The Longest Bar in the World

When I first began architecture school, I had no clue who were the big names in the field of architecture, if you had asked me who Frank Llloyd Wright was I probably would have said the father of Orville or Wilbur Wright. Some people were already well versed already, and you would always here the names “Mies”, or “Corbu”, or even the occasional “Gehry.” After a few months, I, too, knew about these architects but the world was still very new to me. It was about halfway through first year where I began to hear a name that would become very popular with my peers and in time myself as well: BIG – otherwise known as Bjarke Ingels Group – the brainchild of Bjarke Ingels. It was not his swagger, or young age, or progressive ideas that made me appreciate his work, but rather what it was that he was creating. I was blown away by his process and the clarity of what he was trying to do. It did not seem like typical architecture to me, it was just different. It turns out that is because it is – it is projective architecture. Instead of tapping into one of the many influences that forms and shapes a design and focusing on that, BIG creates space that is influenced by many of the different “contingencies” provided; not only physically, but environmentally, socially, and even politically. Beyond that, it becomes a different experience for every single person. The first project I really connected with was Carlsworld, “World’s Longest Bar.” The program was a brewery and bar for Carlsberg, but it was much more than that. The design takes the idea of the bar and spreads it through the entire building, in turn enveloping different uses and programs, and this influences how the space is used. Carlsworld is just one example of how BIG uses projective architecture, his work amasses countless other examples, with each one becoming more impressive than the rest.

You know you want to check this place out, even if you don't like Carlsberg.