BIG is a Copenhagen, New York and London based group of architects, designers, urbanists, landscape professionals, interior and product designers, researchers and inventors. The office is currently involved in a large number of projects throughout Europe, North America, Asia and the Middle East. BIG’s architecture emerges out of a careful analysis of how contemporary life constantly evolves and changes. Not least due to the influence from multicultural exchange, global economical flows and communication technologies that all together require new ways of architectural and urban organization. We believe that in order to deal with today’s challenges, architecture can profitably move into a field that has been largely unexplored. A pragmatic utopian architecture that steers clear of the petrifying pragmatism of boring boxes and the naïve utopian ideas of digital formalism. Like a form of programmatic alchemy we create architecture by mixing conventional ingredients such as living, leisure, working, parking and shopping. By hitting the fertile overlap between pragmatic and utopia, we architects once again find the freedom to change the surface of our planet, to better fit contemporary life forms.

BIG’s Anti-Slavery and Human Trafficking Statement 2018

BIG is led by 17 Partners: Bjarke Ingels, Sheela Maini Søgaard, Kai-Uwe Bergmann,Thomas Christoffersen, Finn Nørkjær, David Zahle, Jakob Lange, Andreas Klok Pedersen, Daniel Sundlin, Jakob Sand, Brian Yang, Beat Schenk, Agustin Perez-Torres, Martin Voelkle, Leon Rost, Catherine Huang and Ole Elkjær-Larsen.
 

26 Associates: Ziad Shehab, Sören Grünert, Jakob Henke, Jeremy Alain Siegel, Andreas Buettner, Michelle Stromsta, Linus Saavedra, Aran Coakley, Jelena Vucic, Maria Sole Bravo, Kristian Hindsberg, Elizabeth McDonald, Blake Smith, Matthew Oravec (NYC) Frederik Lyng, Gabrielle Nadeau, Hanna Johansson, João Albuquerque, Nanna Gyldholm Møller, Eva Seo, Tobias Hjortdal, Per Bo Madsen, Snorre Nash, Enea Michelesio, Kekoa Charlot (CPH) and Lorenzo Boddi (LON).

15 Directors: Tine Kaspersen (COO), Anne Brown Frandsen (CFO), Daria Pahhota (CCO), Douglass Alligood, Andy Young (Technical), Duncan Horswill (Engineering), Ulla Hornsyld, Manon Otto (Landscape), Francesca Portesine (Interiors), Florencia Kratsman (Space Planning), Everett Hollander, Nicolas Kastbjerg, Henriette Helstrup (Operations), Michael Rene Hansen (Finance) and Kristian Palsmar (IT).

Bjarke Ingels founded BIG Bjarke Ingels Group in 2005 after co-founding PLOT Architects in 2001 and working at OMA in Rotterdam. Bjarke defines architecture as the art and science of making sure our cities and buildings fit with the way we want to live our lives. Through careful analysis of various parameters from local culture and climate, everchanging patterns of contemporary life, to the ebbs and flows of the global economy, Bjarke believes in the idea of information-driven-design as the driving force for his design process. Named one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World by TIME Magazine in 2016, Bjarke has designed and completed award-winning buildings globally.

In 2018, Bjarke received the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Dannebrog bestowed by Her Majesty the Queen Margrethe II. In 2011, Wall Street Journal named Bjarke The Innovator of the Year; he received the Danish Crown Prince’s Culture Prize in 2011; the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale in 2004; and the ULI Award for Excellence in 2009. Alongside his architectural practice, Bjarke has taught at Harvard University, Yale University, Columbia University, and Rice University and is an honorary professor at the Royal Academy of Arts, School of Architecture in Copenhagen. He is a frequent public speaker and continues to hold lectures in venues such as TED, WIRED, AMCHAM, 10 Downing Street, the World Economic Forum and many more. In 2018, Bjarke was named Chief Architectural Advisor by WeWork to advise and develop the firm’s design vision and language for buildings, campuses and neighborhoods globally.

