{"id":15695,"date":"2025-10-29T16:31:25","date_gmt":"2025-10-29T09:31:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cstc.vn\/blogtsk\/change-takes-time-inside-the-humanise-campaign-against-boring-buildings\/"},"modified":"2025-10-29T16:31:25","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T09:31:25","slug":"change-takes-time-inside-the-humanise-campaign-against-boring-buildings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cstc.vn\/blogtsk\/change-takes-time-inside-the-humanise-campaign-against-boring-buildings\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cChange takes time\u201d \u2013 Inside the Humanise campaign against boring buildings"},"content":{"rendered":"

In October 2023, Thomas Heatherwick announced his Humanise campaign<\/a>, to rid the world of boring soulless buildings. It\u2019s fair to say it launched with a fanfare, as well as a book, a three-part Radio 4 documentary, and a drive to sign supporters up to the cause.<\/p>\n

It was one of those rare moments when design enters the mainstream media chat, sparking conversations and generating a wide range of media coverage. This ranged from the very positive, to the very not \u2013 \u201c\u2018Dangerously misguided\u2019: the glaring problem with Thomas Heatherwick\u2019s architectural dreamworld,\u201d ran a headline in The Guardian<\/em>.<\/p>\n

At its heart was a problem hiding in plain sight \u2013 a \u201cquiet global catastrophe\u201d where dull building design, or \u201can epidemic of characterlessness\u201d was making people \u201csick, unhappy and isolated.\u201d<\/p>\n

Add in the startling fact that the construction industry produces five times as many carbon emissions as aviation, and the moment was ripe for change. And design was the answer, or at least a big part of the answer, to create buildings that \u201cdelight and unite\u201d society.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Two years on, and Abigail Scott Paul is reflecting on what it takes to transform a big idea into practical action.<\/p>\n

Hired in April 2024, she has an interesting CV that includes head of press at RIBA, and ten years at the anti-poverty charity, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI see my job as, how do we turn the provocation in the book into a strategic campaign for change?\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

If the launch was about drawing attention to the issue, which it clearly did very successfully, Scott Paul has spent the past 18 months trying to turn that spark of interest into \u201ca public conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we have to be realistic,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s going to take time to make this an issue that is going to cut through. And it\u2019s tough, there are a lot of issues in the world. But we have started to build momentum.\u201d<\/p>\n

Abigail Scott Paul<\/p>\n

The first, and perhaps most critical, task Scott Paul faces is to \u201cposition this as an issue of importance, to make it salient.\u201d This has taken two main forms.<\/p>\n

Firstly, to make this a discussion about public health, as opposed to \u201ca style debate.\u201d<\/p>\n

The campaign commissioned polling from Think Insights which found that 76% of people in the UK think buildings have an impact on their mental health.<\/p>\n

Heatherwick Studio has also supported the research of two neuroscientists, Colin Ellard and Cleo Valentine<\/a>, who have shown how architectural styles, especially those whose forms and shapes are from those found in the natural world, raise people\u2019s stress levels.<\/p>\n

The hope is that by talking in public health terms, the Humanise campaign can focus more minds on the issue \u2013 which might otherwise feel whimsical in the perma-crisis age we live in \u2013 and so drive more interest, and more funding.<\/p>\n

Edinburgh Castle re-imagined as part of the UnLandmarks campaign<\/p>\n

Scott Paul also wants to create relevance by feeding into very topical discussions to which their anti-bland message can contribute.<\/p>\n

\u201cHousing is an issue of public debate in this country, and that\u2019s somewhere we can add value, and a point of view,\u201d she explains.<\/p>\n

So ahead of the New Towns Taskforce delivering its report to the UK Government last month, Humanise commissioned its own study of 1,000 people living in England\u2019s post-war new towns<\/a>, to find out how they felt about their surroundings.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe previous generations of new towns have left many residents uninspired, disconnected and disheartened by their everyday environments,\u201d Scott Paul wrote in the survey foreword. \u201cMany describe them as \u2018boring,\u2019 \u2018ugly,\u2019 and \u2018run-down\u2019\u2026 people want more than just \u2018units\u2019: they want homes and places they can feel proud of.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe research showed a real gap between the type of buildings people have been served, and what they want for the future,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were able to use that insight to put forward a point of view that we can do better. And we were trying to amplify the public\u2019s voice in a way that hasn\u2019t been done before.\u201d<\/p>\n

A linguist by training, Scott Paul and her team have also been thinking about, \u201chow we tell a better story\u201d to engage as many people as possible.<\/p>\n

