BIG Architects designs, Bjarke Ingels Group office news archive, Denmark / New York City architecture studio

BIG Architects Designs

Office News Archive for 2016 to 2019

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

post updated 14 March 2026

BIG Architects – the main page with current architecture news

BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group Architects News in 2019

BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group Architectural Updates for 2019

4 Nov 2019
Panda House, Copenhagen Zoo, Copenhagen, Denmark

photo : Rasmus Hjortshøj
Panda House, Copenhagen Zoo
The new home for giant pandas Mao Sun and Xing Er in Copenhagen Zoo resembles the panda’s natural habitat and creates a peaceful living environment for one of the world’s rarest mammals.

20 Sep 2019
The Twist at Kistefos, Jevnaker Museum, near Oslo, southern Norway

photo : Laurian Ghinitoiu
The Twist at Kistefos, Jevnaker Museum

26 July 2019

Dortheavej Apartments Award – World Architecture Festival 2019 Shortlist News

Dortheavej Apartments shortlisted for World Architecture Festival 2019

18 June 2019
FORMGIVING – An Architectural Future History from Big Bang to Singularity, DAC, Copenhagen, Denmark

photo by Rasmus Hjortshøj
Architectural Exhibition at Danish Architecture Center by BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group
FORMGIVING – An Architectural Future History from Big Bang to Singularity explores how the world around us has taken shape – and has been given shape – from the past to the present, with 71 BIG projects as glimpses of and gifts to our future. The show is on view until January 5, 2020.

4 Jun 2019
Galeries Lafayette concept store by BIG, Avenue des Champs-Élysées, Paris, France
Design: BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group

photo by Delfino Sisto Legnani and Marco Cappelletti

19 Apr 2019
Glasir – Tórshavn College Building, Faroe Islands

photograph : Rasmus Hjortshoj
Students have settled in to this 19,200m² (206,000ft²) vortex-shaped education center that combines three schools under one roof and celebrates the dramatic Faroese landscape.

Apr 16, 2019
Isenberg School of Management Building, Amherst, Massachusetts, USA
Design: BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group

photo © Laurian Ghinitoiu
Designed by BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group and Architect of Record Goody Clancy, the copper-clad Business Innovation Hub at the heart of the University of Massachusetts Amherst adds 70,000SF of hyper-collaborative study and social space to one of the top-30 public business schools in the United States.

5 Apr 2019
Oceanix City by BIG

image courtesy of architects
As part of UN-Habitat’s New Urban Agenda, floating cities non-profit OCEANIX, the MIT Center for Ocean Engineering, BIG and partners propose a vision for the world’s first resilient and sustainable floating community for 10,000 residents: Oceanix City.

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BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group Architects News in 2018

BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group Architecture News in 2018

16 + 9 Nov 2018
79&Park, Stockholm, Sweden
A cascading grid arrangement of 169 housing units.

Oct 31, 2018
WeGrow School Building in New York City, NY, USA
Architects: BIG

photo © Dave Burk
BIG and WeWork’s collaboration and belief in creativity manifests through the first WeGrow school in New York City. The interactive learning landscape supports a conscious approach to education, nurturing the growth, spirit and mind of the 21st century child.

9 Oct 2018
Dortheavej Apartments in Copenhagen, Denmark
Design: BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group

photo : Rasmus Hjortshoj
BIG fulfills “Homes for All” mission for non-profit affordable housing association Lejerbo with the recently completed 6,800m2 winding wall in Copenhagen’s multicultural northwest area. The building offers 66 new homes to low-income citizens featuring unprecedented 3.5m ceilings, generous floor to ceiling windows and outdoor terraces, realized on a strict budget.

May 8, 2018
Bjarke Ingels Named WeWork’s Chief Architect

Adam Neumann, Bjarke Ingels (right):

photo : Alexei Hay

8th May 2018 – WeWork announces Bjarke Ingels as Chief Architect to advise and develop the firm’s design vision and language for buildings, campuses and neighborhoods globally. Bjarke will maintain his role as Founding Partner and Creative Director at the New York, London and Copenhagen-based architecture firm, BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group.

“WeWork was founded at the exact same time as when I had arrived to New York. In that short amount of time – the blink of an eye at the time scale of architecture – they have accomplished incredible things and they are committed to continuing their trajectory to places we can only imagine. WeWork’s commitment to community and culturally-driven development is perfectly aligned with our active, social and environmental agendas.

