Renowned architecture firm BIG (Bjarke Ingels Group) reveals a new proposal for the Ulsan Performing Arts Venue in South Korea. Submitted as part of the second phase of an international design competition, the concept presents a ribbon-like structure, envisioning a cultural landmark that bridges the past, present, and future of Ulsan.

BIG reveals a new proposal for the Ulsan Performing Arts Venue in South Korea | all images via @big_builds

two architectural ribbons connect city, river, and public life

The concept by BIG is defined by two sweeping ribbons that extend from opposite directions: one reaching into the urban fabric, the other stretching toward the river. Together, they frame the site while creating a dynamic dialogue between the city and its natural surroundings. Beneath the ribbons, a continuous public realm unfolds, featuring plazas, promenades, and outdoor stages. These open spaces are intended to encourage gathering, performance, and cultural engagement, making the venue not only a place for staged events but also a living public landscape.

With this proposal, the Copenhagen-based firm emphasizes flexibility and openness, allowing the building to host a variety of cultural programs while maintaining visual and spatial connectivity with the surrounding environment. The ribbons themselves become both architectural signature and functional structure, guiding movement across the site and shaping the experience of the venue.

beneath the architectural ribbons, a continuous public realm unfolds

the concept presents a ribbon-like structure, envisioning a cultural landmark that bridges the past, present, and future

the building hosts a variety of programs while maintaining connectivity with the surroundings

the ribbons themselves become both architectural signature and functional structure

project info: 

name: Ulsan Performing Arts Venue
architects: BIG (Bjarke Ingels Group) | @big_builds
location: Ulsan, South Korea

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Construction on the third and final phase of the Skypark Business Center (SBC) in Findel, designed by Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), is moving steadily toward completion, bringing one of Europe’s largest mass-timber buildings closer to its full reveal. The 70,000-square-meter complex rises beside Luxembourg Airport as a sculptural, seven-story landmark built from more than 15,000 cubic meters of wood, an amount the team likes to equate to six Olympic-size swimming pools.

Beyond the headline numbers, the project stands out for its unusual form. Instead of a single zig-zag structure, it comprises two stacked and rotated timber bars that slip over one another, creating a sequence of terraces, courtyards, and panoramic workspaces with views toward the runway or the nearby Grand Ducal Golf Course.

all images by @corentinhaubruge

An Undulating Urban Anchor Shaping Airport City’s Future Edge

At an urban scale, SBC anchors a key site within the Airport City Masterplan in the Niederanven municipality. The team at BIG works within the constraints of a long, slim footprint, approximately 19,000 square meters on the ground and the district’s maximum permitted height of 30.5 meters, to shape a building that serves as both workplace and infrastructural buffer. In elevation, the building reads as an undulating wall, its shifting geometry functioning as an acoustic barrier for the public spaces and future developments around it. This orchestration of mass and void is also what allows daylight, greenery, and movement to flow through the project, despite its proximity to one of the busiest transit nodes in the country.

A clear stratification defines the building’s volumes: a mineral parking plinth at the base, a fully glazed ground floor open to pedestrians, and two copper-clad office bars that curl across the upper levels. The stacked zig-zag configuration is not an aesthetic flourish but a functional hinge. Each rotation unlocks new outdoor areas, green terraces every 50 meters, sheltered niches, and more private internal courtyards that receive visitors from the northern approach. The rounded corners at each turn avoid dead ends and open up sweeping, near-panoramic vistas, reinforcing the idea of a continuous, meandering workspace rather than a rigid commercial block.

one of Europe’s largest mass-timber buildings

A Flexible workspace Organized Around Overlapping ‘Snakes’

Inside, the layout is kept deliberately adaptable. All circulation cores sit where the two ‘snakes’ overlap, so every tenant has straightforward vertical access without sacrificing floorplate continuity. This enables the office levels to expand or contract according to tenant needs, with partitions that can be easily reconfigured. On arrival, visitors move through a double-door portal into the Grande Galerie, a generous internal passage running along the building’s spine. Here, restaurants, retail, and a fitness studio alternate along the glazed perimeter, creating a lively inner street that opens onto the southern gardens and direct views of the 4-kilometer runway.

