Thomas Heatherwick: My Temple Seeks a Sponsor!

20 Dec 2005 Category: Architecture, Features, Japan, Recommended, Worldwide

Thomas Heatherwick describes himself as a three-dimensional designer. Considered “UK’s brightest young designer” in Icon magazine, an extraordinary selection of projects ranging from public art with England’s tallest sculpture, to a bag collection for Longchamps, a rolling footbridge and a collection about ideas for the Conran foundation, has been invented and produced by him.

His projects are diverse, innovative and breathtaking each in their own individual way.

Besides all these stunning works, Thomas was asked by a Japanese Buddhist priest of the Shingon-Shu Sect to build a temple in the South of Japan. We talked to him about this incredible task, how he came up with a beautiful design and what finally needs to happen now to turn this idea into reality.

Interview by Uleshka

Thomas, can you tell us how this unusual project to build a temple all started?

The priest and his advisors made a decision to work with somebody who wasn’t Japanese which is a very big step, really. They looked at different practices in Europe and somehow the name of my studio was put forward as well.

After I put together some information for them I was visited by one of their advisors and to my amazement they picked me. That was pretty surprising because I’ve never built a temple before and am neither Buddhist nor Japanese. That’s free thinking!

They hadn’t fully decided which designer to go for yet, but they invited me to Japan. They took me to Kyoto and we spent 2 days visiting all the main shrines and temple buildings. At the end of those 2 days they said: “We showed you the temples. We want you to understand them, but we do not want you to copy them!”

That was the clue.

My worry about this project was, that they wanted a duplication of something that existed already, something traditional. I was very scared of that but they actually asked for something I could give them. That was the moment when I suddenly trusted them.

How did they finally decide to choose you?

When we had our first, long meeting with the priest and everybody, there was this one moment where I was talking about craftsmanship which I suppose is common to lots of different projects that I’ve worked on. I was talking quite naturally and suddenly everyone stopped, looked at each other and kind of nodded. I thought: “What? What have I just said?” But suddenly I had this feeling that they had accepted. That was the moment of things moving forward.

You must have felt very happy to get this project! What was the reaction back in London?

You naturally felt extraordinary responsibility to be trusted with the faith of so many people, with a building designed to last 300 years, the function of that building, with many things to way up and a client you respected so much! We almost couldn’t concentrate on anything else, so we kind of closed down the studio and really focussed on this project. There was a team about 5 of us working on it full time.

Where exactly in Kagoshima do they want the temple to be built?

It is a place called Shiroyama on the outskirts of Kagoshima on a hillside. This is where the final battle between Saigo Takamori with his samurai soldiers and the imperial forces took place in 1877. 20,000 people were killed on both sides. Now that the priest is living on the site in a little cabin, the people of the village say that his presence is finally purifying the land.

It is a really natural space to locate a temple: it has a beautiful view, there is bamboo all around….. I think it is very dramatic but also contained.

There must be many rules and restrictions when building a temple…

Yes, to which direction the Buddha faces, where the main temple area is, where the entrance lies…and it is quite a tight, constrained site. Our first moves were to find the right spaces for the Hondo, all the separate altars in which we were going to have 4000 cremated urns stored within that building.

How long did it take to develop the first presentable designs?

It took about 4 to 5 months to get the first designs and the first 2 months were just trying to rationalize how the building could work, whithout thinking at all how it would look. How to use of the piece of land, how we wanted people to arrive and what we wanted the order of people’s thoughts to be, almost.

It took some time to allow this wealth of information I gathered in Japan to actually synthesize into a way the temple might feel and look, what materials to use and how something could be made in the end. It also needed a lot of time to come up with the wrong conclusions and realize why they were wrong.

Were there any significant differences to other projects in the communication between you and your Japanese client?

With a client from nearby you are much more accessible to them which means that in any case of worry or concern they give you a quick call and ask some questions. That way you can’t go deeper into your thought process because you have to expose it much sooner.

For this project, I asked my Japanese clients: “Can you not contact us for about 4-5 months, please? We’ll come back to the appointment when we can.” To my great amazement, they agreed to that.

If I was them, I’d be really worried, but it was the right thing to do! It was really strange, but I understood what they wanted. I just needed time to organize my thinking.

What was the reaction of the priest when you presented your designs to him?

His project managers were thrilled and it was like he always knew that it was going to be right. He looked really pleased. I think he recognized the journey that we’ve been through. It was like he had confidence all the way long, the confidence that I maybe didn’t have.

How did you eventually come up with the shape? I heard something about Buddha’s cushion…..

I had a strong feeling that I wanted the building to feel like it was one temple, not many different pieces as in: here is the roof, here is the wall, here is the emergency staircase…but to really feel like it was cohesive and yet we needed all the various different pieces.

I was working very physically on large lumps of clay. It was cohesive but somehow ugly. Then there was a moment when I suddenly realized that this actually looked like fabric. This synced with the garments the priest often wears, which are awesome in the forms that they make by themselves.

About the same time someone said: “Did you know the Buddha sits on fabric, on a cushion?” which seemed like a good fortune within the design process, but it was not to simulate anything.

