Formgiving. An Architectural Future History, the new book by BIG
(Bjarke Ingels Group), is a visionary attempt to look at the
horizon of time. The Danish word for "design" is "formgivning,"
which literally means to give form to that which has not yet taken
shape. In other words, to give form to the future. Using our power
to give form, rather than allowing the future to take shape, is
more important now than ever, as humankind's impact on the planet
continues to increase and pose ever greater challenges to all life
forms. Architecture plays a special role by proposing spaces for
our lives that are fragments of the future in the making. William
Gibson's words embody architecture's role perfectly: "The future is
already here-it's just not evenly distributed." With Formgiving,
BIG presents the third part of its TASCHEN trilogy, which began
with Yes is More, one of the most successful architectural books of
its generation, and continued with Hot to Cold. An Odyssey of
Architectural Adaptation. The book is presented in a timeline,
stretching from the Big Bang into the most distant future. Projects
are structured around six strands of evolution-"Making," "Sensing,"
"Sustaining," "Thinking," "Healing," and "Moving"-the
multimedia-based, interdisciplinary concepts encompassing the
building industry. Culture, climate, and landscape, as well as all
the energies derived from the elements-the thermal mass of the
ocean, the dynamics of currents, the energy and warmth of the sun,
the power of the wind-are incorporated into these projects.
Throughout more than 700 pages, Bjarke Ingels presents his personal
selection of projects, including the 12,000-square-meter LEGO House
in Denmark, the human-made ecosystems floating on oceans, the
redesign of a World War II bunker into a contemplative museum, and
the ski slope-infused power plant celebrating Copenhagen's
commitment to carbon neutrality. Through architecture and design,
BIG gives shape to a sustainable and simultaneously colorful world.
Bjarke Ingels: "To feel that we have license to imagine a future
different from today, all we have to do is look back ten years, a
hundred years, a thousand years, to realize how radically different
things were then than they are today. The same will be true if we
can look ahead with the same clarity of vision. As we tackle the
complexities of everyday life, these six evolutionary trajectories
allow us to place a firm gaze on the horizon of time to prevent us
from being derailed by the random distractions of today. Since we
know from our past that our future is bound to be different from
our present, rather than waiting for it to take shape on its own,
we have the power to give it form." Formgiving is also a companion
volume to the exhibition of the same name, which was conceived at
the Danish Architecture Center in Copenhagen and will travel to
other venues worldwide. More than 65 projects document BIG's global
work through the eyes of their users, from the drawing board to
global construction sites and finished projects. Throughout the
book are insights into developments that reach five, ten, or fifty
years into the future, and evidence of BIG's intransigence to reach
beyond the ordinary, and beyond worlds, to contribute to the future
with each project. Each step not only reveals a world that
resembles our dreams but also already tries to realize these dreams
pragmatically. We have the power to create the world of tomorrow!
The book features: previously unpublished essays by Bjarke Ingels,
award-winning photography by Laurian Ghinitoiu, Iwan Baan, and
Rasmus Hjortshoj, among others, planetary proposals for habitats on
the Moon and research centers on Mars, 20 LEGO master-builder
models of BIG's work, a glimpse of Masterplanet-BIG's ongoing work
on a collective, crowdsourced masterplan guide for sustaining our
planet.
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