The project also integrates directly with airport flows. On the east side, a lightweight canopy extends from the ground floor to meet Terminal A’s departure level, forming a sheltered pedestrian link and a landscaped plaza for travelers and workers. Below, on level B1, car rental and valet services occupy a bridge-like volume that allows arriving passengers to pick up vehicles within minutes of landing. To the west, the upper bar reaches outward in a dramatic cantilever, acting as both architectural gateway and shaded public threshold for those entering Airport City from Luxembourg’s center.

Three tiers of roof gardens top the building, giving users access to greenery and open air across multiple levels. Together with the extensive use of mass timber in the upper structures, bridges, and slabs, these outdoor layers contribute to the SBC’s broader ambition: to demonstrate how large-scale workplace infrastructures can adopt lower-carbon construction while cultivating more humane, nature-connected environments.

a sculptural, seven-story landmark built from more than 15,000 cubic meters of wood

stacked and rotated timber bars that slip over one another

the building reads as an undulating wall

αll circulation cores sit where the two ‘snakes’ overlap

οn arrival, visitors move through a double-door portal into the Grande Galerie

the shifting geometry functions as an acoustic barrier for the public spaces and future developments around it

project info:

name: Skypark Business Center (SBC)

architect: Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) | @big_builds

location: Findel, Luxembourg

area: 70,000 m² total

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The new Hamburg State Opera by Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) will establish a contemporary home for the State Opera and Hamburg Ballet. The project is set to be located on the Baakenhöft peninsula in HafenCity — a sprawling waterfront development — and will replace the company’s mid-century house on Dammtorstraße. It will extend the German city’s long tradition of pairing cultural architecture with the harbor’s open horizon.

Imagined as both a working opera house and a civic landscape, the 45,000-square-meter building combines production, rehearsal, and performance spaces with a new public park that reaches to the river’s edge.

BIG’s proposal was selected by unanimous jury decision, recognizing its ability to synthesize the demands of a major cultural institution with the fluid urban fabric of HafenCity. The opera is envisioned as an island structure of terraced green roofs and a new hinge in Hamburg’s waterfront transformation.

the design forms a terraced landscape that links city and water | visualizations © Yanis Amasri

BIG’s landscape of concentric terraces

Architect Bjarke Ingels describes the design as ‘a landscape of concentric terraces,’ expanding outward from the main hall like ripples on the surface of the water. The building’s roofline forms a continuous, circular geometry that opens toward the harbor, creating a sequence of terraces accessible from multiple directions.

These landscaped paths weave between gardens, plazas, and lookout points, turning the entire site into a three-dimensional park open to residents and visitors throughout the day.

The transition from exterior to interior is fluid. Stone pavements from the park extend into the foyer, unifying ground and building. This large, timber-lined hall functions as an urban living room, animated by two central staircases that rise toward upper levels. Every main floor connects directly to outdoor terraces, which can host events or serve as informal gathering spaces overlooking the Elbe and the city skyline.

a continuous circular roofline shapes a walkable topography across the building

an auditorium of sculptural wooden layers

At the heart of the Hamburg State Opera, the main auditorium is enveloped in bands of horizontally layered timber that modulate both sightlines and sound. The wood surfaces create a warm tonal register, visually linking balconies and walls into a single flowing form.

BIG partner Jakob Sand says: ‘The main hall is the heart of the project – — space with state-of-the-art acoustics and perfect sightlines to the stage.’ Concentric wooden rings shape the hall and its balconies and dissolve the divide between performers and audience.

the foyer acts as an urban living room animated by central timber staircases

Landscape as infrastructure

Supporting spaces — including a smaller studio stage, rehearsal rooms, and workshops — are organized directly behind the main hall, enabling seamless movement between preparation and performance. The plan reflects BIG’s ongoing exploration of buildings as networks of connected activity rather than fixed hierarchies of front and back.

Partner David Zahle emphasizes this openness: ‘Visitors can move along the facades and glimpse into the foyer, rehearsal rooms, backstage areas and offices, revealing the complexity behind a working opera house.’

