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Humanize: A Maker's Guide to Designing Our Cities
From one of the world’s most innovative designers comes a fiercely passionate manifesto on why so many places have become miserable and boring and how we can make them better for everyone—featuring hundreds of photographs and illustrations that will change how you see the world around you.
We are living through a global catastrophe. Buildings affect how we feel, moment by moment, day by day. They have the power to lift us up and make us feel awestruck, playful, safe, and inspired, just as they can make us feel alienated and sad. But many of the places where we live, work, learn, and heal have become monotonous and disposable. We’re surrounded by cheap, boring buildings that make people stressed, sick, and unhappy. In short, much of our world has been crafted in a way that is hostile to human experience.
Now, drawing on his experience of the last thirty years in making bold, beautiful objects and buildings, Thomas Heatherwick offers both an informed critique of the inhumanity in most of today’s contemporary building design, and a rousing call for action. Looking through Heatherwick’s eyes, we see familiar landmarks and cityscapes around the world, from London, Paris, Barcelona, Singapore, New York, Vancouver, and beyond, both old and new, famous and obscure, to learn how places can either sap the life out of us—or nourish our senses and our psyche. The time has come, he says, to put emotion back at the heart of the design process, and the reasons to do so could not be more urgent. Design is not it has an impact upon economics, climate change, our mental and physical wellbeing—even the peace and cohesion of our societies.
As citizens and users, we need a world full of architectural diversity that delights and unites us. And as makers and designers, we can help create a world where cities reconnect with their essential to provide human spaces where people mix, meet, inspire each other, and live out their full potential.
Elegantly crafted by Heatherwick’s own studio, and fully illustrated with hundreds of black-and-white photos, Humanize is an urgent call-to-arms for making our world a better place for everyone to live, and provides the vision and tools for us to make it a reality.
We are living through a global catastrophe. Buildings affect how we feel, moment by moment, day by day. They have the power to lift us up and make us feel awestruck, playful, safe, and inspired, just as they can make us feel alienated and sad. But many of the places where we live, work, learn, and heal have become monotonous and disposable. We’re surrounded by cheap, boring buildings that make people stressed, sick, and unhappy. In short, much of our world has been crafted in a way that is hostile to human experience.
Now, drawing on his experience of the last thirty years in making bold, beautiful objects and buildings, Thomas Heatherwick offers both an informed critique of the inhumanity in most of today’s contemporary building design, and a rousing call for action. Looking through Heatherwick’s eyes, we see familiar landmarks and cityscapes around the world, from London, Paris, Barcelona, Singapore, New York, Vancouver, and beyond, both old and new, famous and obscure, to learn how places can either sap the life out of us—or nourish our senses and our psyche. The time has come, he says, to put emotion back at the heart of the design process, and the reasons to do so could not be more urgent. Design is not it has an impact upon economics, climate change, our mental and physical wellbeing—even the peace and cohesion of our societies.
As citizens and users, we need a world full of architectural diversity that delights and unites us. And as makers and designers, we can help create a world where cities reconnect with their essential to provide human spaces where people mix, meet, inspire each other, and live out their full potential.
Elegantly crafted by Heatherwick’s own studio, and fully illustrated with hundreds of black-and-white photos, Humanize is an urgent call-to-arms for making our world a better place for everyone to live, and provides the vision and tools for us to make it a reality.
494 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 7, 2023
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 145 reviews
November 20, 2023
Thank you to Scribner and Goodreads for this amazing book I won in a Goodreads Giveaway.
As soon as I held this book in my hands and opened it to the first page, I was hooked. CAPTIVATED! I had to see more, learn more, discover more!
To me, this is what a good book is supposed to do. Open your mind and show you things you've never seen before. Capture your interest and curiousity. I was truly fascinated from the start, where the author shares a photo of Gaudí's Casa Milà, and how he'd never seen a building like that until he saw it in a book he'd picked up years ago, and essentially how that made the light in his brain flick on and the rest is history.
Have you ever really thought about how the buildings that surround you might contribute to feelings of being sick or unhappy? I'd not really thought of that too much until I read this amazing book. It's certainly an interesting idea worth exploring! This book shares so many bright and interesting ideas of how we can begin to feel better starting with the structures that surround us, and how each of us can play a role in making things better.
I love everything about this book from the cover to the interesting black and white photos within, and the interesting informational charts provided in different layouts as well.
Fun fact, in case you did not know (I didn't realize at first) Thomas Heatherwick designed the Vessel structure in New York and if that's any indication of how cool this book is, well, there you have it.
Thank you again to Scribner and Goodreads for this book. It's one of my favorites and I always find something new and interesting on any page that I revisit!
Thanks for taking the time to read my review and happy reading!
As soon as I held this book in my hands and opened it to the first page, I was hooked. CAPTIVATED! I had to see more, learn more, discover more!
To me, this is what a good book is supposed to do. Open your mind and show you things you've never seen before. Capture your interest and curiousity. I was truly fascinated from the start, where the author shares a photo of Gaudí's Casa Milà, and how he'd never seen a building like that until he saw it in a book he'd picked up years ago, and essentially how that made the light in his brain flick on and the rest is history.
