Bjarke Ingels' firm will present its proposal to the Miami Beach City Commission today, where it will go head-to-head with a rival design by Dutch firm OMA.

BIG produced its proposal in a team called Portman CMC, which includes property developers Portman Holdings and CMC Group, architects John Portman & Associates, West8 and Fentress Architects, and circus entertainers Cirque du Soleil, who would provide an event space on the site.

Miami Beach Convention Center is currently "a dead black hole of asphalt in the heart of one the most beautiful and lively cities in America," the team explain. "Our mission is to bring Miami Beach back to the Convention Center."

The proposal is centred around the creation of a public square, with paths, plazas, gardens and parks connecting the convention centre with the surrounding buildings.

The convention centre itself would be given a green roof, which would function as an event space and a location for annually commissioned artwork.

The Jackie Gleason Theater would be renovated and its street level lobbies, restaurants and cafe made publicly accessible, while a new museum for Latin American culture would be built alongside it. The proposal also includes a hotel and several blocks of apartments.

Both BIG and rival team OMA are also on the shortlist to design a centre for the Nobel Prize in Stockholm, Sweden, while earlier this year BIG unveiled plans for two twisted apartment blocks in Coconut Grove, Miami – see all architecture by BIG.

Other Miami projects we've featured lately include architect John Pawson's 26 luxury apartments for Miami Beach and a multi-storey car park by Herzog & de Meuron that hosts parties, yoga classes and weddings – see all projects in Miami.

Here's some more information from BIG:

BIG together with West 8, Fentress, JPA and developers Portman CMC proposes Miami Beach Square as the centerpiece of their 52 acre Convention Center.

Miami Beach is a unique city in so many ways. It is one of the youngest cities in America – and perhaps right now one of the most vibrant and dynamic. Its streetscape is characterised by a lively walkable urban fabric with a friendly human scaled environment under the cool shade of tropical trees and art deco canopies - except at the convention center. It is a dead black hole of asphalt in the heart of one the most beautiful and lively cities in America.

Our mission is to bring Miami Beach back to the Convention Center – and to imagine an architecture and an urban space unique to the climate and culture of Miami Beach.

We propose to roll out an urban fabric of paths and plazas, parks and gardens that forms an archipelago of urban oases throughout the site. At the heart of it we introduce a central square to become the pivoting point of the entire neighbourhood, becoming the front door to the convention centre and the convention hotel, a front lawn to the revitalised Jackie Gleason Theater, a town square for the city hall, an outdoor arena for the Latin American Cultural Museum, and the red carpet for the big botanical ball room.

"We have devised a strategy that combines urban planning and landscape design to create a neighborhood characterised by human scale, pedestrian connections, shaded spaces with public oriented programmes lining the streets and squares. A neighbourhood that, depending on the season, the weekday, or even the time of day can be perceived as a lively downtown neighbourhood or an inviting public park." Bjarke Ingels, creative director, BIG

The square creates a series of intuitive connections across the site – a diagonal that connects the Soundscape to the Botanical Gardens and Holocaust Memorial. A north-south connection joins the Collins Canal to Lincoln Road and naturally channels the flow of convention visitors to the liveliness of Lincoln Road. A green network of public spaces that stitches together all of the adjacent neighbourhoods – formerly separated by the convention centre – into a complete and coherent community for both visitors and residents. All public programmes old and new come together on the square. All great cities have a great square – this will be Miami Beach Square.

"Rather than scattering all the programme across the 52 acre site we have decided to concentrate it around the center piece of our public realm - Miami Beach Square bringing focus to the renovated Jackie Gleason Theater, the entrance of the convention center and for the first time ever creating a worthy civic presence to Miami Beach City Hall." Jamie Maslyn Larsen, West 8, Creator of Soundscape Park

By popular demand we have found a way to preserve and enhance the architecture and programming of the Jackie Gleason Theater. By making it all public at the street level – opening up lobbies, restaurants and cafes on all sides – we make the Gleason a lively centerpiece in this new neighborhood. Towards the Square we propose to extend the fly tower with a performing arts centre with various spaces for rehearsal and offering a visual connection to the public. Adjacent to the Jackie Gleason Theater sits the new Latin American Cultural Museum consisting of a base of public programmes opening up on the square. The building form creates a covered shaded event space on the square blurring the transition between inside and outside.