As Chief Executive Officer and Partner, Sheela Maini Søgaard manages the overall health and growth of the studio’s 500+ designers and support functions globally. Sheela oversees BIG’s finances, operations and business development, and is responsible for optimizing cash flow, developing the organization and executing strategic priorities. Prior to joining BIG as Chief Financial Officer in 2008, Sheela led Business Development efforts for Danish culinary entrepreneur and NOMA co-founder Claus Meyer and before that, she developed strategic solutions at McKinsey & Company. Sheela is an Advisory Board Member for the National Gallery of Denmark and is on the Board of Directors at Maj Bank. In 2017, Berlingske Business named Sheela one of the Top 100 Female Executives in Denmark. Having roots in Dubai, Saudi Arabia and Denmark, Sheela holds a Master’s degree from Copenhagen Business School.

Finn Nørkjær has collaborated with Bjarke Ingels since he won the competition for the Aquatic Centre in Aalborg in 2001. Finn is instrumental in materializing BIG’s visionary architecture by bringing his extensive experience to the table. In addition to the Aquatic Centre, Finn has been deeply involved in most of BIG’s built projects, incl. the VM Houses, The Mountain, The Danish Pavilion for the 2010 Shanghai Expo, Gammel Hellerup High School, TIRPITZ Museum and most recently, LEGO House in Billund, Denmark. Finn is currently working on the 20,000 m2 Faroe Islands Education Centre set to open in Torshavn in August 2018, the recently completed word's best restaurant noma in Christiania outside of Copenhagen, and within the city, the first residents moved into Dortheavej affordable housing development with much acclaim from the local community.

Thomas Christoffersen began his collaboration with Bjarke Ingels in 2001 during PLOT. Thomas has worked on every notable project from VM Houses in Copenhagen to the mixed-use VIA court-scraper in Manhattan and the landmark towers Grove at Grand Bay in Miami. He is currently overseeing the design of Google’s California headquarters and the sports neighborhood East Austin District, as well as the construction of The Honeycomb residences in the Bahamas, Vancouver House in Canada and higher education facilities in Massachusetts and Virginia. In addition to his long standing participation in all things BIG, Thomas took a sabbatical year to work in New York City with WORK Architects and has also worked with Stan Allen, David Ling in NYC and Henning Larsen Architects.

Kai-Uwe Bergmann brings his expertise to proposals around the globe, including work in North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Kai-Uwe heads up BIG’s business development which currently has the office working in over 20 different countries as well as overseeing BIG’s Communications. Registered as an architect in the USA (eight states) and Canada (one province), Kai-Uwe most recently contributed to the resiliency plan The Dryline to protect 10 miles of Manhattan’s coastline. He compliments his professional work through previous teaching assignments at the University of Florida, the New School of Architecture in San Diego and his alma mater the University of Virginia. Kai-Uwe also sits on the Board of the Van Alen Institute, participates on numerous international juries and lectures globally on the works of BIG.

Andreas Klok Pedersen joined BIG in 2004 and is the Design Director of BIG London. Since joining BIG, Andreas has led a number of BIG’s competitions, master plans and large-scale projects in Europe and Asia. Most recently, Andreas has led the design for the PARC research center in Paris, Transitlager in Basel, Greenland National Gallery of Art and the Shenzhen Energy HQ as well as the regional planning project the Loop City. His projects also count the Urban Future Award research project for Audi, the carbon neutral Zira Island in Azerbaijan, Tamayo Museum, Scala Library, Arlanda Hotel and BIG’s contribution to the Venice Biennale in 2004 and 2010. In addition to managing competitions and concept development at BIG, Andreas ran an architecture studio at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen and was Guest-Professor at the AHO School of Architecture in Oslo Norway in the fall of 2011.

David Zahle's collaboration with Bjarke Ingels began in 2002 with the VM residences in Copenhagen, followed by leading the winning design proposal for the Helsingør Psychiatric Hospital which completed in 2006. David oversees the design of many prominent cultural and mixed-use projects in Scandinavia, incl. Kistefos Museum, a new art gallery and sculpture park in Norway, Västerås Travel Center in Sweden, and the Amager Resource Centre, a new Waste-to-Energy Plant with a green rooftop park and a ski slope, Panda House at Copenhagen Zoo, Berlin Towers and Cloud City residences in Aalborg. David’s most recently completed project is the Danish Maritime Museum, a museum designed around an abandoned dry dock next to a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Helsingør, Denmark. Alongside his architectural work, David is also a host of the tv-show ‘Masterful conversions’ on Denmark’s national TV2. Since the beginning of 2015 David has been responsible for Business Development at BIG’s office in Copenhagen.

