On the heels of its summer blockbuster “Indoor Maze,” which attracted more than 50,000 visitors, international design firm Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) returns to the National Building Museum this month with a behind-the-scenes look at its creative process.
The latest exhibition, HOT TO COLD: an odyssey of architectural adaptation, takes visitors from the hottest to the coldest parts of the planet and explores how BIG's design solutions are shaped by their cultural and climatic contexts.
Furthermore, over 60 three-dimensional models will be suspended at the second-floor balconies of the Museum’s historic Great Hall, an unprecedented use of the public space.
Bjarke Ingels
"The city is an ongoing project of constant creation and re-creation through refurbishment, modification, [and] adaptation,” Bjarke Ingels said. “It is all part of a never-ending journey toward crafting the world of our dreams. Architecture is the art of laying the foundations that will serve as the stepping-stone for the next big leap. HOT TO COLD at the National Building Museum sums up most of our experiments and discoveries from the past decade.”
HOT TO COLD will premiere 20 of the studio's latest projects, interpreted through Iwan Baan´s photography. Films by Ila Bêka and Louise Lemoine will also be displayed, and Grammy Award-winning graphic artist Stefan Sagmeister designed the accompanying catalog by Taschen.
Preview of HOT TO COLD
“What’s so special about HOT TO COLD is that BIG has perceived the National Building Museum more as a site for a project, rather than as a venue for an exhibition,” said curator Susan Piedmont-Palladino. “That means the sunlight, the sounds and the sights of the Great Hall will all be part of the context of the display, just as they are for a building in the city. BIG has a very distinctive voice, and the experience our visitors will have will be very direct, as if the architect is telling stories directly to them.”
The exhibition opens on Jan. 24 and remains on view through Aug. 30. Admission is $8 for adults, $5 for youth, students and seniors, and free for National Building Museum members and children under three. Click here to purchase tickets online.
