BIG Architects Designs, Architecture, Global Iconic Buildings, Futuristic Projects

BIG Architecture : Iconic New Buildings

Article by Steven Tierney, Uniform

12 Apr 2013

BIG Architectural Designs

BIG approach ensures iconic status

Article by Steven Tierney, Uniform

Like Magritte’s famous ‘treachery of images’ painting (the one with the pipe that says “This is not a pipe”), projects by BIG should carry a disclaimer. BIG (Biarke Ingels Group) architects, based in Copenhagen and more recently New York, are a relatively small firm (only 160 staff) but have rock star status because, when they’re involved, things are not always what they seem.

Amager Bakke – Waste-to-Energy Plant Copenhagen, Denmark
Design: BIG

image : BIG & MIR

Agency partner David Zahle was giving a lecture at the Manchester Business School a few days ago, an event organised by RIBA.

Many of the buildings presented to the six-strong Uniform contingent (seated in their prime seats, wine glasses in tow) had similar metamorphic themes; An apartment building that was an artificial mountain set in the flat Denmark landscape, with an image of Everest punctured into a façade using varying sized ventilation holes as pixels. And then there was a maritime museum relocated to a disused dry dock, giving the building the form of a ship. But most evocative of this attitude of the pipey-ness was the redevelopment of the envelope of an energy plant in central Copenhagen into a ski slope which blows smoke rings out of the top.

Greenland National Gallery of Art, Denmark
BIG + TNT Nuuk + Ramboll Nuuk + Arkitekti

image from BIG

BIG describe their approach to the design process as ‘Hedonistic Sustainability’. It’s about putting the prolonged enjoyment of life at the centre – a noble concept that has failed many before (see modernists telling us how to live our lives!). BIG differs by being humble and devoted to function for the individual and the group.

BIG twist and turn the traditional modernist shoebox inside out to form loops and knots that allow all to see the view. Everyone gets to access courtyards and gardens, creating proper communal spaces. The result of this absolute dedication to form following is some of the most novel and groundbreaking architecture produced so far this century.

Danish Maritime Museum, Helsingør, Sjælland, Denmark:
Design: BIG

image from Uniform

You begin to sense me falling into the cultish following of the BIG brand. It’s true, so join me and read the great BIG bible, ‘Yes is more!’ an architectural graphic novel. Everything that needs to be known to understand the BIG philosophy; which could, and should, be applied wider to all forms of creativity.

I’m looking forward to the future BIG seems to promise, a return to childhood dreams of flying cars buzzing around, and architecture that’s not unlike the world of George Jetson, but a little more practical.

BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group : Practice Profile

picture : Jens Lindhe

BIG : all projects listed alphabetically

image : MIR

Bjarke Ingels Group : further information re studio + older projects

photograph © Vegar Moen

International Architectural Designs

Danish Architecture

Contemporary Architecture in Denmark – architectural selection below:

ARCTIC Hundested Harbour Cultural Attraction, Region Hovedstaden, Northern Sjælland
Design: CEBRA architecture, Architects

image Courtesy architecture office
ARCTIC Hundested Harbour Cultural Attraction

The Culture Yard – Kulturværftet, Helsingør
Design: aart architects

photo © Adrian Welch
Culture Yard Elsinore Building

Copenhagen Architects

Danish Architecture

Danish Architects

Copenhagen Architect : Studio Listings

Comments / photos for the BIG Architecture – New Iconic Buildings article page welcome