Have you ever really thought about how the buildings that surround you might contribute to feelings of being sick or unhappy? I'd not really thought of that too much until I read this amazing book. It's certainly an interesting idea worth exploring! This book shares so many bright and interesting ideas of how we can begin to feel better starting with the structures that surround us, and how each of us can play a role in making things better.
I love everything about this book from the cover to the interesting black and white photos within, and the interesting informational charts provided in different layouts as well.
Fun fact, in case you did not know (I didn't realize at first) Thomas Heatherwick designed the Vessel structure in New York and if that's any indication of how cool this book is, well, there you have it.
Thank you again to Scribner and Goodreads for this book. It's one of my favorites and I always find something new and interesting on any page that I revisit!
Thanks for taking the time to read my review and happy reading!
January 16, 2024
4/5
Tricky to rate. A very simple argument, made simply and repeated again and again over 400 pages.
Most modern buildings are boring and we need more interesting ones.
I knew this book would get pelters after reading the first few pages. It’s shouty and attacks current practitioners. And yes, it’s very self-indulgent and lacks depth. But! This seems an entirely appropriate way to get the point across to the audience it’s intended… the general public, i.e. the passers-by of buildings.
And I simply can’t agree more that buildings dominate the sense of a place – and that I’d much rather be surrounded by interesting architecture (like in Bath, for example) than boring architecture (like the vast majority of towns and cities in the UK). It’s something I’d noticed as a kid and possibly unlearned as an adult.
So, in short, I thought it’s a great point, made intentionally simply and repeated to death. And why not go about it like that? I’m imagining the author banging their head against the wall for thirty years making it – this book is the manifestation of that. A nice bonus too, it’s very well designed.
Will be passing on to my mates as requested by the author in the final pages.
Tricky to rate. A very simple argument, made simply and repeated again and again over 400 pages.
Most modern buildings are boring and we need more interesting ones.
I knew this book would get pelters after reading the first few pages. It’s shouty and attacks current practitioners. And yes, it’s very self-indulgent and lacks depth. But! This seems an entirely appropriate way to get the point across to the audience it’s intended… the general public, i.e. the passers-by of buildings.
And I simply can’t agree more that buildings dominate the sense of a place – and that I’d much rather be surrounded by interesting architecture (like in Bath, for example) than boring architecture (like the vast majority of towns and cities in the UK). It’s something I’d noticed as a kid and possibly unlearned as an adult.
So, in short, I thought it’s a great point, made intentionally simply and repeated to death. And why not go about it like that? I’m imagining the author banging their head against the wall for thirty years making it – this book is the manifestation of that. A nice bonus too, it’s very well designed.
Will be passing on to my mates as requested by the author in the final pages.
May 15, 2024
Humanise is a book with a simple message - we need to make buildings less boring for the sake of mental wellbeing, for the environment, and to foster creativity. This is repeated throughout the book, but it manages to avoid monotony through its interesting visual examples and graphic design. That said, I wish the author had gone into more depth about some of the topics, such as designing everyday buildings (not just vanity projects), building materials, and how software can help create and judge interesting designs.
Some takeaways from the book:
● A building should be interesting to look at from a city distance, street distance, and especially from a door distance.
● Interesting design doesn't have to mean lavish decorations - even slight variations in the depth of a facade draw a viewer's attention.
● Something I wasn't aware of - some of Le Corbusier's later works are a far cry from his typical brutalist blocks of flats!
Some takeaways from the book:
● A building should be interesting to look at from a city distance, street distance, and especially from a door distance.
● Interesting design doesn't have to mean lavish decorations - even slight variations in the depth of a facade draw a viewer's attention.
● Something I wasn't aware of - some of Le Corbusier's later works are a far cry from his typical brutalist blocks of flats!
May 19, 2026
Heatherwick's abstract was ridiculous enough, on the surface, to entice me. He believed (among other things, he was wise enough to add) that the boring architecture today helped cause: mental health crises, climate change, war... pretty much everything. Humanise is a beautiful book. It has to be, I suppose, when Heatherwick is declaring war on boredom. His proxy 'villain' of the book is Le Corbusier, the modernist architect, who, at least in the confines of the book, revolutionised and ruined architecture forever.
My dad was a town planner for his whole life (retired) and my mum still is a town planner. Dinner table conversation when I was a boy and lived at home was usually about planning. Change of use, bat surveys, S106 money... these buzzwords seemed synonymous with dinner. Le Corbusier is famous among anyone in that field, and my parents are no different. I was at my parents' house this weekend and had this book in my bag, which, as the weather was good (at least briefly), I brought out into the sunshine. I gave some brief explanations to my mum, quoted some bits, and she turned her nose up. It was easy to say now, with hindsight, she said. Post-war England needed housing and Le Corbusier did exactly that. (Heatherwick, interestingly, later says much the same thing, in a too-late appeasing style.)
