Wednesday 16 March 2011

BIG architects are making it BIG


Danish architects Bjarke Ingels Group have won a competition to design multistorey, prefabricated wooden housing for Kouvola, Finland. The E2 (Ecology + Economy) Timber Competition aims to prototype and showcase large-scale sustainable wooden construction that can be replicated worldwide. Entitled PUU-BO, BIG’s design comprises prefabricated modules that could be reconfigured to make different building typologies in different environments, from townhouses to skyscrapers.


Previously to this they have managed to win about 3 major competition projects which will really start to put them more on the map more than they are already. Bjarke, the director of BIG has made his intentions clear to rethink how we design and how an architect should be seen in the public eye. He will still rarely dress up and often is very casual in what he wears. The other competitions that BIG architects have recently won are:

The National Gallery of Greenland

The building will form a ring round a central glazed courtyard.Its roofline and internal paths will follow the shape of the sloping site, which overlooks a fjord.








West 57:
A residential building for Manhattan, New York, with a rectangular plan pulled up at one corner to form a triangular tower. Called West 57th, the 600-apartment block will be organised around a central courtyard, providing residents with views of the Hudson River.The sloping roof will rise to a peak of 467 ft and its surface will be punctured by roof terraces.The other three façades will comprise balconies and bay windows serving each of the apartments.Construction is due for completion in 2016.









TEK:

A technology centre for Taipei, Taiwan, comprising a cube-shaped structure with round voids cut from its volume. Called TEK (Technology, Entertainment & Knowledge Centre), holes in the structure will create a spiral within the volume, forming access routes from street level into the building and up to its roof.The building will be made up of concrete lamellas, an arrangement of stacked thin plates, that will recede in the centre and function as a staircase where the holes have been cut into the structure.These stepped areas can also provide informal seating areas for visitors.The centre will comprise exhibition spaces, showrooms, an auditorium, restaurants and galleries, which will be organized around the central spiral.Retail spaces, a hotel and offices will also be incorporated.








Waste-To-Energy Plant
A power plant for Copenhagen with their design that will blow smoke rings and double up as a ski slope.The Waste-to-Energy Plant will replace the neighbouring Amagerforbraending plant and will function as a treatment facility that transforms waste into energy.The roof of the building will be a ski slope, accessed via an elevator running along a smokestack and providing views to the inside of the plant.The smokestack will expel rings of smoke 30cm in diameter whenever a ton of fossil Co2 is released, acting as a signal to raise awareness of ecological issues and energy consumption amongst the inhabitants of Copenhagen.The smoke rings will be illuminated at night by lasers that will be directed towards them.Construction is due for completion in 2016.







Danish Pavilion at the Shanghai Expo '10

Shanghai Expo 2010: the Danish Pavilion by Bjarke Ingels Group at Shanghai Expo 2010 opened to the public today along with the rest of the Expo.BIG’s double-loop structure has a cycle park on the roof containing 300 free bikes for visitors, and features as its centrepiece a pool overlooked by the Little Mermaid statue from Copenhagen – specially imported for the Expo – where visitors can swim.



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