The global 100-year catastrophe that still grips our towns and cities

Sensory deprivation is sickening our minds – and the cure is putting more emotion into how we design our buildings, says Thomas Heatherwick. In this second of a three-part serialisation of his new book, ‘Humanise: A Maker’s Guide to Building Our World’, he argues for less glass and more soul

The outsides of modern buildings tend to be made from smooth, flat materials such as metal and glass (Susan Vineyard/Dreamstime)

I want to talk about the importance of the outsides of buildings rather than the insides. This isn’t because I believe the insides don’t matter. They matter a lot, but they only matter to the people who go inside the buildings. Also, it’s relatively easy to change how the interiors of buildings feel, with paint and objects and furniture. The outsides of buildings are different. They matter to everyone who goes past them. And that’s a lot more people. But most of us are truly powerless to change how these outsides make us feel.

For every individual person that spends time inside an office or block of flats, there will be hundreds or even thousands of people that pass by the outside of that building every day. The outside of that building will affect every single one of those people. It will contribute to how they feel.

As they walk down the street, and they pass by dozens of buildings, they’ll feel dozens of emotions.