In April last year, they worked with Uncommon Creative Studio<\/a> on unLandmarks<\/em><\/a>, a series of images which reimagined iconic British buildings like the Tower of London, The Royal Liver Building, and Edinburgh Castle as bland, modern equivalents, \u201cstripped of their soul using AI.\u201d<\/p>\n

This summer, they worked with Sheffield-based Peter & Paul<\/a> and sand artist collective Sand In Your Eye<\/a> to create Bland Castles<\/em><\/a>, a series of dull and soulless sand castles built in Morecambe Bay. It was a smart idea, executed brilliantly, with an immediacy the media loved.<\/p>\n

The Humanise campaign\u2019s Bland Castles in Morecambe Bay. Photo by James Speakman\/PA Media Assignments.<\/p>\n

\u201cSocial campaigns can sometimes be a bit worthy,\u201d Scott Paul says. \u201cI think humour and playfulness make a huge difference to whether somebody sits up and notices something.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a design studio ourselves, you can imagine the bar is quite high, so we have to come up with something special.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another part of Scott Paul\u2019s strategy has been to build partnerships with developers, academic institutions, and funders like the US-based Allen Institute, \u201can independent research institute aimed at unlocking the mysteries of biology.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t drive the type of change that we want to drive on our own,\u201d she explains.<\/p>\n

That means working not only with those who can support and strengthen the thinking behind the campaign, but also those groups whose decisions will ultimately dictate if change happens, like developers, social housing experts, and town planners.<\/p>\n

It also has the added benefit of moving it away from being seen as \u201cThomas Heatherwick\u2019s Humanise.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t want to position this as just Thomas\u2019 campaign,\u201d Scott Paul explains. \u201cWe need more voices, and voices that may be heard in a different way to a designer\u2019s voice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Heatherwick Studio\u2019s Humanise Wall for the Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism. photo by Yongjoon Choi.<\/p>\n

The architect\u2019s involvement as the fulcrum of the movement has obvious advantages, but also some drawbacks.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe platform that Thomas has is going to help us,\u201d Scott Paul says. \u201cBut the campaign won\u2019t survive if it\u2019s just Thomas Heatherwick.\u201d<\/p>\n

And some of the criticism of the campaign \u2013 like The Guardian<\/em> article mentioned above<\/a> \u2013 has centred on a sort of whataboutery, accusing Heatherwick of not practising what he preaches.<\/p>\n

\u201cA sense of \u2018do as I say, not as I do\u2019 pervades the whole book, its author seemingly unaware of what his own studio is producing,\u201d the journalist Oliver Wainwright wrote.<\/p>\n

Scott Paul makes a comparison with Jamie Oliver\u2019s healthy eating crusade, and thinks the brickbats come with the territory. \u201cI remember Jamie Oliver used to get attacked for the amount of sugar he puts in his recipes when he talked about a sugar tax,\u201d she says. \u201cBut I know that design can make a huge difference to people\u2019s lives.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

And she points out, the campaign has evolved from the ideas outlined in Heatherwick\u2019s book. But the campaign has attracted criticism too.<\/p>\n

Writing in Dezeen<\/em><\/a>, Owen Hopkins accused Humanise of being \u201cutterly without politics,\u201d a charge Scott Paul refutes, insisting they have \u201ca proper theory of change\u201d and a robust strategy for pursuing it with different stakeholders.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s easy to throw stones from the side,\u201d Scott Paul says. \u201cBut the studio is putting its money where its mouth is, and investing in the campaign. They didn\u2019t need to \u2013 they could have had a much easier ride.\u201d<\/p>\n

The main thing Scott Paul wants people to understand is that making big, systematic change doesn\u2019t happen overnight.<\/p>\n

She says the campaign is resonating \u2013 the book has been published in the US, China, Brazil, Taiwan, Japan and Colombia. The team has given talks in 17 countries, and last month, Heatherwick unveiled a 90-metre long Humanise Wall<\/em> as part of the Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople get this is an issue, but patience is required,\u201d she says. \u201cWe always said it\u2019s a 10-year campaign,\u201d she says. \u201cWe\u2019re in year two, so there\u2019s a long way to go. Change takes time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nWhat to read next: <\/strong>Soho Theatre\u2019s new venue blends heritage and personality<\/a> | IDK and Fieldwork Facility reinvent museum design at V&A East Storehouse<\/a> | 93FT designs \u201cplayful\u201d new Treehouse Hotel in Manchester<\/a> | BOXPARK moves beyond shipping containers in new London food hall<\/a>\n<\/div>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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