BIG Architects Danish buildings, Bjarke Ingels office news, Denmark / New York City design studio

BIG Architects, Denmark / USA

Bjarke Ingels Group, Copenhagen, Denmark & NYC. Contemporary Danish architecture practice designs.

post updated 14 March 2026

13 November 2025
Hamburg State Opera, Hamburg, northern Germany

image : Yanis Amasri
A new opera house is planned to replace the 1950s State Opera building on Dammtorstraße in Hamburg, creating a 45,000-m² cultural venue designed to meet modern performance standards and reinforce the city’s long relationship with its waterfront. The new Hamburg State Opera house is designed to provide a venue capable of hosting the most demanding opera and ballet productions while offering greater comfort and accessibility for audiences.

11 November 2025
Suzhou Museum of Contemporary Art, Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, China

photograph © Ye Jianyuan
The Suzhou Museum of Contemporary Art (Suzhou MoCA), designed by BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group, is set to open soon in Suzhou, hosting its inaugural exhibition Materialism. The museum covers 60,000 m² and is conceived as a village of 12 pavilions connected beneath a continuous, ribbon-like roof. BIG’s design draws inspiration from Suzhou’s traditional gardens, reflecting centuries of the city’s urbanism, architecture, and landscape aesthetics.

September 29, 2025
Robert Day Sciences Center Claremont McKenna College Building, 888 Columbia Avenue, eastern Los Angeles County, California, USA

photo : Laurian Ghinitoiu
As the first built element of the masterplan, the Sciences Center establishes a design language for the campus, setting the tone for future buildings and shaping a more integrated, pedestrian-friendly environment. It demonstrates BIG’s approach to campus design: functional, aesthetic, and contextually responsive, while also introducing their first architectural footprint in Los Angeles.

7 April 2025
Hungarian Natural History Museum, Debrecen, Hungary
Architecture: BIG

image : BIG

21 February 2025
Jinji Lake Pavilion, Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, China

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BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group Architects News in 2024

23 September 2024
BIG Museum for Paper Art, North Jutland, western Denmark

image © BIG Architects

16 May 2024
NOT A HOTEL Setouchi, Sagi Island, Seto Inland Sea, Japan

render : MIR
The NOT A HOTEL Setouchi is the latest resort by NOT A HOTEL, located on Sagi Island. The design emphasizes a harmonious dialogue between Scandinavian and Japanese design traditions. The resort is carefully woven into the island’s mountainous terrain, preserving the natural topography and creating pathways and spaces that feel embedded in the environment.

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BIG architects News

BIG Architects News Archive

7 Dec 2022
IQON Quito, mixed-use residential building, Quito, Ecuador, South America

photo : BICUBIK
After four years of construction, IQON rises 130 m making it the tallest building in the Ecuadorian capital Quito – a city with one of the highest elevations in the world.

Oct 5, 2022
Robert Day Sciences Center Claremont McKenna College, Claremont McKenna College, Los Angeles, California, California, USA

image courtesy of architects practice

7 June 2022
The Plus Building by BIG in Magnor, Eidskog Municipality, Innlandet county, Norway

photo : Einar Aslaksen
Norway’s single largest investment in furniture industry in decades, the 7,000 m2 production facility doubles as a public park for hiking and camping and aligns with the region’s mission to establish a green manufacturing hub outside of Oslo. The colorful manufacturing village is dedicated to the cleanest, carbon-neutral fabrication of urban furniture, leading the way for manufacturing facilities and high-efficiency production of the future.

16 Mar 2022
NEURO – Neuroscience Center, Århus, Jutland, Århus, Jutland, Denmark
Design: BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group

picture courtesy of architects office
NEURO is the first of its kind in the world, a new Neuroscience Center designed by BIG will bring together psychiatry and neuroscience under one roof to combine groundbreaking science and treatment of physical and mental brain diseases, spinal cord and nervous systems. BIG’s 20 000 sqm design for Aarhus University Hospital mimics the gyrification of the human brain to utilize the limited site area most efficiently while creating synergies between the different disciplines within the hospital.

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Bjarke Ingels Group Architecture Updates

BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group Architecture Design Updates for 2020 to 2021

3 December 2021
Oslo Science City Building by BIG, Oslo, Norway
Architects: Bjarke Ingels Group – BIG with a-lab

picture courtesy of architects office
Anchored in the City of Oslo’s 2019 “Strategy for the Development of the Knowledge Capital”, the new 1.4 million m2 Oslo Science City will create a physical framework for Norway’s innovation environment of estimated 150,000 scientists, students, entrepreneurs, and contribute to the country’s transition to renewable energy.

27 Oct 2021
120 Fleet Street Building by BIG , City of London, England, UK

image courtesy of architects office
The proposed redevelopment of 120 Fleet Street has been granted planning permission by the City of London Corporations’s Planning and Transportation Committee. Designed for developer CO—RE, the proposals involve the redevelopment of River Court and the renovation and opening to the public of the Grade II* listed Daily Express Building.

28 Sep 2021
Farfetch HQ in Porto, northern Portugal
Architects: BIG

visualization : Lucian R
Farfetch, the leading global technology platform for luxury fashion, seeks to further connect creators, curators, and consumers in a purpose-built urban fashion village on the slopes of Leça River in Porto. The 178,000 m2 art-filled site has been named FUSE VALLEY and is developed in collaboration with Portuguese real estate developer, Castro Group.

11 Aug 2021
Marsk Tower Denmark – Observation Helix, Wadden Sea National Park, Southern Jutland, Denmark

photo : Rasmus Hjortshoj
Marsk Tower, a new sculptural landmark and lookout point in Southern Jutland, Denmark, is now officially open to the public, providing a new gathering place in the UNESCO World Heritage site of Wadden Sea National Park.