So buildings are boring thanks to modernism and thanks to Le Corbusier (whom he calls, the 'God of Boring'). And naturally I mostly disagree with Le Corbusier's philosophies and ideas. After all, had he got his way, Paris would have looked like the below photo. Yes, that's the Notre-Dame you can see there. He wanted to demolish the Right Bank and replace it with towering housing.
So Heatherwick pins the blame on him. He also pins the blame on the intellectualisation of architects and the rigorous training needed to become one. By law, you cannot call yourself one unless you have been approved. This, Heatherwick believes, means that the architects aren't the ones getting involved anymore. Not really. They are in their ivory towers as the blue collar workers fulfil their visions. And not even that, because about 6% of homes in the UK are designed by architects. They're too expensive, too valuable. This divide is one of the central problems. For a 500 page book, there are not many points to be made. By the midway point, he is mostly rehashing what he has already said in different words. By the final 200, the message has become so preachy and desperate that it falls into utter disrepair. If that's not bad enough, he has some FAQs at the end (as a kind of afterword) pre-empting readers' disbelief at some of his opinions.
It is tenuous and extremely idealistic. If only we had more attractive housing, the world might be a better place! With 20 pages to go he repeats his mantras
I expected more about social housing, but he didn't touch on it much. Instead, he raved on and on about contemporary buildings (in general) being boring, straight-edged, and ugly. And I am possibly showing my bias, as I've seen first-hand how often town planners are blamed, but I felt Heatherwick's arguments to be lacking in context. Le Corbusier was working at a time of necessity. It is easy to say now, But why didn't he make them more attractive? It would have been beneficial for the book to have far fewer pages.
My dad was a town planner for his whole life (retired) and my mum still is a town planner. Dinner table conversation when I was a boy and lived at home was usually about planning. Change of use, bat surveys, S106 money... these buzzwords seemed synonymous with dinner. Le Corbusier is famous among anyone in that field, and my parents are no different. I was at my parents' house this weekend and had this book in my bag, which, as the weather was good (at least briefly), I brought out into the sunshine. I gave some brief explanations to my mum, quoted some bits, and she turned her nose up. It was easy to say now, with hindsight, she said. Post-war England needed housing and Le Corbusier did exactly that. (Heatherwick, interestingly, later says much the same thing, in a too-late appeasing style.)
So buildings are boring thanks to modernism and thanks to Le Corbusier (whom he calls, the 'God of Boring'). And naturally I mostly disagree with Le Corbusier's philosophies and ideas. After all, had he got his way, Paris would have looked like the below photo. Yes, that's the Notre-Dame you can see there. He wanted to demolish the Right Bank and replace it with towering housing.
So Heatherwick pins the blame on him. He also pins the blame on the intellectualisation of architects and the rigorous training needed to become one. By law, you cannot call yourself one unless you have been approved. This, Heatherwick believes, means that the architects aren't the ones getting involved anymore. Not really. They are in their ivory towers as the blue collar workers fulfil their visions. And not even that, because about 6% of homes in the UK are designed by architects. They're too expensive, too valuable. This divide is one of the central problems. For a 500 page book, there are not many points to be made. By the midway point, he is mostly rehashing what he has already said in different words. By the final 200, the message has become so preachy and desperate that it falls into utter disrepair. If that's not bad enough, he has some FAQs at the end (as a kind of afterword) pre-empting readers' disbelief at some of his opinions.
It is tenuous and extremely idealistic. If only we had more attractive housing, the world might be a better place! With 20 pages to go he repeats his mantras
Boring buildings aren't just a curse on the visual landscape. They're a curse on our mental health. They make us stressed and anxious and scared. They're a curse on joy. They make us unhappy. They're a curse on fairness. The less privileged people are, the more their lives are blighted by boring. They're a curse on our planet.
I expected more about social housing, but he didn't touch on it much. Instead, he raved on and on about contemporary buildings (in general) being boring, straight-edged, and ugly. And I am possibly showing my bias, as I've seen first-hand how often town planners are blamed, but I felt Heatherwick's arguments to be lacking in context. Le Corbusier was working at a time of necessity. It is easy to say now, But why didn't he make them more attractive? It would have been beneficial for the book to have far fewer pages.
November 20, 2024
It’s unbelievable after you see the fact that, they only teach value calculations of the buildings as the parameter of money. In architecture school we don’t even study about profits and losses of the buildings we design. But professors still asks stupid questions like if the building itself will profit or not.
More important maybe the most important question is if the buildings we design valued enough to be what it supposed to be.
If you’re designing a hospital, the main purpose should be treating people. Thats the definition of a hospital. If you only focus on how many beds could you fit into the building, you might delay the healing of the patients.
The question about value engineering should be, how does the building itself helps to heal the patients. This way people won’t stay in the hospitals more than it needs and new patients could come faster.
So there is an optimisation problem. Now the question is how do you optimize the value of a hospital without lowering the healing standarts, which is not only the space a human body covers, it is the space a human body needs.
