BIG – How architecture is pushing the boundaries and a waste-to-energy facility is turned into a ski slope

The corporate philosophies of the leading Danish architectural practice BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group – and the Italian lighting manufacturer Artemide have the same focus: people’s needs. So it’s no wonder that their dialogue over several years has produced lights that are captivating for more than just their functionality and design.

 

Bjarke Ingels – Evolution rather than revolution

At the age of just 31, the Danish architect Bjarke Ingels laid the foundations for BIG in Copenhagen in 2005 and has changed architecture’s image ever since with his innovative vision.
Several awards and the film “Big Time” about this charismatic creative boss have contributed to a popularity that goes way beyond the world of architecture. What began in Copenhagen has spread internationally in the last 13 years to London and New York. With 17 partners and a total of around 600 employees, Bjarke Ingels shapes an architectural language that develops uniquely in every design, influenced by a utopian vision.

In its designs, BIG creates an intersection between the radical and the real, translating it with utopian pragmatism. Its creative ideas combine social, economic and environmental elements in one building. With each project the boundaries of what is normal are pushed even more so that the architecture is as user friendly for individual people as possible: BIG brings together contrasting elements that introduce something new for people.

A good example of this utopian pragmatism responding to residents’ needs is the VIA 57 West, which was completed in New York in 2016. Known as Courtscraper – a mix of courtyard and skyscraper – the building won the 2016 Highrise Award for its expressive formal language. The architects at BIG have created a residential tower that stands out on the New York skyline not just for its size, but for its expressive architecture and its focus on what is most important – people’s need for healthy living.

As well as striving for utopia and pragmatism, the Dane’s architecture is dictated by hedonistic sustainability. Thus the Danish practice sees the connection between distinctive thinking on sustainability and greater user friendliness, enriched through enjoyment and pleasure in its application as a way to produce successful architecture.

This is demonstrated brilliantly in the environmentally-friendly approach to Copenhagen’s Amager Bakke waste-to-energy facility. As well as being of environmental and economic value, this facility that waste rubbish into heat and energy also has an additional social component: the plant’s architecture is expressed in the form and design of a ski slope. A lift takes visitors to the top and they can then ski down the 100-metre slope. In this design the architects combine a forward-looking idea with a building structure than can be experienced, is accessible to everyone and consequently shapes Copenhagen’s landscape for people.

Alphabet of Light Circular

Gople RWB

When architecture and light unite: The cooperation between Artemide and BIG

As well as having a remarkable sense of design and architecture, Bjarke Ingels Group proves itself with a pronounced eye for detail. Based on a special sense of space and architecture, BIG develops lights for Artemide that are more than just a light source.

Their cooperation features the series Alphabet of light, Gople, La Linea and Ripple, which are shaped by BIG’s sustainable, user-defined dogma and each have different characteristics. While their function as lighting is often at the core of the designs, BIG focuses on interactions with people, plants and space.

The Alphabet of light series supports a dialogue between people and space: in geometric forms or as letters, the lights encourage their use as a means of expression in order to illustrate thoughts extensively through language. In a functional way, people as artists change the impact of the space.

With its flexible structure and free use of the space, the rope light La Linea also encourages observers to take a good look at their surroundings.

Manufactured using traditional, Venetian glassblowing, the unique hand-made items in the Gople range have an innovative technological benefit. The metallisation of the mouth-blown glass is produced by an innovative procedure that is emission and waste free. Through its patented technology, Gople RWB helps plants grow and flower, consequently having a positive impact on people and their environment.
With the Ripple lights too, the designers make reference to users’ wellbeing: they are great to look at and ensure acoustic wellbeing thanks to their ability to absorb sound.

When innovation meets lighting design and architecture, systems are created that are based on many years of experience and a great understanding of the impact of light. In their close collaboration, Artemide and Bjarke Ingels Group have developed lights that have a positive impact on people and their environment.

Ripple

La Linea, Photo: Federico Villa

Alphabet of Light

Individual basic modules can be put together simply to form letters, numbers or sinuous light structures. Supplemented by the circular and linear Alphabet of Light pendant lights, this extensive family of lights allows the individual and emotional design of rooms. 

Design: Bjarke Ingels Group

Alphabet of Light, Photo: Pierpalo Ferrari

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