hi guys welcome back to our channel the number one place for people who love design art and
all things creative i'm jacqueline and i'm an interior architect and designer here at D & B
in today's video i want to talk about who i think is the world's best
architect and why i think that they're particularly revolutionary
this is obviously a topic that is very divisive within the architecture community
and we've all got our opinion on who's the best right but i'm interested to know who
your favorite architect is so leave a comment below that being said let's jump into the video
now you don't need me to tell you that frank gehry norman foster ian pei and zaha hadid and all the
starchitects are all amazing in their own unique way and i would say for the most part they're
all really well liked and admired each of whom have won multiple awards including the pritzker
prize i might add all of them have created unique groundbreaking projects for their time and have
ultimately influenced the way we decide what good design is today so if none of them are the world's
best architect in my opinion who is i'm sure that all of you have heard of danish architect
bjarke ingels you're probably thinking oh yeah the guy who designed the lego house or the ski slope
power plant in copenhagen or you might be thinking who the heck is that he's a danish architect who
founded the bjarke ingels group or big for short in 2005. ingles is actually one of the youngest
yet incredibly successful architects at 46 years old to now have a portfolio of 70 projects which
is pretty impressive in 2011 the wall street journal named him the innovator of the year
for architecture and in 2016 time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people which
is a huge achievement and i feel like although lots of architects and designers will know him
i kind of think that he's not very well known in society and yet although he has all of these
accolades he still doesn't have as many as his architectural counterparts in fact he hasn't even
won the pritzker prize so why on earth do i still think he's the best architect in the 21st century
first off i would say that he's one of the most innovative designers in the world today he's
known for his playful radical designs that push boundaries and throw the architectural rule book
out of the window if you like and he's sometimes referred to as the steve jobs of the architecture
world these out of the box designs or as he likes to call them pragmatic utopia aim to steer clear
of the classic box-like designs that were so often used to the big practice looks at ways to innovate
architecture across the world in a unique and fun way which i think really does appeal to younger
generations of designers and let's face it it also keeps architecture looking fresh although cynical
critics have said that his playful approach to design is just obnoxious and overly optimistic
and perhaps using a comic book to explain the behind the scenes of architecture may not be
appreciated by the old school crowd either ingels actually wanted to pursue comic book artistry when
he was younger but the lack of education outlets ultimately led him to study architecture instead
which perhaps explains why his designs are so avant-garde to begin with and yes whilst it's
nice to design modern eye-catching concepts what use do they have if they're one not functional
and two have no use in our lives and of course every designer and architect thinks that they're
impacting the user in some kind of way but are we actually are we actually designing things that
will influence future generations to come what i like to do in all aspects of my life is see how
my actions will affect people when i'm 80 years old will i have left behind a legacy what have
i achieved in my life that has affected others in a positive way take this video for example i
hope that it's informative and helps you guys out in one way or another and i hope that our content
allows people to expand their knowledge for years to come which leads me onto the topic that bjarke
ingels likes to call: hedonistic sustainability a term he coined which effectively means
to create a sustainable piece of architecture that benefits the user in all aspects of their life
he says that architects have to become more than just designers of two-dimensional facades or
three-dimensional architectural objects they have to become designers of ecosystems systems of both
ecology and economy that channel not only the flow of people through our cities and buildings
but also resources like heat energy waste and water he actually differentiates himself
from other green designers by dismissing the idea that sustainability has to be a painful
moral obligation or a question of accepting an increasingly lower standard of living instead
sustainability should be thought of as a design challenge that actually aims to improve our
environment and living standards whether that's in a social economic or green way
as opposed to the typical vision of sustainable design we have today take the mountain project
for example a way of combining a two-thirds parking space with only a third of living space
rather than traditionally separating the two functions big have merged the two to create a
space where the parking is not only hidden but also allows neighbours to mingle and socialize
and create a whole hidden neighborhood really nailing the social sustainable factor in this
project a more obvious approach to hedonistic sustainability could be with the amager bakke
power plant in copenhagen a fully encompassing building that allows for waste to be transformed
into clean energy and also where people can ski hike and climb therefore making this project a
destination for families and friends that is also economically environmentally and socially
profitable and all around sustainable builds in my view in fact i believe in this concept
so much that i actually discussed the viability of it in my university dissertation or some of
you call it a thesis whilst on the exterior the buildings that bold and imaginative the flesh
and bones of each of their projects is creating practical solutions for an overarching problem
now you would think in the architecture and design world we would have come up with a concept like
this already but the truth is we haven't what even happened to the form follows function prophecy
guess we always design buildings to aid the user but have we been designing buildings to sustain
future generations i don't think so there's too much designing for the now you know creating
solutions for short-term problems and not looking 100 years into the future i don't know i still
think that this is a relatively new concept in architecture and interior design and not many
people seem to be adopting it yet but with the construction and build industry accounting for 39
of all carbon emissions we can no longer afford to act like designing modern alluring buildings is
a good thing anymore recently at the end of 2020 the bjarke ingels group added a new book to add to
their library the formgiving book is a book that explores the evolution of different technologies
science and design along a timeline stretch from the big bang into the most distant future
it talks about using our power to give form rather than the future taking its own shape
it also talks about how humankind's impact on the planet is increasing and poses greater challenges
to all forms of life and i think it really shows you what bjarke ingels visionary methods are
it starts off with the six evolutionary threads that have evolved over time and essentially how
architecture is almost becoming more developed than ever before side note bjarke ingels is
kind of obsessed with evolution so you can understand his fascination with developing
technologies in the first part of the book for example how society has evolved in terms of making
sensing sustaining thinking healing and moving the next section of the book is called the ten
gifts and is actually the biggest chunk and it's a look at the architectural practices projects
organized into what kind of gift they give to the user i love this part that specifically said
as architects we don't have political power because we don't write the rules but we do have
the power of giving form and give the world a gift that makes the world more of what we wish it to be
it's a gift because no one asked for it but the world would be a lesser place without
it and future generations will be better off because of it the gift of course is
the world changing power of architecture so the book then goes into the 10 gifts that
each of their projects falls under in lots of detail and with lots of cool photos of course
do
now this is the part that actually really made me purchase the book the last section
of the book gives us a look at bjarke ingels methods of designing full ecosystems on the moon
on mars and significantly how we can tackle climate change here on earth
although it may seem like an idealistic fantasy to some the big practice have broken down into
micro segments that are completely understandable to the reader and also seem completely viable
you can see from the research that this isn't some kind of science project for them to create
just for fun it's a serious notion to designing fully functioning ecosystems in space this part of
the book is certainly the most fascinating for me anyway it also ends with a spread of reflection on
2020 and all of its events and how we can grow in the future which i think really adds a nice touch
if you're intrigued by this architect i've linked some videos down below that you guys can check out
also there's this series called abstract the art of design on netflix and it talks through
designers and their professions and what they get up to day to day and there's actually a
whole episode on bjarke ingels if you're new to this channel then welcome we talk about interior
design architecture illustration content creation and graphic design so if any of that interests you
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interesting leave a little globe emoji below so that i know that you enjoyed and watch the
end of this video and also let me know who your favorite architect is of course this is just my
opinion on who the world's best architect is so don't start yelling at me in the comments guys
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really do help our channel okay thanks so much for watching and i'll see in the next video bye