Tag Archives: Bjarke Ingels

The world’s first floating city designed by BIG & backed by UN can withstand Category 5 hurricans!

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OCEANIX, an ambitious floating architecture concept envisioned to be built off the South Korean coast by BIG – Bjarke Ingel‘s design group. It was first revealed in 2019 and now has received the green light from UN-Habitat and the Metropolitan City of Busan to begin construction. The futuristic sustainable city can also withstand category 5 hurricanes!

Given the rising sea levels, fast growing coastal cities have resorted to expanding into the ocean by creating new land using sand which causes harm to the existing marine ecosystem only to be partially submerged a few years later. BIG came up with a better solution with OCEANIX as it introduces a modular design system with net-zero energy that allows people to live sustainably and safely. The cities are made up of 2-hectare, 300-resident neighborhoods which then connect to form 1,650-person villages including systems like underwater farming and greenhouses to make it as self-sufficient as possible!

“Sustainable floating cities are a part of the arsenal of climate adaptation strategies available to us. Instead of fighting with water, let us learn to live in harmony with it. We look forward to developing climate adaptation and nature-based solutions through the floating city concept, and Busan is the ideal choice to deploy the prototype,” said Maimunah Mohd Sharif, UN-Habitat Executive Director.

Inhabitants can easily walk around or take a boat to navigate between the floating communities which will include residences as well as a public square, art installations, marketplaces, sports clubs, schools, and more. It is also designed to be able to withstand natural disasters such as tsunamis and hurricanes. All structures will be under seven stories in height to create a low center of gravity, and platforms are built of locally sourced materials like fast-growing bamboo that has six times the tensile strength of steel, a negative carbon footprint, and can be grown in the neighborhoods themselves!

“9 out of 10 of the world’s largest cities will be exposed to rising seas by 2050. The sea is our fate – It may also be our future,” said BIG founder Bjarke Ingels who has time an again pushed the boundaries of architecture and design by bringing impossible concepts to life. OCEANIX is trailblazing a new industry with blue technologies that meet humanity’s shelter, energy, water and food needs without killing marine ecosystems. It is made to grow, adapt and tranform organically over time with humans and the climate while balancing the needs of both!

Designer: BIG

The post The world’s first floating city designed by BIG & backed by UN can withstand Category 5 hurricans! first appeared on Yanko Design.

OPPO’s new “O” headquarters by Bjarke Ingels show how architecture + typography are a perfect match

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In what could be an incredible branding move, OPPO’s new headquarter design will adorn the Hangzhou skyline with a massive O. Envisioned by Bjarke Ingels Group, the headquarters are described as an “infinity loop” shaped skyscraper that “connects [the] ground to sky in a continuous loop of collaboration”.

The larger-than-life O-Tower is representative of OPPO‘s status as China’s largest smartphone manufacturer. The upper and lower surfaces of the O remain flattened, creating what feels like a möbius strip that represents Oppo’s infinite potential and innovative spirit.

The O-Tower will be located in Hangzhou’s Future Sci-Tech City, within the Zhejiang province of China. Its purpose will be to primarily serve as an R&D building for the smartphone company while acting as an “iconic landmark and gateway” to the business district.

The O-Tower lights up after sundown, creating a magnificent letter-O in Hangzhou’s skyline at night. Not only does it serve as an iconic landmark within the city, but it also helps reinforce Oppo’s brand through the incredible architecture.

Meanwhile, the front and the top view look equally stunning in the day, creating a rather memorable piece of architecture that’s both iconic and awe-inspiring. The tower is expected to be built alongside a natural lake and a 10,000 square-meter park.

The O-Tower creates a pretty stunning entrance into the building as you walk right through the alphabet into a large circular courtyard populated with greenery. “The central oasis and the surrounding [Hangzhou] wetland park expands the public realm into the heart of the complex,” explained Bjarke Ingels, founder of the Denmark-based architecture studio BIG.

“The compact form folding in on itself provides large flexible floorplates with the daylight access and fresh air of a slender tower”, says Ingels. The O-Tower’s lower floors will contain exhibition spaces, conference areas, and a canteen, while the offices located on the floors above will be joined with a series of triple-height spaces under the sloping facade of the tower’s roof. On the outside, the building will be wrapped in an adaptive louvre facade, featuring slanted slats that almost look like the building has fingerprints. These facades, however, will play an important role in minimizing solar glare. “The adaptive louvered facade omits incoming solar glare and thermal heat gain, enhancing the passive performance of the building”, says Ingels, who’s studio BIG began working with the Chinese smartphone manufacturer at the beginning of 2019 to envision the R&D Building’s design and master plan.

Designer: Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) for OPPO

This lillypad-inspired floating sustainable city was designed to support emission free transportation

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Bjarke Ingels has always pushed the boundaries and turned ambitious concepts into a reality. What I love about his work that he always incorporates sustainability into his architectural structures while moving ahead with the times – Ingels shows us time and again that the future is green. BiodiverCity is one of his most recent projects, it is a city of three islands connected by autonomous vehicles for land, water, and air to make this a transport emission-free habitat off the coast of Malaysia.

Three islands will be built in Penang and will serve as cultural, business, and residential hubs. The most striking thing about the development is that all the transportation on the 4,500 acres will consist of autonomous boats, vehicles, and air travel, making the islands car-free and pedestrian-friendly. Construction is one of the biggest sources of carbon emissions, in fact, even more than the aviation industry. So to reduce the impact on the environment, most buildings will be prefabricated or 3D printed on-site and others will use a combination of bamboo, Malaysian timber, and “green concrete” which is made from recycled materials like aggregate.

