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MANILA, Philippines -Who is this British designer who designed the new London Bus and 2012 Olympic Cauldron?

He was born on Feb. 17, 1970 in London and studied three-dimensional design at Manchester Polytechnic and at the Royal College of Art, winning several prizes. He met renowned designer Terence Conran. Conran described him as, “the Leonardo da Vinci of our times. 

He founded his own studio in 1994. The studio is known for its profound commitment to elegant, integrated design solutions and the absolute dedication to materials, research, prototyping, industrial collaboration, tactility, texture — and extraordinary form-making.

In 2002 his studio designed The Rolling Bridge as part of a redevelopment of Paddington Basin, which unfolds across the Grand Union Canal. The bridge consists of eight triangular sections hinged at the walkway level and is connected above by two part links that collapse towards the deck under the control of hydraulic pistons. The Rolling Bridge won the 2005 British Structural Steel Award.

He designed UK’s Pavilion for the 2010 Expo in Shanghai. The first aim was to design a pavilion whose architecture was a direct manifestation of what it was exhibiting. The second idea was to ensure a significant area of open public space around it so visitors could relax and choose either to enter the pavilion building, or see it clearly from a calm, non-queuing vantage point. And thirdly, it would be unique among the hundreds of other competing pavilions, events and programs.

In 2010 the Mayor of London Boris Johnson announced that his studio would be designing the New Bus for London.  Designs for the new bus were originally unveiled in May 2010 and a prototype, developed and manufactured by Wrightbus, was launched in December 2011, The first bus entered public service in February 2012 and Transport for London ordered a further 600 buses in September 2012.

His studio was asked by Danny Boyle to design the London 2012 Olympic cauldron, which was lit during the Opening ceremony of the London Olympics on July 27, 2012. The cauldron was made of 204 pieces, which were brought into the Olympic Stadium by children representing each team as part of the Parade of nations. These pieces were mounted on stems which, once lit by seven young torchbearers were raised to merge into one huge flame, representing the coming together in peace of each of the 204 countries competing in the Olympic Games and the collaborative human spirit at the heart of the Games.

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Last week’s question: Who is this Indian architect who is known for his contributions to the evolution of architectural discourse in India?

Answer: BV Doshi

Winner: Jose G. Salazar of Paco, Manila