Events

Construction has officially begun on the 12,000-m² Marengo Multimodal Transport Hub in Toulouse, France. Located next to the city’s central Gare Matabiau, the new hub will bring together rail, metro, bus, bicycle, and pedestrian connections as part of the wider Grand Matabiau Quais d’Oc transformation.

Developed with A+ Architecture, the hub is conceived primarily in mass timber and characterized by a rose-colored crystalline roof referencing Toulouse’s traditional “foraine” brick and distinctive roofscape. The building gradually rises towards the railway tracks, with cascading levels bringing daylight into the spaces below ground and connecting travelers to Gare Matabiau and the city’s metro network. Across the ground floor and two lower levels, 4,400 m² of public space will accommodate areas for travelers, retail, and cultural activities, while the project also includes regional offices and parking for 1,000 bicycles. The hub is scheduled for completion at the end of 2028.

BIG’s design for the Museum for Paper Art is featured in Efterliv – En hyldest til de besværlige bygninger (Afterlife – A Tribute to Difficult Buildings), an exhibition at Utzon Center in Aalborg exploring how existing buildings across Denmark can be transformed and given new purpose. On view through April 4, 2027, the exhibition brings together 17 transformation projects by Danish architecture studios, spanning former factories, schools, supermarkets, and other existing structures.

Ibervalles Hotel has broken ground at General Perón 27 in Madrid, near the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium and AZCA business district. The 15-story, 7,158-m² hotel will bring together 144 guest rooms with dining, meeting, conference, and event spaces. The building is organized as a series of “floating towers,” with shared amenities extending across the base and guest rooms rising above in rounded glass volumes. A layer of expanded metal mesh wraps the glass to create a porous double façade that filters sunlight. The hotel is expected to open its doors in 2028.

The Twist at Kistefos served as the setting for Norwegian fashion brand ENVELOPE1976’s FORM IN MOTION presentation during Oslo Runway 2026. Featuring selected pieces from two seasons, the collection explored the relationship between fashion and architecture through architectural silhouettes, contrasting textures, and fluid movement. The Twist spans the Randselva river, combining bridge, gallery, and sculpture in a single form and twisting 90 degrees at its center to connect the park’s two riverbanks. Since opening in 2019, The Twist has hosted exhibitions, performances, and cultural events, continuing its role as a meeting point for art, architecture, and design.

The 60,000 m² Suzhou Museum of Contemporary Art is officially open on the shores of the Jinji Lake, marking BIG’s first completed art museum. Designed in collaboration with ARTS Group, VIA.inc and SHUISHI, the museum is conceived as a village of 12 pavilions beneath a continuous, ribbon-like roof reimagining the lang 廊 – a covered corridor that traces a path through a landscape, as a network of exhibition spaces. A continuous route threads through the museum’s pavilions, connecting galleries, gathering spaces, and cultural venues while allowing visitors to branch off along smaller paths between exhibitions. Linked by bridges and tunnels above and below ground, the museum offers a flexible sequence of spaces shaped by changing exhibitions and seasons.

Ahead of its official opening, Suzhou MoCA welcomed visitors through a series of preview exhibitions, including BIG’s Materialism, which remains on view at the museum. The exhibition takes visitors on a material journey from stone to recyclate, exploring the role of ten different materials in shaping BIG’s work through large-scale mock-ups and models of projects from around the world. The museum opened with a series of inaugural exhibitions spanning modern and contemporary art, technology-driven artistic practices, and cross-cultural dialogue between Eastern and Western artistic traditions, headlined by a Picasso exhibition and a large survey of contemporary Chinese art.

“If the historic city center is the cradle of the Chinese garden, the lake district is the cradle of a new Suzhou. The site of the Suzhou Museum of Contemporary Art is sandwiched between the city and the lake. A newly constructed Ferris wheel partially blocks the relationship with the water. By dissolving the museum into a Chinese garden of interconnected galleries, distributed across the site like pavilions in a park, the museum becomes a connection between the city and the lake, rather than an obstacle. Its urban porosity allows citizens to walk through sculpture gardens to the lakefront, while the water penetrates between the pavilions to reach the city.

From above, the museum appears like a traditional infinity knot as it intertwines the legs of the Ferris wheel to reach all the way into the lake. With the vast number of visitors ascending the wheel above, the roof surface de facto becomes the true fifth facade of the art complex. Not only do I see our design as an homage to its local heritage, a sort of Scandinavian reinterpretation of a unique typology, the Chinese garden, but the result is in many ways a manifestation of the ancient future of Suzhou and a testament to the construction quality and technical sophistication that is becoming the rule rather than the exception in contemporary Chinese architecture.” – Bjarke Ingels, Founder & Creative Director, BIG

BIGsters joined colleagues from across Copenhagen’s architecture community to take part in the Copenhagen Pride Parade as part of Architects Together, celebrating diversity, inclusion and visibility within the architecture profession and the LGBTQIA+ community. Now in its third year, the initiative brought together 3XN/GXN, Arkitema, CCO Architects, Cobe, Danielsen Architecture, Dorte Mandrup, Henning Larsen, Holscher Nordberg, LINK Arkitektur, PLH, SLA, Schmidt Hammer Lassen and BIG.

As reported by Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia, site preparations are now underway for the future Fira Barcelona Business Hub by BIG and MIAS Arquitectura, marking the latest milestone in the transformation of Fira de Barcelona’s Montjuïc venue. The start of works was marked by a site visit attended by representatives of the Catalan Government, the City of Barcelona, and Fira de Barcelona.

Designed as a new center for innovation and economic activity linked to Fira de Barcelona, the project reimagines the historic Palau del Vestit while preserving key architectural elements by Josep Maria Jujol, including the landmark façade and colonnade facing Plaça d’Espanya. The three-storey building will be complemented by publicly accessible green spaces and a flexible community facility serving the neighboring districts of Font de la Guatlla and Hostafrancs.

BIG unveiled the vision for EVE Music Hall during an event on site in eastern Croatia, where guests were invited to experience the building in progress and attend a special live performance by pianist Peter Bence. Expected to open in early 2027, EVE Music Hall is BIG’s first project in Croatia and is set to become the studio’s first completed music performance venue.

The 10,000-m² venue will center on a live music venue, but also feature congress facilities, exhibition spaces, a café, and rooftop for events. Set among the agricultural landscapes of Slavonia, the building is composed of two distinct halls connected by a shared public foyer. Clad in slabs of local limestone, the facade drape toward the ground like theatrical curtains, framing entrances and revealing glimpses of the activity within, while suspended timber beams and mirrored surfaces shape the atmosphere of the interior.

