Bjarke Ingels - BIG Biography

The studio likewise explores brand-new disciplines bounding on architecture, stimulating research and coming up with new point of views on the cities we will live in years to come. Rather than thinking about architecture as an autonomous art kind isolated from the rest of the world, I truly see the role of architecture and of designers to be totally included with the rest of society. The concept was to produce a very active architecture where you can walk and cycle through the structure and through the exhibitions, you can dip your toes in the swimming pool in the middle. In lots of methods it is an architecture that does not simply attempt to look poetic or beautiful however it actually develops possibilities. Some people would argue that creating a ski slope on top of a power plant has nothing to do with architecture but this is in some way the architecture of organising all aspects of human life in brand-new mixtures.



BIG, founded by Bjarke Ingels in 2005, is among the world's most innovative studios in the definition of urban circumstances and horizons.
BIG has actually dealt with many jobs all over the world, all sharing a visionary view and an interest in innovative theories about modern society and way of lives.
Its two offices in Copenhagen and New York combine professionals from all over the world, promoting cultural exchange as a source of wealth in style.
The group's knowledge ranges from architecture to design, from concept development to engineering.
The studio likewise checks out new disciplines bounding on architecture, promoting research study and coming up with brand-new viewpoints on the cities we will live in years to come. Digital representation technologies are seen not as an end in themselves however as a method of attaining these objectives. Society, economics and ecology are the styles dearest to Bjarke Ingels and his group, dealt with in every one of his tasks.
Ingels began his profession working at OMA with Rem Koolhaas; in 2001 he co-founded PLOT (Julien De Smedt and Bjarke Ingels).
In his scholastic career, Ingels has been visiting teacher at Rice University School of Architecture and at the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation of Columbia University and going to professor at Harvard University.
In 2004 he was awarded a Golden Lion at the Biennale in Venice for his Stavanger Concert House, and the list below year he won the Forum AID Award for his VM homes.
The Mountain real estate development, which made Bjarke Ingels well-known all over the world, has gotten countless awards consisting of the World Architecture Festival Real Estate Award, the Online Forum Aid Award and the MIPIM Residential Development Award.
Interview
BJARKE INGELS. When I think of Copenhagen I consider sustainability and in specific how technology does not have to be a downgrade of life quality however rather the method it can enhance the quality of life. Sustainability is often connected with sacrifice, in the method you have to quit a few of the quality of living in order to be sustainable. However, I believe that in Copenhagen there are rather a couple of examples where sustainability in fact increases the lifestyle. Par instance in Copenhagen 37% of residents commute by bike so we do not hang around in traffic congestion and wanting to parking places. Individuals just move easily around the city. Likewise the water in Copenhagen harbour has become so tidy that individuals can swim in it. So in the middle of the harbour we can actually jump in the water and swim. This is the kind of mindset we have actually applied to some of our work: we have actually created a building structure with parking centers and an apartment where the parking lot develops a man-made mountain and all the apartment or condos are become houses with gardens on a south-facing slope. People have a penthouse view and they likewise have a garden where they can run out and play. And in among our most current projects we in fact took a neighbourhood of town homes however with little gardens in front and we designed a city block so individuals can actually walk or cycle all the method from the garden to the penthouse. The result is like a three-dimensional metropolitan condition where social space attacks the vertical part of the city.
You have an another significant continuous project in Copenhagen, which is the Amager Bakke waste-to-energy plant. This is a great obstacle for the city and for the sustainability of the city.
BJARKE INGELS. The main point represents the ultimate example of sustainability: rather of throwing rubbish in land fills, we recycle 42% of waste and we burn 54% of this waste and use it to produce heat and electricity. As a matter of truth 97% of the houses in Copenhagen do not spend any energy on heating even though the weather can be cold, since they get all the heat from the excess heat produced by the power station. This task is so big and it is in the middle of the city, in the harbour area. We even proposed to produce a ski slope on the roofing considering that we do get snow here and the country is completely flat. We could turn the roof into a manufactured ski slope. In winter, individuals can take a lift to the top of the power station and just ski down for fun all the way to the ground floor.
This is a good example of mix of public area with town energy. How was the project accepted by the citizens?
bjarke ingels group INGELS. Generally when you prepare to construct a power plant in the middle of the city, you can expect a great deal of problems: people do not wish to live next to a power plant however we received email messages from people asking when the task was going to be completed since they were looking forward to snowboarding!
More recently you won another essential worldwide design competitors for a brand-new 27.000 m2 cultural complex in Albania, can you inform us more about this task?
BJARKE INGELS. This is a cultural complex. As you'll most likely know, today there is a little discontent in Tirana because of the upcoming elections so we aspire to see how things will develop. The job is for a complex with a Museum of Religious Harmony, an Islamic Centre and a Mosque. The fundamental concept is to integrate public life with the religious space and likewise with a view to incorporate the religious beliefs into the city. When we went to Tirana to take a look at the task, we went on weekends, on Fridays and unique vacations. And we could see that the existing mosque is too small so individuals praying actually spill out onto the streets. The intent is to combine the city grid of Tirana with the orientation towards The Mecca. On the ground floor, all the three buildings, are oriented towards The Mecca to create a square in front of the mosque whereas at roof level the structure follows the grid of the city streets and walls. The concept is to get these 2 instructions to produce a semi-covered outdoor area, practically extending the mosque outside onto the street but likewise inviting the street and the public space all the way to the mosque, producing a sort of overlap, which is half inside your home and half outdoors, half mosque and half Tirana.
You constantly include the city in your projects, and you typically deal with social projects, however what do you think is the relationship in between architecture and politics?
BJARKE INGELS. I think politics is the procedure of trying to listen to the needs and desires and concerns of residents and turn these cumulative concerns into political truth through representation; in a really comparable though more hid way architecture handle accommodating the issues and demands of citizens. As architects we are at the centre of attempting to continuously collaborate the cumulative effort of making sure that our cities and structures fit with the way we want to live and in an ideal world that is also what politicians must be doing.
Do you think that architecture is a promotional tool for politics or politics is a tool for a designer to attain something essential in a city?
BJARKE INGELS. I believe these 2 elements are probably true: in some cases an architectural task can have a promotional significance and however likewise as architects, we need to get involved with politics because in some way politics form the truth in which we work. Here in Italy I believe for example how weird to see the case of Stefano Boeri, organiser of Festarch and Editor of Abitare, who used to be an architect thinking about politics and now he is most likely more like a political leader thinking about architecture. Oddly enough it resembles taking the exact same concern about constantly enhancing people's everyday life and doing it through legislation instead of design and hopefully he can continue doing both.
Rather challenging I guess. How do you feel when people state you are "l'Enfant terrible" of style and architecture?
Rather than thinking about architecture as a self-governing art type separated from the rest of the world, I really see the role of architecture and of designers to be totally included with the rest of society. In numerous ways it is an architecture that does not simply attempt to look poetic or lovely but it really creates possibilities. Some people would argue that producing a ski slope on top of a power plant has nothing to do with architecture however this is somehow the architecture of organising all elements of human life in new mixtures.