Bjarke Ingels (BIG) and Hedonistic Sustainability Explained

Bjarke Ingels is the most widely recognised architect of his generation, known for buildings that double as landscapes: a power plant with a ski slope on its roof, a housing block you can cycle to the top of, a skyscraper with a park in its middle. His practice, BIG, describes this approach as hedonistic sustainability, the idea that a sustainable building should improve quality of life rather than ask people to give something up.

This article looks at his work from a structural engineer’s perspective. It explains the design method behind the striking forms, how a few key buildings actually work, and what his approach means for dense, green tropical cities such as Singapore, where his practice has completed one of the city’s tallest towers.

From OMA to BIG

Ingels was born on 2 October 1974 in Copenhagen. He studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts and in Barcelona, and from 1998 to 2001 worked for Rem Koolhaas at the Office for Metropolitan Architecture in Rotterdam. In 2001 he co-founded the practice PLOT with Julien De Smedt, a fellow former OMA architect, before establishing Bjarke Ingels Group, BIG, as his own company in January 2006.

From OMA he inherited a habit of questioning the programme of a building and combining uses in unexpected ways. His first book, Yes Is More, a comic-book presentation of the practice’s work published around a 2009 exhibition in Copenhagen, set out the method: accept the constraints of a brief, and use them to generate the form rather than resisting them.

The design method: rules that make form

Most BIG buildings begin with a simple volume that is then deformed according to a few clear rules: lift a corner to bring sunlight into a courtyard, slope a roof to give every apartment a view, twist a block to align with neighbouring streets. The final shape, however unusual, can usually be explained as the result of these steps, which BIG often presents as a sequence of diagrams.

For an engineer, this is an important point. The forms are striking, but they are generally built from familiar systems: reinforced concrete frames and walls, steel trusses, transfer structures and conventional foundations. The structural challenge lies less in exotic materials than in carrying ordinary loads along unusual paths, such as ramps that span between blocks, cantilevered corners and roofs that must carry soil, people and vegetation.

Housing as landscape: Mountain Dwellings and 8 House

In the Ørestad district of Copenhagen, BIG completed a series of housing projects that established its reputation. Mountain Dwellings, completed in 2008, places terraced apartments with gardens on top of a sloping multi-storey car park, so that each home has a garden on the roof of the unit below and the parking is hidden beneath the slope.

The 8 House, completed in 2010, is a large mixed-use block in the shape of a figure eight. A continuous path and ramp climbs from the street to the upper levels, allowing residents to walk or cycle up to their front doors, while the block is pressed down and lifted at different corners to bring light and views into its two courtyards. The structure must accommodate the gradual change of level around the block, a demanding coordination task in an otherwise conventional concrete building. Projects like these show how a green roof can become a primary living space rather than an add-on.

CopenHill: a ski slope on a power plant

CopenHill, also known as Amager Bakke, is BIG’s clearest statement of hedonistic sustainability. It is a waste-to-energy plant in Copenhagen whose sloping roof carries an artificial ski slope, along with hiking paths and a climbing wall on its facade. The plant was completed in 2017, and the rooftop recreation opened in 2019.

Structurally, the project combines a heavy industrial building, with large boilers, furnaces and flue-gas treatment, and a public landscape on top. The roof structure must carry the slope surface, planting and drainage while spanning over plant that cannot be interrupted by columns, and every element must cope with heat, vibration and maintenance access below. It is a striking demonstration that infrastructure can be designed as public space, an idea we explore more broadly in our guide to sustainable architecture.

VIA 57 West and the Serpentine Pavilion

VIA 57 West in New York, completed in 2016, combines a European courtyard block with an American tower. The building rises from a low corner to a sharp peak, and its sloping face is a doubly curved surface, a hyperbolic paraboloid, which allows a large landscaped courtyard to open towards the Hudson River while every apartment retains a view. A hyperbolic paraboloid is a ruled surface that can be generated entirely from straight lines, which is why it has long been used to make curved geometry buildable.

The Serpentine Pavilion in London in 2016 explored the same theme at small scale: a wall made of stacked fibreglass frames that was pulled apart, or unzipped, to form a cave-like interior. It is a good illustration of how repetitive, simple components can create a complex overall form, a principle that also governs much larger buildings.

Bjarke Ingels in Singapore: CapitaSpring

In Singapore, BIG designed CapitaSpring in Raffles Place with Carlo Ratti Associati and the local practice RSP. Completed in 2022 and rising to 280 metres over 51 storeys, it is among the tallest buildings in the city. It contains offices, serviced apartments, food and beverage spaces and a hawker centre, replacing the hawker centre and car park that previously occupied the site.

Its most distinctive feature is the Green Oasis, a four-storey planted void in the middle of the tower, about 100 metres above the ground, with a spiralling walk and thousands of plants. The tower’s vertical facade fins part to reveal the greenery. For an engineer, a planted void at mid-height means heavy soil loads, irrigation and drainage, and a break in the regular office floors that the structure must bridge, all within a tall building designed for Singapore’s wind conditions. It is a clear example of biophilic design at skyscraper scale.

What his work teaches engineers

Bjarke Ingels’ buildings can look like pure spectacle, but their logic is practical: start from the constraints, keep the structural systems familiar, and use the form to deliver light, views, outdoor space and public use. The engineering effort goes into the junctions, transfers and landscape loads that such forms create. In our consulting work, rooftop landscapes, sky gardens and cantilevered corners are exactly where early structural coordination pays off. For the wider context, see our guide to architectural styles and principles.

Frequently asked questions

What does hedonistic sustainability mean?

It is Bjarke Ingels’ term for sustainable design that adds pleasure and quality of life rather than imposing sacrifice. CopenHill, a waste-to-energy plant with a ski slope on its roof, is the best-known example.

Has Bjarke Ingels designed a building in Singapore?

Yes. His practice BIG designed CapitaSpring in Raffles Place with Carlo Ratti Associati and RSP. Completed in 2022, the 280-metre tower includes a four-storey planted void known as the Green Oasis.

What does BIG stand for?

BIG stands for Bjarke Ingels Group, the practice Ingels established in Copenhagen in 2006 after leaving PLOT, which he co-founded with Julien De Smedt.

Are BIG’s buildings structurally unusual?

The forms are unusual, but most use conventional concrete and steel systems. The engineering challenge lies in transfer structures, cantilevers, ramps and heavy landscape loads, rather than in new structural materials.

Planning a rooftop landscape, sky garden or unconventional building form? Talk to our structural engineering consultancy or get in touch.