Firstly I thougt this book was all about him showing off what his office built and blaming Modernism. Now I can clearly see how Thomas Heatherwick thinks about the environment that we are living in.
More important maybe the most important question is if the buildings we design valued enough to be what it supposed to be.
If you’re designing a hospital, the main purpose should be treating people. Thats the definition of a hospital. If you only focus on how many beds could you fit into the building, you might delay the healing of the patients.
The question about value engineering should be, how does the building itself helps to heal the patients. This way people won’t stay in the hospitals more than it needs and new patients could come faster.
So there is an optimisation problem. Now the question is how do you optimize the value of a hospital without lowering the healing standarts, which is not only the space a human body covers, it is the space a human body needs.
Firstly I thougt this book was all about him showing off what his office built and blaming Modernism. Now I can clearly see how Thomas Heatherwick thinks about the environment that we are living in.
January 20, 2025
really fun read apart from the fonts giving me whiplash and the completely random advocating for the use of AI at the end? seems at odds with the rest of the book but i guess it’s still better than glass boxes and bird massacres
April 20, 2025
this book makes an important distinction between modernism in architecture as a true architectural style and modernism as it is often interpreted and applied. several generations of boring buildings, claiming to be modern, have been built over the course of the last century and used, albeit largely unnoticed and even worst unappreciated, only to be torn down for something equally as boring to be built. architects have evolved into academics, efficiency and mechanization have replaced craftsmanship, and budget and “sustainability” have replaced beauty. how can we fix our cities? we need to make them more human!
good cities, that is, the ones built by and for humans, are like our natural world. there is enough complexity to be interesting but not so much to be chaotic; there is enough repetition to be ordered but no so much to be boring. additionally, there is enough culture and character to define a sense of place. think of a forest, all the trees may be of the same species but the trees differ in height and branch profiles… and a forest in California will look and feel different than a forest in Cameroon.
think of a building that caught your attention and moved you at first sight. what qualities of the architecture interested you? now go, and share your answer with someone else so that we can assist in humanising our cities!
good cities, that is, the ones built by and for humans, are like our natural world. there is enough complexity to be interesting but not so much to be chaotic; there is enough repetition to be ordered but no so much to be boring. additionally, there is enough culture and character to define a sense of place. think of a forest, all the trees may be of the same species but the trees differ in height and branch profiles… and a forest in California will look and feel different than a forest in Cameroon.
think of a building that caught your attention and moved you at first sight. what qualities of the architecture interested you? now go, and share your answer with someone else so that we can assist in humanising our cities!
March 8, 2026
Does this book aim to teach the average person interested in buildings something new? Not exactly. But what it does is emphasise the vital point that architects are undervalued for what they can create, but also with modern budgets and attitudes towards profit, architects are undermining themselves to create buildings which are too accommodating… too boring. One has to think: someone’s money is going into this. How would I like myself to feel here? How would I like others to feel here? While I think architects and designers do think about the end user, they might not embed that into design at each end of the scale, from afar and from up close.
A particular shoutout to Penguin for allowing the book design to have a bendy spine, nicely textured and thick pages and consider the balance of photo to text on pages. You’ve taken a note from the architect’s portfolio.
A particular shoutout to Penguin for allowing the book design to have a bendy spine, nicely textured and thick pages and consider the balance of photo to text on pages. You’ve taken a note from the architect’s portfolio.
August 29, 2024
This would be one of the first books I'd hand someone interested in why design in public places and architecture matters. It's incredibly accessible (there are a lot of fun pictures and graphics) and very well-reasoned. My main complaint is that the author overlooks the role slaves and underpaid workers played in making certain historical buildings/structures possible. But as a whole, it compellingly explains why our cities are so boring and how we can make them more human once again.
March 18, 2025
Good thing about this book is that it provided loads of photos to demonstrate a pretty/ugly building can be universal. I am also sick of the bordness of plain buildings. Heatherwick talked about the challenges construction industry is facing, and was pretty accurate - it's mostly about the budget. Beauty is difficult to measure, so in this capitalised world, budgets and efficiency took the lead.
Bad thing about the book is probably - the whole printed book (traditional chinese version) smells like ink on quiz papers... and also it has a strong advoking tone so that the whole book repeats itself and criticises modernism. I knew how it is a total struggle in coordinating client's needs, budgets, laws & regulations, sustainability, health & safety, and functionability all in a construction project (since I work in the industry), so I do find it very challenging to respond to Heatherwick's advocacy.
I myself thought some repetitive staightlines and frames creates some sort of beauty.
But I do get what Heatherwick was talking about - I can't deny the beauty of Casa Milà and Sagrada Família, or the fact that I was awed by both Barcelona and Paris.
Bad thing about the book is probably - the whole printed book (traditional chinese version) smells like ink on quiz papers... and also it has a strong advoking tone so that the whole book repeats itself and criticises modernism. I knew how it is a total struggle in coordinating client's needs, budgets, laws & regulations, sustainability, health & safety, and functionability all in a construction project (since I work in the industry), so I do find it very challenging to respond to Heatherwick's advocacy.
