“BIG” – Bjarke Ingels Group

Maria de Juan

This is a name to know. At only 43, Danish-born architect has received a bunch of important commissions, founded his own studio “BIG” (Bjarke Ingels Group) and is making his mark in Shangai, Greenland, Dubai, Taiwan, New York… After studying in Barcelona and Denmark, he moved to New York in 2010. One of his almost infinite projects is Two World Trade Center, in competition with Norman FosterBIG studio has 34 finished buildings, 46 in progress and 120 projects!

Certainly this young guy doesn’t waist a minute. Bjarke stars in a new Netflix series called “Abstract” together with outstanding designers. He has even written two architecture books: “Yes is More” and “Hot to cold”. In honor of the high profile of this outstanding creator, a true busy bee, here are his most impressive creations and dreamed projects.

2010 – SHANGAI

The 3.000 m2 Danish pavilion at Shangai World Expo is made from white, painted steel manufactured at a Chinese shipyard. At the centre, a bathing pool is filled with sea water shipped from Copenhagen harbour to Shangai. The famous “Little Mermaid” statue from Copenhagen harbour was also transported and installed in the pool. The pavilion incorporated 1500 bicycles for use by visitors during the Expo.

2011 – GREENLAND

Located on a steep slope overlooking breathtaking fjords, Greenland National Gallery will serve as cultural and architectural icon. A projection of a geometrically perfect circle on to the steep slope, the museum will be a 3.000 m2 courtyard building that combines pure geometrical layout with sensitive adaption to surrounding nature. The three‐ dimensional imprint of the landscape creates a protective ring around the museum’s focal point: a sculpture garden where visitors, staff and exhibitions merge with culture and nature, inside and outside.

2012 – COPENHAGEN

BIG studio teamed up with landscape firm Topotek1 and artists Superflex to design the Superkilen Park, which stretches 7.500 m. through Copenhagen. It features a brightly coloured carpet of grass and pink or grey rubber, as well as miscellaneous street furniture representing sixty different nations. Neon signs from Russia and Qatar, picnic benches from Armenia and ping-pong tables from Spain are just some of the different objects in the park, meant to represent the mixture of human tribes in planet earth.

2015 – TAIWAN

Hualien Wellness residences are a mountain-shaped resort in Taiwan. It’s the first building on an empty land, between the ocean and mountains, south of Hualien city. It consists of layered volumes that create a zigzagging profile. The 1.000 m2 houses feature green garden stripes, rooftop solar panels and full-height glazing on front and back. Their shapes create a stylised version of the surrounding spine mountains.

2016 – LONDON

Serpentine Gallery Pavilion in London is a huge undulating structure composed of thousands of fibreglass boxes stacked on top of each other. It resembles a wall of bricks that has been “unzipped” to create a void inside. It’s made of 1.900 hollow fibreglass blocks, attached by simple metal connectors. BIG used a product called Lay Light which is a translucent material consisting of glass fibres impregnated with polyester resin.

2017 – COPENHAGEN

Bjarke Ingels invented the world’s weirdest Ski Slope Building in Copenhagen: an incinerator with views, a power plant converted into an artificial snow mountain. A 450 metre slope on the slanted roof of the world’s greenest power plant, designed to turn waste into energy. Caters for skiers at four different levels and includes a 45% 180-metre black run. They reach the slopes via a lift on the inside of the plant. It’s been designed to burn 400,000 tons of waste every year, converting enough clean energy to power 60.000 homes.

2017 – DUBAI

Bjarke Ingels unveils a design for an autonomous transportation system and the world’s first Hyperloop pods and portals in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Presented as Hyperloop One, he just signed with Dubai Roads and Transport Authority, bringing the project one step closer to reality.

2017 – NEW YORK

BIG scheme for Two World Trade Center consists of seven stacked cuboids rising 408 metres high. The building would appear tall and slender when seen from the World Trade Memorial Plaza, but from a distance, its stepped form would be more apparent. Its large setbacks would form verdant terraces and offer expansive city views. It will appear like a vertical village of singular buildings each tailored to their individual activities stacked on top of each other, forming parks and plazas in the sky. BIG’s project is in competition with architect guru Norman Foster.

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