“The EVE Music Hall is conceived as a musical eruption on the infinite horizon of the Slavonian fields. Two concert halls, one big and one small, frame a public space between them. Facades of timber and stone are draped like fabrics, merging the verticality of the halls with the horizontality of the landscape. Slits in the stone curtains open up, inviting visitors to enter and explore. The main foyer is framed by the two mirror-clad walls of the concert halls, repeating the tent-like timber roof at infinity. The architectural whole is both functional and fantastical, like an architectural manifestation of utopian pragmatism. It is an embodiment of the almost oxymoronic contradiction of the bold ambition to build a regional cultural destination in the middle of the Slavonian countryside.” – Bjarke Ingels, Founder & Creative Director, BIG

Rare Shades, Triple Zero Magazine’s traveling exhibition that celebrates Porsche cars in unusual colors, made its New York debut at Wildflower Studios during New York Design Week. The Robert De Niro-led film studio, located in Astoria, Queens just minutes from Manhattan, is the world’s first vertical media production village, featuring 11 stacked soundstages, an elevated interior street, and oversized “elephant elevators” to accommodate large-scale equipment and sets. At the exhibition, the 760,000-sq-ft production facility was the backdrop for nearly 100 rare and historic Porsches, ranging from early air-cooled to modern GT models.

At the 2026 Annual Meeting hosted by the Danish Association of Architectural Firms in Copenhagen, BIG CPH Managing Director Stine Sandstrøm Christensen took part in a panel discussion on strengthening Danish architecture exports and expanding the industry’s international reach. Held at Copenhagen Distillery, the event brought together leaders from across the architecture sector to exchange perspectives on key transformations shaping the profession, including upcoming revisions to Denmark’s building regulations, the implications of a new national architecture policy for urban and rural development, and large-scale climate adaptation. As part of the session “Let Success Grow – More Architectural Firms Going Global”, Stine joined ADEPT partner, Simon Lyager Poulsen, and international business strategist and co-founder of Mork Kveiborg & Partners, Peter Mørk, to discuss how their respective firms have entered international markets and why the potential for further export growth remains strong.

Hosted as part of the VOCLA Talks series, BIG Founder and Creative Director Bjarke Ingels joined Alcova Co-Founders and BIG Atlas collaborators Valentina Ciuffi and Joseph Grima for a conversation celebrating BIG Atlas, the first comprehensive monograph of BIG’s completed work. Held inside an industrial hangar at the Baggio Military Hospital, reimagined for Alcova during Milan Design Week, the talk detailed the editorial and creative journey behind bringing an over two-decade body of architectural work to the page.

BIG Atlas is available for purchase through Phaidon.

To celebrate the release of Phaidon’s new monograph, BIG Atlas, BIG Founder and Creative Director Bjarke Ingels and Architectural Digest Global Editorial Director and U.S. Editor-in-Chief Amy Astley sat down for a fireside chat at the Guggenheim’s Peter B. Lewis theater to reflect on two decades of BIG’s built work. The conversation touched on Bjarke’s core design philosophies including ‘utopian pragmatism’ and ‘hedonistic sustainability,’ as well as the stories behind several landmark projects within BIG Atlas, such as CopenHill, the waste-to-energy power plant in Copenhagen; VIA 57 West, the pyramid-shaped residential building in New York City; and Bukken Bruse, Bjarke’s houseboat in Copenhagen.

This year’s Facades+ NYC brought together leaders in building enclosure design and technology for a two-day conference co-hosted by BIG and The Architect’s Newspaper. Spearheaded by NYC Partner Kai-Uwe Bergmann, Director of Enclosures Margaret Tyrpa, and Director of Specifications Ben Caldwell, the conference included a symposium surrounding the theme of materiality, as well as a methods and materials expo, workshops, and networking opportunities. More than 53 speakers participated in the conference, with Kai-Uwe delivering the keynote speech and BIG Senior Architect Christina Papadopoulou, Associate Jason Wu, and Senior Urban & Architectural Designer Einat Lubliner moderating panel discussions.

BIG’s Barcelona studio opened its doors to kick off the city’s year as the UIA World Capital of Architecture. The event, organized in collaboration with World-Architects as part of their Architecture Studio Sessions, is one of 10 visits to leading practices, offering insight into their philosophies and creative processes. More than 130 guests joined BIG BCN for the occasion, co-hosted with Artemide, Roca, LAUFEN, and Simon, gaining a glimpse into the studio’s inner workings and a preview of some of the projects currently underway.

President of the Czech Republic Petr Pavel and First Lady Eva Pavlová visited the future site of the Vltava Philharmonic Hall in Prague, where they were introduced to the project alongside Mayor Bohuslav Svoboda and Deputy Mayor for Spatial Development Petr Hlaváček. During the visit, the presidential couple was presented with the vision for the new cultural landmark and the broader transformation of the surrounding district, before exploring the design in virtual reality.

Designed by BIG, the Vltava Philharmonic Hall is envisioned as a new civic and cultural destination for Prague, bringing music, public life, and urban development together on the banks of the Vltava river. Set within the rapidly evolving Bubny area, the project will not only provide a home for world-class performance spaces, but also help shape a new piece of the Czech capital.

Construction of the new bus square in Västerås is officially underway, marking the first step towards the realization of the city’s travel center. At the groundbreaking ceremony, Staffan Jansson, Chair of the Municipal Executive Board, and Jenny Landernäs, Regional Councilor of Region Västmanland, took the first collective sod. The new bus square will at least double the capacity of Busstorget – currently the county’s busiest bus stop – improving passenger flow, weather protection, and connections to surrounding services.

The 2,800-m² Dymak HQ in Odense, Denmark, has been delivered and marked with a celebration attended by Dymak staff, the BIG design team, and project collaborators. The circular headquarters is organized around a central courtyard and defined by a radial timber structure and an undulating roof with integrated solar panels, and will become Dymak’s new home when staff move into the building in early 2026. The project has received DGNB Gold certification along with Heart and Diamond distinctions, reflecting its performance across sustainability, indoor climate, and architectural quality.

I AM MSHRM, a modular pavilion made from 3D-printed recycled plastic and mycelium, opened at Herningsholm College in Denmark. Designed together with Danish AM Hub, MDT and Naturpladen, the installation explores how additive manufacturing and bio-based materials can support circular construction, allowing the pavilion to be disassembled, reassembled and reused.

On the opening day, 150 students took part in workshops and discussions about the future of building, imagining how technology and new materials could address climate challenges in 2125.