BIG Landscape’s design extends the opera’s design language into the surrounding park. Flood management is integrated through a system of terraces, planted dunes, and wetlands that absorb and slow water flow. Rain basins collect and filter runoff, creating habitats for local flora and fauna. This way, a resilient ecological zone is created which responds to the tides of the Elbe while framing the opera as a living landscape shaped by natural movement.

the main hall features layered timber surfaces that guide acoustics and sightlines

visitors can move along the facades and see into working areas of the opera

wetlands, terraces, and rain basins form a resilient landscape that adapts to the tides of the Elbe

stone paths from the waterfront park flow directly into the foyer to create a unified ground plane

project info:

name: Hamburg State Opera

architect: Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) | @big_builds

location: Hamburg, Germany
client: Kühne Foundation, The Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg represented by the Ministry of Culture and Media, Hamburgische Staatsoper GmbH

collaborators: Theatre Projects, Bollinger + Grohmann, Transsolar, K+H, Duschl, Yanis Amasri

size: 45,000 square meters

visualizations: © Yanis Amasri

project team:
partner-in-charge: Bjarke Ingels, Jakob Sand, David Zahle
design lead: Sarkis Sarkisyan, Michael Leef
team: Mariia Nakonechnaia, Carlos Ramos Tenorio, David Benjamin Wilden, Jianuo Xuan, Jacob Engelbrecht Ødum, Celia de la Osa Muñoz, Gilana Antonova, Giovanni Vergantini, Mathis Paul Gebauer, Hou Ming Ng, Martino Hutz, Veronica Hamilton
BIG landscape: Giulia Frittoli, Ulla Hornsyld, Gaspard Del Marmol, Lucia Ayala

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Nearing completion, the Suzhou Museum of Contemporary Art by Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) emerges on the banks of Jinji Lake. Designed in collaboration with ARTS Group and Front Inc., and commissioned by Suzhou Harmony Development Group, the 60,000-square-meter complex (find designboom’s previous coverage here) is envisioned as a contemporary reinterpretation of Suzhou’s historic gardens.

The structure unfolds as a village of twelve interconnected pavilions unified beneath a flowing, ribbon-like roof whose gentle undulations echo tiled eaves. As the building approaches its final phase, it paves the way for Materialism, an inaugural exhibition curated by BIG set to open ahead of the museum’s official debut in 2026.

all images by Ye Jianyuan, unless stated otherwise

fluid network of pavilions evokes garden heritage

Rooted in the cultural identity of Suzhou, BIG’s design draws from the traditional lang (廊), a long, covered corridor that guides visitors through Chinese gardens, transforming it into a fluid network of exhibition spaces, courtyards, and walkways. ‘Suzhou is the cradle of the Chinese garden,’ notes Bjarke Ingels, describing the museum as ‘a garden of pavilions and courtyards’ where architecture and landscape intertwine. Glazed galleries and porticoes link the structures together in what Ingels calls ‘a Chinese knot of interconnected sculpture courtyards and exhibition spaces.’ Seen from above, the stainless steel roofs ripple across the site like a living organism, their gentle curves tracing a silhouette that connects the city to the lake.

The architects mirror the changing colors of the sky and waters on warm-toned stainless steel and curved glass facades. Inside the museum, daylight filters through clerestories and skylights, creating reflections and shadows across the galleries. Four of the twelve pavilions contain the main exhibition halls, while the remaining spaces host a multifunction hall, theater, restaurant, and grand entrance area. Bridges and tunnels weave between the buildings above and below ground, giving the museum flexible circulation and climatic adaptability. Outside, a sequence of gardens extends the visitor journey toward the lake, where sculpture installations and public paths remain open beyond museum hours.

a sequence of gardens extends the visitor journey toward the lake

materialism: a prelude to the museum’s opening

For BIG partner Catherine Huang, the project is a tribute to Suzhou’s enduring relationship between architecture and landscape. ‘We envision the lang, a traditional element of Suzhou gardens, gracefully winding through the landscapes and transforming into pavilions,’ she explains. The museum follows China’s GBEL Green Star 2 sustainability certification, addressing technical and social dimensions of environmental design. In 2024, Suzhou MoCA was recognized as a national landmark when it appeared on an official China Post stamp celebrating the city’s urban development around Jinji Lake.

