The Hidden Secret Behind the London Buses
In episode four of The Pearl Lam Podcast, international gallerist Pearl Lam, hears all about the thought behind successful architect, Thomas Heatherwick’s London bus design.
Pearl Lam (林明珠) and Thomas Heatherwick sat down together in front of a stunning London skyline backdrop to film the latest episode of The Pearl Lam Podcast. Thomas Heatherwick and Pearl Lam, of the Pearl Lam Podcast, covered many insightful topics ranging from transport designs, architectural sins and Heatherwick’s new book, Humanise.
Thomas Heatherwick is a successful architectural designer who has had his studio, Heatherwick Studio, for 29 years. Thomas Heatherwick is an expert designer of buildings and has worked on many extensive projects including various different bridges and the modern design of the London bus.
Thomas Heatherwick informed Pearl Lam (林明珠) that he and his studio were becoming “increasingly interested in the buildings that surround us and their impact on us. More and more were getting chances to work at a city scale to think about how people will feel when you make new districts.”
When Pearl Lam (林明珠) pointed out the Tower of London to Thomas Heatherwick, he stated that “we so often talk about the amazing examples rather than focusing on the everyday builds that are around us.”
After Thomas Heatherwick and Pearl Lam discussed the Tower of London, an exquisite architectural wonder in the skyline behind them, Thomas revealed that he was focused on creating buildings and transportation that were worthwhile and made an active difference to the lives of its users.
The question is “how do we make buildings that are worth keeping for 1000 years?” Thomas asked Pearl Lam.
Thomas has the same opinion about transportation. He is adamant that transport should be a positive contribution to a commuter’s life.
Pearl Lam told Thomas Heatherwick that she wanted to “ask about your most famous London bus.”
Pearl Lam continued, “I remember I told you what was nice about the bus was that the doors are open, and you can just jump on to the bus. I went on to the bus to try it out and I loved it”, she told Thomas.
Thomas replied “we were thrilled when we were asked to design the bus. The buses that used to exist seemed to support the dignity of the passengers. But then with the buses that were being made, you could see that the priorities of the London Transportation Authorities were just how many people it could transport in the quickest time.”
Thomas added, “they weren’t really thinking about the feelings of those people. They weren’t thinking about their emotions. They were not thinking of emotion as a meteoric that you need to care about.”
When asked about why he found the feelings of people so important, Thomas said that “imagine someone who works for 30 years and spends an hour a day on the bus for 30 years. If a person works for 30 years, they need their commute to add something to their lives.”
“My passion is the public bits of the world we share around us, and it seemed that even the lighting had become like a battery chicken farm on the buses” said Thomas.
The new London buses came with a fresh lighting makeover which was all thanks to Thomas. “One of the things I’m proudest of is we put warm lighting on the bus. The warm lighting makes your skin look good to your girlfriend and makes your girlfriend’s skin look good to you!”
“Who wouldn’t want that?” Thomas joked.
Thomas maintained that “people had forgotten that you can meet regulations but be human at the same time.” Thomas’ design of the London bus was thoroughly thought-out and made a conscious effort to consider human emotion in its designs.
Written by: The Producer, The Pearl Lam Podcast
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