Seoul to include archival data for two more projects — the Nodeul Island renovation and the Core proposals, the latter of which is an upcoming art museum currently under development in Gangwon.

A model of the Core, an upcoming art museum currently under development in Gangwon, designed by Thomas Heatherwick [SHIN MIN-HEE]

The exhibition is also a celebration of 140 years of diplomatic relations between the United Kingdom and Korea.

Last Wednesday, the day before its opening, he sat down with press and enthusiastically shared his philosophy behind his past architectural works.

“In the lessons I’ve learned over the past 29 years of having my studio, I’ve realized I can now say that emotion seems to be the thing in the world around us that helps us think about how we feel in places,” Heatherwick said.

He said that the three aspects that matter when creating designs are the head, the heart and the hands.

“But it feels like the world around us, when building designs, has been taught from the last century that it was less about the hands and craft — and even less about emotion and more about the head,” Heatherwick said. He aimed to “think about the crafts more, and your emotions more, and the ideas from the intellect.”

A side view of the model of the UK pavilion at the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai, designed by Thomas Heatherwick [SHIN MIN-HEE]

Seed tips used in the UK pavilion at the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai, designed by Thomas Heatherwick [SHIN MIN-HEE]

In order to convey enough emotion and truly move visitors, it was all about standing out, which he shared his experience through the UK pavilion from Shanghai. He admitted that there has always been challenging projects for him and his studio of 280 architects, designers and artisans, but this one was especially tough due to limited budget and space.

One requirement, which added to the burden, was to make a building that would be considered one of the top five pavilions.

“We were asked by the British government to show the UK when there were 250 pavilions and every other pavilion was showing off,” he said. “So how do you stand out when everyone else is standing out? Emotion is key.”

He started out with thinking about the visitors’ expectations about the UK and his decision to avoid common British assets like “David Beckham, the Queen, Sherlock Holmes or that it rains in Britain all the time.”

Instead, he opted to find inspiration from Kew Gardens’ Millennium Seed Bank, the largest plant conservation program in the world, to call attention to Britain’s long history of botanical research and urban park development. He created the “Seed Cathedral,” which consisted of over 60,000 slender acrylic rods protruding both inside and outside of the building like a porcupine or a dandelion, which was the Chinese nickname coined by visitors.

In each end of the 7.5-meter-long (24.6-feet) rods were different type of seeds, some 250,000 in total, a reference to seed banks that are used to prevent plant species from going extinct.

“If a pavilion is communicating with you and it is saying what you think you already know, then you don’t listen,” Heatherwick said. “But if it says something you don’t think you know, then you listen [...] We have to predict and not do what anyone else would do. And so I think that emotion can be the competitive advantage because most people don’t put themselves in other people’s minds.”

His efforts to elicit “soulfulness” paid off — the pavilion won the Expo’s top prize, the gold medal for Pavilion Design and was visited by over 7 million people during the six-month run.

Thomas Heatherwick poses at the Culture Station Seoul 284 in central Seoul a day before the opening for his exhibition "Building Soulfulness" on Wednesday. [SUUM PROJECT]

A full-size model of "Airo," an electric vehicle Thomas Heatherwick designed with autonomous and driver-controlled modes. It is described as producing no fossil fuel pollutants and has a customizable interior. [SHIN MIN-HEE]

Heatherwick attributes “togetherness” as the philosophy behind his works; namely “the human touch,” which is why he chose Culture Station Seoul 284 as the venue for this show as the building is over a century old.

“In most new buildings, there’s nothing to touch; you just walk past,” he said. “In a project, we’re always thinking, what’s the big idea? But where’s the love?

“I love the way you’re lucky in the city to have the mountains around the edge to hold Seoul and they feel exciting and they feel like a good reminder to keep us humble with all the urban developments. A lot of nature has been lost from the city. That’s why I think Nodeul Island is so precious. It’s nature within the city.”

Models of the Routemaster bus in London with its carpet and bus seats, designed by Thomas Heatherwick [SHIN MIN-HEE]

A 1:64 model of the Vessel in New York City, designed by Thomas Heatherwick [SHIN MIN-HEE]

“Building Soulfulness” continues until Sept. 6. Culture Station Seoul 284 is open every day from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. except Mondays. Tickets are 20,000 won ($15) for adults.

BY SHIN MIN-HEE [shin.minhee@joongang.co.kr]