Jakob Lange has collaborated with Bjarke Ingels since 2003 and heads up BIG’s technology-driven special projects division BIG Ideas. Through analysis and simulation, BIG Ideas informs BIG’s design decisions with precise data – what Bjarke has coined as information driven design. Special projects, including the pod and station design for the Californian transportation company Virgin Hyperloop One proposed by Elon Musk, Mars Science City in the Middle-East, a green window farm technology, customized lamps and building systems support the studio’s work from small details to the BIG picture. Jakob has been instrumental in winning some of BIG’s largest commissions, incl. the design and development of the Mountain residences in Copenhagen (2008), the new Tallinn Town Hall in Estonia, which received a MIPIM Future Award in 2011 and the high-end residential building Stettin 7 in Stockholm, Sweden. Jakob is also a Board member at Virgin Hyperloop One.

Jakob Sand joined BIG in 2011 to lead the team for the prize-winning Paris PARC project for the Jussieu Campus of the Université Pierre et Marie Curie. Since then, he has been in charge of several prominent developments, incl. MECA Cultural Center in Bordeaux, the Pont de Bondy metro station and Europa City Masterplan in Paris. Working in both Paris and Copenhagen for many years has given him an excellent knowledge of European culture and building practice. For 5 years he worked closely with Dominique Perrault where he participated on prize-winning projects including the Palais des Sports de Rouen, which he led through all phases to construction, as well as the French Pavilion for the Venice Biennale 2010 for which Jakob was Project Leader. Together with Perrault, he also developed several large-scale competitions including the Headquarters for EDF- Paris, Tours de Pont des Sevres – Paris, University ARTEM -Nancy, Seoul Opera House – South Korea and the University in Belval- Luxembourg.

Beat Schenk joined BIG in 2010 as Senior Project Manager and is now the Director of Detail Design. Beat’s collaboration with Bjarke Ingels dates back to 2000, where he worked alongside Bjarke on the Seattle Public Library in Seattle, Washington for the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA). Prior to his current role, he worked on a variety of healthcare, educational, and cultural projects around the globe. Beat has more than 20 years of experience as Project Architect and Designer and has sharpened his skills while working on many notable buildings in North America, Europe, and the Middle East. While at Frank O. Gehry Partners, he worked on a number of museum projects – including the Guggenheim Museums in Bilbao, Spain and Lower Manhattan, NYC – besides working on the Vitra Chair Museum Expansion in Weil, Germany.

Daniel joined BIG in 2008 and became Partner in 2015. He has worked on many of BIG’s most prominent projects and competitions, including Tallinn Town Hall in Estonia, Slussen Masterplan in Stockholm, PARC Jussieu Campus in Paris and the mixed-use residential building VIA 57 West in New York. Daniel currently oversees the expansion of the Google Campus in Mountain View, California; the Wilson Secondary School in Arlington, Virginia; the 1,005ft tall office skyscraper The Spiral and the East Side Coastal Resiliency project both in Manhattan, New York. He is also one of the lead designers of the prize-winning Musee Atelier Audemars Piguet in Switzerland which is set to open in 2019, as well as the recently announced neighboring Audemars Piguet Hôtel des Horlogers with a zig-zagging ski slope on its roof.

Brian Yang joined BIG in 2007 and was named Partner in 2015. He has worked closely with Bjarke Ingels on a wide range of projects from the 8 House, a residential building in Copenhagen, to the conceptual design of a mobile gallery for the Tate Modern in London. He has been the Project Leader on a number of competition winning proposals, including the Amager Bakke Waste-to-Energy plant in Copenhagen that doubles as a ski slope, Kistefos Art Museum and a sustainable multifamily residential development in Finland. Most recently he has been the design leader for The LEGO House which opened its doors to critical acclaim in 2017. With a background in energy efficiency research as well as undergraduate studies in economics, Brian brings additional focus on environmental and economic sustainability into all of his projects. Prior to joining BIG, Brian worked at a number of practices internationally, and while at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design, led a project team for a pavilion exhibited at the 2009 Gwangju Design Biennale in South Korea.