Earthworks and land preparation are now underway for the Gelephu International Airport – the first major infrastructure component of the Gelephu Mindfulness City masterplan. At the groundbreaking ceremony, His Majesty King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, Her Majesty Queen Jetsun Pema, and Their Royal Highnesses Gyalsey Jigme Namgyel and Gyalsey Ugyen Wangchuck were joined by over a thousand Desuup and Gyalsup volunteers to offer zhabtog – a tradition of voluntary service that has shaped communities and nation-building throughout Bhutanese history. His Majesty addressed the nation at the project site, calling the airport a vital link for Bhutan’s future and a legacy for generations to come.

Rooted in Bhutanese culture and ecology, the airport design draws inspiration from the nation’s four forest ecosystems – evergreen oak, cool broadleaf, warm broadleaf, and subtropical – and will incorporate traditional craftsmanship, landscape zones of native flora, and future connections to the broader Mindfulness City.

Main construction of the new airport will begin in April 2026, with inauguration set for December 2029.

In Seville, the European Commission has broken ground on the Joint Research Center. Rooted in the principles of the New European Bauhaus, the dome-shaped building will be powered by an energy-generating canopy of solar panels that shades a central square, garden and research spaces beneath. Developed in collaboration with HCP, Buro Happold and Argenia, the research center will be built using local limestone, wood and ceramics.

The groundbreaking was marked by an event in Seville, opened by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and joined by Commissioners Ekaterina Zaharieva and Jessika Roswall, regional leaders, and BIG Founder & Creative Director Bjarke Ingels, who presented the design for the new campus.

The Joint Research Center is slated for completion in 2028.

The Athletics, BIG, and HNTB officially broke ground on the A’s Ballpark in Las Vegas, Nevada, signaling the next chapter for the Major League Baseball team as they make their new home in ‘The Entertainment Capital of the World.’

“This groundbreaking is a great milestone for our almost decade-long collaboration with the A’s. It marks the end of a long journey to find the new home for the A’s, and on a personal note, the groundbreaking of our first baseball stadium. The A’s Armadillo is unlike any other ballpark, and will not only be a great home for the team and the sport, but also a striking new architectural character in the string of pearls along the Las Vegas Strip.” – Bjarke Ingels, Founder & Creative Director, BIG

Sitting on nine acres between Tropicana and Reno Avenues, the 33,000-capacity Athletics Ballpark is designed to echo the vibrancy of Las Vegas. Framing views of The Strip, the expansive cable-net glass wall creates an open, outdoor feel, inviting the energy of the city inside. The roof, composed of five overlapping shells inspired by baseball pennants, serves as a tribute to the sport’s legacy while defining the ballpark’s silhouette. These arched “pennants” attenuate direct sunlight glare and welcome indirect natural light through northern oriented clerestory windows. During the day, the structure’s metal cladding shimmers under the desert sun; at night, it reflects the dazzling lights of Las Vegas.

Set to open ahead of the 2028 MLB season, the ballpark is designed in collaboration with Thornton Tomasetti, Henderson Engineers, CAA ICON, Mortenson, McCarthy Building Companies, and more.

During 3daysofdesign, the biggest design festival in the Nordics, BIG turned their headquarters in Copenhagen into a live showcase of material exploration through products, prototypes and objects.

On the ground floor, a curated display featured prototypes for 1966, a collection of lava stone tables created with NeroSicilia; Shylights by Dutch duo Studio Drift; a new tile collection for Huguet Mallorca; barstools developed in collaboration with Muller Van Severen & Valerie Objects; Stellar Nebula lamps designed for Artemide – featuring the new 160mm size; and a solid travertine timepiece designed in collaboration with SolidNature and Humans since 1982. Extending to the 6th floor, a material library presented a collection of 55 cubes in stone, earth, concrete, metal, glass, wood, and fabric. Seven tables showcased the cover materials of the first seven Domus issues curated under Bjarke Ingels’ guest editorship, each displaying the full-scale prototype used on its respective cover, engraved with the Domus logo and reflecting the material theme of the issue.

As part of the Nordics’ largest design festival, 3daysofdesign in Copenhagen, BIG is opening the doors to its HQ for the exhibition MATERIALISM. On view June 18–20 from 10:00 – 18:00, the exhibition spans the ground floor and 6th floor of the headquarters and invites the public to explore seven materials through furniture, objects, installations, and prototypes.

Curated in parallel with Bjarke Ingels’ guest editorship of Domus throughout 2025, each piece corresponds to one of the first seven issues, each dedicated to a different material – from stone and earth to glass and fabric. Talks will take place daily with speakers such as David Mahyari (SolidNature), Biagio Amarù (Nero Sicilia), Carlotta de Bevilacqua (Artemide), Lonneke Gordijn (Studio DRIFT), and Bjarke Ingels in conversation with Bang & Olufsen.

The first phase of East River Park is officially open to the public, marked by a ribbon-cutting ceremony hosted by the NYC Department of Design and Construction. Following the original 2014 vision for 10 miles of protective park and public realm in the wake of Superstorm Sandy known as the BIG U, this quarter-mile stretch on Manhattan’s east side brings a variety of new amenities to the Lower East Side community, including basketball and tennis courts, picnic and BBQ areas, a multi-use turf field, open lawn space, and inviting zones for nature exploration and water play. Part of the larger $1.45 billion East Side Coastal Resiliency (ESCR) project that will protect 110,000+ New Yorkers, the opening marks a major milestone in New York City’s efforts to reduce flood risk and build a more resilient waterfront.

“With the opening of the first phase of East River Park, we see the first physical manifestation of a decade-long vision: an archipelago of parks forming an elevated, undulating new landscape – a “Park-ipelago” if you will. Each island of green is devoted to a use and character decided by the community. Rather than separating the city from the waterfront, we’ve designed a public realm that invites people in with new connections across the FDR, transforming flood protection into a tapestry of everyday experiences. The result is infrastructure that not only strengthens but also enhances the city’s coastline. It protects, connects, and inspires – proof that the future of our cities can be both safe from flood and full of life.” – Bjarke Ingels, Founder & Creative Director, BIG

ESCR is designed and developed under the leadership of the NYC Department of Design and Construction with local residents of the Lower East Side, and in collaboration with our many partners, including AKRF, MNLA, ONE Architecture & Urbanism, Arcadis, Jacobs, and others.

