Bjarke Ingels - BIG Biography

The studio likewise explores brand-new disciplines bounding on architecture, promoting research and coming up with new viewpoints on the cities we will live in years to come. Rather than considering architecture as an autonomous art form separated from the rest of the world, I truly see the function of architecture and of architects to be completely included with the rest of society. The concept was to develop an extremely active architecture where you can walk and cycle through the structure and through the exhibits, you can dip your toes in the swimming pool in the middle. In many methods it is an architecture that does not just try to look poetic or stunning however it really develops possibilities. Some people would argue that developing a ski slope on top of a power plant has nothing to do with architecture however this is somehow the architecture of organising all aspects of human life in brand-new mixes.



BIG, established by Bjarke Ingels in 2005, is among the world's most innovative studios in the meaning of urban situations and horizons.
big architects has dealt with many tasks all over the world, all sharing a visionary view and an interest in ingenious theories about modern society and way of lives.
Its 2 workplaces in Copenhagen and New York unite experts from all over the world, promoting cultural exchange as a source of wealth in design.
The group's competence varies from architecture to design, from principle production to engineering.
The studio likewise checks out new disciplines bounding on architecture, promoting research and developing brand-new viewpoints on the cities we will live in years to come. Digital representation innovations are seen not as an end in themselves however as a way of attaining these goals. Society, economics and ecology are the styles dearest to Bjarke Ingels and his group, addressed in each of his projects.
Ingels started his career operating at OMA with Rem Koolhaas; in 2001 he co-founded PLOT (Julien De Smedt and Bjarke Ingels).
In his academic career, Ingels has been going to professor at Rice University School of Architecture and at the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation of Columbia University and going to teacher at Harvard University.
In 2004 he was granted a Golden Lion at the Biennale in Venice for his Stavanger Concert House, and the following year he won the Forum AID Award for his VM houses.
The Mountain housing advancement, that made Bjarke Ingels well-known all over the world, has actually gotten numerous awards including the World Architecture Celebration Housing Award, the Online Forum Aid Award and the MIPIM Residential Advancement Award.
Interview
BJARKE INGELS. When I think of Copenhagen I believe about sustainability and in particular how technology does not need to be a downgrade of life quality however rather the method it can improve the quality of life. Sustainability is often associated with sacrifice, in the method you have to quit some of the quality of living in order to be sustainable. I believe that in Copenhagen there are quite a few examples where sustainability really increases the quality of life. Par circumstances in Copenhagen 37% of inhabitants commute by bike so we do not hang out in traffic congestion and seeking to parking places. Individuals just move freely around the city. Also the water in Copenhagen harbour has actually become so clean that individuals can swim in it. So in the middle of the harbour we can actually leap in the water and swim. This is the type of mindset we have applied to some of our work: we have designed a building structure with parking facilities and a house structure where the parking lot creates a manufactured mountain and all the houses are become houses with gardens on a south-facing slope. So individuals have a penthouse view and they likewise have a garden where they can run out and play. And in among our most current jobs we actually took a neighbourhood of town houses but with little gardens in front and we created an urban block so individuals can actually walk or cycle all the way from the garden to the penthouse. The result resembles a three-dimensional metropolitan condition where social area gets into the vertical part of the city.
You have an another major ongoing job in Copenhagen, which is the Amager Bakke waste-to-energy plant. This is an excellent challenge for the city and for the sustainability of the city.
BJARKE INGELS. This task is so huge and it is in the middle of the city, in the harbour location. In winter, people can take a lift to the top of the power station and just ski down for enjoyable all the way to the ground flooring.
This is a fine example of mix of public area with town utility. How was the project accepted by the residents?
BJARKE INGELS. Normally when you prepare to develop a power plant in the middle of the city, you can expect a great deal of grievances: people do not wish to live beside a power plant but we got e-mail messages from people asking when the task was going to be finished due to the fact that they were eagerly anticipating snowboarding!
More recently you won another crucial global design competitors for a new 27.000 m2 cultural complex in Albania, can you tell us more about this project?
BJARKE INGELS. The job is for a complex with a Museum of Religious Harmony, an Islamic Centre and a Mosque. When we went to Tirana to have an appearance at the project, we went on weekends, on Fridays and unique holidays.
You always involve the city in your tasks, and you typically deal with social tasks, however what do you believe is the relationship in between architecture and politics?
BJARKE INGELS. I believe politics is the process of attempting to listen to the demands and desires and concerns of people and turn these cumulative issues into political truth through representation; in a very comparable though more hid way architecture handle accommodating the concerns and needs of people. So as architects we are at the centre of attempting to continually collaborate the cumulative effort of making sure that our cities and structures fit with the way we want to live and in a perfect world that is also what politicians ought to be doing.
Do you believe that architecture is an advertising tool for politics or politics is a tool for an architect to accomplish something important in a city?
BJARKE INGELS. Here in Italy I think for example how odd to see the case of Stefano Boeri, organiser of Festarch and Editor of Abitare, who utilized to be an architect interested in politics and now he is most likely more like a politician interested in architecture.
Rather challenging I think. How do you feel when people state you are "l'Enfant awful" of style and architecture?
BJARKE INGELS. I don't really know about that! I think that quite early on in my career I realised I was typically more interested in the society rather than in looking at architecture in isolation. Rather than thinking about architecture as an autonomous art kind separated from the rest of the world, I truly see the function of architecture and of architects to be entirely involved with the rest of society. Because they create possibilities that in some way plug into daily life, as an outcome often our projects may relate more to individuals that are not architects. In the Danish pavilion in Shanghai there was a bath. The idea was to produce an extremely active architecture where you can walk and cycle through the structure and through the exhibits, you can dip your toes in the pool in the middle. There is a socially-provocative bench that promotes various kinds of interaction with the structure. There is an art work in the shape of a fountain that also becomes nearly like a play area for kids. So in many ways it is an architecture that does not simply attempt to look poetic or stunning but it really produces possibilities. Some people would argue that developing a ski slope on top of a power plant has nothing to do with architecture but this is in some way the architecture of arranging all aspects of human life in new mixtures. As a sort of sign of humanistic sustainability, it is both economically and environmentally sustainable by turning rubbish into heat and energy but also socially sustainable by turning a power plant into a public park.