The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has awarded The Plus with the prestigious RIBA International Award for Excellence 2026. The recognition places the project among an outstanding group of buildings worldwide celebrated for architectural excellence, with the jury unanimously praising the breadth and quality of this year’s winning entries. Designed for Norwegian furniture manufacturer Vestre, The Plus is dedicated to clean, carbon-neutral fabrication of urban furniture and sets a new benchmark for the manufacturing facilities of the future. “We are deeply honored that the Royal Institute of British Architects has acknowledged our design for Vestre’s factory The Plus with a RIBA International Awards for Excellence. In all its simplicity, The Plus seeks to explore and showcase how economic growth and ecological sustainability can go hand in hand, by designing and building it as the most environmentally friendly factory in the world. Built from locally sourced timber, powered by local hydroelectricity, geothermal and photovoltaics, covered in locally sourced turf and displacing the bare minimum of forest, the factory has the smallest and gentlest environmental footprint possible. As a positive social side effect, factory workers, leadership, customers, and collaborators alike get to experience the joy of making furniture in the middle of the forest, making it blatantly evident that sustainable manufacturing is not only better for the environment but also more enjoyable for the people who practice it. A literal architectural manifestation of our philosophy of hedonistic sustainability.” – Bjarke Ingels, Founder & Creative Director, BIG “We’re absolutely thrilled. We were certainly hoping for this but never taking it for granted. To be recognized by RIBA is a huge honor, and I’m incredibly proud of everyone who has contributed to making The Plus what it is today. This award is a recognition of BIG’s visionary architecture and of the close collaboration between architects, engineers, contractors, and our own team that brought the project to life. With The Plus, we wanted to challenge conventional ideas of what a factory can be. Not just an efficient production facility, but a place where architecture, people, nature, and industry come together. This award demonstrates that sustainability, transparency and high productivity can go hand in hand, and it gives us even more motivation in our ambition to become the world’s most sustainable furniture manufacturer.” – Bjørn Fjellstad, CEO, Vestre
