He?s the world hottest designer, according to a new profile According to a new Vanity Fair profile by prolific architecture critic Paul Goldberger, North London native Thomas Heatherwick is not only ?part architect, part furniture designer, part product designer, part researcher, part landscape architect, and part Pied Piper of design,? he?s also ?by almost any measure the hottest designer in the world today.? So, what, exactly has Heatherwick been working on"
The 46-year-old has certainly been busy. There?s the just-revealed $150 million ?Vessel,? for one, an interactive ?public landmark? made up of 154 flights of stairs resembling an angular cyclone that will be at the center of the new public square at New York City?s massive Hudson Yards development project. And the overhaul of the David Geffen Hall at the Lincoln Center. And the design of the Barry-Diller-Diane-Von-Furstenberg-backed public park and performance space Pier 55 off Manhattan?s West Side. And the joint-commission with that other starchitect wunderkind Bjarke Ingels of Google?s new headquarters in Mountain View, California. And the controversial Thames-spanning Garden Bridge park in London.
Image courtesy of Luxigon
A rendering of Pier 55.

But what drives Heatherwick, and what is behind his ambitions" Here?s a glimpse inside the forces that led to his success, excerpted from Goldberger?s profile, which you can read in full here.
Heatherwick?s mother?s background ...