Being one of the most influential architects of the modern world, Bjarke Ingels’s work embodies a rare optimism that is simultaneously playful, practical, and immediately accessible.
He believes architecture is the canvas for the stories of our lives and dreams can be turned into concrete realities using bricks and mortar. When asked why most modern buildings are boring and reduced to boxy containers, Ingles took it onto himself to prove otherwise and has come up with some of the most fascinating building designs. Bjarke believes that in architecture, you can turn fiction into a fact and that multiple ideas can be married to create hybrids.
Keep reading for some insight on three of his best projects.
EIGHT HOUSE
This residential building embodies the extreme density of a skyscraper and the urban oasis of a courtyard. The apartments are placed at the top while the commercial program unfolds at the base of the building.
As a result, the different horizontal layers have achieved a quality of their own: the apartments benefit from the view, sunlight, and fresh air, while the office leases merge with life on the street.
MOUNTAIN DWELLINGS:
Combining a parking structure and apartment building by turning the parking into a mountain created this interesting and very functional design. The stack of homes is turned into a cascade of apartments with gardens and penthouse views.
COPENHAGEN POWER PLANT:
BIG has completed the “cleanest waste-to-energy power plant in the world” in Copenhagen, Denmark, which is also topped by an artificial ski slope that is open all year round. It was designed to double as public infrastructure and is complete with tree-lined hiking trails and ski slopes on its roof along with the “tallest artificial climbing wall in the world” on its facade.
