Yes Is More: An Archicomic on Architectural Evolution [Paperback]

Bjarke Ingels (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 11, 2009

YES IS MORE is the first monograph of its kind devoted exclusively to the trailblazing practice of BIG, a Copenhagenbased group of architects, designers and thinkers operating within the fields of architecture, urbanism, research and development.



Unlike a classic architectural monograph, this book is more of a manifesto of popular culture, in which BIG s methods, means, processes and approach to the concept of architecture are revealed as being as unconventional, unexpected and result-producing as the world in which it exists, continually reaffirming its mission with a resounding YES.



In YES IS MORE BIG shows how its members respond to the polymorphous demands, complex rules and highly specialized knowledge of society, creating tangible solutions through artistic processes: solutions that time and again attract the interest of the population at large while earning the respect of aficionados across the globe.




YES IS MORE speaks the language of popular culture, allowing the sublime to shine through in the commonplace. It enables readers to gain insights into Big s processes, methods and results through the most approachable and populist means of communication the cartoon.



BIG has repeatedly attracted public attention and triggered political debate with projects such as a three-kilometerlong wall of social housing wrapped around a park of soccer fields in Copenhagen, the proposal to consolidate all of Denmark s harbor activities in a star-shaped superharbor along the bridge between Denmark and Germany and recently by proposing to move Denmark s national symbol, the Little Mermaid, to China for six months as part of the Danish Pavilion for the Shanghai World Expo in 2010 and getting to do just that!

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Yes is more is a popular and easily accessible manifesto for architecture as one of the most relevant aggregates of the 21st century in which we may epitomise and answer many of the global agenda-setting questions. In the exhibition and in the book, B.I.G. shows how they conceptualise the polymorphous demands, complex rules and highly specialised knowledge of society, creating tangible solutions through artistic processes; solutions which time and again attract the interest of the population at large as well as the respect of global aficionados. Yes is more is a communication created in this very spirit - combing elite and popular elements - allowing the sublime to shone through in the commonplace. Thus audiences are invited into B.I.G.'s processes, methods and results using the most approachable and populist means of communication available - the cartoon. -Kent Martinussen, Architect, CEO, Danish Architecture Centre"

About the Author

Bjarke Ingels is a yes man. He rises to the challenge of just about any demand, be it reasonable or otherwise, with an unqualified Yes. This fuels his ambition to absorb all the political interests surrounding a project and to turn them into backbending forms that disarm the opposition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Evergreen (November 11, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 3836520109
• ISBN-13: 978-3836520102
• Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 1.1 x 9.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #17,189 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #2 in Books > Professional & Technical > Architecture > Criticism
  • #5 in Books > Arts & Photography > Architectural Art & Design > Individual Architects & Firms
  • #6 in Books > Arts & Photography > Architectural Art & Design > History

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 22 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A good start December 8, 2009

By I. Schopa

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

The author begins this book by telling the reader that he wishes to communicate not just the main ideas and processes his office takes when developing a project, but also the little side stories that often get left out. In this regard, the book is a success. It is filled with entertaining and insightful facts that helped to shape some really interesting projects.

Where the book disappoints a little is in it's use of the graphic novel format. For me, the strengths of graphic novels lie in their ability to tell stories with minimal text. Here, many of the images are photographs and detailed renderings. Some of these do a good job of telling a story. Others are either too elaborate, or require excessive text to explain them. Another problem is that there is only one character: Bjarke Ingalls. While he always has something interesting to say, it could have been interesting to have, perhaps, an antagonist. Finally, the chapters are quite brief. Each chapter tells the story of the development of a specific project, but they usually end before they really get started. I would have favored longer chapters, even if they came at the expense of a few projects.

Despite a few shortcomings, I think the book will definitely be of interest to anyone who wants to learn more about this exciting office. But for architects it is a bit lacking in detail.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars "YES! YES! MORE! MORE" May 27, 2011

By misfitsarchitecture

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

When shouting in italics isn't enough for this breathless, excitable book, it boldly screams. And when that's insufficient, it underlines it as well - and in red. It quickly becomes tiring. Every idea is WHAT WE'VE BEEN WAITING FOR! No point left unexclaimed.

As a character in a book, Bjarke Ingels is best when he's bigging-up himself. He does that bigtime. He's not the first architect to make great claims for his buildings and won't be the last but, just because "YES IS MORE" is a comic, we shouldn't assume it's all true. Or that it's a simple book designed to efficiently entertain and inform us.