Before its full opening in 2026, Materialism will invite visitors on a ‘material odyssey,’ tracing the story of human progress through stone, glass, metal, plastic, and recycled matter. Framing this exhibition within a landscape of light, reflection, and interwoven paths, the nearing completion of Suzhou MoCA marks a moment of continuity.

the Suzhou Museum of Contemporary Art by BIG emerges on the banks of Jinji Lake

the structure unfolds as a village of twelve interconnected pavilions

a flowing roof whose gentle undulations echo tiled eaves tops the museum | image by Studio SZ Photo

a tribute to Suzhou’s enduring relationship between architecture and landscape | image by Studio SZ Photo

in 2024, Suzhou MoCA was recognized as a national landmark 

BIG’s design draws from the traditional lang (廊)

a fluid network of exhibition spaces, courtyards, and walkways

glazed galleries and porticoes link the structures together

a landscape of light, reflection, and interwoven paths

daylight filters through clerestories and skylights

four of the twelve pavilions contain the main exhibition halls

Materialism will invite visitors on a ‘material odyssey’ | image by Studio SZ Photo

architecture and landscape intertwine

a contemporary reinterpretation of Suzhou’s historic gardens

the museum follows China’s GBEL Green Star 2 sustainability certification | image by Studio SZ Photo

sculpture installations and public paths remain open beyond museum hours | image by Studio SZ Photo

project info:

name: Suzhou Museum of Contemporary Art

architect: Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) | @big_builds

location: Suzhou, China

area: 60,000 sqm (646,000 sqft)

client: Suzhou Harmony Development Group Co. Ltd

collaborators: ARTS Group Co. Ltd, Front Inc., Shanghai Shuishi Landscape Design Co. Ltd, Rdesign International Lighting

photographers: Ye Jianyuan, Studio SZ Photo | @studiosz_photo 

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Located in Astoria, New York, Wildflower Studios is a new vertical film production complex designed by Bjarke Ingels Group. The development is led by Robert De Niro and establishes a new urban typology for filmmaking in Queens’s dense industrial landscape.

Film studios are traditionally organized across expansive ground-level lots, each stage accessed directly by truck. In Queens, where space is constrained, Bjarke Ingels Group condensed that familiar model into a vertical arrangement — stacking sound stages and production spaces to form what the architects describe as a ‘studio village.’ The design rethinks the logistics of production, integrating movement, delivery, and collaboration within a reduced footprint that reflects the spatial realities of the city. See designboom’s previous coverage here!

images © Laurian Ghinițoiu

a vertically-stacked building of eleven modules

The program is composed of eleven studio modules, each containing a large-span stage, vertical transport, and support spaces including dressing rooms and scene shops. Organized in two-story rows within a single volume, the modules are connected by a central spine that acts as the building’s internal street. This shared corridor forms the social core of the complex, linking stages with offices and communal terraces while drawing daylight deep into the structure.

One entire floor of Wildflower Studios is dedicated to office and production support, while additional spaces like cafés and fitness areas encourage collaboration among actors, writers, and technical crews. This hybrid environment creates a working community among the practical infrastructure of filmmaking.

Wildflower Studios rises in Astoria, Queens as a new vertical model for film production

a ‘floating village’ in astoria

Clad in precast concrete panels, the 145-foot-tall building changes character as sunlight shifts across its angled facade. Two open-air terraces cut into the envelope, offering framed views toward the Manhattan skyline and a direct connection to the waterfront. The roof supports a 150,000-square-foot solar array, supplying power and demonstrating the project’s environmental intent.

BIG lifts the structure above the floodplain, allowing service vehicles to operate beneath the building and freeing the street edge for public access. The site design extends this openness with a walkway along the creek, creating a connection between the industrial block and the riverfront. The overall form is described by the architects as a ‘floating village.’