The commercial build is still in progress, but will eventually consist of three islands — the Channels, Mangroves, and Laguna. These will include about 2.86 miles of beaches, 600 acres of parks, and 15.53 miles of waterfront. Previous land developments in Penang have disturbed the local habitats and coastal areas, so to make amends and solve this looming issue, BiodiverCity will be designed as connected “urban lilypads” and all islands will be able to harness resources locally. The Mangroves honor the wetlands (and of course, the mangroves) and will be made for business and events with a special space called Bamboo Beacon to host conferences or concerts. Lastly, the Laguna will be a cluster of eight small islands built around a marina and this is where people can live in houses that float, are stilted, or terraced. The three islands will be made up of different “districts” that will altogether house 15,000 to 16,000 people on 50 to 500 acres of land.

BiodiverCity will be planned to be a sustainable city where people and nature not only co-exist but thrive. There will be “buffers” between 50 to 100 meters that will surround each district in order to form a harmonious relationship between the people, the land, and the wildlife – think of these buffers as architectural glues for the new ecosystem. To keep native animals safe in spots that are being inhabited by humans, the builders will also include canopies, waterways, and boardwalks. In line with this strong green approach, there will also be green roofs and open spaces to create a symbiotic relationship between people and nature. “We are literally embarking on a journey to create more of Malaysia for future generations. We have decided to set the bar as high as humanly possible by imagining a new archipelago that aims to be both more culturally and biologically diverse than previous developments.” said firm founder Bjarke Ingels. The islands will be built in collaboration with other private companies like Hijjas, Knight Frank, and Ernst and Young.

Designer: Bjarke Ingels Group

BiodiverCity is a part of the Penang2030 initiative that focuses on sustainable living while improving the state’s quality of life, level of income, and participation from citizens.

The islands will be integrated with a SMART grid that provides residents with live data detailing waste and energy consumption – this will help the community to make informed sustainability-related decisions.

The Channels will have a 500-acre digital park for researchers, educators, families, and businesspeople with virtual reality and robotics that will be the new norm in future cities.

“Our masterplan proposal, BiodiverCity, supports the Penang2030 vision with a clear focus on livability, on stimulating a socially and economically inclusive development, and on environmental sustainability for future generations,” said BIG.

“If Penang is defined by its rich cultural diversity and its abundant biodiversity, we would like to envision the Penang South islands as an archipelago where the two can coexist in a human-made ecosystem, expanding and enhancing one another,” said BIG founder Bjarke Ingels.

Architecture legend, Bjarke Ingels, ‘pivots’ their couch towards the future of flexible living

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Bjarke Ingels is a movie star of the architecture world, but he is also an artist and a trailblazing source of inspiration that goes beyond the structures he builds. A decade ago he started spreading the word on his philosophy of sustainable hedonism which bridges the gap between environmentalism and luxury – they can coexist and Ingels showcases that in his work. What sets him apart is that everything he creates has drawn inspirations from ideas, things, art and even games that are totally unrelated to what he is building but still shines through subtly. The latest example to prove this point is the Voxel sofa for a Danish brand, Common Seating, which is a harmony of elements from Minecraft (which Ingels loves!), Q*bert video games as well as the work of Modernist architect Mies van der Rohe.

The Voxel sofa is, in the simplest words, made to adapt to the environment and the user’s needs. Bjarke Ingel’s firm, BIG, looked into how they design their architectural projects like their Lego House, 79 & Park apartment block and the 2016 Serpentine Gallery Pavilion when creating the modular sofa system. The team made a grid of pixel-like blocks to form the seats and called it Voxel. The name and aesthetic of the sofa come from the word’s actual meaning which is a graphic and interface design term for ‘3D pixel’. Voxel will look and mean something unique to every individual user and space.

Voxel can be moved, repaired, flipped, added on to or reduced with ease based on its surroundings. It represents the future of modern furniture – pieces designed to serve the user with multiple functionalities with a form that fits in every room. The sofa system is built with four major parts – armrests, backrests, seats, and legs, and all of these can be interchanged and assembled in multiple ways.  The pieces connect with simple metal cylinders that slide into holes and give it its modular essence. “The grid-like system creates a family of units that can be configured into multiple seating scenarios, from single-unit couch to large configurations,” says Jakob Lange, partner at BIG. With the rapid evolution of our culture and lifestyle, Voxel has the ability to mold itself organically to any ecosystem.

The sofa’s design reduces waste by encouraging owners to exchange or repair separate parts if needed, instead of throwing the entire piece out. Voxel is made on-demand and shipped directly from the workshop to ensure it only produces what is necessary and manages waste responsibly. Voxel promotes Bjarke Ingel’s idea of flexibility and sustainable living in its own didactic message of being able to modify and adapt to where we are in the moment with our core values intact. Lang goes on to say, “If it were a person, [it] would be able to move, flex and adapt to different configurations, making it agile in any environment – at home or at work – and responsive to any individual. The person can really grow and live with this sofa long-term.”

Ingels has always viewed architecture as the art and science of making things that fit the way we want to live our lives, it is a constant evolution of ideas. I’ll leave you with this thought inspired by Bjarke Ingels – sustainability is not a moral sacrifice but a design challenge and we have the tools to design ecosystems that optimize the flow of people, resources, economies even…so why not give back with the power to create?

Designer: BIG Group

Google presents plan to extend headquarters at Silicon Valley

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Google has revealed its plans to expand its headquarters at the Silicon Valley city where it is based already. The plans were submitted on Friday and includes presentations of movable structures...