Cooper Hewitt is delving into the design process of Thomas Heatherwick, the designer behind London's innovative hydraulic Rolling Bridge and the renowned U.K. Pavilion at the 2010 World Expo. In the first American museum exhibit to showcase the work of the British designer and his London-based studio, “Provocations: The Architecture and Design of Heatherwick Studio" launched Wednesday in the museum’s Barbara and Morton Mandel Design Gallery. The process behind Heatherwick's work, which ranges from grand architecture projects to product and temporary structure design, is profiled via a carefully curated collection of prototypes, presentation and sketch models, full-scale mockups, objects, photographs and film and video footage.

Thomas Heatherwick

“'Provocations' celebrates the inventive approach of the Heatherwick Studio and reveals the design process and concepts behind the firm’s incredible products and buildings, from the rotation-molded Spun chair—recently acquired into Cooper Hewitt’s permanent collection—to large architectural projects like the Learning Hub in Singapore,” said Caroline Baumann, director of the museum. “Cooper Hewitt is committed to shaping how people think about design and this exhibition will have visitors marveling at Heatherwick’s groundbreaking work.”

The exhibit is on view until January 3, 2016, and is organized by Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas. Cooper Hewitt is the only East Coast venue in the national tour of the exhibition. “It is a huge honor to be featured as part of the first year of programming at the newly reopened Cooper Hewitt in New York,” said Heatherwick. “New York is in a fascinating phase of rethinking itself and my studio is simultaneously fortunate to be working on two significant projects in the city that we hope will contribute to this.” Learn more.