Folded planes in the facade open the building to daylight and break down its massing, linking interior circulation routes to the outdoor terraces and public realm. Within, the continuous envelope creates a sense of cohesion across the various stages and workspaces.

BIG reimagines the traditional horizontal sound stage as a compact stack for the city

the modules form a dense production village tailored to the spatial constraints of New York City

the building integrates cafés and lounges to encourage collaboration among production teams

a central spine connects stages, offices, and communal terraces to bring daylight deep inside

the structure is elevated above the floodplain, creating sheltered loading areas and a public walkway below

open air terraces lend views of the Manhattan skyline and direct access to the waterfront

project info:

name: Wildflower Film Studios

architect: Bjarke Ingels Group | @big_builds

location: Astoria, Queens, New York, NY

previous coverage: September 2019, February 2022

photography: © Laurian Ghinițoiu | @laurianghinitoiu 

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The Row Saadiyat, designed by Bjarke Ingels Group for Aldar Properties, introduces a new residential quarter within Abu Dhabi’s Saadiyat Cultural District. Positioned beside the Zayed National Museum and within walking distance of Louvre Abu Dhabi and Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, the development engages directly with the city’s emerging cultural landscape.

Comprising seven buildings, each rising to nine stories, which will bring 315 contemporary residences, The Row Saadiyat establishes a horizontal rhythm that mirrors the surrounding museums and coastal topography. Its plan is defined by shaded walkways and air-conditioned bridges that link residents to Saadiyat Grove’s retail precinct and Mamsha Beach. This connective structure brings a walkable, social environment while offering protection from the desert heat.

The Row Saadiyat is a new residential quarter designed by BIG for Aldar Properties | images © Aldar Properties

a masterplan of luminous homes at The Row Saadiyat

In composing The Row Saadiyat, Bjarke Ingels Group’s design approach privileges proportion, material restraint, and clarity. The architects plan curving facades, which are expressed through a consistent grid of deep balconies and fine metal fins that filter light and frame views toward the museum’s sculptural wings.

Light-toned cladding and pale metal detail contribute a quiet material palette suited to the desert-edge context. Inside, apartments wrapped in interiors by Kettle Collective feature a restrained selection of finishes — deep wood flooring, pale stone surfaces, and floor-to-ceiling glazing that frames the cultural landscape beyond.

seven mid rise buildings form a composition of curving residences

Spatial Balance and Material Calm

Bjarke Ingels Group designs The Row Saadiyat to balance civic life with private retreat. Ground floors are animated by cafés, wellness studios, and community venues, while the residences above open onto private terraces and horizon views. Circulation is placed at the edges, allowing open living areas oriented toward natural light. Throughout, Bjarke Ingels Group’s design prioritizes measured exposure: shading and depth modulate the desert sun, maintaining comfort without isolating interiors from their surroundings.

By day, light moves across facades in slow gradations of tone. By evening, glass surfaces absorb the muted reflection of sea and sky. The quarter’s rhythm of solids and voids gives it an understated coherence, lending the district a sense of continuity rather than contrast.

facades of pale cladding and fine metal fins filter light and frame museum views

Sustainability and Well-being

The Row Saadiyat development targets a 3-Pearl Estidama rating and 2-star Fitwel certification, integrating passive strategies such as orientation, shading, and daylight optimization. Smart systems manage energy use and climate comfort. Communal spaces — a wellbeing club, co-working lounge, children’s facilities, and a pet spa — extend the architecture’s focus on balance and shared living.

interiors by Kettle Collective use natural materials and soft tones to extend the building’s quiet character

project info:

name: The Row Saadiyat

architect: Bjarke Ingels Group | @big_builds

location: Abu Dhabi, UAE

developer: Aldar Properties | @aldar

interior designer: Kettle Collective | @kettlecollective

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A study finds that Zaha Hadid and Wes Anderson are some of the top architects and artists used in prompts to generate AI images and videos on Midjourney. Conducted by the web-based video editing platform Kapwing, the research has studied how users refer to famous names and styles when creating their images and videos with AI. The findings show that the most used architect name on Midjourney was Zaha Hadid, with 63,103 mentions, with the next one being Frank Lloyd Wright at 13,361 mentions. Other architects frequently used on Midjourney to generate AI images and videos include Tadao Ando, Frank Gehry, Peter Zumthor, Kengo Kuma, Bjarke Ingels, Le Corbusier, Richard Meier, and Jean Nouvel. 

