Bjarke Ingels
Early Life and Education
Bjarke Ingels was born on October 2, 1974, in Copenhagen, Denmark. His father was an engineer, and his mother was a dentist. He grew up in a comfortable, middle-class environment and was a bright and ambitious young man.
His first passion was not architecture but cartooning. As a teenager, he dreamed of becoming a graphic novelist, and he enrolled in the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts’ School of Architecture in 1993 with the intention of learning how to draw better. However, he soon discovered that he had a talent and a passion for architecture, and he began to see it as a way of telling stories and creating new worlds, much like a graphic novel.
During his time at the academy, he was a standout student. He also spent a year as an exchange student at the Escola Tècnica Superior d’Arquitectura in Barcelona, where he was exposed to the city’s vibrant architectural culture.
After graduating from the Royal Danish Academy in 1999, he went to work for the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) in Rotterdam, the firm of the influential Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas. His time at OMA was a formative experience. He worked on major projects, including the competition for the Seattle Central Library, and he absorbed Koolhaas’s analytical and iconoclastic approach to design.
In 2001, after three years at OMA, he returned to Copenhagen and, with his OMA colleague Julien De Smedt, founded the architectural practice PLOT. The firm quickly gained a reputation for its playful, innovative, and socially conscious designs. Their projects, such as the Copenhagen Harbour Bath (2003) and the VM Houses (2005), were a breath of fresh air in the Danish architectural scene, and they won numerous awards and accolades.
Despite their success, Ingels and De Smedt decided to dissolve PLOT in 2006, and Ingels founded his own firm, Bjarke Ingels Group, or BIG. He was just 31 years old, but he had a clear vision for a new kind of architectural practice, one that would be global in its reach, optimistic in its outlook, and dedicated to creating a more sustainable and enjoyable future.
Architectural Philosophy and Career
Bjarke Ingels’s architectural philosophy is a pragmatic and optimistic response to the complex challenges of the 21st century. He is known for his concept of “pragmatic utopianism,” which seeks to combine the visionary and idealistic goals of the avant-garde with the practical and real-world constraints of business and politics.
His philosophy is also summed up in his famous mantra, “Yes is More,” which is a playful inversion of Mies van der Rohe’s “less is more.” For Ingels, this means that architecture should not be about limitation and exclusion, but about inclusion and synthesis. He believes that it is possible to resolve the seemingly contradictory demands of a project—such as the need for both density and green space, or for both sustainability and affordability—through a process of creative and playful problem-solving.
Ingels is a master of the architectural diagram. He uses simple, clear, and often cartoon-like diagrams to explain the complex ideas and processes behind his designs. This approach has made his work highly accessible and has helped him to become one of the most effective communicators in the world of architecture. He has published his work in the form of a graphic novel, also titled “Yes is More,” which has become a bestseller.
His work is characterized by its formal inventiveness and its social and environmental consciousness. He is known for creating “hybrid” buildings that combine multiple functions in a single structure, such as a power plant with a ski slope on its roof, or an apartment building with a bike path that spirals up its facade.
Sustainability is a central theme in his work, but he approaches it in a way that is both pragmatic and playful. He is interested in what he calls “hedonistic sustainability,” the idea that sustainable buildings and cities can also be more fun and more enjoyable to live in.
Ingels’s career has been a meteoric rise. Since founding BIG in 2006, he has grown the firm from a small Copenhagen-based practice to a global powerhouse with offices in New York, London, and Barcelona. He has won numerous high-profile commissions around the world, and he has become one of the most famous and influential architects of his generation. He is known for his boundless energy, his infectious optimism, and his ability to charm clients, politicians, and the public alike.
Notable and Famous Works
Bjarke Ingels’s portfolio is filled with innovative and eye-catching buildings that have captured the public imagination.
8 House (2010) in Copenhagen is a large, mixed-use housing development that is shaped like a figure-eight. The building’s most distinctive feature is a continuous bike path and walkway that runs from the ground floor to the top of the 10-story building, allowing residents to bike all the way to their front doors. The building also features a large, sloping green roof and a variety of apartment types, all designed to create a sense of community and social interaction.
VIA 57 West (2016) in New York City is a residential building on the west side of Manhattan that is a hybrid of a European perimeter block and a traditional American skyscraper. The building’s unique, tetrahedral form, which Ingels calls a “courtscraper,” creates a large, south-facing courtyard garden for the residents while also providing views of the Hudson River.
CopenHill (2017), also known as Amager Bakke, is a waste-to-energy power plant in Copenhagen that is one of the cleanest in the world. Ingels’s design transformed the industrial building into a public amenity by adding a ski slope, a hiking trail, and the world’s tallest climbing wall to its roof. The project is a prime example of his concept of “hedonistic sustainability.”
The LEGO House (2017) in Billund, Denmark, is a visitor center and museum for the famous toy company. The building is composed of 21 oversized LEGO bricks that are stacked to create a series of exhibition spaces, play areas, and a large public plaza. The building is a playful and imaginative tribute to the creativity and fun of the LEGO brand.
The Twist (2019) is a museum and bridge that spans the Randselva river in a sculpture park in Norway. The building is a simple, rectangular volume that is twisted 90 degrees at its center, creating a dramatic, sculptural form that is both a bridge and a gallery.
Google Headquarters (2022) in Mountain View, California, which BIG designed in collaboration with Heatherwick Studio, is a massive and innovative corporate campus. The project consists of a series of lightweight, tent-like structures with translucent canopies that control the indoor climate and air quality. The interior spaces are highly flexible and can be reconfigured to meet the changing needs of the company.
Awards, Honors, and Legacy
Bjarke Ingels has received numerous awards and accolades for his work. In 2011, he received the Wall Street Journal’s Architectural Innovator of the Year award. In 2016, Time magazine named him one of the 100 Most Influential People in the world. He has also received the Danish Crown Prince’s Culture Prize (2011) and the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale of Architecture (2004) for his work with PLOT.
Ingels’s legacy is still being written, but he has already had a profound impact on the direction of contemporary architecture. He has redefined the role of the architect in the 21st century, from that of a solitary artist to that of a master collaborator, communicator, and problem-solver.
He has brought a new sense of optimism, playfulness, and social and environmental responsibility to the profession. He has shown that it is possible to create an architecture that is both intelligent and popular, both visionary and pragmatic.
His work has been criticized by some for being overly simplistic or for relying too heavily on the “one-liner” diagram. However, his supporters see him as a breath of fresh air in a profession that can often be too serious and too insular. He has re-engaged the public with architecture and has shown that buildings can be a source of joy, excitement, and civic pride. He is one of the most dynamic and influential figures in the world of architecture today, and his work will continue to shape the future of our cities for years to come.