As WeWork takes on larger and more holistic urban and architectural challenges, I am very excited to contribute with my insights and ideas to extend their community-oriented vision to ground-up buildings and urban neighborhoods. BIG and I are incredibly thrilled to take an advisory role in WeWork’s evolution as a company and as a design culture.” Bjarke Ingels, Founding Partner and Creative Director, BIG.

“Bjarke caught my attention because he’s changing the way we think about architecture. His designs inspire as much as they surprise. When we started WeWork eight years ago, we knew the world didn’t need another office building, it needed spaces where people could collaborate on projects, connect and create together, and potentially change the world.

As WeWork’s Chief Architect, Bjarke Ingels will help us reimagine and reshape the future of our spaces, our company and ultimately our cities.” Adam Neumann, Co-Founder and CEO, WeWork.

17 Apr 2018
Swiss Hotel with Roof to Ski Down

Hôtel des Horlogers, Vallée de Joux, Switzerland by architect Bjarke Ingels

Celebrated Danish architect Bjarke Ingels loves challenging with bold building designs:

for example the Amager Resource Center in Copenhagen could have just been another power plant, but the waste-burning production has a roof ready for skiing in 2018.

image : BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group

In this latest design to be revealed by the head of BIG architects, guests will be able to ski down the roof and onto an adjacent slope.

The building was designed by Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) in collaboration with the Swiss-based architecture firm CCHE. It is for Swiss company Audemars Piguet.

The property is due to contain fifty rooms, two restaurants, a bar, a spa, and a conference center.

Five zigzagging building volumes are stacked next to each other to allow guests the luxury of skiing out of the hotel and down the slopes!

The hotel is already under construction and is due to open in 2020.

The site for the building is adjacent to Musée Atelier Audemars Piguet, designed by CCHE, which features magnificent and rare watches.

19 Mar 2018
The National Theatre of Albania, Tirana, Albania

image Courtesy of architects office
This building is a 9,300 sqm contemporary venue designed to host local and touring theatre companies in the country’s capital. Located in the cultural and administrative heart of downtown Tirana, adjacent to the iconic Skanderbeg Square, the National Opera and the National Art Gallery, the cultural space will replace the existing theatre and add three new indoor performance spaces, a rooftop amphitheater as well as a covered public space underneath the building.

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BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group Architects News in 2017

Dec 5, 2017
East Austin District Arena, Texas, USA

image by BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group
The new East Austin District created by Austin Sports & Entertainment and designed by award-winning architects BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group is an entirely new sports and entertainment neighborhood tailored to celebrate world-class sports and cultural experiences under one checkered roofscape.

3 Oct 2017
LEGO House Billund Building, Denmark

photo : Iwan Baan
Designed by BIG and COWI, LEGO House is an experience hub for LEGO fans of all ages, as well as an architectural landmark and a significant step towards the city’s goal of making Billund the Capital for Children.

13 Jul 2017
TIRPITZ Museum, Blåvand, Jutland, Denmark

photo © Rasmus Bendix
The new TIRPITZ transforms and expands a historic German WWII bunker into a groundbreaking cultural complex comprising four exhibitions within a single structure, seamlessly embedded into the protected shorelands of Blåvand in western Denmark. The construction of the 2,800 m2 ’invisible museum’ expected to attract around 100,000 visitors annually.

28 Mar 2017
Panda House in Copenhagen Zoo, Denmark

image courtesy of architects
The design of the new Panda House begins with a circular shape, formed by the surrounding existing facilities at the intersection of multiple walkways. Panda House is designed to feel like humans are the visitors in the Pandas’ home, rather than Pandas being the exotic guests from faraway lands.

10 Mar 2017
BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group Engineering

March 9th, 2017 – BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group has further strengthened its in-house capabilities by hiring Duncan Horswill—former CCO at Søren Jensen Engineers—to lead BIG Engineering, a new specialized unit dedicated to ensuring the structural, mechanical integrity and resilience of BIG buildings globally.

BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group

16 Feb 2017
S.Pellegrino Flagship Factory, San Pellegrino Terme, Bergamo, Italy

image courtesy of architects
San Pellegrino Factory Building
Shaped by the serpentine run of the Brembo river and the sloping Alpine mountainsides, this winning design for the new 17.500 sqm flagship factory embraces the surrounding forces of nature and taps into S.Pellegrino’s industrial heritage, guiding visitors through the 30-year journey of the natural mineral water.