For the directors, Wes Anderson was the most mentioned, with 92,378 prompts. His name was used more than the combined total for Tim Burton (57,000), Christopher Nolan (22,246), Ridley Scott (20,109), Guillermo del Toro (19,755), and Stanley Kubrick (16,758). Among illustrators, the fantasy artist known as WLOP was the most used name, with 166,415 mentions. Then, there’s Greg Rutkowski following with 134,695 mentions, who is also involved in a legal case against AI companies for using his name and style without permission. The study on the most copied architects and artists on Midjourney to generate AI images and videos also found that anime is one of the most repeated visual subjects in prompts. The most used titles were Akira with 53,333 mentions and Naruto with 40,494. Works by Studio Ghibli, such as Howl’s Moving Castle and Spirited Away, also appeared frequently.

Zaha Hadid as the most used architect in AI prompt | all images courtesy of Kapwing

Midjourney Discord server counts keyword frequency

The study team started by building a list of 897 keywords, and each keyword was a name or topic used to inspire AI-generated images. These keywords came from eight groups: artists, illustrators, film directors, architects, cities, media franchises, fast-food chains, and anime. The researchers used a public online database called Midlibrary to collect examples of popular names from each category. 

Then, they used the Midjourney Discord server to count how many times these keywords appeared in AI image and video prompts (for example, one prompt could be ‘in the style of Wes Anderson,’ or ‘a building by Zaha Hadid’). The total data included 4,929,594 prompts, showing how often people use references from real architects, directors, and artists when working with AI.

Wes Anderson is the most used artist for AI prompts on Midjourney

Art Nouveau poster designer, Alphonse Mucha is the most-used artist appearing in 230,794 Midjourney prompts

digital artist, WLOP is the most prompted Illustrator, appearing in 166,415 Midjourney images and videos

Akira with 53,333 mentions is the most-used anime on Midjourney prompts

Star Wars with 160,495 mentions is the most-used franchise as AI prompts

New York is the most prompted city on Midjourney with 156,598 video or images

project info:

name: The Most-Used Prompts For AI Videos and Images

platform: Kapwing | @KapwingApp

study: here

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The Bloomberg Student Center has opened on Johns Hopkins University’s Homewood campus in Baltimore, marking the university’s first building devoted entirely to student life. Designed by Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) with interiors by Rockwell Group, the 150,000-square-foot structure establishes a new hub of activity and connection at the heart of the university’s 150th anniversary year.

Set into the sloping site at 33rd and Charles Street, the building unfolds as a composition of mass timber volumes cascading down the hill. The series of 29 interlinked pavilions, framed in wood and topped with cantilevered flat roofs, creates a sequence of sheltered terraces and accessible entries on each level. Nearly 1,000 photovoltaic panels line the roofscape, supplying roughly half of the building’s energy and underscoring Johns Hopkins’ sustainability goals. The building is targeting LEED Platinum certification. See designboom’s previous coverage with early renderings here!

image © Laurian Ghinițoiu

mass timber architecture for johns hopkins university

Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG)’s design introduces a language of lightness and openness along the edge of Johns Hopkins University’s Homewood campus. Exposed acoustic dowel-laminated timber ceilings and beams bring a quiet warmth to the interior, where natural daylight moves across wood surfaces and limestone floors. The glazed facade frames activity within — study groups, performances, meals — to create visibility between the university and the city.

Inside, a central stair anchors the plan. Lined with built-in seating and greenery, it connects the four levels while forming a vertical commons, described by the architects as the building’s living room. Around it, a network of adaptable rooms accommodates rehearsal studios, club spaces, recording booths, and lounges. The program remains flexible and unassigned, and invites daily use and spontaneous interaction.

image © Laurian Ghinițoiu

warm interiors by rockwell group

Rockwell Group’s interiors extend the architecture’s rhythm of timber structure and natural materiality. The designers approached the project as an ‘integrated lifestyle hub,’ choreographing social spaces that mirror the tempo of student life with places for study and gathering. White oak millwork, layered lighting, and limestone details tie together the different functions with visual coherence and tactile calm.