Today the Miami Beach City Hall is almost like a leftover wedged between random neighbours surrounded by traffic. Our proposal places it right in the middle of the town square with ample space for public expression and at the heart of communal life. The Miami Beach City Hall and Botanical Ballroom bookend the Square making it a natural extension of the civic activities of city hall. To the north the botanical ballroom opens up allowing for beautiful views of the botanical gardens and the memorial. The Ballroom has an entrance to the south and to the north allowing for seamless connectivity to the convention centre – under the shade and shelter of the canopies.

Rather than being the hermetic monoprogrammatic box that the Miami Beach Convention Center is today – a single programme at the size of an urban block - we propose to consider the Convention Center an actual urban block complete with different programmes, grown together to form a continuous architecture. A gradual transition from public to private, cultural to civic, conference to residential turns a stroll around the block into an experience of continuous variation. Along the entire west adjacent to the various gardens and the new square - the main entrances to the Convention Center and Conference Center occupy the ground. The hotel lobby spans the entire south elevation in continuation of the Convention Center lobby. The hotel façade as pulled back, forming a cascade of terraces for the south facing hotel rooms – decreasing the perceived height seen from the Gleason.

The roof of the Convention Center is framed by a green roof drawing the outline of the urban block – framing the hotel gardens and the roof parking interspersed with shade giving landscapes. As a reoccurring annual event we propose to sponsor an art foundation that will deliver a roof art piece to cover the remaining roof surface turning it into a giant ever-changing canvas seen from the air as well as the roof terrace of the hotel. An ever changing giant canvas that will annually challenge contemporary artists with an architectural scale canvas – seen from the roofs and penthouses of adjacent buildings, from aeroplanes and Google Earth.

"Realising that a challenge that seemed to be driven by two incompatible agendas was actually the opportunity to create a convention centre district that is not only for convention-goers but, more importantly, for residents." Jack Portman, Portman Holdings and JPA

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News: Danish firm BIG has been selected to design an 80-hectare shopping and leisure complex with a park on its roof to serve a business district between two Paris airports.

EuropaCity will be located in the Triangle de Gonesse – an area southwest of Charles de Gaulle International Airport and north of the smaller Le Bourget Airport – and themed around the diverse cultures of the European continent.

"We propose to integrate the new facility in the surrounding business district as an urban form that combines dense city with open landscape," said BIG, referring to the grassy parkland that will cover the structure.

A mix of retail and entertainment offerings will be arranged along a circular, looping avenue, with bicycle lanes and electric public transport – seen in the image below as small white pods – enabling visitors to get around.

BIG also proposes to make EuropaCity a showcase for sustainable technology by using waste heat from cooling plants to heat swimming pools, recycling waste water to irrigate the parks and installing solar, wind and geothermal energy.

The masterplan was chosen from a shortlist of four, including Valode & Pistre, Manuelle Gautrand and Snøhetta, by the property subsidiary of French retail chain Auchan.

BIG was one of 12 international firms recently shortlisted to design a new headquarters and visitor centre for the Nobel Prize in Stockholm, Sweden, while earlier in the year the studio was appointed to lead the redesign of the Smithsonian Institution campus in Washington DC – see all architecture by BIG.

Other projects recently announced in France include a masterplan for the south of Bordeaux by Dutch firm OMA and an apartment tower in Montpellier with rippling floor plates – see all architecture in France.

Images are by BIG.

Here's some more information from BIG:

EuropaCity will offer on an unprecedented scale a mix of retail, culture and leisure around a defining theme: Europe, its diversity, its urban experiences and its cultures. The site is exceptionally well connected: Locally as a main node on the Grand Paris Express Metro, regionally as entrance gate to the metropolitan area of Ile de France and internationally with its direct connection to the second largest airport in Europe. We propose to integrate the new facility in the surrounding business district as an urban form that combines dense city with open landscape, exploring the urban and green potentials of the site at once.

The programmes of EuropaCity are organised along an internal circular avenue with a mix of retail, entertainment and cultural programmes on both sides. The avenue forms a loop travelling through five different areas themed as the various regions of Europe, becoming the Rambla, the Regent Street and the Champs Elysees of EuropaCity. Along the avenue bicycles and electric public transport bring visitors around and a line of trees transform gradually from Birches in the North, Pines in the east, palm trees in the south and Platans in the west. The circular avenue creates a variety of spatial experiences and a clear overview - it allows you to get lost, and still find your way.

