BIG is a part of the exhibition Mission Neighbourhood – (Re)forming communities with the project Hotspots.

International architectural office BIG has pursued how energy infrastructure can be more than its function and give back to its users, to the city, the landscape and to the world. In the case of Hotspots – through thermal energy. The project, developed together with the client Innargi, is a collection of design solutions that envision the geothermal energy plants as urban hotspots that not only heat homes but connect communities. The Hotspots Catalogue is a handbook for geothermal plants integration within urban environments. Inspired by the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals, the catalogue offers a collection of design solutions at different scales, a tool to encourage participatory processes and engagement with residents, stakeholders, governments, and institutions.

BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group – is a Copenhagen, New York, London, Barcelona and Shenzhen based group of architects, designers, urbanists, landscape professionals, interior and product designers, researchers and inventors. The office is currently involved in a large number of projects throughout Europe, North America, Asia and the Middle East. BIG’s architecture emerges out of a careful analysis of how contemporary life constantly evolves and changes. Not least due to the influence from multicultural exchange, global economical flows and communication technologies, that all together require new ways of architectural and urban organization.