Catherine Huang joined BIG in 2007 and became Partner in 2018. She has worked closely with Bjarke Ingels across a wide range of projects and typologies such as the completed Danish Pavilion for the 2010 Shanghai Expo, the energy efficient skyscraper  Shenzhen Energy HQ which just opened its doors, a low energy masterplan in Toronto, as well as residential projects in Copenhagen and Stockholm that enhance the urban fabric by creating shared social spaces. Most recently she was the Design Leader for a residential complex in Hualien, Taiwan that seeks to blur the line between natural landscape and the built environment. Prior to joining BIG, she drew on undergraduate degree in molecular biology during her time at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design to conduct research into new models of sustainability for the urban realm.

Ole Elkjær-Larsen joined BIG in 2003 and became partner in 2018. Ole has vast experience in project management and controlling of both large and small-scale projects. Ole has been key for the completion of BIG’s initial projects such as the Gammel Hellerup School multi-use hall and high school completed in 2014, as well as for the award winning 8 House in Ørestad, which he followed through to its completion in 2010. Ole has most recently supervised the completion of the re-programming and extension of the 30 000 m2 former warehouse Transitlager in Basel, completed in 2016, as well as the Tirpitz Museum that transforms and expands a German WWII bunker fortification into a ground breaking cultural complex. At the moment, Ole is project leader of the Faroe Islands Educational Centre in Torshavn currently in construction and due for completion in 2018.

Agustin Perez-Torres first worked at BIG in Copenhagen from 2006 to 2008, during which he collabroated with Bjarke on a number of international projects, including the 8 House. He returned to BIG in 2011 as a Project Leader in the New York office where he led the team on the development of the Vancouver House as well as the Cité de la Musique à Genève Competition. Agustin became a Partner in 2018 and is currently leading various design competitions, serving as the Partner-in-Charge for the Redskins Stadium in D.C and the F.C Barcelona Camp Nou stadium competition. In addition to his design work, Agustin has also worked as an architectural journalist and has assisted with major architectural exhibitions. Before joining BIG, Agustin worked for OMA in Rotterdam and Carme Pinos Studio in Barcelona.

Martin Voelkle joined BIG’s Copenhagen office in 2010 as a Project Designer for the recently completed Shenzhen Energy HQ. Martin moved to New York City in 2012 and became a key member of the project team for the 60 000 m2 mixed-use development Vancouver House in Vancouver, Canada. He was named Partner in 2018 and is currently leading various high profile projects including 2 World Trade Center in New York City, the Smithsonian Institution master plan in Washington D.C., and King’s Cross Google Headquarters in London. Prior to joining BIG, Martin worked as a Senior Architect at the Laboratory for Visionary Architecture (LAVA) in Stuttgart, Germany. He led the design of a sports complex in the UAE and was Project Manager for two large-scale projects in Mexico. Martin also worked at Studio Scholz, a design firm in Stuttgart, Germany, and completed various interior design projects independently. Before studying architecture, he was originally trained as a carpenter.

Leon Rost began his collaboration with Bjarke Ingels in 2005 at PLOT in Copenhagen. After completing architectural studies at California Polytechnic University, Leon has worked with renowned offices in Japan, Scandinavia, and Portugal, designing a variety of cultural, residential and master planning projects around the globe, including the New Oslo Central Station and the Ginza Swatch Building in Tokyo. Leon joined BIG with the launch of the New York office in 2011, and in 2018 he became a Partner. He has worked closely with all partners on some of BIG´s greatest projects, including the successfully completed Mountain and Helsingør Psychiatric Hospital in Denmark. He led the design for Grove at Grand Bay in Miami which was completed in 2016, and the winning competition designs for both the Kimball Art Center in Park City and the Tirana Cultural Center & Museum for Religious Harmony. Currently, Leon is leading the design of Google’s visionary master plan and headquarter buildings, with over 3 million SF currently under construction.