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Who is BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group?

BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group is one of the world’s most influential architecture firms. Led by Bjarke Ingels, the firm has left its mark on both Danish and international architecture.

By Dansk Arkitektur Center

For the Danish architecture firm BIG, architecture is not only about giving people a roof over their heads in the most efficient way possible. Nor is architecture only about utopian visions that do not benefit real people. BIG describes itself as a group of pragmatic utopians seeking to connect concrete solutions with bold visions.

A pyramid-shaped skyscraper. A ski slope in the middle of the city. A museum underground. A 12,000-square-meter experience house for LEGO shaped like LEGO bricks—of course.

Famous Buildings by BIG

BIG is known for communicating its architecture through razor-sharp concepts that make its projects easy to understand. The architecture almost explains itself. Just look at LEGO House: the building is designed to hold LEGO bricks, and at the same time it is shaped like giant LEGO bricks. It is difficult to tell where the architecture ends and the building’s content begins. In other words, the form of the building clearly shows what it contains.

All over the world, BIG tells stories through its architecture. The firm works on projects ranging from Oksbøl on Denmark’s west coast to Shenzhen in southern China. BIG’s projects are often defined by a clear idea in which a building’s form and function tell one coherent story.

Did you know?

  • Bjarke Ingels founded BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group in 2005. Before that, he had co-led the architecture firm PLOT with Julien De Smedt and worked for Rem Koolhaas’s firm OMA.
  • BIG has offices in Copenhagen, New York, and London, and with more than 500 employees, the firm designs projects across Europe, North America, Asia, and the Middle East.
  • The firm is known for projects including 8 House in Ørestad, the Maritime Museum of Denmark in Helsingør, VIA 57 West in New York, the Panda House at Copenhagen Zoo, and Amager Bakke, a waste-to-energy plant with a ski slope on top.
  • In 2018, Bjarke Ingels was awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Order of the Dannebrog by Her Majesty Queen Margrethe II.

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