Designed by BIG in collaboration with Atelier Verticale, CityWave Milan’s 140-m-long canopy has topped out, marked by a ceremony held during Salone del Mobile Milano. The sweeping roof structure, clad entirely in photovoltaic panels, forms a shaded pedestrian plaza for the city of Milan that unifies CityWave’s two courtyard buildings – a modern homage to the traditional porticos found throughout Italy. The canopy will become one of the largest urban rooftop solar installations in the world, with completion slated for 2026. 

“This topping out is a major milestone for what has become a long-standing engagement with the urban development of Milano and the architectural culture of Italy. Through my guest editorship of DOMUS, I feel as if fully immersed in the deep heritage of Italian design. What we have attempted here is to resist the temptation to add yet another tower to the already majestic urban ensemble of CityLife, and rather create a truly inviting urban space as a gateway to this new neighbourhood. The solar roof of the timber canopy uniting the two buildings provides shade and shelter for the life of the city, and serves as an urban gesture of environmental and social performance. Like a 21st century interpretation of Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, CityWave is a direct continuation of the pursuit of providing new forms of public space for the city.” – Bjarke Ingels, Founder & Creative Director, BIG 

To mark the 30th anniversary of the Suzhou Industrial Park – a collaborative development between China and Singapore – Vice Premier He Lifeng of China and Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong of Singapore commemorated the occasion by planting a persimmon tree in the garden of the BIG-designed Suzhou Museum of Contemporary Art, located along the park’s waterfront. The tree symbolizes the continuous friendship and collaboration between the two countries.

The tree-planting ceremony was part of a large celebration, which included discussions on the park’s achievements and future directions for joint development.

The I AM MSRHM pavilion was showcased at Scandinavia’s biggest conference for additive manufacturing, AM Summit. Born out of a desire to innovate the construction industry, I AM MSHRM is a collaborative effort between Danish AM Hub, MDT, Naturpladen, and BIG’s architects and engineers, aimed at exploring new ways to reduce spatial and material waste through additive manufacturing and bio-based materials.

The result is a rapidly deployable and easily assembled system consisting of interlocking frame elements of 3D-printed recycled plastic filled with mycelium. The reciprocal frame structures are bespoke in geometry yet modular in their assembly logic, making it possible to be easily put together without scaffolding or specialized knowledge. This method of printing reduces the overall print material, replacing it with a mycelium composite to significantly lower the overall carbon footprint.

The first section of the East Side Coastal Resiliency (ESCR) project between East 15^th and East 25^th Streets has completed on Manhattan’s east side. ESCR, designed by BIG, MNLA, and AKRF, will protect and improve the resiliency of more than 110,000 New Yorkers, critical infrastructure, and numerous schools and libraries by employing raised parkland, floodwalls and gates, and berms while reestablishing public space and improving waterfront accessibility.

“As one of the world’s great coastal cities, we know that stronger storms and rising seas are a threat, because no one knows when the next Superstorm Sandy will arrive at our doorstep; but New York City plans to be ready,” remarked Mayor Adams at the celebratory ribbon cutting ceremony. “Today, we are marking the completion of Phase One of East Side Coastal Resiliency – two months ahead of schedule and $10 million under budget. Once the entire project is completed, the protective gates can be deployed when a hurricane or storm surge is headed our way – protecting lives and New Yorkers’ wallets as we safeguard property. Protecting New Yorkers from climate change is a massive undertaking, with millions of lives and billions of dollars on the line – and we’re more than up to the task.”

Construction on the second section of ESCR is underway and anticipated to be completed by the end of 2026.

To celebrate the five-year journey since the opening of BIG’s Barcelona office, BIG hosted an exhibition at Centre Obert d’Arquitectura (COAC) in Barcelona. The exhibition, titled ‘5 YEARS OF BIG BCN,’ opened with an inaugural speech by Partner João Albuquerque and showcased a sample of the office’s projects including the Biosphere cabin at Treehotel in the Swedish Lapland, the Joint Research Center in Sevilla, and the Ellinikon Park Rise in Athens.

Solar One – the nonprofit focused on sustainability and resiliency in urban environments – along with BIG, Gilbane Building Company, and the NYC Economic Development Corporation celebrated the topping out of the Solar One Environmental Education Center in Stuyvesant Cove Park on Manhattan’s east side.

The BIG-designed home for environmental learning and innovation, designed in collaboration with Silman Structural Engineers and Cosentini Associates, will offer educational programming on New York’s ecology in a structure designed to withstand flooding events and provide life-saving recharging capabilities during power outages. Opening spring 2025, the center will also act as a gateway to the northernmost point of the East Side Coastal Resiliency waterfront redevelopment, designed by BIG with AKRF, ONE, and MNLA. The East Side Coastal Resiliency project will bring 2.5 miles of coastal resiliency and social infrastructure along the East River, reducing the risk of flooding during storm surge events while improving access to the waterfront, creating new public spaces, and enhancing natural areas.

CopenHill has been selected to be featured in an exhibition at Harvard University titled “Architecture as an Instruction-based Art.” Curated by Harvard Graduate School of Design Professor Farshid Moussavi and co-curator Abby Kuohn, the exhibition explores a selection of architectural works focusing on how architects use drawings to guide construction teams from start to finish. “Architecture as an Instruction-based Art” will run until October 14th at Harvard’s Druker Design Gallery in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

BIG welcomed 250+ guests at its headquarters in Copenhagen for the opening dinner of CHART Art Fair. As the leading event for contemporary art, design, and architecture in the Nordics, the CHART Art Fair invites visitors to explore Copenhagen’s strongholds of art, design, and architecture over the span of four days. The evening featured welcome speeches by CHART Director Julie Quottrup Silbermann and BIG CEO Sheela Søgaard followed by a dinner prepared by BIG’s in-house restaurant, BIG FISK, led by head chef Mikkel Karstad.

Johns Hopkins University held a beam signing ceremony to celebrate its Hopkins Student Center topping out in Baltimore, Maryland. At the milestone event, JHU President Ron Daniels thanked attendees for their contributions to the building, while Rachelle Hernandez, vice provost for student affairs, explained that the building’s completion will make possible many improvements to campus life.

The Hopkins Student Center will form a new social engagement hub for all members of the school community. The 143,000 sq ft building includes spaces for relaxation and socializing, student resources and support, a digital media center, performance space with seating for 200 people, and a dining hall. Located at the intersection of 33^rd and Charles Streets, the Hopkins Student Center will foster greater connectivity between the campus and the neighboring Charles Village community by creating a prominent point of entry.

The Hopkins Student Center is scheduled to open in July 2025.

