Thomas Heatherwick wins lifetime achievement prize at Disruptive Innovation Awards
British designer Thomas Heatherwick will be presented with a lifetime achievement prize at the 2016 Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Awards on 22 April.
The founder and design director of Heatherwick Studio – which has undertaken diverse projects including the cauldron for the 2012 London Olympics and a Bombay Sapphire gin distillery in Hampshire, UK, and has designed the highly controversial Garden Bridge in London – is being recognised for his “ingenuity, inventiveness and originality”.
The Disruptive Innovation Awards are an offshoot of the annual Tribeca Film Festival, co-founded by Robert DeNiro, and celebrate influential innovators in sports, education, media, design, philanthropy, economics, health care, civic engagement and social justice.
Previous winners have included film director David Lynch, musician Kanye West, Airbnb co-founder Brian Chesky and Kickstarter creators Perry Chen and Yancey Strickler.
Honourees – who receive a red hammer as the official Disruptor Award – are chosen for building new business models “and smashing broken ones”, in areas “desperately in need of innovation to help solve intractable problems.”
A citation explaining the choice of Heatherwick said: “Thomas defies the conventional classification of design disciplines. He founded Heatherwick Studio in 1994 to bring the practices of design, architecture, sculpture and urban planning together in a single workspace.
“Thomas’ unusual approach challenges every brief from first principles, to produce unique solutions for each project’s needs. In applying artistic thinking to the needs of modern cities, the team is engaged in creating some of the most acclaimed and memorable projects of our time.”
Other individuals awarded accolades this year include American actor and director Nate Parker and Kenyan conservationist and politician Richard Leakey, who is also being presented a lifetime achievement award. The awards ceremony will be held at the Tribeca Performing Arts Center in Lower Manhattan, New York.
"This year's honourees are a diverse group whose achievements lead by example uniting communities that are offering new solutions to some of society’s most challenging issues," said Craig Hatkoff, chief curator of the awards. "Disruptors represent a new kind of billionaire: innovators who have the potential to help a billion people."
Thomas Heatherwick lifetime achievement prize Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Awards Tribeca Film Festival designHeatherwick's Garden Bridge moves closer to reality as engineers appointed
Heatherwick’s Shanghai design inspired by tree-topped mountains
Thomas Heatherwick's King's Cross plaza to open by 2018
Heatherwick Studio to lead US$500m redesign of New York concert hall
Crucial beakthrough reached in London Garden Bridge funding stand-off
Heatherwick to design New York's 'Pier 55'
Bottoms up: Heatherwick’s Bombay Sapphire Distillery ready to go
Thomas Heatherwick to create new Art Museum in Cape Town, South Africa
Heatherwick's Olympic Cauldron to rise again at Museum of London
Plans revealed for Abu Dhabi sunken desert oasis by Heatherwick
FEATURE: Visitor Attractions – Spirit Maker


Therme appoints UK CEO as £250m Therme Manchester gets planning approval

Construction work to begin on Universal Resort Beijing's second phase 'by 2025'

Sparcstudio gives Center Parcs' Aqua Sana concept an extensive forest-inspired makeover

Studio Apostoli plans wellness oasis in Mongolian national park

Soho House to expand with new properties in UK, North America and Latin America

Art Processors win Fast Co Design Award for Sydney Opera House 50th anniversary synchronised show

September reopening for Britain's oldest lido following £9m transformation

Rixos to open Turkish-inspired beachfront spa resort in Dubai Islands

Rosewood’s second Austrian Asaya spa to open in restored 15th-century castle

1 Hotel Mayfair launches with Bamford Wellness Spa and biophilic design by GA Group

Otherworld Philadelphia is a place where 'anything is possible'

Mandarin Oriental opens first retreat in Greece and announces upcoming Sardinian property and spa

Third Space joins Six Senses at luxury development The Whiteley

GymNation – owned by JD Gyms – opens latest club in Dubai and plans Middle East expansion

Entertainment resort and waterpark planned for Tashkent, Uzbekistan

Plans revealed for US$2bn Oklahoma theme park

Nike gets into the health club market with the launch of group exercise studios

Canyon Ranch receives additional US$150m investment from VICI Properties to fund expansion

Communal bathhouses and self-care inspire LA's upcoming wellness club, Hume

Foster + Partners slated to design Equinox Resort Amaala

Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios' Eden Project Dundee will celebrate myth-makers and alchemists

Noa* creates elemental spa for alpine eco-resort in Austria

Meow Wolf opens The Real Unreal psychedelic experience in Grapvine, Texas

Boutique Greek island retreat unveils new spa with waterfall treatment rooms

PLP Architecture's Mandarin Oriental Bankside will be part of UK's first operationally fossil fuel-free mixed-use development

Fletcher Priest creates new design for Therme Manchester

Buro Happold hosts active transport event at World Congress of Architecture in Copenhagen

Aardman Animation and design studio, Katapult, launch new attraction concept

Anotherform and Fluxprojects create immersive fitness concept for Blok in London

FaulknerBrowns delivers new Lee Valley Ice Centre with two Olympic rinks
Early-onset MS inspired Adria Lake to explore resilience as both a healing modality and an approach to design in the creation of her new home and company headquarters in Colorado