We propose to arrange the programmes according to energy and resource use, in order to maximise utilisation of waste products within a closed urban ecosystem. Waste heat is channelled from cooling plants into recreation facilities as swimming pools and spas. Waste water is re-used as irrigation for the parks, and urban scale recycling facilities minimise overall waste production. The five regions of Europe have a different ways of harvesting renewable energy, from solar power to wind and geothermal energy. EuropaCity becomes a laboratory for sustainable technologies, and a showcase for viable green tech implementations that does not only save energy, but also improves the quality of the urban environment.

Partner in charge: Bjarke Ingels, Andreas Klok Pedersen
Project leader: Joao Albuquerque, Gabrielle Nadeau
Team: Maren Allen, David Tao, Salvador Palanca, Marcos Bano, Lucian Racovitan, Ryohei Koike, Camille Crépin, Elisa Wienecke, Léna Rigal, Paolo Venturella, Tiina Liis Juuti, Jeff Mikolajewski.

Name: EuropaCity
Type: Invited Competition
Size: 80 Hectare
Client: Groupe Auchan
Collaborators: Tess, TransSolar, Base, Transitec, Michel Forgue

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News: twelve international firms including OMA, Herzog & de Meuron, BIG and SANAA have been shortlisted to design a new headquarters and visitor centre for the Nobel Prize in Stockholm, Sweden.

Situated on a small peninsula called Blasieholmen (above), the building will become the new home of the Nobel Foundation, which has been based in Stockholm since it was set up in the name of philanthropist and inventor Alfred Nobel in 1900.

Also shortlisted are British architect David Chipperfield, 3XN from Denmark, Snøhetta from Norway and Johan Celsing Arkitektkontor from Sweden.

Public spaces for exhibitions, conferences and events are also included in the proposed programme, as well as a library, cafe, restaurant and shop.

"We are confident that we will secure the necessary financing to begin the architectural competition and carry out the project during the current calendar year," said Lars Heikensten, executive director of the Nobel Foundation.

The remainder of the shortlist comprises Swiss architects Marcel Meili and Markus Peter, French firm Lacaton & Vassal Architectes, Swedish studio Wingårdhs and Danish architects Lundgaard & Tranberg.

See all architecture in Sweden »

Photograph is by Jeppe Wikström.

Here's the announcement from the Nobel Foundation:

During the winter there has been a selection process to choose the architects who will be invited to participate in the planned architectural competition to design a Nobel Center at Blasieholmen in Stockholm. In total, over 140 architects have been considered by a specially appointed evaluation committee. Of these, 12 have been selected to be invited to the architectural competition.

We are now happy to be able to announce the names of the 12 architects selected:

» Kim Herforth Nielsen – 3XN, Denmark

» Bjarke Ingels – BIG, Denmark

»David Chipperfield – David Chipperfield Architects, England/Germany

» Jaques Herzog, Pierre de Meuron and Ascan Mergenthaler – Herzog & de Meuron, Switzerland

» Johan Celsing – Johan Celsing Arkitektkontor, Sweden

» Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal – Lacaton & Vassal Architectes, France

» Lene Tranberg – Lundgaard & Tranberg Arkitekter, Denmark

» Marcel Meili and Markus Peter – Marcel Meili, Markus Peter Architekten, Switzerland

» Rem Koolhaas and Ellen van Loon – OMA, Netherlands

» Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa – SANAA, Japan

» Kjetil Thorsen – Snøhetta, Norway

» Gert Wingårdh – Wingårdhs arkitekter, Sweden

Within the two-stage competition, the architects' task will be to design the building that will become the new home of the Nobel Prize in Stockholm. The building will house the Nobel Foundation, together with associated activities that the foundation initiates within research, educational efforts, museum operations and digital media. The building will contain public rooms for exhibitions, scientific conferences, meetings and events, as well as a library, restaurant, café and shop. The ambition is that the Nobel Center will become one of Stockholm's main attractions.

Important criteria in selecting the architects included design and artistic abilities and experience working in intricate urban environments where historical context and the natural environment must be considered with sensitivity. Practical considerations included the architects' ability to develop the project in close cooperation with the client over the course of a lengthy planning process and their experience managing construction projects cost-effectively. The names of members of the jury will be published in conjunction with the start of the competition.