The food hall, one of the center’s social anchors, features local vendors selected through a collaborative process involving more than 2,000 students. Above its dining area, artist Jorge Pardo’s installation of 85 handblown glass orbs introduces a field of color and light, balancing the timber’s warmth with a sense of openness. Adjacent to the hall, Mo’s Place transitions from coffee shop to evening bar, this way linking interior activity to outdoor patios and the surrounding landscape by Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates.

image © Laurian Ghinițoiu

The student center’s stepped massing bridges the topographic divide between the main academic precinct and residential areas across Charles Street. Entrances at multiple levels invite movement through the building and reinforce its role as a connective threshold. Terraces and planted courtyards extend the interior outward, forming informal zones for gathering beneath the timber rooflines.

Bjarke Ingels describes the project as a ‘village of timber pavilions climbing the natural hill on the university’s edge.’ The phrase captures both its physical structure and its social intent — a place designed to host the evolving rituals of university life. For Johns Hopkins, the center represents an architectural consolidation of student culture once dispersed across campus. With its calm material palette together with its open and sunlit interiors, the Bloomberg Student Center stands as a framework for that culture to grow.

image © Laurian Ghinițoiu

image © Nic Lehoux

image © Nic Lehoux

image © Nic Lehoux

image © Nic Lehoux

project info:

name: Bloomberg Student Center

architect: Bjarke Ingels Group | @big_builds

interior architect: Rockwell Group | @rockwellgroup

location: Baltimore, Maryland

client: Johns Hopkins University | @johnshopkinsu

landscape: Michael van Valkenburgh Associates | @mvva.inc

previous coverage: November 2020

completion: 2025

photography: © Nic Lehoux | @nic.lehoux, © Laurian Ghinițoiu | @laurianghinitoiu

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Bjarke Ingels Group has been selected to design Faith Park, a 200,000-square-meter public park planned for the hillsides outside Tirana, Albania. Conceived as a landscape of coexistence, the masterplan brings together architecture, landscape, and spirituality in a single continuous terrain that connects the valley floor to the mountain’s crest.

The design unfolds as a ‘genealogical tree of faith,’ with pathways that diverge from a shared point in the valley and ascend through gardens, olive groves, and forested slopes. Along these routes, nine pavilions appear within the terrain, each devoted to a distinct spiritual tradition. Their placement and form follow the natural contours of the hillside and create a spatial rhythm that alternates between enclosure and openness, or reflection and movement.

At the entrance to the park, the Museum of Remembrance gathers nine rammed-earth volumes around a central garden. The material’s earthen texture sets the tone for the experience centered on the physical presence of the land itself.

Bjarke Ingels Group to design Faith Park on the hillsides outside Tirana | visualizations © Beauty and the Bit

bjarke ingels group’s symbolic Material palette

Each pavilion of Tirana’s Faith Park is designed by the architects at Bjarke Ingels Group to be constructed in a material that draws on the geographic and cultural lineage of the tradition it represents: Jerusalem limestone for Judaism, colored Italian marble for Christianity, white sandstone mosaic for Islam, and an array of granite, onyx, marble, and river-polished stone for the Dharmic and East Asian traditions.

As visitors progress through the park, the sequence of materials becomes a tactile archive, with each surface holding its own weight and color.

The architecture does not interrupt the landscape. Instead, it appears to grow out of it, merging built form and terrain into a single field. Gardens and paths are arranged to follow natural gradients, while native vegetation like olive, cypress, and pine emphasizes the site as part of a Mediterranean context.

nine pavilions dedicated to different spiritual traditions emerge along the sloping terrain

design for a growing tirana

Bjarke Ingels Group’s Faith Park joins a series of ambitious public projects in Tirana, and throughout Albania beyond. Over the past decade, the country has undergone a gradual transformation led by international and local architects alike, from Archi-Tectonics’ Festival City, Oppenheim Architecture’s colorful Vlore Beach Urban Development, Studio Libeskind’s Magnet Residence, and Bofill Taller de Arquitectura’s Red Sol Resort.

