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Bjarke Ingels: The Latest Architecture and News

BIG Unveils Images of Zig-Zag Ski Hotel in Switzerland

BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group has unveiled images of their proposed Audemars Piguet Hotel des Horlogers, a ski hotel set in the scenic Vallée de Joux, Switzerland. The compact scheme, designed in collaboration with Cche Architecture, is defined by a zig-zag form seamlessly integrated into the smooth topography of the surrounding valley, forming a connection with the nearly Musée Atelier.

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On Jørn Utzon's 100th Birthday, 11 Prominent Architects Pay Tribute to the Great Architect

On Jørn Utzon's 100th Birthday, 11 Prominent Architects Pay Tribute to the Great Architect - Image 1 of 4
© Flickr user seier licensed under CC BY 2.0

Today marks what would have been the 100th birthday of the leading Danish architect, Jørn Utzon. Notably responsible for what could be argued to be the most prominent building in the world, the Sydney Opera House, Utzon accomplished what many architects can only dream of: a global icon. To celebrate this special occasion, Louisiana Channel has collaborated with the Utzon Center in Aalborg, Denmark to put together a video series to hear prominent architects and designers talk, including Bjarke Ingels and Renzo Piano, about their experiences with Utzon and his work—from his unrivalled visual awareness of the world, to his uncompromising attitude that led him to create such strong architectural statements.

Unlike many architects around at the time of Jørn Utzon, who as modernists rejected tradition in favour of new technologies and orthogonal plans, Utzon combined these usually contradictory qualities in an exceptional manner. As the architects recount, he was a globalist with a Nordic base, that has inspired the next generation to travel the world and challenge their concepts. Many of them compare his work to Alvar Aalto’s, as both shared an organic approach to architecture, looking at growth patterns in nature for inspiration. Utzon even coined this approach "Additive Architecture," whereby both natural and cultural forms are united to form buildings that are designed more freely.

BIG's Shenzhen International Energy Mansion Captured by Laurian Ghinitoiu

The Shenzhen International Energy Mansion is the main headquarters of the Shenzhen Energy Company in China. In designing the building, Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) paid special attention to one feature: the building's facade. The firm knew that in such a tropical climate, using a traditional curtain wall glass envelope would overheat the buildings and make people crank up their air conditioners. What BIG came up with in their winning design, and what is now the building's most defining feature, is a folded, origami-like facade. This facade provides high insulation and diffuses incoming sunlight, while reflecting the strongest rays onto solar panels.

Laurian Ghinitoiu points his lens towards this uncommon facade design and places the skyscraper within the lively metropolitan context of Shenzhen, China.

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Lessons From the Latest Bjarke Ingels Documentary: Don’t Let Your Next Building Be Your Last

What if the one thing that makes BIG "BIG" was suddenly stripped away right at the apex of its potential? That's the question posed by the trailer for Kaspar Astrup Schrøder’s documentary BIG TIME, which ominously illustrated a possible problem with Bjarke Ingels’ health.

Schrøder's documentary highlights the intense journey of Bjarke Ingels, the founder of Bjarke Ingels Group, through the past few years of his life. This unique insight into what exactly it's like to be an architect on top of the world ultimately poses a question that needs to be answered by anyone seeking to reshape the world through design. How do you handle the responsibility of forming the future you want to live in?

Bjarke Ingels: "No Matter How Wonderful a Building Is, If There Is No Client, It Doesn't Get Built"

In just 13 years since its inception, Danish firm BIG has earned world renown for its inventive architecture and its founder, Bjarke Ingels, has become one of the most popular names in the architectural world. However, with success comes criticism; BIG has been called out by some critics for what they believe is the "infantilization of architecture," referring to their designs as isolated, self-admiring and solely photogenic.

On her most recent visit to Spain, Spanish journalist Anatxu Zabalbeascoa spoke with Ingels about the impact of the Danish office on architecture and how their work wavers on a tightrope between "breakthrough projects for the world of the powerful" and "a face for people who are not happy with existing architectural models."

Fine Arts Commission on BIG's Smithsonian Plans: "It's Not Good Design"

Despite 3 years of community input and redesign, BIG’s plans for the new Smithsonian Institution Campus Master Plan in Washington, D.C., has been met with skepticism from the Commission of Fine Arts, one of the two federal agencies charged with approving the plan.

BIG Reveals Updated Vision for Smithsonian Campus Master Plan Scheme

BIG Reveals Updated Vision for Smithsonian Campus Master Plan Scheme - Facade, Cityscape
Courtesy of BIG. Rendering by Brick Visual

BIG has unveiled an updated vision for the new Campus Master Plan for the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., after taking into account over 3 years of community input and collaboration with the storied museum and research institution. The revised proposal pays particular attention to the preservation of unique character of the Enid A. Haupt Garden while still addressing the existing and future needs of the Smithsonian at one of the nation’s most historically significant sites.

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Bjarke Ingels: "Great Buildings Blatantly Express Their True Essence to the World"

Great buildings blatantly express their true essence to the world

In this interview from the Louisiana Channel, Bjarke Ingels shares the personal moments of his life that have influenced the graphic, playful and humanistic architectural style for which he is now world renowned.