International financial institution HSBC inaugurated its new U.S. headquarters at The Spiral on the west side of Manhattan in New York City, marking its largest U.S. relocation to date. BIG Founder and Creative Director Bjarke Ingels spoke at the celebratory event alongside HSBC Group Chairman Mark Tucker, HSBC CEO for the U.S. and Americas Michael Roberts, Mayor of New York City Eric Adams, Former Mayor of New York City and Co-Founder of Bloomberg L.P. Michael R. Bloomberg, and Partnership for New York City President and CEO Kathryn Wylde. As part of the ceremony, guests placed artifacts unique and meaningful to HSBC into a time capsule, which will be reopened in 40 years to mark the Bank’s bicentennial.

Developed by Tishman Speyer, built by Turner, and designed by BIG, The Spiral promotes a contemporary workplace where nature becomes an integrated part of the office environment and spatial features are adaptable to the changing needs of its occupants. As the tower ascends, each floor’s accessible terrace offers impressive views over Manhattan, the Hudson River, and New Jersey. Select floors offer a double height amenity space and the option to connect adjacent floors via a grand staircase, suggesting an alternative to elevators and encouraging interaction amongst colleagues. The building is pursuing LEED Silver certification.

The Danish King Frederik the 10th and Queen Mary visited Oslo Science City together with Norwegian Crown Prince Haakon to meet with leading researchers in quantum and sensor technology and learn more about the importance of strengthening Danish-Norwegian cooperation in emerging critical technologies.

Since 2021, BIG has worked on the 1.4 million m2 extension of the Oslo Science City aimed at creating a physical framework for Norway’s innovation environment of estimated 150,000 scientists, students, entrepreneurs that will contribute to the country’s transition to renewable energy.

Together with Core Studio at Thornton Tomasetti and McNeel Europe, BIG’s Design Technology team co-hosted the annual AECtech+ in Barcelona, an event exploring the latest developments in technology. Senior Computational Design Specialist Anders Holden Deleuran delivered a workshop on the untapped potential of GHPPython components, followed by a lecture by Design Technology Manager German Otto Bodenbender on how BIG deploys computational design across architectural projects.

The weekend concluded with a 26-hour hackathon at the BIG Barcelona office, inviting programmers, developers, engineers, and enthusiasts of all levels to collaborate, and brainstorm new ideas.

BIG and By & Havn marked the completion of the lighthouse on the tip of the Sundmolen pier, bringing the public spaces surrounding our Copenhagen headquarters one step closer to realization. The event featured a lantern workshop, live music, and speeches before watching the lighthouse light up for the first time together with neighbors and residents of Nordhavn. In June, BIG will inaugurate the public park surrounding the Copenhagen HQ, designed by BIG’s Landscape team.

BIG teamed up with structural engineer and builder StructureCraft to unveil a mockup of the new University of Kansas School of Architecture and Design building at the 8th annual International Mass Timber Conference in Portland, Oregon. The full-scale, structural mockup features part of the building exterior’s glulam diagrid achieved with 100% wood connections.

BIG LA partner Leon Rost also spoke at the conference about the use of mass timber in higher education projects, noting the University of Kansas School of Architecture and Design and the Johns Hopkins University Student Center.

BIG welcomed 150 industry peers at the Copenhagen HQ for a conference on “Nordic Design Excellence”. Organized by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, the world’s leading resource for professionals in design, construction, and operations of tall building and future cities, the program included a keynote speech by President of CTBUH, Anthony Wood, and presentations by Anne Skovbro, CEO at By & Havn, Morten Kirban Rix, Project Director at Incuba, Sonja Stockmarr, Global Design Director at Henning Larsen, and Brian Yang, Partner at BIG, among others.

Amidst the holiday season in New York City, artist Bruce Munro’s Field of Light opened to the public on the Freedom Plaza site. Field of Light, situated between 38th and 41st Streets east of First Avenue, features 18,750 low-light, fiber-optic stemmed spheres that illuminate with a slow, subtle change of hue. Guests are invited to walk the winding path through the ethereal painted landscape framed by the city’s skyline and East River waterfront.

The immersive installation was organized by The Soloviev Group, the developer proposing the Freedom Plaza development on the previously vacant six-acre site. Designed by BIG, Freedom Plaza is slated to include a publicly accessible greenspace, hotel and residential towers, a museum, retail, and a below-grade gaming area.

Field of Light is set to be open for one year.

Danish supply chain company Dymak’s new HQ breaks ground in Odense. The 2800 m2 building is designed by BIG LEAP – our in-house Architecture, Landscape, Engineering and Product Design teams – and set to achieve DGBN Gold and Heart Certification.

Characterized by a circular shape and a grid-like facade, the building references the Danish architectural tradition of half-timbering. The facade consists of a series of 44 radial cross-laminated timber frames, topped with an undulating roof covered in PVCs, which are angled for harvesting solar energy throughout the year and to reduce noise pollution for the open-air courtyard at the heart of the HQ. The courtyard draws the surrounding nature into the HQ and doubles as an amphitheater for informal meetings and social events.

BIG’s Founder and Creative Director Bjarke Ingels and Partner Finn Nørkjær take part in the foundation stone laying ceremony for the new Wellness Hotel in Aarhus along with the City Council, Kilden & Hindby, Scandic and NCC.

Overlooking the Aarhus waterfront, the 18-storey hotel will house office spaces, restaurants, a conference center and a spa. A public staircase designed by BIG’s Landscape team will spiral from the harbour to an observation deck on the hotel’s roof.

In partnership with Pratt Institute, BIG’s exhibition highlighting our resiliency projects, titled Adaptive Archipelago, is now on view on Governors Island in New York City. The exhibition showcases a series of strategies for adapting various existing and artificial archipelagos to our planet’s changing climate, and includes a selection of BIG’s completed and upcoming projects, including Urban Rigger in Copenhagen and the East Side Coastal Resiliency Project in New York City.

Adaptive Archipelago is on view through October.

As reported by Forbes Czech Republic, the Vltava Philharmonic Hall is featured in a new exhibition at the Centre for Architecture and Urban Planning in Prague, entitled Prague Tomorrow? The City and the River. The exhibition explores twenty-five upcoming projects that will activate the Vltava River in the Czech capital.

The Vltava Philharmonic Hall will be the country’s first national concert hall in over 100 years, becoming the new home of the world-class philharmonic for 1800+ audiences that will celebrate the Czech music tradition and cement the country as a cultural capital in Europe.

“The Vltava Philharmonic Hall is composed as a meandering journey from riverbank to rooftop. Public flows and belvedere plazas unite the city life of Prague to the music within. Its halls are formed for sight, fine-tuned for sound, and orchestrated for functionality and connectivity. From this rhythmic structure, a symphony of colonnades and balconies extend as platforms for public life. Expressive yet pragmatic, the new Philharmonic will ascend to form a key landmark for Prague – from river to roof.” Bjarke Ingels, Founder & Partner, BIG.