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Architecture Office Updates in 2016

BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group Architect News in 2016

26 Dec 2016
BIG Annual Update

In BIG’s 11th year, the CPH and NYC offices were joined by a new office in London.

Projects new and old received many great honors, including the Aga Khan Award for Superkilen and the Danish Steel Prize for the Danish Maritime Museum, and Bjarke was recognized by Time Magazine in their annual TIME 100 Most Influential People.

2016 marked the completion of many pivotal projects for this architecture firm, with the opening of six projects in different parts of the globe.

BIG established a NYC design studio in 2010 to work on VIA W57: the project was completed in 2016 and residents moved into the courtscraper on Manhattan’s west side. In addition to garnering numerous awards, including the CTBUH’s Best Tall Building in the Americas Award and the International Highrise Award 2016, VIA 57 was praised by the New York Times, which stated that “no building redrew the city’s skyline more ingeniously.”

Other projects that opened this year include the twisting Coconut Grove towers in Miami, the Intrepid office building in Philadelphia’s Navy Yard, Transitlager, the mixed-use conversion in Basel, and the first prototype of the next generation of affordable student housing, Urban Rigger, now parked in Copenhagen’s harbor. Last but not least, in June, the Serpentine Gallery Summer Pavilion opened in London’s Kensingtons Gardens, an enormous honor for the firm.

The project marked the opening of the practice’s newest office, in London, where BIG is working on projects such as the new Google Headquarters at Kings Cross with Thomas Heatherwick and the Malaysia Square development at the Battersea Power Station, among others.

The office’s most recent “opening” was the HOT TO COLD exhibit as it continued on its world tour, and which can now be seen at the Deutsches Architekturmuseum in Frankfurt until Feb 17th.

BIG projects continue to be built all over the world, with an impressive 21 projects under construction. Among these building sites are cultural projects in their native Denmark—such as the Lego House and Blavand Museum—Audemars Piguet’s La Maison des Fondateurs in Switzerland, and the MECA project, which broke ground in Bordeaux.

BIG are also building high-rises in Europe, North America, and Asia, including the Omniturn Tower in Frankfurt, the Eleventh in NYC, the Vancouver House, Telus Sky Tower in Calgary, and the Shenzen Energy Mansion. Closer to home, the skyline of Copenhagen has begun to evolve as the Amager Resource Center topped out; the power plant will start its waste-burning production at the start of next year and the roof will be ready for skiing in 2018.

Designs were revealed for many exciting projects that are keeping teams busy, including many competition wins: a few projects in Paris, such as the Galeries Lafayette store on the Champs-Élysées and the Pont de Bondy Metro Station, and most recently the Sluishuis floating residential block in Amsterdam.

Other notable commissions from 2016 include projects in the US, such as the Spiral in NYC, the NYPD 40th Precinct Station, the Los Angeles Arts District, and in the Middle East the Hyperloop project, which will transform the future of mobility as plans move ahead with a route between Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Other projects charging ahead include our East Side Coastal Resiliency project, the first phase of the BIG U, and the Smithsonian Institution Master Plan in Washington, which won the AIA National Honor Award, and smaller cultural gems such as the Kistofos Museum in Norway.

29 Nov 2016
Sluishuis IJburg Building in Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Design: BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group and Barcode Architects

image from architect
Sluishuis IJburg Building by BIG
The 46.000 m2 mixed-use building named Sluishuis will create a landmark in the emerging neighborhood of IJburg, bridging the new urban district to the harbor areas near Amsterdam’s historic city center.

16 Nov 2016
New Google Headquarters at Kings Cross, London, England, UK
Design: BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group and Heatherwick Studios, architects

image from architect
New Google Headquarters at Kings Cross
BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group and Heatherwick Studios are confirmed as the architects for Google’s new Headquarters at Kings Cross in London.

Nov 8, 2016
Hyperloop Pods and Portals in Dubai by BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group, Dubai, UAE

image from architects
Hyperloop Pods and Portals in Dubai by BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group
Hyperloop One has partnered with BIG on a detailed feasibility study financed by the RTA. Since May 2016, the team has been working on a concept for autonomous transportation in the UAE, including designs for the world’s first Hyperloop One Portals and Hyperloop One Pods that take passengers from downtown Dubai to downtown Abu Dhabi in 12 minutes, instead of a two-hour drive.