Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) has a knack for combatting a variety of complex issues via its step-by-step approach, yielding a design that seems almost inevitable. Ingels has labeled his design strategy as a form of “architectural alchemy." This combines multiple programs or “ingredients” that on their own, would simply be seen as “normal." But in aggregate, you get more out of the mix than you would keeping them separate. The result of this looks something like a waste-to-energy plant topped by a ski-slope, or a parabolic skyscraper with a Copenhagen-style courtyard.
Inspired by BIG’s “will to find new solutions for environmental, social, economic and technological problems”, artist Giuseppe Gallo has designed these 9 posters that evaluate BIG’s unique use of syntax.
More on syntax in architecture and how you can get your own copies of the posters after the break.
纽约曼哈顿西57号街高层公寓/VIA 57 West. Image Courtesy of Giuseppe Gallo via Mirabilia
阿迈厄岛资源中心/Amager Resource Center. Image Courtesy of Giuseppe Gallo via Mirabilia
Gallo references American philosopher Charles Morris and his study of semiotics and its three different fields: semantics, pragmatics and syntax. Semantics being the study of a particular “system of signs” - or perhaps in this case “forms”, pragmatics being the influence of those “forms” on those influenced by it, and syntax being the study of the relationship between “forms”. The shift in architectural practice to more digital tools has changed the syntax and delivery of design, thus creating a new process of form generation.
蛇形画廊/Serpentine Pavilion. Image Courtesy of Giuseppe Gallo via Mirabilia
Kistefos扭体博物馆/Kistefos Museum. Image Courtesy of Giuseppe Gallo via Mirabilia
螺旋塔/The Spiral. Image Courtesy of Giuseppe Gallo via Mirabilia
Each of the projects in the illustrations epitomizes this shift in syntax via BIG’s practice of “architectural alchemy”. The projects reimagined in the posters include some of BIG’s most notable work: VIA 57 West, AIA 2017 Housing Award winner for Multifamily Housing; The Spiral, currently under construction on the High Line in NYC; and BIG’s design for the 2016 Serpentine Pavilion, which is set to be relocated to a permanent location in Vancouver.
News via: Mirabilia.
金博尔艺术中心/Kimball Art Center. Image Courtesy of Giuseppe Gallo via Mirabilia
费城Intrepid大街1200号大楼/1200 Intrepid. Image Courtesy of Giuseppe Gallo via Mirabilia
VM House. Image Courtesy of Giuseppe Gallo via Mirabilia
新威尔逊中学/Wilson Secondary School. Image Courtesy of Giuseppe Gallo via Mirabilia