I myself thought some repetitive staightlines and frames creates some sort of beauty.
But I do get what Heatherwick was talking about - I can't deny the beauty of Casa Milà and Sagrada Família, or the fact that I was awed by both Barcelona and Paris.
May 27, 2024
I absolutely flew through this one; I genuinely couldn't put it down. Heatherwick presents a somewhat repetitive but ultimately convincing argument that we are living in a cult of modernist architecture. While I have also embraced the ideals of prioritizing more "humanist" buildings that work to represent a sense of place, being designed from outside in, rather than vice versa. It is reassuring to see this case presented in a straightforward manner. Hopefully, this book will encourage others to adopt this perspective towards architecture moving forward.
October 16, 2024
Best book on architecture I’ve read and the new totemic book for the future of the industry. Turns the tables on the current direction of boring architecture to create a manifesto for new cities. An exciting step forward and a must read for students and professionals alike. I hope to owe a lot of my own future thinking and design back to this book.
July 8, 2024
So fun to read
August 4, 2024
The author's viewpoint is quite shallow and superficial. The focus is primarily on the visual design (attractiveness and beauty) of architecture, while largely ignoring other essential aspects to consider, such as spatial efficiency, balance, restoration, preservation, environmental protection, and material use.
He emphasizes that a boring city would lead to higher depression rates and the occurrence of chronic diseases among people. However, this is a logical fallacy, as both consequences are more likely due to the high density and lack of resources in such a city, including building and medical resources, fresh and clean food, rather than a direct causal relationship between the two consequences.
Despite this, the book does encourage readers to reflect on the meaning of buildings to them. Overall, it is a good leisure and reference read, but may not be inspiring for architectural professionals, as there are more multifaceted ways to define and appreciate a good building beyond just its outward appearance.
He emphasizes that a boring city would lead to higher depression rates and the occurrence of chronic diseases among people. However, this is a logical fallacy, as both consequences are more likely due to the high density and lack of resources in such a city, including building and medical resources, fresh and clean food, rather than a direct causal relationship between the two consequences.
Despite this, the book does encourage readers to reflect on the meaning of buildings to them. Overall, it is a good leisure and reference read, but may not be inspiring for architectural professionals, as there are more multifaceted ways to define and appreciate a good building beyond just its outward appearance.
June 25, 2024
Ugh. Lots of youthful energy here.
October 17, 2024
Pft Le Corbusier is such a dick bro
December 28, 2024
Me and my homies hate 5 over 1 buildings.
October 3, 2024
4.5 stars. Yes, this book focuses more on emotions than statistics and a broader in-depth argument. But it gets people thinking, and is a brave stand in the modern architecture world, that until now has been only seen perhaps only among those in neoclassical/traditional architecture.
I'm not particularly a fan of Thomas Heatherwick's work. I do really like a few of his projects, but there's many that make me say 'yikes!'. However, his manifesto for architecture and urban design is incredibly refreshing and welcome. Humanise: A Maker’s Guide to Building Our World argues his case against 'boring' architecture, and for his desire for buildings that bring joy and interest to people, both from a distance, but also up close. It is not a thorough academic text, but an emotive one that is designed to get people thinking.
Its layout is original and very approachable - it's 400 pages, but filled with images and diagrams. I really do wish he had chosen to include more of the research that backs up his argument - it can come across as an emotive argument without the data to back it up (which his critics lean into) but the research is very much out there and echoing his thoughts. That it is so approachable is important in an industry that loves jargon and incomprehensible theoretical writings. It's aimed at been accessible for the public, to get them to think and be engaged, not just those in the industry.
It was wonderful to find a big name in architecture (although I hadn't realised he was an architect himself), criticising the cliquey snobbery the industry has. Unsurprisingly this book has been heavily criticised by the industry, with scathing reviews in The Architects' Journal etc. (perhaps calling the architect tutor's favourite architecture, Le Corbusier, 'the god of boring' hit a nerve, but it is certainly how I shall think of him now!). There are too many stories of architects who dismiss and look down upon the opinion of the public. However, unlike a piece of sculpture, it is the public who have to live with it and thus whose thoughts and feelings are very important in considering the design of a building (and there are many architects who even ignore the clients who hired them).
I wasn't expecting him to then argue at the end that part of the issue is that architecture has become removed from the world of artists. In my experience, architecture has gone too far that way, focusing on weird concepts and narratives, rather than the ergonomics of the building, and craftsmanship involved with it.
While reading this, I was thinking that perhaps he is a little to far the other way, into starchitecture, rather than a tasteful medium, but at the end he does acknowledge this saying: 'Of course every new building shouldn't strain to look iconic. I'm only saying that buildings should have enough care, complexity and emotional intelligence built into them that the people who use them and pass by them every day are nourished by them.' I was concerned this could come across as an advertising stunt for his practice, but while he does occasionally refence a building of his, it was not very often.
