Due to the unique character of Singapore’s urbanism both very dense and verdant BIG pursued the design challenge as a vertical exploration of tropical urbanism, reinforcing Singapore’s reputation as a garden city. The building’s recognizable exterior façade consists of vertical elements that are pulled apart to allow glimpses into the green oases blooming from the base, core and rooftop. A dynamic interplay of orthogonal lines and lush greenery presents itself in the contrasting textures of steel and glass, interweaved with tropical vegetation.
Greenland National Gallery for Art will play a significant role for the citizens of Greenland and the inhabitants of Nuuk as a cultural, social, political, urban and architectural focal point. The building will combine the art history of Greenland and contemporary art in one dynamic institution that communicates the continuous project of documenting and developing the Greenlandic national identity through art and culture.
A series of public programs simultaneously wrap the library on the outside and inside, above and below. Twisting the public program into a continuous spiraling path tracing the library on all sides, creates an architectural organization that combines the virtues of all complimenting models. Like a Möbius strip, the public programs move seamlessly from the inside to the outside and from ground to the sky providing spectacular views of the surrounding landscape and growing city skyline.
Running from January through August , Hot to Cold marked BIGs first major North-American exhibition offering a behind-the-scenes look at BIGs creative process and how the studios designs are shaped by cultural and climatic contexts. More than architectural models, mock-ups and prototypes were suspended at the second-floor balconies of the museums historic Great Hall, turning the architecture of the National Building Museum into the architecture of the exhibition.
Located in the visual axis of the Notre Dame Cathedral in a dense context of university buildings from different historical periods, BIG proposes a building geometry that adapts to the specific conditions of all adjoining sides, optimized for daylight, views and accessibility. The three-dimensional envelope retracts from the neighboring facades, opens up towards the square of Institut du Monde Arabe and the park, and folds into a publicly accessible rooftop landscape, resulting in an adapted sculptural building volume.