IN PICTURES: Hong Kong showcase for designer Thomas Heatherwick

Celebrity British designer remodelled Pacific Place in 2008 and was behind London's Garden Bridge over the Thames. Tens of thousands have seen touring exhibition in Beijing and Shanghai

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Aerial view of Pacific Place, Admiralty, during construction. Photo: Heatherwick Studio, 2011

Published: 5:28pm, 13 Aug 2015

Front view of extrusion bench. Photo: Steve Speller, 2009

Organisers of the upcoming “Inside Heatherwick Studio” exhibition hope it will make as big a splash in Hong Kong as on its earlier stops in mainland China, where tens of thousands visited the show to better understand how one of the world’s best creative minds operates.

The retrospective of celebrity designer Thomas Heatherwick, opening to the public from September 5 at PMQ in Central, was particularly relevant to Hong Kong because of the work he had done in the city, said Robert Ness, director of the British Council Hong Kong.

Nanyang Technological University Learning Hub, Singapore. Photo: Hufton + Crow, 2015

New London Routemaster bus in front of Tower Bridge. Photo: Iwan Baan, 2012

Heatherwick’s redesign of the Pacific Place complex was widely regarded locally as a success and the shopping centre’s owner, Swire Properties, was one of the sponsors of the upcoming exhibition, said Ness. Heatherwick is also a regular visitor to Hong Kong for work and for public appearances, such as giving last year’s Central Saint Martins Cross Culture Lecture at the Asia Society.

The petals of the London Olympic cauldron before assembly. Photo: Jasper White, 2012

Heatherwick was just 38 years old when he won the Pacific Place contract in 2008, but he already had a formidable reputation by then. Back in 2005, he was asked to redesign Wan Chai’s Southorn Playground, but the project was cancelled by the government because of high costs.