Manhattan’s Stuyvesant Cove Park welcomes Solar One Environmental Education Center, a dynamic center for environmental innovation and learning designed by BIG, which has now officially started construction. In collaboration with NYC Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) and Gilbane, our design for non-profit Solar One’s new home and Environmental Education Center will be a hub for environmental innovation, events and learning. The center will also act as a gateway to the northernmost point of Manhattan’s East Side Coastal Resiliency Waterfront Redevelopment designed by BIG in collaboration with AKRF, ONE and MNLA.

Solar One Environmental Education Center will be located at 23rd Street and Avenue C on the East River coastline. It will be occupied by the non-profit group Solar One, whose mission is to design and deliver innovative education, training and technical assistance that fosters sustainability and resiliency in diverse urban environments. The 6,362-square-foot, two-story building, commissioned by Solar One along with NYC Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) and Gilbane Building Company, will replace the former Solar One building at the same site, which replace the former Solar One building at the same site, which became a refuge for area residents in Hurricane Sandy’s aftermath by providing recharging capabilities to nearby hospitals when the entire energy grid went down south of 34^th Street.

The Solar One Environmental Education Center is slated to open in 2024.

Google Bay View is featured in World-Architect’s exhibition tour in collaboration with the Architect@Work venues. The exhibition will feature 40 projects from its members worldwide and tour through 15 European countries, beginning in Hamburg, Germany on September 13th.

Designed by BIG and Heatherwick, Google Bay View is Google’s first-ever ground-up campus with the mission to operate on carbon-free energy 24 hours a day, seven days a week by 2030. Anchored in three themes defined by Google’s design brief at the beginning of the project – innovation, nature and community – the design is driven by flexibility and extraordinary user experience that inspires collaboration and co-creation.

BIGsters walked in the Copenhagen Pride Parade alongside 15 Danish architecture studios under the banner Architects Together in support and celebration of diversity, inclusivity and acceptance for all members of the LGBTQIA+ community.

The Architects Together initiative was developed in collaboration with Copenhagen-based architecture offices Cobe, EFFEKT, PLH Arkitekter, Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects, ADEPT, Holscher Nordberg, Dorte Mandrup, Gehl Architects, LINK Arkitektur, Vilhelm Lauritzen Architects, Henning Larsen, Gottlieb Paludan Architects, SLA, C.F. Møller Architects and 3XN.

Pope Francis invited Bjarke Ingels and other creatives to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Vatican Museum’s Modern & Contemporary Collections at the Sistine Chapel. In his speech, Pope Francis emphasized the significance of art in human existence, and encouraged the invited creatives to continue to act as catalysts for change in society, underlining that they have the ability to dream new versions of the world by which they propel humanity forward.

Andy Young, partner at BIG London, spoke at ING Media’s recent panel held in London on June 14th for a free-flowing discussion on how London’s built environment contributes to its global soft power. The panel, titled ‘Soft power, common ground: what can London learn from the world’s cities?’, covered topics relating to architecture’s place in the soft power conversation and how it’s leveraged worldwide, including how London uses places and spaces to maximise its identity on the world stage, what it can learn from its neighbours, and how one quantifies ‘soft power’ to begin with.

BIG NYC partner Kai-Uwe Bergmann was one of four panelists at the recent Nordic Innovation Summit 2023, held at the National Nordic Museum in Seattle, Washington on May 11th. Alongside founders, corporate leaders, and other innovators from the Nordic countries and the United States, Kai-Uwe joined the panel to discuss sustainable strategies in architecture, from Scandinavia to the U.S., addressing the summit’s broader conversation: Sustaining Sustainability in a Rapidly Changing World.

A generous donation from Aarhus University and the Aarhus University Research Fund has been granted to the realization of The Danish Neuroscience Center. Partner David Zahle spoke to the administration of Aarhus University and Aarhus University Hospital, Salling Fondene and the Regional Council at an event marking the milestone.

First of its kind in the world, the neuroscience center directly connects to the Aarhus University Hospital, seeking to combine groundbreaking science and treatment of physical and mental brain diseases, spinal cord, and nervous systems.

At this year’s Salone del Mobile in Milan, BIG Products is launching an array of new project and collaborations. Expanding the lighting family for Artemide, the Gople and Knop systems launches along with new additions to the Veil, Vine and Stellar Nebula collections. Furthermore, the team presents the Colle sofa for Italian lifestyle brand Natuzzi as well as the Totem Shelf for Driade.

Copenhill is part of the newly opened, permanent exhibition “So Danish!” at the Danish Architecture Center, showcasing the history of Danish architecture from the Viking age to present day. Attending the opening, Partner David Zahle spoke to HRH Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark about Copenhill and how the waste-to-energy plant combines functional and sustainable design, while also providing a platform for the wider public to learn about waste as a resource.

Denmark’s Minister of Environment, Magnus Heunicke, and a Danish delegation visited BIG NYC to tour the early phases of the coastal resiliency project The BIG U, a flood management system protecting Lower Manhattan. The first phase is a 2.5 mile stretch from East 23rd Street to Montgomery Street in the Lower East Side that is fully financed at $1.4 Billion with a completion date in 2026.

BIG NYC Partners Kai-Uwe Bergmann and Daniel Sundlin discussed the project’s proposal to rethink infrastructure as a social amenity that both protects structural and environmental vulnerabilities while enhancing social and recreational activity. The BIG U combines the mandate to create large-scale protective infrastructure with a commitment to meaningful community engagement.

Director of BIG Sustainability, Tore Banke, has been appointed Adjunct Professor at IE University Madrid – School of Architecture & Design. Along with Principal at Regenesis Group, Bill Reed and Emmanuel Pauwels, Founder of Green Living Projects, Tore will be contributing to the Sustainable Leadership Program, which brings together practice and academia in addressing the importance of sustainability in the building sector.

BIG hosted the Mayor of Seoul, Oh Se-hoon, on his recent visit to Copenhagen, which aimed at exploring how urban development benefits from well-designed architecture. Partner Brian Yang and Associate Jinho Lee welcomed the Mayor at our CPH office, followed by visits to BIG’s projects in Copenhagen, including the Copenhagen Harbor Baths, Urban Rigger and Noma, ending at Copenhill with a tour lead by Bjarke Ingels.