I bookmarked a couple of pages that made me think. Firstly, when he talks about Paul Morrell's stance against viewing buildings through the lens of profit. Value in a built asset isn't just profit. For instance in a hospital, its value should be patients healed, in a prison the number of inmates who go back to society and don't reoffend. You could decide to go for profit and max out the number of beds that can be fitted in, or instead fit less in, but focus on creating a healing environment. Secondly, a page with an image of repetitive tower blocks in India with the following sentence written across it:
'If you asked children to draw an imaginary dream city, how many would come up with something like this?'
I'm not particularly a fan of Thomas Heatherwick's work. I do really like a few of his projects, but there's many that make me say 'yikes!'. However, his manifesto for architecture and urban design is incredibly refreshing and welcome. Humanise: A Maker’s Guide to Building Our World argues his case against 'boring' architecture, and for his desire for buildings that bring joy and interest to people, both from a distance, but also up close. It is not a thorough academic text, but an emotive one that is designed to get people thinking.
Its layout is original and very approachable - it's 400 pages, but filled with images and diagrams. I really do wish he had chosen to include more of the research that backs up his argument - it can come across as an emotive argument without the data to back it up (which his critics lean into) but the research is very much out there and echoing his thoughts. That it is so approachable is important in an industry that loves jargon and incomprehensible theoretical writings. It's aimed at been accessible for the public, to get them to think and be engaged, not just those in the industry.
It was wonderful to find a big name in architecture (although I hadn't realised he was an architect himself), criticising the cliquey snobbery the industry has. Unsurprisingly this book has been heavily criticised by the industry, with scathing reviews in The Architects' Journal etc. (perhaps calling the architect tutor's favourite architecture, Le Corbusier, 'the god of boring' hit a nerve, but it is certainly how I shall think of him now!). There are too many stories of architects who dismiss and look down upon the opinion of the public. However, unlike a piece of sculpture, it is the public who have to live with it and thus whose thoughts and feelings are very important in considering the design of a building (and there are many architects who even ignore the clients who hired them).
I wasn't expecting him to then argue at the end that part of the issue is that architecture has become removed from the world of artists. In my experience, architecture has gone too far that way, focusing on weird concepts and narratives, rather than the ergonomics of the building, and craftsmanship involved with it.
While reading this, I was thinking that perhaps he is a little to far the other way, into starchitecture, rather than a tasteful medium, but at the end he does acknowledge this saying: 'Of course every new building shouldn't strain to look iconic. I'm only saying that buildings should have enough care, complexity and emotional intelligence built into them that the people who use them and pass by them every day are nourished by them.' I was concerned this could come across as an advertising stunt for his practice, but while he does occasionally refence a building of his, it was not very often.
I bookmarked a couple of pages that made me think. Firstly, when he talks about Paul Morrell's stance against viewing buildings through the lens of profit. Value in a built asset isn't just profit. For instance in a hospital, its value should be patients healed, in a prison the number of inmates who go back to society and don't reoffend. You could decide to go for profit and max out the number of beds that can be fitted in, or instead fit less in, but focus on creating a healing environment. Secondly, a page with an image of repetitive tower blocks in India with the following sentence written across it:
'If you asked children to draw an imaginary dream city, how many would come up with something like this?'
January 6, 2026
TLDR - Humanise tells a fun, engaging and well-researched story of the origins of boring buildings, and articulates a compassionate solution to the problem. Surely a must-read for any architecture student, or just about anyone in an architecture career*.
At 18, I had to make the decision between studying architecture vs. studying anything else oriented around design and invention. I had spent the majority of my life up to that point believing that architecture was my one true passion (ever since I saw the Turning Torso by Santiago Calatrava as a wee lad, and later discovered the infinite wonders of Minecraft). I spent my spare time crafting miniature models from paper and writing my EPQ on architectural flood defences. It was the only path I ever considered.
But by the time I came of age to make the all important University decision, I had grown disillusioned with what this career seemed to have in stall for me. Where were all the beautiful buildings that these architects once hoped to build? How come nearly all the recent builds across the country looked like the exact same soulless metal-and-glass cages? How come the country's brightest and most creative minds were holing up for seven years in architecture school only to wind up working on these dull and dreary buildings-made-of-mirrors? A great deal of the architects I admired weren't even classically trained, and what were these professionals waffling about anyway when they spoke of "layered spatial interactions"?
Long story short, I chose Design Engineering instead. But I haven't stopped reminiscing since about what might have been. I've had a great deal many conversations with friends about architecture and building - many of these debate points are even covered in this book. For all the times I tried to articulate the meaning of 'Critical Regionalism' to my begrudging engineer friends; the moments I struggled to defend why - no matter how ugly these modern office blocks were - the solution isn't to just build everything in an Edwardian style again; and those rare moments when I encountered an incredible, humane piece of architecture and agonised over why there weren't more buildings like it**, this book would have come in handy. Humanise elucidates in fun, engaging prose exactly what lead us to this 'blandemic', and how we fight to bring interesting and thoughtful buildings back onto our streets.
