Evergreen

Minimalist Interiors takes us on an exhaustive visual journey through the best spaces that define this aesthetic — they are the result of an era of excessive consumerism. The projects uncovered herein are not linked solely by minimalist tendencies, but also by the way in which light influences their spaces&894 the shapes they form and which configure the spaces inside them&894 their design and structure&894 and the texture of their materials — all of these take on fundamental importance, to the detriment of any sort of décor or ornamentation, and these elements refuse to yield to comfort or to evoke unnecessary sentiments. This, then, is an architecture that advocates specific forms, which are thought out in such a way as to relate to their surroundings, and whose identity is an amalgam of functionality, clean lines and geometric forms.

Yes is more is the title of an exhibition and a book presenting B.I.G. in solo format for the first time in Denmark at the Danish architecture centre. Unlike a classic architectural monograph, this book is more of a popular cultural manifesto, which is also literally the first actual documentation of B.I.G.'s trailblazing practice. As the book demonstrates, this is a practice where method, processes, instruments and the approach to the concept of architecture is precisely as wild, unfettered and result-producing as the world it is part of and greets with an unqualified Yes. Bjarke Ingels attracts highly talented co-workers, but also gifted and ambitious clients from all over the world. He does so because his own talent is above all to swiftly create intelligent synergies out of indomitable "movements", wild energies and unforeseen dynamics and transform them into hitherto unseen, surprising, functional, valuable and beautiful solutions to the specific and complex challenges in each task. The results of B.I.G.'s practice has already won awards from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, the Special Jury Prize at the Venice Architecture Biennale, the prize for "The World's Best Housing Project", "Best Building in the Nordic Countries" as well as many other international kudos. The project and the title Yes is more is a double-edged wordplay on the dogma in modern architecture that "less is more". Less is only more as far as dimensions go - the ability to encompass as many dimensions as possible (more) with as few expenses as possible (less). As a design parameter for an aesthetic retro minimalism this only amounts to idiosyncratic architectural idiocy.

The use of glass as a building material was encouraged in particular by garden design, as the protection of exotic plants required the construction of greenhouses and orangeries. In a record time of just five months, Joseph Paxton, himself a garden d esigner, put up the Crystal Palace in London's Hyde Park for the Great Exhibition of 1851. A totally glazed exhibition hall, of gigantic proportions by the standards of the time, it was a milestone in the history of building in glass. The result was a totally new spatial quality and a new aesthetic, as interior and exterior could now enter into a quite unique mutual relationship. Since then, architecture without glass has been inconceivable, and glass has been used as a construction material by renowned architects worldwide for industrial buildings and private houses. Glass masterpieces, erected in particular in combination with other materials, for example, wood, stone or steel, demonstrate the potential and variety of glass architecture.