Bjarke Ingels, imagination in power

Bjarke Bundgaard Ingels was born on October 2, 1974 in Copenhagenat Denmark. The son of an engineer and a dentist, he showed a pronounced talent for drawing from an early age. He spent his summers in Croatia and Ingels recalls: "When I got home after three weeks, I'd rush out to my Lego, brimming with ideas inspired by my time there, which I absolutely had to express." The blocks piled up and the imagination flourished.

At the end of high school, Ingels dreamed of a career in graphic design or comics. But unable to find a suitable school in Denmark, he enrolled at Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts to pursue a career in architecture, a choice that at the time made no more sense to him than a glass of water at an aperitif to others. École polytechnique de Barcelona. He admits that, at the time, the only architect he knew was Jørn Utzonthe creator of Sydney Opera House.

But one day, at art school, he stumbles upon the job of Rem Koolhaasand then, bam, it was love at first sight. He lands an internship with OMA, the office of the great Rem himself. And when he finished his studies, the impressed Koolhaas took him on as a member of his team to work on a major project: the Seattle Central Library.

Bjarke Ingels

In 2001, he went into business for himself with a Belgian friend, Julien De Smedt. They go up PLOTan agency whose projects are as perched as their name. Their trick is to come up with buildings at less than 1,000 francs a square metre, like the VM homes in Copenhagen. Mild madness, but it works.

VM homes in Copenhagen

One project follows another in Denmark: the maritime youth centerAmager, Sundby harbor, Helsingor psychiatric hospital in the shape of a flake, The Soren and Iben Olsson House.

Founding of BIG (Bjarke Ingels Group)

In 2006, Bjarke set up his own solo company, BIG - Bjarke Ingels Group. Yes, the guy's not afraid of acronyms. The domain name? "big.dk". How daring. He continues to work with Julien De Smedt and is finalizing Mountain Dwellings in Ørestad, Copenhagen, Then 8 House also in Ørestad between 2006 and 2010, the largest private residential complex ever built in Denmark, where residents can cycle up to the 10th floor - original!

VM Houses -Mountain Dwellings

In 2009, he embarked on a new adventure KiBiSia Copenhagen-based design company set up by three Lars Holme Larsen and Jens Martin Skibsted. The three loulous bring back in the basket the talents of their own boxes: Kilo Design (Ki), BIG architects (Bi) and Skibsted Ideation (Si). All three are able to draw on ideas from different fields, creating attractive, functional yet non-traditional products. Their company weaves its way into everything that moves: architecture, furniture, electronics, transport, culture, even lifestyle, nothing escapes their notice.

2010 is the year Ingels starts to play in the big league. He designed the Danish pavilion for the World Expo in Shanghaia 3,000 m2 pavilion in the shape of a loop. With a bicycle path inside, you can visit the Danish exhibition without getting off your bike. It even relocates the Little Mermaid statue from Copenhagen and glue it to the center of the pavilion, inflating the guy.

Danish pavilion for the Shanghai World Expo

The awards soon followed, and in 2011 he was named Architectural Innovator of the Year by the Wall street journal.

In 2015, he was chosen to design the World trade center N°2 in New-yorkThe project didn't see the light of day, but this achievement consolidated his international reputation and earned him a place among the 100 most influential personalities in the world by the Time Magazine.

Rut Otero and Bjarke Ingels at Time's top 100 party in 2019

2016 saw Ingels sign the Serpentine Pavilion in LondonThis ephemeral creation resembles a frozen waterfall, made of hollowed-out blocks stacked in a strange ballet of curves and straight lines. The result is an optical effect that makes you question your sobriety.

Serpentine pavilion london

That same year, he completed the VIA 57 West in New Yorka residential building in the shape of a pyramid. Emporis Skyscraper Awardwe're going to get jealous.

Via 57 West New-York

But that's not the end of it, the guy keeps one foot in childhood. In 2017, he fulfilled a childhood dream: the Lego House in Billund, Denmark. A house museum made of giant Lego bricks. This museum, made up of 21 colorful blocks evoking the famous bricks, attracts 250,000 visitors a year.

Lego House in Billund

In his private life, he shares his life with Rut Otero a Spanish-born architect I met at the rally Burning manwhich takes place every year in the desert of Black Rock in Nevada. Together they have been living on a barge in Copenhagen harbor since 2016 and have had a son, Darwin, born in 2019.

The Bjarke-Ingels barge

He will also create an ephemeral structure, The Orbwith Jakob Langefor the Burning Man 2018a mirrored inflatable sphere with the same chromatic fabric as the weather balloons in the NASA.

