Bjarke Ingels - BIG Biography

From EjWiki

The studio likewise checks out brand-new disciplines bounding on architecture, promoting research study 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 type separated from the rest of the world, I actually see the role of architecture and of designers to be completely involved with the rest of society. The concept was to produce an extremely active architecture where you can walk and cycle through the pavilion and through the exhibitions, you can dip your toes in the swimming pool in the middle. In numerous ways it is an architecture that does not simply try to look poetic or beautiful but it actually creates possibilities. Some individuals would argue that producing a ski slope on top of a power plant has absolutely nothing to do with architecture but this is in some way the architecture of arranging all aspects of human life in new mixtures.



BIG, established by Bjarke Ingels in 2005, is among the world's most sophisticated studios in the definition of urban situations and horizons.
big architects has worked on various projects all over the world, all sharing a visionary view and an interest in innovative theories about modern society and way of lives.
Its 2 workplaces in Copenhagen and New York bring together professionals from all over the world, promoting cultural exchange as a source of wealth in design.
The group's knowledge varies from architecture to style, from idea development to engineering.
The studio likewise checks out brand-new disciplines bounding on architecture, promoting research and developing brand-new point of views on the cities we will live in years to come. Digital representation innovations are seen not as an end in themselves but as a way of achieving these objectives. Society, economics and ecology are the styles dearest to Bjarke Ingels and his team, addressed in each of his jobs.
Ingels started his profession working at OMA with Rem Koolhaas; in 2001 he co-founded PLOT (Julien De Smedt and Bjarke Ingels).
In his academic profession, 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 visiting teacher at Harvard University.
In 2004 he was granted 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 houses.
The Mountain housing development, which made Bjarke Ingels famous all over the world, has actually received many awards including the World Architecture Festival Real Estate Award, the Online Forum Aid Award and the MIPIM Residential Development Award.
Interview
BJARKE INGELS. Individuals just move freely around the city. And in one of our latest jobs we actually took an area of town houses however with little gardens in front and we developed a metropolitan block so individuals can actually walk or cycle all the way from the garden to the penthouse.
You have an another significant ongoing task in Copenhagen, which is the Amager Bakke waste-to-energy plant. This is an excellent obstacle for the city and for the sustainability of the city.
BJARKE INGELS. The main point represents the ultimate example of sustainability: instead of throwing rubbish in garbage dumps, we recycle 42% of waste and we burn 54% of this waste and use it to produce heat and electrical power. As a matter of reality 97% of the homes in Copenhagen do not spend any energy on heating although the weather can be cold, since they get all the heat from the excess heat produced by the power station. This job is so huge and it is in the middle of the city, in the harbour area. We even proposed to create a ski slope on the roofing because we do get snow here and the country is completely flat. We could turn the roofing into a man-made ski slope. In winter, individuals can take a lift to the top of the power station and just ski down for enjoyable all the method to the ground floor.
This is a fine example of mix of public area with town utility. How was the task accepted by the citizens?
BJARKE INGELS. Usually when you prepare to develop a power plant in the middle of the city, you can expect a great deal of problems: people do not wish to live beside a power plant however we got e-mail messages from individuals asking when the project was going to be finished due to the fact that they were eagerly anticipating snowboarding!
More recently you won another crucial global style competition for a new 27.000 m2 cultural complex in Albania, can you tell us more about this task?
BJARKE INGELS. This is a cultural complex. As you'll probably know, today there is a little unrest in Tirana since of the upcoming elections so we are excited to see how things will progress. The job is for a complex with a Museum of Religious Harmony, an Islamic Centre and a Mosque. The basic concept is to incorporate public life with the religious area and also with a view to incorporate the religious beliefs into the city. When we went to Tirana to have a look at the task, we went on weekends, on Fridays and unique vacations. And we might see that the current mosque is too little so individuals hoping in fact spill out onto the streets. So the intent is to combine the city grid of Tirana with the orientation towards The Mecca. On the ground floor, all the 3 structures, are oriented towards The Mecca to develop a square in front of the mosque whereas at roofing system level the structure follows the grid of the city streets and walls. The idea is to get these 2 instructions to create a semi-covered outside area, nearly extending the mosque outside onto the street however likewise inviting the street and the general public area all the way to the mosque, developing a sort of overlap, which is half indoors and half outdoors, half mosque and half Tirana.
You constantly involve the city in your jobs, and you usually deal with social jobs, but what do you think is the relationship between architecture and politics?
BJARKE INGELS. I think politics is the process of attempting to listen to the needs and desires and issues of citizens and turn these collective concerns into political reality through representation; in a very similar though more hid way architecture deals with accommodating the issues and needs of residents. So as architects we are at the centre of attempting to constantly coordinate the collective effort of ensuring that our cities and structures fit with the method we wish to live and in a perfect world that is also what political leaders must be doing.
Do you think that architecture is a promotional tool for politics or politics is a tool for a designer to accomplish something important in a city?
BJARKE INGELS. Here in Italy I think for example how weird to see the case of Stefano Boeri, organiser of Festarch and Editor of Abitare, who utilized to be a designer interested in politics and now he is probably more like a politician interested in architecture.
Rather challenging I think. How do you feel when individuals say you are "l'Enfant awful" of design and architecture?
Rather than considering architecture as a self-governing art kind isolated from the rest of the world, I actually see the role of architecture and of architects to be completely included with the rest of society. In numerous methods it is an architecture that does not simply try to look lovely or poetic but it truly produces possibilities. Some individuals 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 arranging all aspects of human life in new mixes.