Question 1

True or false: Bjarke Ingels once designed a power plant that doubles as a ski slope.

Accepted Answer

True. CopenHill in Copenhagen is a waste-to-energy plant with a year-round artificial ski slope on its roof—a signature BIG project.

Question 2

True or false: Bjarke Ingels once built a house entirely out of recycled shipping containers in just 48 hours.

Accepted Answer

False. BIG uses container-like modularity, but no such rapid-build container house exists—this is a common architectural myth.

Question 3

True or false: Bjarke Ingels was a professional skateboarder before becoming an architect.

Accepted Answer

False. He was an avid skater but never turned pro; he channeled that energy into architecture and his firm BIG.

Question 4

True or false: Ingels named his architecture firm 'BIG' as a joke about his own height.

Accepted Answer

False. BIG stands for Bjarke Ingels Group, not a personal height reference—he is actually 6'1".

Question 5

True or false: Bjarke Ingels was knighted by the Queen of Denmark in 2010.

Accepted Answer

True. In 2010, he was knighted in the Order of the Dannebrog for his architectural contributions.

Question 6

True or false: Bjarke Ingels' firm BIG designed a 3D-printed habitat for NASA's Mars simulation.

Accepted Answer

True. Bjarke Ingels' firm BIG collaborated with ICON to create a 3D-printed habitat called Mars Dune Alpha for NASA's Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog (CHAPEA) missions, simulating living on Mars.

Question 7

True or false: Bjarke Ingels designed a flood protection system for New York City called the Dryline.

Accepted Answer

True. After Hurricane Sandy, Ingels's firm BIG won a design competition to create the 'Dryline' (also Big U), a protective green infrastructure around Lower Manhattan.

Question 8

True or false: Bjarke Ingels learned architecture from a correspondence course while living in a van.

Accepted Answer

False. He studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts and later at the Barcelona School of Architecture—no van or mail-order degree involved.

Bjarke Ingels Trivia Questions