Thomas Heatherwick's Olympic Flame

Thomas Heatherwick: the “new Leonardo da Vinci of British design” (Sir Terence Conran)

Wednesday 4 March 2015 at 2.00 pm

Anthea Streeter

Anthea Streeter studied the Fine and Decorative Arts in London and continued her studies at Harvard University. It was while at Harvard, where there was great enthusiasm for American design, that she became interested herself in 20th century architecture. Since returning from America she has taught on courses in Oxford and London, lectured on the Country House course in Sussex, and for several private groups around the country. She has a special interest in the architecture and design of 20th century.

Thomas Heatherwick has won many awards and honours: in 2004 he was the youngest practitioner to be appointed a Royal Designer for Industry; he won a Gold Medal for his British Pavilion at the Shanghai Expo in 2010, and in the same year he was designer of the year in Japan. His work received worldwide coverage in 2012 when he designed the Olympic Cauldron at the London Olympics. The giant ring of fire rising up from the centre of the Olympic Stadium was a memorable sight, and the lecture will look at how he achieved that spectacular moment. Heatherwick and his studio team have also designed the New Bus for London, the first new design of such an iconic symbol of London for 50 years. A part model for the bus was featured at the acclaimed exhibition of the studio’s work at the Victoria & Albert Museum in 2012.
Heatherwick’s approach is multi-disciplinary and with his team he blends architecture, sculpture and engineering to produce brilliant results, from large urban spaces to individual items such as his Zip Bag for the French firm Longchamp.  Heatherwick is now in demand all over the world and the lecture will highlight the broad range of his imaginative designs.

The lecture notes leaflet can be downloaded here

Below are photos of this lecture