The nomadic campground hotel in Marfa will be expanded and reimagined as a 62-acre community, featuring large-scale 3D-printed structures for new guest units and hospitality spaces. Breaking ground in 2024, El Cosmico will continue to celebrate the convergence of creative culture and the minimalistic natural environment of the Marfa landscape.

To celebrate the collaboration, the team partnered with Austin’s Long Center for the Performing Arts to bring a taste of El Cosmico to Austin, Texas during SXSW. The 3D-printed performance pavilion combines the architectural design themes planned for the new El Cosmico in Marfa in a single, sculptural space for culture and community in the heart of downtown Austin.

“Our collaboration with El Cosmico and ICON has allowed us to pursue the formal and material possibilities of cutting-edge 3D printed construction untethered by the traditional limitations of a conventional site or client. Liz Lambert’s legacy for reimagining hospitality and her pioneering of a contemporary Texan aesthetic combined with the Minimalistic nature and culture, art and landscape of Marfa has been the perfect fit to pursue a new architectural vernacular language for El Cosmico in Marfa. Organic shapes, Euclidian circular geometries and a color palette born from the local terroir makes El Cosmico feel as if literally erected from the site it stands on. As an outpost of El Cosmico in Austin, Liz Lambert, ICON and BIG have partnered to create a permanent pavilion for music and performances. A single crescent wall emerges from the natural slope of the Long Centre’s front lawn. The adobe like color and texture of the horizontally layered wall appears like geological strata in an exposed cliff. Inspired by the Uruguayan engineer and architect Eladio Dieste, the sinuous curves at the foot of the pavilion provide both structural stability and social niches for the audience and performers. Organic form as structural function,” Bjarke Ingels, Founder & Creative Director, BIG.

BIG wishes women everywhere a Happy International Women’s Day – powerhouses within the industry and beyond 🚀🌹

NYC Mayor Eric Adams, Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, construction workers and the BIG design team gathered to celebrate the topping off of Wildflower Studios, a 775,042 sq ft vertical village for film and television production backed by New York-native Robert De Niro. The frame of the studio, located next to the historic Steinway & Sons piano factory was officially completed Thursday with the installation of its final beam. The building will feature the world’s first vertical soundstage and be the future home to countless “Made in NY” productions, expected to open later this year.

The new National Theatre of Albania has broken ground in Tirana. Located in the cultural heart of the country’s capital, adjacent to the iconic Skanderberg Square, the new theatre is tailored to Albania’s thriving theatre and performance scene. The bow tie-shaped building offers a ground level plaza and a publicly accessible rooftop amphitheater to breathe life into and around the building throughout the day.

The eighth Oslo Architecture Triennale, which has the theme ‘Mission Neighborhood – (Re)forming Communities’, sees the former Munch Museum in Tøyen temporarily transformed into the Oslo Neighborhood Lab investigating how architects, designers and city stakeholders can help to create more sustainable, diverse and generous neighborhoods. Titled ‘Hotspots’, BIG’s contribution explores how power plants can become neighborhood assets and integral parts of our communities.

Her Majesty, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark has officiated BIG’s exhibition at the annual Golden Days culture festival in the heart of Copenhagen. Titled ’50 Queens’, the exhibit is a sculptural takeover of Copenhagen’s iconic King’s Square – temporarily renamed to Queen’s Square – featuring notable women in Danish history with the mission to bring more diversity to the city’s many male statues and celebrate Denmark’s fearless women. The exhibition was led by BIG Landscape Partner, Giulia Frittoli and Partner, David Zahle.

“Our exhibition celebrates the untold stories of women who have made significant contributions to Danish history but haven’t yet been properly recognized. As more focus is brought to issues of social justice and equality, we are so proud and honored to contribute to the conversation and give a voice to those who haven’t been heard. With 50 Queens, I hope we can raise awareness about the importance of gender equality and social diversity in our cities and public spaces to inform how we can improve our urban communities of today and plan for more equal cities of tomorrow,” says Giulia Frittoli, Partner, BIG

As reported by Architectural Digest, the 23rd iteration of the Triennale di Milano investigates “the unknown,” from the cosmos to the abyss! Curated by Ersilia Vaudo—astrophysicist and Chief Diversity Officer of the European Space Agency—the exhibition includes exclusive models from BIG, ICON, and NASA’s Mars Dune Alpha, Mars Science City, and Project Olympus collaborations.

Located on the outskirts of Amsterdam, the 49.000 m2 ‘floating’ neighborhood with public roofscapes and riverwalks reinterprets the classic courtyard typology for life on the water.

Developed by Amsterdam-based joint venture VORM/BESIX, the mixed-use development Sluishuis in the neighborhood of IJburg Steigereiland is officially completed following four years of construction. Designed by BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group and Barcode Architects, Sluishuis brings 442 zero-energy owner-occupied and rented homes, a public rooftop garden and walkway, and a comprehensive water-quality program with space for up to 30 houseboats to the area.

“Having spent my formative years as an architect in Holland at the end of the 20th century, it feels like a homecoming to get to contribute to the architecture of the city that I have loved and admired for so long. Our Sluishuis is conceived as a city block of downtown Amsterdam floating in the IJ Lake, complete with all aspects of city life. Towards the city, the building kneels down to invite visitors to climb its roof and enjoy the panoramic view of the new neighborhoods on the IJ. Toward the water, Sluishuis rises from the river, opening a gigantic gate for boats to enter and dock in the port/yard. A building inside the port, with a port inside the building.”

As reported by The Guardian, the BIG and Heatherwick Studios-designed Google Kings Cross – the tech company’s new UK headquarters – has topped off, with a local celebration marking the occasion. Nicknamed ‘the landscraper,’ approximately 40,000 tonnes of soil will be transported to the rooftop garden, which stretches along the length of the building and in which 250 trees will be planted. The landscraper will also include a community space for use by local residents, as well as ground-floor retail units.

The new Refugee Museum of Denmark, FLUGT, designed by BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group and exhibition designers Tinker Imagineers is officially inaugurated in the presence of Queen Margrethe II. Located at the site of Denmark’s largest Refugee camp from World War II, FLUGT, gives a voice and a face to refugees worldwide and captures the universal challenges, emotions, spirit and stories shared by displaced humans.

After a 2-year design competition, the winning proposal for the largest dock of the internationally acclaimed Zurich airport by BIG, HOK, Buro Happold, 10:8, Pirmin Jung, NACO and others is selected from 10 global competition entries. The Dock A extension, comprised predominantly of solid Swiss wood, will celebrate Swiss building tradition and innovation and strengthen the airports continued status as the gateway of Switzerland.