Mr Heatherwick - if you are reading this - I'd still like to design buildings and architecture even if I can't officially call myself an architect. Care to take me on board?
* I'm looking at you, Grimshaw Architects / BDP / Fletcher Priest.
** I am fortunate enough to have worked inside 15 Clerkenwell Close and can testify to its awe-inspiring feeling. It felt like venturing through lost ruins. Funnily enough, I also visited Doddington Estate many times as my ex lived there. What an ugly and hostile place. Both buildings are mentioned in the book and occupy opposite ends of the Boring-o-meter.
At 18, I had to make the decision between studying architecture vs. studying anything else oriented around design and invention. I had spent the majority of my life up to that point believing that architecture was my one true passion (ever since I saw the Turning Torso by Santiago Calatrava as a wee lad, and later discovered the infinite wonders of Minecraft). I spent my spare time crafting miniature models from paper and writing my EPQ on architectural flood defences. It was the only path I ever considered.
But by the time I came of age to make the all important University decision, I had grown disillusioned with what this career seemed to have in stall for me. Where were all the beautiful buildings that these architects once hoped to build? How come nearly all the recent builds across the country looked like the exact same soulless metal-and-glass cages? How come the country's brightest and most creative minds were holing up for seven years in architecture school only to wind up working on these dull and dreary buildings-made-of-mirrors? A great deal of the architects I admired weren't even classically trained, and what were these professionals waffling about anyway when they spoke of "layered spatial interactions"?
Long story short, I chose Design Engineering instead. But I haven't stopped reminiscing since about what might have been. I've had a great deal many conversations with friends about architecture and building - many of these debate points are even covered in this book. For all the times I tried to articulate the meaning of 'Critical Regionalism' to my begrudging engineer friends; the moments I struggled to defend why - no matter how ugly these modern office blocks were - the solution isn't to just build everything in an Edwardian style again; and those rare moments when I encountered an incredible, humane piece of architecture and agonised over why there weren't more buildings like it**, this book would have come in handy. Humanise elucidates in fun, engaging prose exactly what lead us to this 'blandemic', and how we fight to bring interesting and thoughtful buildings back onto our streets.
Mr Heatherwick - if you are reading this - I'd still like to design buildings and architecture even if I can't officially call myself an architect. Care to take me on board?
* I'm looking at you, Grimshaw Architects / BDP / Fletcher Priest.
** I am fortunate enough to have worked inside 15 Clerkenwell Close and can testify to its awe-inspiring feeling. It felt like venturing through lost ruins. Funnily enough, I also visited Doddington Estate many times as my ex lived there. What an ugly and hostile place. Both buildings are mentioned in the book and occupy opposite ends of the Boring-o-meter.
October 21, 2023
I come from an arts background, and have taught and advocated for years for creating communities which use arts and culture to benefit livability, quality of life and place, and even economic health. I was thrilled to come across this book, which has similar goals but comes from the architecture side of the picture. Renowned architect Thomas Heatherwick presents a simple premise: buildings used to be interesting. Now they’re boring. And boring buildings are worse than just boring. They are soul-sucking, stress-inducing, environmentally irresponsible monstrosities that have disadvantages far beyond the fact that they are boring and ugly.
Heatherwick starts with an analysis of one of the world’s most unique and beautiful structures, Gaudi’s Basilica de La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, then contrasts this and other buildings in Barcelona with the Modernist movement championed by Le Corbusier (Charles-Edouard Jenneret-Gris) and echoed by other 20th Century artists from Picasso to Pollock in their attempt to strip art down to the basics and experiment with new forms. All well and good, but instead of work hanging on museum walls, building design and city planning affect all of us. In contrast to Louis Sullivan’s famous maxim that form should follow function, which places the design onus on the interior, Heatherwick argues that the exterior affects many more people and should be treated with more care.
Heatherwick applies his own belief in humanization of structure by making the format of the book creative and interesting. He includes dozens of examples of good and bad architecture, presents material using graphic creativity. Even if I were not interested in the subject matter, the format of the book would have kept me interested. Which, obviously, is the point.
This book should be required reading for architects, planners, designers, political officials and anyone else with a stake in creating communities that nurture people instead of dehumanizing them.
Many thanks to Scribner and NetGalley for the opportunity to receive an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
Heatherwick starts with an analysis of one of the world’s most unique and beautiful structures, Gaudi’s Basilica de La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, then contrasts this and other buildings in Barcelona with the Modernist movement championed by Le Corbusier (Charles-Edouard Jenneret-Gris) and echoed by other 20th Century artists from Picasso to Pollock in their attempt to strip art down to the basics and experiment with new forms. All well and good, but instead of work hanging on museum walls, building design and city planning affect all of us. In contrast to Louis Sullivan’s famous maxim that form should follow function, which places the design onus on the interior, Heatherwick argues that the exterior affects many more people and should be treated with more care.
Heatherwick applies his own belief in humanization of structure by making the format of the book creative and interesting. He includes dozens of examples of good and bad architecture, presents material using graphic creativity. Even if I were not interested in the subject matter, the format of the book would have kept me interested. Which, obviously, is the point.