"The competition will begin once the majority of the project's financing has been secured. Encouraging discussions are currently on-going with several donors, and we are confident that we will secure the necessary financing to begin the architectural competition and carry out the project during the current calendar year," says Lars Heikensten, Executive Director of the Nobel Foundation.

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News: Danish studio BIG has been appointed to lead a team of architects and engineers to redesign the campus of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC.

Under the direction of founding partner Bjarke Ingels, BIG will work alongside landscape architects Surface Design, preservation consultants Traceries and engineers Robert Silman Associates to rethink the public routes and spaces around the 160-year-old campus, which consists of 11 museums spaced out between the Lincoln Memorial and the United States Capitol, along the National Mall.

"It's a great honour and a humbling challenge to be invited to reimagine one of the most significant American institutions on the front lawn of the nation's capital," said Ingels. "The abundance of historical heritage, the diversity of architectural languages and the cacophony of exhibits are tied together by a labyrinthine network of spaces above and below ground - inside and outside."

BIG's plans include reinstating the Smithsonian Castle as the cornerstone of the plan, creating an entrance hub and information point for visitors. A new entrance route will relink the Central Garden with the National Mall at ground level, while an underground route with connect the subterranean galleries of several different museums.

"Our task is to explore the collections with The Smithsonian and together attempt to untie the Gordian Knot of intertwined collections to unearth the full potential of this treasure chamber of artifacts," added Ingels.

The design team will present its phase one masterplan proposals this time next year. Christopher Lethbridge of the Smithsonian Institution commented: "BIG designs are innovative, analytical, unexpected and intelligent. We believe they can develop a plan that will enable us over the next decade to transform a disparate group of much-loved buildings and outdoor spaces into a place that is more dynamic, social and active."

The Smithsonian Institution is the largest museum and research centre in the world and encompasses 19 museums, nine research centres and one zoological park. Construction is also underway on the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, which was designed by architect David Adjaye and will open in 2015.

This month BIG has also been appointed to design a Lego visitor experience centre in Denmark and celebrated the ground-breaking of the Amager Bakke Waste-to-Energy Plant in Copenhagen, a combined power plant and ski slope that will blow smoke rings. See more architecture by BIG.

Photograph is by Shutterstock.

Here's a statement from BIG:

BIG is selected to design the Smithsonian Institution master plan in Washington D.C, USA

BIG leading a Core Design Team including Surface Design, Traceries and Robert Silman Associates, further supported by Atelier Ten, GHT Limited, Wiles Mensch, Weidlinger Associates, VJ Associates, Protection Engineering Group and FDS Design Studio is today officially announced as the winning team to rethink the historic Smithsonian campus, world's largest museum and research complex consisting of 19 museums, the National Zoological Park and nine research facilities.

Located at the south side of the National Mall in Washington DC, the 160-year-old cultural campus including 11 of the renowned institution's museums and the Smithsonian Castle from 1855, is in need of being refreshed and re-connected to its adjacent buildings and the public realm. The Smithsonian envisions the winning team of the $2.4 million contract to draft the first phase of the master plan, creating a gateway that invites visitors to learn, experience and navigate seamlessly through the Smithsonian buildings and gardens.

BIGs design seeks to reinstate the original Castle as the cornerstone building and the symbolic home of the Smithsonian Institution to serve as a welcoming entry point and an information hub for the visitors. The currently hidden Central Garden is to be reconnected to the National Mall by creating a striking grand entrance for the Castle and adjacent Museums.

The vision is to also include an entrance from the Central Garden providing access to a subterranean museum network which connects more than four museums in a maze of underground galleries, tunnels and annexes. Large public voids tunneling from collection to collection, space to space simplify and reorganize the existing condition below ground, improving the connectivity and access to the underground spaces. As the visitors descend down the lower levels from the corner entry, they are able to see and enjoy all the levels of the museum at once.

The first phase of the Smithsonian Campus Master Plan is expected to be delivered in the next 12 months.