Norwegian furniture manufacturer, Vestre’s new HQ, The Plus – a new furniture factory, experience center, and 300-acre public park – has officially opened its doors to the public! Set to become the first industrial building to achieve the highest environmental BREEAM certification, the colorful manufacturing village is dedicated to carbon-neutral fabrication of urban furniture, leading the way for manufacturing facilities and high-efficiency production of the future.

BIG has put forward plans for a 32,036m² office scheme next to the Financial Times building on London’s South Bank. Working on the project with developer Landsec since 2018, the building’s design is defined by an arrangement of ‘jumping blocks’ of differing sizes, which will house flexible workspace adapted to modern requirements and the post-Covid working world.

In a live broadcast, the City of Prague today unveiled BIG’s design for the first national concert hall in over 100 years: The Vltava Philharmonic Hall. The new concert hall will become the home of the world-class philharmonic for 1800+ audiences, celebrating the Czech music tradition and cementing the country as a cultural capital in Europe. The proposal was chosen among a total of 19 anonymous global entries.

“The Vltava Philharmonic Hall is composed as a meandering journey from riverbank to rooftop. Public flows and belvedere plazas unite the city life of Prague to the music within. Its halls are formed for sight, fine-tuned for sound, and orchestrated for functionality and connectivity. From this rhythmic structure, a symphony of colonnades and balconies extend as platforms for public life. Expressive yet pragmatic, the new Philharmonic will ascend to form a key landmark for Prague – from river to roof.” Bjarke Ingels, Founder & Partner, BIG.

Designed by BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group and Heatherwick Studios in close collaboration with Google, Bay View is Google’s first-ever ground-up campus with the mission to operate on carbon-free energy, 24 hours a day, seven days a week by 2030. The buildings deliver on Google’s ambition to create human-centric, sustainable innovations for the future of Google’s workplace as well as scalable, replicable solutions for the construction industry and beyond. 

“Our design of the new Bay View campus is the result of an incredibly collaborative design process. Working with a client as data driven as Google has led to an architecture where every single decision is informed by hard information and empirical analysis. The result is a campus where the striking dragonscale solar canopies harvest every photon that hits the buildings; the energy piles store and extract heating and cooling from the ground, and even the naturally beautiful floras are in fact hardworking rootzone gardens that filter and clean the water from the buildings. All in all, a campus where front of house and back of house, technology and architecture, and form and function have been fused into a new and striking hybrid,” says Bjarke Ingels, Founder and Creative Director, BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group. 

BIG’s design proposal for the new 9,000 m2 Gastronomy Open Ecosystem (GOe) for the Basque Culinary Center at the heart of San Sebastian bridges science, gastronomy, and nature to promote culinary research, innovation, and enjoyment. The Basque Culinary Center, a pioneering gastronomic institution, launched the international design competition for the new food innovation hub GOe in 2021 with the mission to bring food start-ups, researchers, and chefs under one roof. GOe will continue the development of alternative proteins, agricultural robotics, prevention of food waste, and much more from their new BIG-designed building, a proposal selected among five invited architects including OMA, Snøhetta, 3XN and Toyo Ito & Associates.

“We have had the great pleasure of collaborating with one of the most brilliant minds in modern gastronomy with our design for Rene Redzepis NOMA in our native Copenhagen. We are more than excited to take our architectural exploration of the world of Gastronomy to the next level with the work for The Gastronomic Open Ecosystem in San Sebastian. Conceived as an architectural extension of the dramatic landscape and cityscape of San Sebastian, our proposed design liberates the ground and provides parks on the roof to invite the public life of the city to engage with the art and science of gastronomy. Located on the heralded Camino de Santiago de Compostela – we believe that this architectural fusion of gastronomy and technology, city and landscape, building and park has the potential to become a destination in its own right for culinary pilgrims from around the world.”  said Bjarke Ingels, Founder and Creative Director, BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group. 

OCEANIX Busan – the world’s first prototype of a resilient and sustainable floating community – is unveiled at The United Nations HQ by partners UN-Habitat, the Busan Metropolitan City of the Republic of Korea, OCEANIX, BIG, and SAMOO. Designed by BIG alongside local architects SAMOO, OCEANIX Busan aims to provide breakthrough technology for coastal cities facing severe land shortages that are compounded by climatic threats.

Located at the former EXPO ´92 Sevilla site, in Isla de la Cartuja, the new 9900 m2 building for the European Commission, ties into the City of Sevilla’s goal to become a global benchmark for sustainability by 2025 and the local vision of the eCitySevilla project to decarbonize and transition Isla de la Cartuja to 100% renewable energy sources. The JRC building will house 12 research units and supporting functions as well as public and private outdoor spaces. The international design competition kicked off in 2021 with 66 offices competing for the project, expected to break ground in 2024. 

“With our design for the Joint Research Centre in Sevilla, more than anything, we have attempted to allow the sustainable performance of the building to drive an architectural aesthetic that not only makes the building perform better but also makes it more inhabitable and more beautiful – a new Andalusian environmental vernacular,” said Bjarke Ingels.” Having started my studies as an architect in Andalusia and later returning to ETSAB in Barcelona, to now having a 50–person BIG office in Barcelona, this project feels like coming full circle.” 

The BIG-designed Canada Water Masterplan has been given outline consent by Southwark Council. BIG will work on detailed designs for the tallest building, a 110m-tall waterside tower, which is set to be made of five vertical blocks which twist around a central core, creating terrace spaces overlooking Canada Water.

The first of its kind in the world, a new Neuroscience Center designed by BIG will bring together psychiatry and neuroscience under one roof to combine groundbreaking science and treatment of physical and mental brain diseases, spinal cord and nervous systems. BIG’s 20 000 m2 design proposal for Aarhus University Hospital mimics the gyrification of the human brain to utilize the limited site area most efficiently while creating synergies between the different disciplines within the hospital. “The brain is the most complex organ in the human body. Our design for the new Danish Neuroscience Center in Aarhus, replicates the most essential feature of the brain – the gyrification – to create more connections and space within limited confines. The building folds bring light, lots of new pathways and green pockets into the hospital making nature and biodiversity part of the hospital’s research and the healing journey of its patients. ” said Bjarke Ingels, Founding Partner & Creative Director. Established in 2009, The Danish Neuroscience Center (DNC) has become a world-class research and treatment facility for understanding and treating the most complex, efficient and adaptive organ in our body – the brain. A new building for DNC, set to open in 2026, will connect directly with the existing campus of Aarhus University Hospital and seeks to intensify the hospital’s unique approach combining healthcare, education and scientific research to collaborate and inspire each other.