With a belief that soulless, bland architecture is seriously damaging our wellbeing, Heatherwick Studio launched Humanise, a global campaign for joyful buildings. We were tasked with raising the profile of the campaign, taking it further than its industry niche and into the public consciousness.
While promoting Humanise as a credible and creative campaign, we had another goal: to ignite a conversation around dull architecture in our towns and cities.
By expanding the reach of the campaign, we took the conversation outside of the sector. We positioned Humanise’s research into architecture and health alongside local stories about the government’s proposed ‘New Towns’, and built relationships with local authorities and developers.
Meanwhile, we turned our focus to creating a media campaign around Humanise’s ‘Bland Castles’ installation. These were intentionally boring, tower-block sandcastles built on Morecambe beach, aiming to capture the attention of beach-goers and share Humanise’s objectives through flyers. We knew we could take it further, though; it had the potential to be a huge conversation starter, sparking widespread interest in Humanise’s mission beyond the industry.
With our help, the Humanise message reverberated around the world. We landed a powerful picture story through ‘Bland Castles’, which went from beach to broadsheets, making the international press and featuring on the regional BBC Radio and News. HomenDecor Magazine praised Humanise for “offering everyday men and women a voice”, and the study into the effects of architecture on our health made local headlines, positioning Humanise principles within the debate over the government’s ‘New Towns’.
We had moved the conversation around our built environments right into the mainstream.
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