Skip to main content

Building the Seed Cathedral - Thomas Heatherwick

47,049 Views

2,167 Questions Answered

TED Talk

Let’s Begin…

A future more beautiful? Architect Thomas Heatherwick shows five recent projects featuring ingenious bio-inspired designs. Some are remakes of the ordinary: a bus, a bridge, a power station ... And one is an extraordinary pavilion, the Seed Cathedral, a celebration of growth and light.

Additional Resources for you to Explore

Architectural Digest is the international design authority, featuring the work of top architects and designers, as well as the best in style, culture, travel, and shopping.In the Architectuul article from December 7, 2012, Heatherwick Studio led the winning team in the competition to design the UK Pavilion for the Shanghai 2010 Expo. The theme of the Expo is “Better City, Better Life” and a key client objective was for the UK Pavilion to be one of the five most popular attractions.See Time magazine's photo gallery of The Seed Cathedral, voted one of the best inventions of 2010 and envisioned by British designer Thomas Heatherwick as a house of worship for biodiversity at Shanghai's 2010 World Expo.Read this article in Popsci about "Six Ways Bio-Inspired Design is Reshaping the Future."The Biomimicry 3.8 Institute is a not-for-profit organization that promotes the study and imitation of nature’s remarkably efficient designs, bringing together scientists, engineers, architects ,and innovators who can use those models to create sustainable technologies.Accepting his 2006 TED Prize, Cameron Sinclair demonstrates how passionate designers and architects can respond to world housing crises. He unveils his TED Prize wish for a network to improve global living standards through collaborative design in his TED talk.

Next Section »

About TED Talk Lessons

TED Talk Lessons are created by TED-Ed using phenomenal TED Talks. Do you have an idea for a lesson? Create it now using any video from YouTube »

Meet The Creators

  • Speaker Thomas Heatherwick

More from The Artist's Palette