Bjarke Ingels is a Danish architect on a quest to prove to the world that sustainable building doesn’t need to be boring or self-denying.  With cool irony and sly humor, Ingels grounds a discussion of three extraordinary building complexes in a bigger argument for thinking way, way, way out of the box architecturally speaking. 

Ingels is also a great example of how a nerd (at least, an architectural nerd) can succeed as a speaker:  by accepting his own imperfections and having fun with his talk anyway.  Because Ingels clearly enjoys himself and is passionate about his subject, his talk is entertaining to watch despite some of the clumsiness of his speaking style.  You can see him giving a TED.com talk here:  http://bit.ly/opzjG.



The first project he discusses is the Danish entry in an international exposition in China.  Ingels and his colleagues actually talked the Danish government into shipping the famous little mermaid statue to Shanghai for the Expo.  You have to see the building to believe it; it’s a brilliant combination of water, outside space, and bicycles. 

The second project is an extraordinarily innovative apartment building that manages to integrate parking space in a way that’s innovative, energy efficient, and even beautiful. 

The final architectural panel in Ingels’ triptych is the transformation of an entire island in central Asia from a desert space into a sustainable, carbon neutral wonderland of seven building-mountains and a central park.  You’ve never seen buildings quite like these before; let’s hope that they become inspirations for a lot more building like them.  When you put the typical modern city next to Ingels’ vision, the city looks drab indeed.