Extending this approach into the highlands, the project embraces the landscape as a civic realm rather than a boundary. BIG, together with a team comprising SON Architects and Edoardo Tresoldi, designs the park to welcome visitors of all backgrounds, bringing spaces for walking and gathering.

Bjarke Ingels describes the project as ‘a livable, inhabitable evolutionary tree of faith mapped onto the natural topography of a mountain, connecting the valley to the summit, the earth to the heavens, and rooted in respect for nature.’ The statement reflects a design philosophy that views ecological awareness as an essential form of reverence.

each pavilion is built from materials that reflect its faith and geographic origin

the Museum of Remembrance marks the entrance with nine rammed-earth volumes surrounding a garden

paths and vegetation follow the natural contours of the Albanian hillside

the 200,000 square meter landscape connects the valley to the mountain crest

project info:

name: Faith Park

architect: Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) | @big_builds

location: Tirana, Albania

visualizations: © Beauty and the Bit | @thisisbtb

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Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) is selected to design Rouen’s new congress center, nicknamed The Sail, a landmark project that is set to rise along the banks of the Seine in northern France. The 11,500-square-meter complex introduces a striking roofline that crests and dips like waves above the river. The building is designed to serve as a civic gathering point and an international events venue and seeks to reconnect the city to its waterfront.

Commissioned by Métropole Rouen Normandie, the project includes two auditoriums, exhibition halls, meeting rooms, a restaurant, and support spaces. Designed in collaboration with BLP & associés, The Sail aims to achieve Passivhaus certification, setting a new benchmark for energy-efficient public architecture in France. The timber structure and facades of the building reinterpret Rouen’s vernacular of half-timbered houses.

all images by Atchain & BIG

rainwater collecting roof tops ‘the sail’

From the river, The Sail appears as a light, horizontal volume rising gently above the landscape, while from the city, its photovoltaic roof hovers over a new public forecourt that extends the urban fabric to the water’s edge. In this area, the international architecture firm combines open stone-paved plazas with clusters of trees and planting, forming shaded gathering areas and green buffers around the site. Rainwater collected from the roof irrigates these planted zones, and a network of pedestrian paths connects the center seamlessly to its surroundings.

‘Rising along the Seine, The Sail introduces a new silhouette to Rouen with its sweeping roofline paying tribute to the city’s naval heritage and historic skyline of spires,’ says Jakob Sand, partner at BIG. ‘The building greets visitors from the highway with a vertical facade, while on the city side, the roof creates sheltered canopies extending the foyer into a human-scaled public landscape. Built with mass timber construction, daylight-optimized interiors and an energy-producing roof, it is both a low-impact infrastructure and a cultural hub — offering an inclusive space for Rouen and its visitors.’

Inside, a spacious, light-filled foyer functions as the central social space, linking all program areas. A grand staircase leads to the main auditorium, and the overlapping levels connect the public and professional zones inside The Sail.

a striking roofline that crests and dips like waves above the river

Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) is selected to design Rouen’s new congress center

open stone-paved plazas with clusters of trees and planting form shaded gathering areas

the timber structure and facades of the building reinterpret Rouen’s vernacular of half-timbered houses

a spacious, light-filled foyer functions as the central social space

a grand staircase leads to the main auditorium

the building is designed to serve as a civic gathering point and an international events venue

rainwater collected from the roof irrigates the planted zones

project info:

name: The Sail

architect: Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) | @big_builds

location: Rouen, France

area: 11,500 square meters

client: Métropole Rouen Normandie

collaborators: BLP & associés | @blpassocies, Egis, Ducks Scéno | @ducks_sceno, Elioth | @elioth.byegis, Bloom Landscape | @bloomholding, Marshall Day Acoustics, 8’18 lumière | @818lumiere, BMF, Nicolas

The post BIG wins congress center competition in france with roofline echoing waves of the seine appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.