Published on the occasion of the exhibition: Close up : BIG at the Danish Architecture Center in Copenhagen, Denmark, 21 February-31 May, 2009.

Yes is more : a theory of evolution --
An archicomic --
Found in translation : people's building --
A welfairytale : Danish paviolion in Shanghai --
Learning from Lomborg : Little Denmark --
Urban tetris : the VM houses --
Vertical suburbia : the mountain --
Infinity loop : 8-house and little tower --
Sp[O]anish steps : Scala Tower --
Modular mania : Lego towers --
Scandinavian skyscraper : Escher Tower --
Bureaucratic beauty : Tøjhuset --
Urban integration : the Battery --
Baroque network : Vilnius World Trade Center I --
Baroque City upside down : Vilnius World Trade Center II --
The 7 oeaks of Azerbaijan : Zira Zero Island --
The big picture : superharbour --
Urban typography : Vejle houses --
Split personality : W Towers --
Twisted minds : the fan buildings --
Cadavre exquis : Holbæk harbour --
Swept under the carpet : maritime youth house --
To be and not to be : Danish Maritime Museum --
Color therapy : Helsingør Psychiatric Hospital --
Re-Squat : Sjakket Youth Club --
Swimming pool inside out : the Water Culture House --
Public proscenium : Stavanger Concert Hall --
National Bank stage of Iceland : Landsbanki --
Social infrastructure : Slussen --
Domus Pontus : the housing bridge --
Battlefield : The Cloverfield --
Marbled block : Holy Road --
Instant icon : The art cross --
Engineering without engines : Rødovre Tower --
Royal treatment : VMCP Hotel --
Sheikh chic : Leadership Tower --
Post-petroleum palace : the 5 pillars of Bawadi --
Big City --
Yes is more @ DAC --
My playground : Team Jiyo @ MTN --
Yes man.

Yes is More is the easily accessible but unremittingly radical manifesto of Copenhagen-based architectural practice Bjarke Ingels Group, or BIG.Unlike a typical architectural monograph, this book uses the comic book format to express its groundbreaking agenda for contemporary architecture. It is also the first comprehensive documentation of BIG's trailblazing practice--where method, process, instruments, and concepts are constantly questioned and redefined. Or, as the group itself says:"Historically, architecture has been dominated by two opposing extremes: an avant-garde full of crazy ideas, originating from philosophy or mysticism; and the well organized corporate consultants that build predictable and boring boxes of high standard. Architecture seems entrenched: naively utopian or petrifyingly pragmatic. We believe there is a third way between these diametric opposites: a pragmatic utopian architecture that creates socially, economically, and environmentally perfect places as a practical objective. At BIG we are devoted to investing in the overlap between radical and reality. In all our actions we try to move the focus from the little details to the BIG picture."

Bjarke Ingels attracts highly talented coworkers, but also gifted and ambitious clients from all over the world. He then creates intelligent synergies from wild energies and unforeseen dynamics, and transforms them into surprising, functional, valuable, and beautiful solutions to the specific and complex challenges in each task.

BIG projects have won awards from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, and the Special Jury Prize at the Venice Architecture Biennale, as well as many other international prizes. Yes is More is a play on words that represents the company's ethos and sums up its irreverent attitude towards excessive formalism, and its determination to involve the population at large in its creations. As an extension of its methods and results, its debut monograph uses the most approachable and populist means of communication available--the comic.

Architecture

Nuri Mahajabi