Thomas Heatherwick shows how design has a profound effect on our mental and physical health,the climate,as well as the peace and cohesion of societies. He shows how a flawed idea of utility and'efficiency'has engulfed our towns and cities and hardened into a form of bland minimalism. But it doesn't have to be this way: there are other ways to build - with the power to lift our spirits,engage and connect us.
Heatherwick draws on his own work,the ideas of other experts in the field,and recent advances in neuroscience and cognitive psychology to offer both a case against the inhumanity of modernist design and a rallying cry to everyone to imagine the world anew. Looking through his eyes,we take in places around the world,old and new,famous and obscure,that can sap the life out of us - or nourish our senses and our psyche.
Humanise is a tautly argued provocation and an urgent call-to-arms to make the world around us a far better place for everyone to live.
Publisher: Penguin Books LtdISBN: 9780241389799Number of pages: 496Weight: 540 gDimensions: 198 x 130 x 46 mm
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'Humanise is a masterwork. It's quietly furious,impassioned,rigorous and forensic in all the right doses. It leaves me very hopeful indeed about how things could go from here. The Age of Boring might just have ended right now.'- Alain de Botton
'Thomas Heatherwick echoes many things I find myself saying as I travel round the country. How the hell did that monstrosity get built Why is this place so depressing Why is so much of the built environment so boring This book will wind up quite a few architects,planners and developers who labour under the delusion that they are the adults in the room. Good. These people need to develop some compassion for the people who have to live with their joyless,bland,unlovable creations. This book is a super accessible guide as to why we shouldn't put up with soulless buildings and how we might change that.'- Grayson Perry
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