How did you turn that into a building, then?

When we were trying to find out how we could laser scan the fabric so that we caught the exact shape, we found a hospital right around the corner which generously allowed us to use their laser scanner.

The final design is one scanned piece of fabric, which we selected from a lot of different models. We had to change very, very little in the computer.

What about the slicing of the building? Was that a technical or aesthetic decision?

It was a way to avoid incredibly expensive 3 dimensional curving shapes. It is a language that Frank O’ Ghery has explored so as to keep this gorgeous shape, but rationalize it to layers the size of a step. There are layers of glass, layers of wood, so there are literally layers piling up on top of each other. Each step will have a slight angle to it, so the water runs off. Besides the slicing also gave a detail. I thought it made it richer and more sophisticated.

And where is the light coming in, then? Through those thin glass layers only?

There will be thick, thick layers of glass going through the entire building. We would like to have a third of the layers to be glass.

It’s kind of simple as an object, in a way quite a simple idea but the crafting of it will be the big thing.

This piece - same as the Bleigiessen - wouldn’t have been possible without the computer. In both projects you took a small object, scanned it in and used this pretty much as the final design. Then the computer helped you scaling things big and in the case of Bleigiessen plotting out the exact positions of 150 000 specially processed glass spheres, suspended on a million metres of fine stainless steel wire. For creative thinkers like you the computer provides a lot of flexibility and freedom. Is that how you see it?

I’m very wary about saying that, because Antoni Gaudi did the most incredible 3D curved things without using a computer whatsoever. So the computer is a way to make something buildable in the 21st century in the way that we contract things now, but I think that most of what we are doing we could also be doing without computers.

What is the temple made out of?

We have about 450 layers of plywood making the height of the building, over a typhoon frame. One layer is 25mm and each one of the steps is made from 6 layers.

The glass steps in the building will then be 6 layers making 150 mm of very chunky glass. We could also put different colored glasses though the whole building. I think there is room for lots of interesting details in the building.

What is the core of your work? Is it the fascination of technical riddles? Or does the emphasis lie in a different use of materials, like building an entire bridge out of glass?

I’m really interested in the final result.

Some people can be special in concepts, but then in concept only and not in material and craftsmenship and technology. I am keen to try and make something special in a number of different ways not just one way.

I’m also interested in how projects can mean different things to people. There are some people who have no interest in architectural composition, but they are really interested in craftsmanship. Then there is also something like human instincts: when you can tell that something has been made with love, you are more likely to open up your mind and come closer to a part you are unfamiliar with. Also humor has to do with it and often human effort is something people can appreciate: “I don’t understand it, not sure if I like it but Wow! How did they make it?” There is a fascination about this and even people who don’t make things are interested in how things are made. There is no substitute to it, so just try and let things be as interesting as they can be.

Behind all this, it always remains important that something is achievable! You can have a perfect wonderful plan, but if it never happens it doesn’t really matter to anybody anyway.

What is the most difficult step in realizing a project?

The ideas take a lot of time, but that’s in my control. Once the project is trying to make that jump through, trying to find someone to build things, trying to get permissions, … that’s the really big challenge!

The temple is now at that point and the temple is probably the most difficult thing I have ever worked on and ever will. It’s really challenging.

Who is supposed to pay for building this temple, actually? The priest, the sect, the village?

They had some money to help start the design process, so there was a professional basis to it. We have developed the initial design, we have the most beautiful site, we now need to find people to fund it.

In terms of raising money that’s something which always needs a bigger plan, but the important thing is having a vision. You can’t raise money for anything without a certain clarity of what the money is for.

The priest himself is not in a hurry, though - he is Buddhist! (laughs)

How much money do you need? Who should buy your temple?

If we could get around 60 companies or families to each sponsor a layer of the temple, then we would almost be there. One layer costs 150,000 pounds (30,000,000 yen). An additional alternative would be, if people could sponsor a burial space. That could be their family altar, a legacy to be left to their ancestors.

This is bound to happen! Now you got that far already, I am fully convinced that this project will be a success! So - everybody: get your check books out!

Thomas, thank you so much for your time and thought! PingMag wishes you all the best for this project to be a big success.

22 Comments

1. [...] Thomas Heatherwick: Interview [...]

   Posted by: Origami Tessellations » Thomas Heatherwick: The Rolling Bridge on December 20th, 2005 at 5:16 am

2. Oh my goodness! It’s looking absolutely amazing! I sincerely hope they manage to get the funding. I’ll be in Kita Kyushu next year, hopefully I’ll be able to see it, or at least the work in progress, when I visit Kagoshima ^^

   Posted by: Liz on December 20th, 2005 at 6:24 am

3. a very amazing und impressing “craftsmanship”
   the artist must have a brilliant ability and aura to his disposal do convince.
   I hope he will realize his projekt.

   Posted by: elkeasher on December 20th, 2005 at 8:13 pm

4. [...] From the Pingmag interview with Thomas Heatherwick on his incredible architectural designs: They hadn’t fully decided which designer to go for yet, but they invited me to Japan. They took me to Kyoto and we spent 2 days visiting all the main shrines and temple buildings. At the end of those 2 days they said: “We showed you the temples. We want you to understand them, but we do not want you to copy them!” [...]

