PLOT /Julien De Smedt and Bjarke Ingels

Office Profile
PLOT was founded in Copenhagen in 2001 by Julien de Smedt and Bjarke Ingels. On January 2006, they decided close down PLOT after exactly five years collaboration, and have opened two new companies: JDS and BIG. Julien de Smedt was born in Brussels, Belgium in 1975. He gained his diploma in architecture from the Superior Architecture Institute Saint Luc, Brussels in 1995. He also studied at the Architecture School of Paris Belleville (1997), and the Bartlett School of Architecture, London (1998-2000). During that time, he worked at OMA in Rotterdam on several projects. Bjarke Ingels was born in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1974. He studied at Det Kongelige Dansk Kunstakademis Arkitektskole, Copenhagen (1993-1999). He studied at Technica Superior de Arquitectura, Barcelona (1996-1997). He worked at OMA in Rotterdam (1998-2001).

History & Status
PLOT has completed a sailing and youth club-house of 2,400 m2, a bathing facility of 2,000 m2 in Copenhagen’s city harbour and is currently building 25,000 m2 of housing in Ørestad. PLOT is undertaking the design of various programs, such as housing, a swimming pool complex, a public square, 2 psychiatric hospitals, a large office complex, a whitewater rafting canal, 3 concert halls, 3 large hotels, an airport refurbishment and numerous planning projects including 4 waterfronts urban schemes, all of which sums up to an approximate amount of over 2 million square meters of design work.
PLOT has just won the prize for the best concert hall in the world at the Venice Biennale 2004 for the Stavanger Concert Hall project (STA).

Design Process
At the core of our architecture is the ability to take a fresh look at things through experienced eyes. In order to be innovative as well as professional at all levels of the design and building process, we have chosen to split the design process in two complementing parts: the conceptual and the technical development teams. The aim is to maintain an architectural practice that combines cutting edge architectural concepts with state of the art technical quality. From initial analysis to final execution, the initiative and responsibility will pass from the conceptual to the technical team, ensuring that the project leader at all times possesses the necessary knowledge and experience to complete the project. This split ensures that the right sort of intelligence and skills are applied at the right moments in the design process. At the same time the continuity and gradual change of workforce ensures that self-generated and accumulated knowledge remains available to the office and to the specific project teams throughout the process. The mutual use of the complementing teams as consultants ensures that the projects will never suffer from being too conventional nor too naive.
By continually developing rigorous methods of analysis, experimentation and execution, PLOT is able to combine experimental design research with efficient production.

Awards
2004 ar+d award 2004 for the Maritime Youth House
2004 Nominated for the Mies Van Der Rohe Award 2004, for the Maritime Youth House
2004 Golden Lion, Venice Biennale, for Stavanger Concert Hall
2004 European Prize for Urban Public Space, mention for the Harbour Bath project
2004 Young Architect of the Year Award 2004, 2nd prize
2003 Scanorama Design Award 2003
2003 Henning Larsen Prize 2003
2002 Nykredits Architecture Prize 2002 (The largest architectural award in Scandinavia)
2002 Young Architect of the Year Award 2002, 2nd prize
2001 Henning Larsen Prize 2001
2001 The State Art Fond Workscholarship 2001

Julien De Smedt
2003 Henning Larsen Prize 2003
2003 Member of CopenhagenX Advisory Board
2001 The State Art Fond 1 year scholarship
2001 Co-founder of PLOT with Bjarke Ingels, Copenhagen
2000–2001 OMA/Rem Koolhaas, Rotterdam. The Brooklyn Academy of Music Cultural District in collaboration with Diller + Scofidio
1998–2000 The Bartlett School of Architecture, London. Diploma in Architecture with commendation in technical studies
2000 Guest critic at the Eidgenossische Technische Hochschule (ETH), Zurich
1999 Exchange student at the Southern California Institute of Architecture (Sci-Arc), Los Angeles
1999 Open Office, New York
1999 Competition on the Administrative City, Brussels
1997–1998 OMA/Rem Koolhaas, Rotterdam. Illinois Institute of Technology Campus Center, Chicago: Competition and schematic design phase. Inchon Songdo New Town, Seoul: Masterplan of 52 km2 city Seoul. Client: DAEWOO. Haus um die Schenkung, Berlin: Preliminary design phase
1996–1997 Architecture School of Paris-Belleville
1996 Europan 4 competition, London Dockside landmark site
1995–1996 Superior Architecture Institute of the French Community La Cambre, Brussels
1995–1996 De Smedt & Ramon Architects, Brussels
1995 Diploma of Candidate in Architecture, Superior Architecture Institute Saint Luc, Brussels
1975 Born in Brussels, Belgium

Bjarke Ingels
2003 Member of Index 2005 Executive Lounge
2001 Henning Larsen Prize 2001
2001 The State Art Fond 1 year scholarship
2001 Co-founder of PLOT with Julien De Smedt, Copenhagen
2001 Teacher at Institute 6, Det Kongelige Danske Kunstakademis Arkitektskole, Copenhagen
2001 Guest critic at the Eidgenossische Technische Hochschule (ETH), Zurich
1999–2001 OMA/Rem Koolhaas, Rotterdam. The New Seattle Public Library, in collaboration with LMN, Seattle, Schematic Design and Design Development
2000 Guest critic at the Bartlett School of Architecture, London
1993–1999 Studies at Det Kongelige Danske Kunstakademis Arkitektskole, Copenhagen
1999 Competition for the redevelopment of Århus City
Related Port Areas, with Open Office, New York: award
1999 Competition for Cultural Institutions and Accessibility, based on Museum for World Culture, Göteborg: 1st prize
1998 OMA/Rem Koolhaas, Rotterdam. Inchon Songdo New Town, Seoul: Masterplan of 52 km2 city Seoul. Client: DAEWOO. Tenerife City related Port Areas: competition. ‘t Paard Pop Podium, the Hague: Preliminary Design
2001 Cofounder of Urban Investigators and Developers, Barcelona, with Fredrik Fritzson, Henrik Valeur, Bent Poulsen, Uwe Wueterich
1996–1997 Competition for the extension of Copenhagen University Amager and Masterplan for .restad North, 1st stage, selection for 2nd stage with Buro Happold, UK
1996–1997 Studied at Escuela Tecnica Superior de Arquitectura, Barcelona
1974 Born in Copenhagen, Denmark