Bjarke Ingels PHOTO: PAUL MCLAUGHLIN

Lego House recently opened in Billund, Denmark. What did that project mean to you?
If BIG had been founded for one single building, it would have been this one. It’s such a joyful exploration of all of the different potential expressions of Lego.

Like any Dane, I grew up with Lego. What’s unique about Lego as a toy is that it’s actually not a toy, it’s a vehicle for systematic creativity that enables the child to create its own world and then to inhabit that world through play.

As architects, we have the ability to build the world we’d like to live in. The sense of empowerment that architecture can give when it’s working well is the same kind of empowerment that Lego gives a child.

What’s the team like at BIG?
Of course, I founded the company and I’m the creative leader, but I’ve never kept it a secret that I work with great, gifted people. Of the partners at BIG, about half of them were interns in the early days of the company, so we’ve been together for a ridiculously long time. We’ve developed a culture through friendship and collaboration that’s very strong.

So you wouldn’t agree when you’re sometimes portrayed as a kind of lone genius?
The truth is that collaboration is about collective effort and it’s also about individual contribution – so both are actually true. There wouldn’t be any BIG without me and there wouldn’t be any BIG without all the ‘BIGsters’.

I don’t see that there’s a dichotomy. Has Steven Spielberg made you think that he’s the only one contributing to his films? Not really. But, of course, he’s the director and he also consistently manages to put together a team that can deliver something that other directors don’t.

What challenges have you faced as a firm?
We launched BIG in 2005 and we were doing some big projects, like 8 House complex in Copenhagen and the Danish Maritime Museum in Helsingør. But by the fall of 2007, we were going down. I took control of our finances for a year, let go of 35 people, cut down everything I could, including lunches and our cleaning services, borrowed some money and managed to turn the company around.

After that, I hired Sheela Maini Søgaard, who is now a partner and CEO of the firm. Sheela has a really healthy confrontational attitude. She started phoning late payers, getting them to cough up. Where architects are typically overly optimistic, Sheela has a healthy scepticism. We needed that.

The culture at BIG – which includes parties, a ‘BIG band’ and even cycling trips over the Andes – is well known. Did you set out to create this?
It’s not an agenda, it’s more a question of how you’d like to lead your life. Architects tend to work long hours, but even working a normal day is still half your waking hours, so you’d better have a good time doing it.

It’s not just about the parties though. If you put a lot of like-minded, energetic, passionate, brilliant, creative people in a room with some fascinating problems to solve and a big deadline at the end, it’s practically like a party. So even without intoxicating substances, it’s a blast.

Why did you decide to relocate from New York to Copenhagen?
The last few years have been dominated by America, but there’s no doubt that Europe is back at full throttle. I’m keen to spend a few years focusing on opportunities in Europe. We’ve got plenty to be excited about.

Bjarke Ingels was interviewed by Magali Robathan. Read the full article in CLADmag issue 4 2017