Once past the cover page, we have foreplay as foreword. A double-page spread of Ludwig Mies speech-bubbling "Less is more" is followed by Robert Venturi with "Less is a bore", Philip Johnson with "I'm a whore", a shout-out to Remment Koolhaas ("more and more, more is more"), a nod to Barack Obama ("Yes we can!") and, finally, B.I. bringing this false sequence to the false conclusion of "Yes is more". This is no simple book. In the credits, B.I. is credited with "Text". Whether this is for writing, dictating, or approving the text we don't know, but between that text and us are three translators and eleven (!) text "editors". We can be sure that every image and word has been crafted and calculated to create the impression of sincerity. Enjoyably audacious visual puns and cheesy verbal ones strike the right tone between intelligence and informality. Too clever by half, this book is a sophisticated and hard-nosed marketing tool for a successful architecture and publicity machine. It is wrong to dismiss it.

Although this review is a book review and not an architectural one, with BIG, it's impossible to completely divorce the two as both buildings and book are exercises in brand-building. Nevertheless. Although some might see it as a plus, the comic book conceit leaves no place for plans or sections that make demands upon the reader by requiring curiosity and skill to interpret. Instead, relentless commentary not only tells you what to think about a model or a graphic, but how brilliant it is as well. B.I never lets you get a word in edgeways, let alone a question.

The book claims to present the complexities behind the designing of buildings in a simple and accessible fashion but book format forces a chronological sequence onto it and the comic book conceit adds a tempo to that. The messy process of designing buildings become linear and compressed. Those lines are direct, wrong choices never made, alternatives rarely explored, and fruitless paths only documented if it leads to a "WE SUDDENLY REALIZED THAT..." breakthrough moment before a happy ending. Despite pitfalls that are always overcome, the sequence of one inventive step after another invariably leads to THE SOLUTION! In true comic format, the hero always wins, even if sometimes it's only a pseudo-moral victory against villainous clients unforgivably lacking in vision and money.

But, for architects, disingenuous-ness is par for the course. If you believed Le Corbusier, for example, you'd think he invented concrete columns and slabs. If you believe the commentary for "Bureaucratic Beauty" on pages 128-135, you'd think BIG invented the use of daylight setbacks to maximize floor area and, in the process, sculpt the upper floors of buildings. This is presented in reverse, with the funny roofline being the raison d'etre and - quelle surprise - "THE CLIENT LIKED THE INCREASED NUMBER OF SQUARE METERS!" Fact: Entire neighborhoods in Tokyo have been shaped like this for decades, and for the same reasons. Never ever trust anything an architect says.

All you really need to know about BIG's USP-cum-architectural stance is contained in a 600-word essay upfront. Titled "Yes Is More! A Theory of Evolution", it's illustrated by Charles Darwin bubbling "it is not the strongest of the species that survives but the one most adaptable to change". For architects, there is a lot of truth in that. It was the end of the line for Louis Sullivan, for example, when he failed to understand that the owners of department stores and office buildings didn't want to waste money on ornament, no matter how "organic" he said it was. Just like every contemporary starchitect, BIG have correctly concluded that the only clients these days with the money, the land and the desire to build are rich rulers and property developers.

So why did BIG create an "archi-comic" for people like us, unlikely to commission them? It goes like this. "YES!" and "MORE!" are two things rich rulers and property developers love to hear. Rich rulers and property developers aren't known for their architectural judgment. All that rich rulers and property developers want architects to do is to create an image that generates some MEDIA NOISE and sprinkles the FAIRYDUST OF FAME on their pet project or country. When the time comes for them to choose an architect, all they ask is "Who's big right now?" This book targeted at you, my friends, is part of that process.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Great for concepts and diagrams October 22, 2011

By tavodu

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I have been following Bjarke Ingel's work for a few years now and I think he does a great job both with his designs and selling the B.I.G. brand to the world. This book is fun and will keep you entertained for a while, but if you have visited his website www.big.dk and looked at the projects, you've pretty much seen all there is in Yes is More; these are the same projects with much less information. The ideas are clear but the format and layout become boring or tedious at some point (too much text placed all over the page). I still recommend it and wish I had had it during my first two years studying Architecture.