   Posted by: the odk - o c t o p u s d r o p k i c k ! on December 21st, 2005 at 10:22 am

5. [...] [...]

   Posted by: Red Ruin - Exploring the world through sight and song. » Blog Archive » Modern Art Temple on January 4th, 2006 at 12:10 pm

6. coo!

   Posted by: oishi man on January 15th, 2006 at 2:41 am

7. The Bleigissen gave me thrills! Wonderful!

   Posted by: Pansea on January 23rd, 2006 at 4:01 am

8. [...] Im Pingmap gibt es ein interessantes Interview - saucool das Internet: ich kann auf ein Interview verweisen, dass ich gar nicht gemacht habe, ja an das ich, haette ich die Mittel, nie im Leben gekommen waere… [...]

   Posted by: ArchiSpass » Blog Archive » Thomas Heatherwick on January 23rd, 2006 at 3:53 pm

9. Thomas Heatherwick is a genius, and thoroughly practical. When will he get a commission from a manufacturer to produce repetitive forms of architecture - like housing?

   Posted by: Ian Abley on January 26th, 2006 at 2:46 am

10. good source Famous architects

    Posted by: Famous architects on January 27th, 2006 at 8:16 am

11. I think thomas heatherwick is a great designer and I am thoroughly inspired by his work. If he ever reads this ‘come out with me for a coffee’! I like you hair - it’s so curly! I speak 3 languages and learning 2 so if you’re ever travelling and need a translator I’m your man.
    Keep up the good work. Love and kisses x

    Posted by: Kim Penwill on March 17th, 2006 at 10:07 pm

12. Fantastic,I was actually in halls of residence with Tom as a student way back in 1989,Parrs Wood,and if anybody was going to go this far it would be him,focused,hardworking,talented and a really genuine nice guy.

    Posted by: michael west on April 13th, 2006 at 7:41 am

13. What a wonderful, organic form! The layers made me believe it was a woodcarving at first glance. This is the very best example I’ve even seen of architecture as sculpture. Saucool, indeed!

    Posted by: Patricia Lemon on April 15th, 2006 at 8:10 pm

14. Hey Micheal West, Drop me a line in NYC.. Toms a nice bloke…

    Posted by: Darren Crawley on June 8th, 2006 at 8:43 am

15. [...] So Bleigiessen’s organic forms turn out to be from a happy accident with molten metal, rather than the DNA or biological roots I had naively assumed given its Wellcome Trust connections. I like that. More background on Heatherwick in this great PingMag feature. [...]

    Posted by: Random Etc. » Blog Archive » Bleigiessen on July 10th, 2006 at 3:47 am

16. [...] Einen Tempel in Japan, den Longchamp Store in New York, eine Longchamp Designertasche, Objekte für Murano, ein Kunstprojekt in Milton Keynes u.v.a. [...]

    Posted by: ANDERS|denken blog :: hannes treichl » Archiv » Der kreativste Designer der Welt on August 15th, 2006 at 11:14 pm

17. i am portuguese and since little,art and create it the most important for me,without all this i am nothing i come for england for study but i need work first today i am in university and i am in graphic designer well this week i find a lots designers by net but who make me impress is thomas heatherwick i wish one day come to meet you because you do a great and fantastic job gongratulations i dont have words for explain good luck for the future and never chanche the way you are you are fantastic k bye

    Posted by: claudia lourenco on November 21st, 2006 at 6:36 am

18. I’m sick to death of meaningless, blobby architecture, so I’ll admit my bias right off the bat. But even just practically speaking, I doubt a building of stacked plywood will last anywhere near 300 years. Plywood absorbs moisture, swells and delaminates over time. I have an idea that if this building ever does get built, either it will look very different, or it will start to fall apart very quickly.

    Posted by: c-dub on January 27th, 2007 at 4:36 am

19. Oh, and just to be more of a pain in the rear: it’s Frank O. Gehry, not Frank O’ Ghery.

    Posted by: c-dub on January 27th, 2007 at 4:37 am

20. not to mention he has totally disregarded the japanese traditions involving the rebuilding of temples at certain intervals.. there is no doubt that this gentleman is gifted but you will find similar fantastic designs in just about any architecture school studio on the planet. the difference is that he figures out how to get someone to pay for building them. unfortunately he will probably wind up like mario botta, a victim of his own success and the quality and originality of his work will deteriorate into a gehryesque randomness.

    Posted by: tschreck on March 7th, 2007 at 11:27 pm

21. [...] a real piece of city infrastructure. Nonetheless, it’s awesome.In an older interview with PingMag, Heatherwick explained, referring to his work in general, that “[b]ehind all this, it always [...]

    Posted by: Digital Photo Tips and Techniques » Contraption Structure Bridge on March 22nd, 2007 at 4:19 am

22. [...] Heatherwick Studio - pingmag (entrevista a Thomas [...]

    Posted by: Judit Bellostes : topografía escalonada - Longchamp store in New York City on March 7th, 2008 at 9:09 pm

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