This book should be required reading for architects, planners, designers, political officials and anyone else with a stake in creating communities that nurture people instead of dehumanizing them.
Many thanks to Scribner and NetGalley for the opportunity to receive an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
January 25, 2025
An easy and visually engaging read, with its large font and plentiful images making it feel like a breeze. Heatherwick makes one clear point—he doesn’t like boring buildings—and sticks to it throughout. If this is your first foray into thinking about building design and placemaking, it might be a good place to start.
That said, the book is repetitive and doesn’t fully explore the complexities of the industry with too much rigor. While Heatherwick is critical of others, he seems somewhat disconnected from the profession and the pressures within it too, glossing over practicalities and failing to fully follow through on his points. There’s a call to action here, but it feels more like a starting point than a comprehensive exploration.
A solid entry-level read, many points that leave you pondering what to do with but for me, it left me wanting more depth and nuance, challenging the wider systems that designing and creating places is in.
That said, the book is repetitive and doesn’t fully explore the complexities of the industry with too much rigor. While Heatherwick is critical of others, he seems somewhat disconnected from the profession and the pressures within it too, glossing over practicalities and failing to fully follow through on his points. There’s a call to action here, but it feels more like a starting point than a comprehensive exploration.
A solid entry-level read, many points that leave you pondering what to do with but for me, it left me wanting more depth and nuance, challenging the wider systems that designing and creating places is in.
May 30, 2024
Heatherwick’s ‘Humanise’ is a beautifully designed and accessible book that reflects its mission; this book challenges and deconstructs dogmatic modernist ideas about form, function, and artistic theory. Though focussed through an architectural lens, as someone that studies and teaches English literature, I felt there was a certain universal truth to Heatherwick’s critique on modernist ideas surrounding the arts.
Even for the non-architecturally literate, this book contains an element of seductive intrigue for anyone who’s ever passed a building and FELT something. It delves into why we feel certain ways based on what we observe as a passer-by in a city and articulates how change is needed to ensure that positive, human design is encouraged in architecture and design planning.
Additionally, as well as being an interesting and well argued thought piece, this book is designed to be an experience. Every page’s use of image and text has been carefully considered to reflect its intent. I recommend this book highly.
Even for the non-architecturally literate, this book contains an element of seductive intrigue for anyone who’s ever passed a building and FELT something. It delves into why we feel certain ways based on what we observe as a passer-by in a city and articulates how change is needed to ensure that positive, human design is encouraged in architecture and design planning.
Additionally, as well as being an interesting and well argued thought piece, this book is designed to be an experience. Every page’s use of image and text has been carefully considered to reflect its intent. I recommend this book highly.
February 1, 2026
i did go into this with a bit of skepticism, judgement and disagreement as i initially found the whole book to be disagreeing with the modernists of architecture, who i am deeply fond of. and the book does exactly that, but it did not make me more angry, rather i would maybe say more interested in the argument of the author and the whole book — that we should be making buildings more interesting and how the whole approach of teaching architecture is “inhuman” (hugely influenced by the modernists) and needs reform. not to now create only amazing works like the famous gothic cathedrals, but to focus on the detail and the human touch, that’s often missing today. i’ll definitely be keeping the ideas of this book in my head during further studies and observations, so despite my initial judgement, i give it 5/5.
November 26, 2023
It turns the page on conventional architecture, challenging to design with heart rather than blueprints. A must-read for anyone who believes that cities should be as full of soul as they are of people.
January 20, 2024
A great book written for both architects and non architects with a simple truth: the building we build are boring. And a simple suggestion: we need to build buildings that are more interesting and humane.
March 29, 2024
Definitely one of my favorite book now !
Someone not afraid of telling the truth about what has been built over the last century and what is still being built nowadays! It’s time to wake up and use architecture to bring humanity and pleasure in our cities and homes !
Someone not afraid of telling the truth about what has been built over the last century and what is still being built nowadays! It’s time to wake up and use architecture to bring humanity and pleasure in our cities and homes !
April 1, 2026
Really amazing book that put forward things I have often thought about modern buildings. Although I do find the book can be quite repetitive and I felt like I was reading the same sentence hundreds of times. But otherwise really excellent.
April 22, 2026
5 for impact.
It gave me a new lens to walk around with!
Put simply for later me:
Architectural field is a cult
Boo Le Corbusier
Public opinion must be considered
Modernism is boring but modern doesn’t have to be
Bring back visual complexity
Value the human premium, buildings will then outlive us
It gave me a new lens to walk around with!
Put simply for later me:
Architectural field is a cult
Boo Le Corbusier
Public opinion must be considered
Modernism is boring but modern doesn’t have to be
Bring back visual complexity
Value the human premium, buildings will then outlive us
February 4, 2025
Very interesting very slay I love urban planning and architecture I wish I could do one million degrees and learn everything but in place of that books like this help
June 19, 2025
Good reminders to advocate for visual and tactile complexity in the built environment. Make buildings interesting for the people!
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