15 Jul 2021
BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group Announces Seven New Partners

image from architectural firm
BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group Architects News
BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group adds to its leadership team with the announcement of seven new Partners, 33 new Associates, and one new Director. With the number of staff more than doubling in the last four years, the leadership expansion reflects BIG’s 20-year evolution as a global firm with a local presence, underscored by a holistic approach to design and development.

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Dec 15, 2020
The Smile Harlem Housing, New York City, NY, USA
Architects: BIG

photos by Thomas Loof and Pernille Loof
In 1912, the Equitable Building in Lower Manhattan was designed to be the largest building that could fit its site and rose skywards from the street lot-line without any setbacks. The building has since served as the prime example of the perils of unregulated development and as a result, the first building regulation in the United States was born.

29 Nov 2020
Formgiving. An Architectural Future History

Rooted in the Danish word for “design”, “formgivning” literally means to give form to that which has not yet taken shape. In other words, to give form to the future.

Nov 10, 2020
Virgin Hyperloop Pegasus Pod, Nevada, USA

image Courtesy of Virgin Hyperloop
November 10^th, 2020 – Designed by BIG Architects and Kilo Design, Virgin Hyperloop’s Pegasus pod makes history in the Nevada desert as it successfully carries its first passengers in the newest form of travel in over a century.

20 Aug 2020
BiodiverCity Masterplan, Penang South Islands, Malaysia

image from architecture practice
BiodiverCity Masterplan in Malaysia
BIG, Hijjas and Ramboll are selected as winners of Penang State Government’s international competition to design a masterplan for Penang South Islands, providing Penangites with approximately 4.6km of public beaches, 600 acres of parks and a 25km waterfront.

1 July 2020
The Plus Furniture Factory, Magnor, Norway

image © Lucian R
The Plus Furniture Factory in Magnor
Together with Vestre, the Norwegian manufacturer of urban furniture, BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group unveils The Plus as the world’s most sustainable furniture factory tucked in the heart of the Norwegian forest.

24 Apr 2020
Musée Atelier Audemars Piguet, Le Brassus, Switzerland
Architects: BIG and ATELIER BRÜCKNER

Musée Atelier Audemars Piguet: The Complications. Photography: Giovanni Emilio Galanello
Musée Atelier Audemars Piguet
On the outskirts of the small village of Le Brassus, secluded in a high mountain valley of the Swiss Jura, the Musée Atelier Audemars Piguet – an iconic total work of art of the Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) and ATELIER BRÜCKNER, the scenography specialist – opens its doors on 25 June.

31 Jan 2020
Bjarke Ingels interview – Time Space Existence

Time Space Existence video interview with Danish architect Bjarke Ingels:
Bjarke Ingels – TIME SPACE EXISTENCE from PLANE—SITE on Vimeo.

“If you look, listen and learn, there is so much to play with” Bjarke Ingels features in a new video produced for the Time Space Existence biennial exhibition.

Copenhagen-based architect Bjarke Ingels is not one to shy away from big ideas. Founder of the aptly named BIG (Bjarke Ingels Group), he eschews cohesive style in favor of flexible urban environments — something he believes is vital in a constantly changing world. In a new video produced for the Time Space Existence video series, Ingels unpacks his approach to design, incorporating humor, surprise and sustainability.

More than simply an architect, Ingels is a place-maker in its broadest sense. Having coined the term ‘hedonistic sustainability’, he blends fun with deeply rooted sustainable principles. “What if sustainability is not a compromise?” he asks in the video. “What if it’s not a sacrifice? What if it’s actually simply the more desirable life choice?” This approach has led to bold, original designs such as the Copenhill Power Plant, topped by an artificial ski slope, and the LEGO House in Copenhagen, made using over 25 million LEGO bricks.

The Time Space Existence video series has already featured both prominent and emerging architects, including Balkrishna Doshi, Ricardo Bofill, Denise Scott-Brown, Peter Eisenman, WOHA Architects, Curt Fentress, Toshiko Mori, Daniel Libeskind, Tatiana Bilbao, Arata Isozaki and many others. The series will be exhibited at the Time Space Existence biennial exhibition in Venice and distributed digitally to the media and press. Videos will be released in the run-up to the opening of the exhibition on May 21-22, 2020.

The interview series was made possible with the support of the European Cultural Centre.

30 Jan 2020
Bjarke Ingels No longer WeWork’s Chief Architect

Adam Neumann (left), Bjarke Ingels (right): photo : Alexei Hay

On 8th May 2018 WeWork announced Bjarke Ingels as Chief Architect to advise and develop the firm’s design vision and language. The AJ now reports that Bjarke Ingels is no longer employed as chief architect for WeWork.

The Danish starchitect is facing mounting criticism after appearing with the Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, whilst on a trip investigating development of tourism projects in the Brasil.

BIG released a statement rejecting a binary reading of the world’s countries as good and bad. Ingels rejects the idea that countries like Brazil should be off-limits to architects:

“Creating a list of countries or companies that BIG should shy away from working with seems to be an oversimplification of a complex world”.

This is reminiscent of the fellow starchitect Daniel Libeskind / China controversy back in 2007, when he was asked ‘Do you want to build in China?’, to which the architect replied “I have been approached a couple of times but I grew up in Poland when it was Communist. I like working in open societies where there is due process. It’s a personal feeling.”

Then in February 2008, he told an audience in Belfast that architects should consider boycotting China and, generally speaking, “take a more ethical stance”, saying he would not “won’t work for totalitarian regimes.”

WeWork is also under fire, with CEO and founder Adam Neumann stepping down in September 2019 after pressure from some of the company’s board members. The coworking giant, wwhose IPO had been one of the most highly anticipated public offerings of 2019, has mostly imploded.

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