Burning man 2018 THE ORB

2019 will see the completion of a number of major projects The MÉCA (House of the Creative and Cultural Economy) in Bordeauxand, hundreds of kilometers away, in Copenhagen, CopenHillAt the top, an artificial ski slope where you can glide on emerald green in the heart of the city. Between its walls, furnaces, and on its roof, skiers - an astonishing contrast and yet another innovative project.

Copenhagen

The Vancouver House, 1480 Howe Street, Canada. A 49-storey tower whose unique design sets it apart from all other surrounding buildings.

The Vancouver House, 1480 Howe Street

Still in 2019, Paris this time, he tackles the new Galeries Lafayette on the Champs-Élysées, an art-deco store dating from 1932, "By selling products, we wanted to give people the feeling of strolling through an art museum" said Bjarke. Successful objective, but it's getting a bit tiresome, this guy couldn't screw something up once in a while!

Galeries Lafayette

Ingels is constantly innovating and diversifying his projects. In 2022, he will complete the new Googlewith the magicians of Heatherwick Studioa major project: Bay Viewa futuristic campus that rises proudly in the Bay of San Franciscoin the heart of the Ames Research Center of the NASA. A veritable architectural vessel, a behemoth designed as an ultramodern beehive where fossil fuels are a distant memory.

Google Bay View

Imagine three immense structures, linked like the organs of a living organism, topped by monumental roofs that seem to undulate in the wind. These canopies, worthy of an aerial ballet, evoke airport terminals, but their true prowess lies in their surface. No fewer than 50,000 solar panels glisten in the Californian sun, capturing light and transforming it into clean, powerful energy, capable of generating up to 7 megawatts, meeting 40 % of the building's needs.

But wait, there's more! These roofs also work underwater. They regulate the temperature like an invisible butler: too hot and they cool you down, too cold and they warm you up. Sun and wind become the employees of the month. What a guy!

Another striking project from Bjarke's imagination, Sluishuis Residential Building Amsterdam, Netherlands. An aerial colossus, suspended between air and water. Its V-shaped opening, majestic and improbable, rises in a bold gesture, as if the structure wanted to welcome the sky while embracing the liquid mirror below.

Sluishuis Residential Building Amsterdam

Ingels' style is characterized by boldness, innovation and concern for the environment. He seeks to combine seemingly contradictory elements, creating buildings that are both functional and aesthetic, sustainable and playful. His "pragmatic utopia" is a bridge built between the possible and the ideal, a vision where every line, every curve tells of a future where architecture elevates lives as much as horizons, and Ingels has me talking like a book now.

Despite his success, Ingels is not immune to criticism. He's been criticized for his tendency to repeat himself, or for favoring aesthetics over functionality... take that in the teeth! Others have dubbed him the "Instagram architect" for his photogenic creations... poof in your face! He has also been criticized for his political choices, notably his meeting with Jair Bolsonaro to discuss a tourism development plan for Brazil, ouh! the villain.

But Bjarke doesn't listen to critics. Charisma, humor, energy, it's all there. On Twitter, he jokes again, "He's playing with his reputation like yesterday with his Lego.

In 2018, a documentary entitled "Big Time - Inside the head of Bjarke Ingels", directed by Kaspar Astrup Schröderoffers an intimate insight into his life and work over a seven-year period. The film shows Ingels struggling with health problems - he suffered a cerebral cyst following a concussion while playing baseball, while working on the skyscraper N°2 of the World Trade Center in New York.

Big time documentary poster

Today, at the age of 49, Bjarke Ingels continues to be a driving force in the world of architecture. With offices in Copenhagen, London, New York, Barcelona, Zurich, Los Angeles, and ShenzhenWith its army of 700 idea soldiers, BIG has become one of the world's most influential architecture firms, with projects all over the planet including the Gelephu Mindfulness City in Bhutan. Ingels remains true to his vision of architecture that pushes the boundaries of what is possible, creating spaces that enhance people's lives while respecting the environment. Like what...give your kids Lego.

Pascal T.

Quotes:

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bjarke_Ingels

https://www.cahiersdelimaginaire.com/votre-laboratoire-creatif-sylvie-gendreau/construis-moi-une-montagne

https://www.lecho.be/sabato/architecture/bjarke-ingels-l-architecte-de-la-nouvelle-boutique-des-galeries-lafayette-a-paris/10113351.html

https://www.lesechos.fr/2017/03/bjarke-ingels-larchitecte-extraterrestre-1234705

https://www.7joursaclermont.fr/bjarke-ingels-parcours-dun-architecte-innovant-influent/

https://www.bang-olufsen.com/fr/fr/story/bjarke-ingels