Size: 700,000 Square Feet
Client: Smithsonian Institution

Collaborators: Surface Design (landscape), Traceries (historic preservation), Robert Silman Associates (structural), Atelier Ten (sustainability),
GHT Limited (MEP), Wiles Mensch (civil), Weidlinger Associates (security/anti-terrorism) VJ Associates (cost), Protection Engineering Group
(fire/life safety), FDS Design Studio (food services)

Location: Washington D.C., USA
Status: Concept
Partner in Charge: Bjarke Ingels, Thomas Christoffersen
Project Leader: Daniel Kidd
Project Manager: Ziad Shebab
Team: Suemin Jeon

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News: Danish studio Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) and American firm Ralph Appelbaum Associates (RAA) have been chosen to design a Lego visitor experience centre in Billund, Denmark.

Scheduled to open in 2016, the Lego House will tell the story of the famous Danish toy brand while offering educational and play activities for children and families.

BIG founder and partner Bjarke Ingels said: "It is one of our great dreams at BIG that we are now able to design a building for and with the Lego Group.

"I owe a huge personal debt to the Lego brick, and I can see in my nephews that its role in developing the child as a creative, thinking, imaginative human being becomes ever stronger in a world in which creativity and innovation are key elements in virtually all aspects of society."

Hans Peter Folmann, senior director of the Lego House project, said BIG and RAA won the competition because they had "the best understanding of the idea behind the Lego brick, Lego play and Lego value".

"At the same time they possess a wealth of experience in architecture and museum design," he added. RAA's work includes the London Transport Museum and the Museum of Jewish History and Tolerance Center in Moscow, while BIG has won competitions to design a cultural centre in Bordeaux and a national gallery in Greenland.

Construction of the Lego House in Billund – also the location of the Legoland theme park – is scheduled to start in 2014.

Back in 2007, BIG presented a Lego model of to propose a cluster of high-rise buildings in Copenhagen – see all architecture by BIG.

Other Lego projects we've featured include 676 miniature Lego towers made by MVRDV and a Lego greenhouse built in London's Covent Garden – see all news about Lego.

Here's the full press release from Lego:

International architects to design Lego experience centre in Denmark

Denmark’s Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) and Ralph Appelbaum Associates (RAA) of America will team up with the Lego Group to design the physical home for “The Lego House” in Billund, Denmark.

The name has been decided for the Lego experience centre due to be built in Billund, Denmark. Scheduled to open in 2016, the facility will welcome approx. 250,000 annual visitors and will be called: The Lego House. Construction of The Lego House in the centre of Billund is expected to start in 2014.

”The Lego House will be a place where people can enjoy active fun but at the same time it will be an educational and inspirational experience – everything that Lego play offers. The experience centre will give us the opportunity to show how children learn through Lego play. We’ll be able to combine academic knowledge about the developmental aspects of play with the brick itself – enabling children and their parents to see and feel what Lego play offers. And woven into the situation we’ll be able to relate the story of our company in a dedicated way, reflecting our values,” says Lego owner Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen.

Two architectural practices have been chosen to design The Lego House: one is a Danish company, Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), the other an American, Ralph Appelbaum Associates (RAA).

“In our competitions for the project these two companies had the best understanding of the idea behind the Lego® brick, Lego play and Lego values. At the same time they possess a wealth of experience in architecture and museum design, and I’m looking forward to our companies’ teaming up to produce outstanding settings and exciting experiences for future visitors to The Lego House,” says Hans Peter Folmann, Senior Director, Lego Huset.

RAA is acclaimed for its work around the world on large-scale educational experiences, including US FIRST (home of Junior First Lego League), the London Transport Museum and the Museum of Jewish History and Tolerance Center in Moscow.

"We are thrilled to be part of creating the Lego house that will be devoted to the builders of tomorrow. Playing, learning and creating with Lego Group's international team of architects, thinkers and builders is a cherished commission for any designer," says Ralph Appelbaum.

Danish architect company BIG is among other projects known for the Danish Expo Pavilion 2010, the West57th Street courtscraper currently under construction in New York, and the soon to be opened Maritime Museum north of Copenhagen.

“It is one of our great dreams at BIG that we are now able to design a building for and with the Lego Group. I owe a huge personal debt to the Lego brick, and I can see in my nephews that its role in developing the child as a creative, thinking, imaginative human being becomes ever stronger in a world in which creativity and innovation are key elements in virtually all aspects of society,” says Bjarke Ingels, founder and partner, BIG.

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