Image via Humanise
Imagine a building. Chances are, a glass rectangular box with many windows springs to mind.
Such structures are the scourge of many a landscape, according to famed architect Thomas Heatherwick. He and his firm, Heatherwick Studio, have thus launched the Humanise campaign, a global movement 10 years in the making to stop more boring buildings from finding a home on this planet.
The lack of inspiration spilling from dull architecture has side effects on mental health. “Boring buildings deprive us of crucial sensory information. They cause stress. They make us antisocial,” the Humanise website proclaims. “They change how we feel and how we behave.”
Further, bland structures “are also much worse for the environment than interesting ones,” the website explains, reason being that they’re “more likely to be demolished and replaced.”
Architecture lovers and the general public alike are asked to take photos of lifeless, one-note buildings that “depress them” to be added to an online census called The Boring Building Index. Six months later, the images will be studied by a team from “a top university” to draft conversations with designers, building planners, developers, and politicians on how to make the skyscraper-dominated world a better place with human-centric designs.
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The face of the campaign is an eye, dreamed up by London-based brand agency Uncommon, that is shaped like the letter H. This logo, according to It’s Nice That, is “easy to draw” and can be replicated by anyone, alluding to how weeding out uninspiring stimuli is a collective cause.
Image via Humanise
The symbol, in addition to the Humanise wordmark, is variable and is displayed in the handwriting of several creatives, including Heatherwick’s. The branding uses a minimal palette, but it’s layered with doodles to signify disruption.
Images via Humanise
In line with the campaign’s launch, Heatherwick has just published a new book with Penguin Books, entitled Humanise – A Maker’s Guide to Building Our World.
[via It’s Nice That, Campaign UK, Humanise, images via Humanise]
by rrollins
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