Michel Rojkind and Bjarke Ingels Describe the Recently Opened Foro Boca

The official inauguration for Foro Boca by Rojkind Arquitectos was held in Veracruz, México, gathering members of the local community as well as special guest Bjarke Ingels for a concert by renowned violinist Joshua Bell and the city's Philarmonic Orchestra.

A Real-Estate Development and Culture Company Has Created an Exhibition Highlighting the Need to "Fight for Beauty"

“Beauty,” as Umberto Eco tells it, “has never been absolute and immutable but has taken on different aspects depending on the historical period and the country.” So how is beauty defined today in our increasingly globalized world? Perhaps a more interesting question to ask is whether arriving at such a conclusion remains relevant to our society.

LEGO vs Architecture: BBC Film Explains How It's All Connected

Can you even call yourself an architect if you don’t have an old box of LEGO that you can’t bare to throw out stored away in an attic somewhere?

LEGO has become a part of architecture’s collective conscience – an inspiration, a modeling tool, a nostalgic driver, a raison d'être for architects who grew up piecing worlds together and imagining alternative realities. With the completion of BIG’s LEGO House in Billund, LEGO is once again in the spotlight. But, as this short documentary explains, it never really left.

BIG's LEGO House Photographed by Laurian Ghinitoiu

Bjarke Ingels Group's (BIG) LEGO House, which opened to the public earlier this month in Billund, Denmark, has already entered the canon of the iconic. By reframing the "toy scale of the classic LEGO brick" to the architectural scale, a vibrant collection of exhibition spaces and public squares "embody the culture and values at the heart of all LEGO experiences." In other words, it's playful, bright, and almost exclusively rectilinear!

Photographer Laurian Ghinitoiu has turned his lens to the new LEGO House, providing insight into a building which delights and surprises in equal measure.

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Adjaye, BIG, Sou Fujimoto and 4 Other Teams Reveal Proposals for Edinburgh's Ross Pavilion

Detailed visions of the concept designs from the seven shortlisted teams in the running for the new Ross Pavilion (named for William Henry Ross, the former chairman of the Distillers Company) have been released. Following the announcement of the competition earlier this year—in which the likes of Adjaye Associates, Bjarke Ingels Group, Sou Fujimoto Architects and Reiulf Ramstad Arkitekter were placed in the running alongside local practices, such as Page\Park—the sensitivity and level of restraint behind the majority of the proposals demonstrates the public and national significance of the site, which sits at the heart of the Scottish capital of Edinburgh.

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BIG Changes on the Horizon for Bjarke Ingels and His Firm

“The greatest thing about being an architect,” pronounced Bjarke Ingels, “is that you build buildings.”

How to Pronounce the Names of 22 Notable Architects

There’s no doubt that one of the best things about architecture is its universality. Wherever you come from, whatever you do, however you speak, architecture has somehow touched your life. However, when one unexpectedly has to pronounce a foreign architect’s name... things can get a little tricky. This is especially the case when mispronunciation could end up making you look less knowledgeable than you really are. (If you're really unlucky, it could end up making you look stupid in front of your children and the whole world.)

To help you out, we’ve compiled a list of 22 architects with names that are a little difficult to pronounce, and paired them with a recording in which their names are said impeccably. Listen and repeat as many times as it takes to get it right, and you’ll be prepared for any intellectual architectural conversation that comes your way. 

Watch the Cryptic Trailer for New Bjarke Ingels' Documentary, BIG TIME

There is something unsettling about this trailer – something uncomfortable. On the surface it’s as optimistic as any other film about Bjarke Ingels, the architectural protege and principal of BIG, of which there have been many. He is incandescently youthful, remarkably young when tallied to the level of his repute and success, and perhaps the last of the world-building, world conquering 'media darlings' of the 20th and 21st Centuries. He is, many would argue, an unstoppable force.

Announcing First Comprehensive Biography of Bjarke Ingels

Update: As anyone who clicked the "buy now" button discovered, this was of course a good-humored prank for April Fools' Day. ArchDaily has no plans to expand into print media, and we haven't been stalking Bjarke Ingels via his social media—honest! Our thanks to those who took it in good humor, including "the BIG man" himself for helping spread this "news" to his followers!

One year ago today the Editors of ArchDaily conceived of a project which has consumed a small and dedicated team ever since. After drawing the best talent following an international (and highly secretive) recruitment drive in 2016, a special task force was engaged with the challenge of developing our company’s first printed publication.

“The decision to break into print was not one we took lightly,” explains ArchDaily’s Managing Editor of Books, Lea Brary. “However, we are confident that this endeavor will please architecture fans and bibliophiles worldwide.”

Following twelve months of intense work and production we are proud to reveal BjarkeDaily: What It's Like to Write About the BIG Man – the first comprehensive biographical study of Bjarke Ingels and BIG; an homage to the architect and practice who have become a quotidian feature of our platform for over half a decade.

Bjarke Ingels to Feature in New Netflix Series on Design and Architecture

On February 10 2017, Netflix will launch a new documentary series—Abstract: The Art of Design—which will present "the most creative designers" from various fields in the design word, with the aim of demonstrating how design influences all aspects of our lives. One of the eight protagonists in the spotlight will be Danish architect Bjarke Ingels, of BIG, who will present his vision of architecture alongside professionals in interior design, graphic design, automotive design, illustration, and set design.

Check out the series feature designers after the break: