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Yes is More. An Archicomic on Architectural Evolution

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This thorough documentation of the work of trailblazing Danish firm BIG invites audiences into their processes, methods, and results via the most approachable and populist means of communication available - the cartoon. Published on the occassion of an exhibition at the Danish Architecture Centre, Copenhagen, 21 February - 31 May 2009.

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First published January 1, 2009

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Bjarke Ingels

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Displaying 1 - 30 of 67 reviews
Profile Image for Mon.
178 reviews225 followers
March 6, 2011


Have you ever heard the subject architectural theory spoken in combination with terms such as 'best selling' and 'popular'?


Before I start, I would like to tell you how difficult it was to access this book through my university library.

At first I thought, well, that's the anthology of Danish firm BIG that everyone from overenthusiastic first years to I am holier than thou professors have been raving about, surely the library must have dozens of copies! But no, even though The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex alone has 5 copies just in ONE library division, Yes is More had to wait half a year before someone poor enough in my faculty to demand a copy. Then, three months later, it was promptly 'stolen' after two days on the selves. Also by someone who had the talent of tracking it down before it was catergorised and stacked between other requests such as Twilight and which ever Ian McEwan's new book happened to be. After agonising whether I should just sell out and pay $32, it finally came into my hand as the person on the wait list before me graduated before the book was recovered. The hype has died down by the time I could read it without everyone telling me how mind blowing and life changing it was.

I wonder if BIG would get a movie deal.

Anyway, I was quite surprised by the quality of this mixture of graphic narration and contemporary architectural practice. It's straightforward, compelling, and more relevant than most other contemporary architectural practice/theory books out there. So, if I am to sell this book like I would a project proposal, this is what it would look like:


Pro:

1. Starting from the basics - Ingels explains the origin of his projects and the conception of idea, modification and research along the way. It's down to Earth and approachable for both theorist and practitioner.
2. Personal - Ingels is always there in EACH and EVERY frame. You really get to know the guy and his crappy hair cut.
3. Geography - you learn a lot about Denmark.
4. Models - even though these people pride themselves on being green, a copious amount of foam models are produced. They even have a little model making room. I've never worked in an office that cares so much about model making since model making facilities and material = $$$$$$
5. Effective diagrams - BIG's methodology is clearly communicated and can easily be adopted if you're struggling to come up with your own

Con:

1. Format - Yes is More is told like a comic and it gets to you after a while. I'm not sure if they gave the intern the job of writing the speech bubbles, but they are boring as hell for someone who's trying to make the graphic 'innovative' and interesting.
2. Anthology - I'm not saying it isn't good to include such a large sample of proposals, but it is understandable why and how some of them are shot down due to budget constraint and excessive time consumption
3. Photography - some pictures are pixelated after obvious photoshopping - dude you guys are in architecture! WTF
4. Ego - this guy is narcissistic, but then he's an architect, so I guess it's justifiable for him to go all Look at me!! Look at my SHINNY ORGANIC FORMS!! AND MY ORANGE SUIT!!
5. Koolhaas whoring - Ingels worked with de Smeldt from OMA, and it's pretty obvious if you compare their works.
6. Social integration and ecology are two concerns often mentioned, while BIG has an interesting attitude towards the latter (evolutionary vernacular architecture), the former seems superficial and the results iconographic in representation.
7. Architecture - with the exception of the first few designs, BIG's originality diminishes more and more until you have OMA deja vu.


Yes is More is a lot like what BIG promotes - a contemporary attitude of problem solving as opposed to revolutionary newness. The presentation, while isn't the best, is nonetheless effective and thought provoking. It's interesting to see such a large integration of architectural theory and practice that isn't purely theoretical (*cough* Arakwara and Gins *cough*), so yeah, I'd recommend it.



Probably my favourite project. CYCLING ON ROOF WEEEEEEEE



358 reviews16 followers
August 5, 2019
This company puff piece in graphic form showcases the designs (and some completed buildings) of the Bjarke Ingels Group ("BIG"), architects in Denmark. BIG obviously has an extremely high opinion of itself, some of which may in fact be deserved. Their focus is on buildings that 1) are designed for the space they will be in; 2) use design factors to minimize energy and water use while increasing public space and public comfort; and 3) do not look like everything else in the city.

This leads to some fascinating buildings, and some complex stories of why things do and don't get built. A friend lent it to me for its take on increasing housing stock, but I ended up reading the whole thing, and even though Ingels' arrogance kept getting up my nose, I'm glad I did. I like the way the firm thinks and talks about mixed use buildings, and about rethinking "axioms" of building design. I especially appreciated their analysis of the relationship between architecture and urban planning, and their thoughts on how these two things are better undertaken together.

The "graphic story" format is, of course, very well-suited to a book about architecture, and it also makes the book more fun. BIG is very good at laughing at itself: the first project in the book is one where they got what they wanted by creating a giant (and unresolvable to the eye) portrait of the funders on one wall, which they freely admit was basically ass-licking, a tactic they use again later in the book.

If you're interested in architecture, urban design, or graphic storytelling, you might want to check this out.
Profile Image for Nada Elfeituri.
211 reviews49 followers
June 17, 2014
I was eager to read this after watching Bjarke Ingel's TED talk, "3 Warp-Speed Architecture Tales", which is basically a verbal version of three chapters in this book.

Ingels describes his design philosophy as the medium between the avante-garde and the pragmatists. I'm of the opinion that, oftentimes, the design doesn't always achieve an appealing aesthetic i.e. they're butt ugly (the People's Tower, the first example in the book, is a good example of this).

But no matter the outcome, reading through the design process offers great insights, especially for architecture students. We're always told to refer to B.I.G's diagrams in design class, because of their simplicity and clarity in translating a building's process.

However, a visit to B.I.G's website(with the amusing url of big.dk) will show you most of the buildings and diagrams that you can find in this book. What makes the book fun to read is the 'archicomic' style, a blend of comic books and architectural presentation.
Profile Image for alexis.
15 reviews
March 2, 2010
The format was a great way of explaining the studio's work, and I found that these projects started popping up in my head long after I "read" about them...which is much more than I can say about most text on architecture. Unless it's incredibly inspiring, of course.

That being said, I think BIG's work flopped after a while into the book, even started being repetitive. Many of the building's stories started being the same - pretty boring for a comic book!

And...Bjarke Ingels' character, a constant little architec-toon of narration, really starts wearing on the nerves after a few passages. The work is supposed to be more basic than most monographs in order to appeal to the public...but he waters down some thoughts so much they lost their effectiveness.
Profile Image for Michael Scott.
776 reviews157 followers
July 3, 2013
Yes is More is the rare book that combines a manifesto on the new (?) course architecture should take, the presentation of a large number of projects designed by the BIG Danish architecture power-house, a large number of anecdotes and stories related to all these projects, all wrapped-up as a comic. Overall, the manifesto is weak and the presentation is often self-servient, but the architecture, the stories behind getting projects done, and the archicomic ideas are fantastic. A must-read!

About the text ... I do not have enough time to do this book justice. It is funny, it is well-drawn, it contains elements of political satire through technical eye, and it's modern 2000s architecture at its best. For an amateur in architecture, this is practically the manual on how housing projects get designed, pitched, accepted or rejected, politicized and patronized, done, and lived in.

About the architecture ... I fell in love with it when I visited Oerestad, near Copenhagen. I knew next to nothing about BIG at the start of the trip, but at the end I had taken hundreds of photos, read tens of Internet pages, and now I even have several albums about their work. This book does justice to the work I've seen in the fields of Oerestad---the in-depth descriptions indicate the amount and quality of engineering and design that went into architecting the VM Houses (oh, those pointy balconies, and the unity yet the diversity, etc.), the 8-House, the Mountain, etc. I don't even recall all the wonderful designs in this book. (It's safe to say I do not remember much else from the trip to Copenhagen, either.)

About the comics ... excellent idea: a visual art represented through another, plus the explanations that now fit organically in the panels (that's what we expect from a comic book). Almost nothign to improve here. Perhaps the text panels could have been better designed. Perhaps the use of boldface could have been toned down, but that's an old discussion in comics design (see Making Comics Storytelling Secrets of Comics Manga and Graphic Novels).

About the presentations (pitches) ... I experienced this part as perhaps the least polished and most offensive. Bjarke Ingels and BIG always present their work as the result of identifying an important yet insofar overlooked contradiction, to the extent at which I started wondering how many contradictions are these guys going to just make up and why should anyone care. (I guess it's a professional defect on each side.) Annoyingly, for the authors there seems to be no way their approach is not the best, as illustrated by the several cases when their competitors' work (which has won the contest) is bashed and trashed without right of defense or appeal. Hmhm. Let's just say that fans of fairness or balance could easily take offense.

About the manifesto ... it was weak. Derived from the weaknesses of their presentations, the BIG group introduce a manifesto that talks about some perceived contradiction, offer instead no clear alternative, but argue about it vociferously and energetically. Nice, but no cigar.


To conclude: a wonderful book about architecture, presented in an unusual (but suitable) format. This book may have flaws, but it so good in its core elements that for me the whole package is just excellent. Go read it!
Profile Image for Timmytoothless.
195 reviews2 followers
January 18, 2017
Starts with a flash of inspiration and optimism that collapses into naïveté. This book could be saved by reigning in the impulse to flood the reader with quantity.
Profile Image for Marta.
464 reviews
April 4, 2020
Ne tas veiksmīgākais izpildījums (arhikomikss kā forma šajā gadījumā neattaisnojās), bet tas bija kā vienu dienu ēnot arhitektu biroju.
Kad beigsies kovids, braukšu uz Dāniju.
Profile Image for Adreana Martinez.
6 reviews11 followers
January 5, 2023
It is really interesting the process behind every project, but it felt more like a detailed portfolio of BIG than a book of actual architectural evolution around the world.
Profile Image for Natalie Park.
1,162 reviews
October 27, 2023
4.5 stars. This was such a fun way to learn about the thought process behind BiG projects and how many don’t get realized.
Profile Image for Daniel Dickson.
20 reviews8 followers
April 19, 2019
The Yes: An eminently readable, charming concept for a monograph that puts BIG's first decade of architectural innovations on parade. Often a projet would begin with expected, legible precedents (which were unfailingly credited) only to be subverted in distortions of scale, history, symbol and form. Exciting, often humorous stuff.

The No: In my experience, monographs generally have an introductory section and/or some accompanying essays towards aggrandizing the firm/individual featured. BIG achieves this more powerfully by narrativizing their process into an interwoven mythology of buildings, worthy of a graphic novel. This left me in awe but skeptical of what was (as BIG's story for the "Maritime Youth House") being swept under the carpet. I was especially wary of the loose idea of "hedonistic sustainability." BIG seems to lean more to the former than the later part of the term, with sustainability implemented mostly in planar facade manipulations to account for solar radiation.
20 reviews
December 10, 2009
This guy is a prodigy of REM and OMA. I love his stuff.
Profile Image for Carole.
404 reviews8 followers
October 9, 2019
“Yes is More” is a set of clever futuristic elevator pitches for projects from the Bjarke Ingels Group over eleven years, from 1999 to 2010. It was illuminating to see the driving concepts behind each project, but also how frequently they were shut down due to funding changes, political office changes, or the client’s distaste. They also do seem impractical; this impression (despite my absolute ignorance of architecture) was cemented by the aside later in the book that they have one engineer in their firm. The magnificent building concepts frequently feature gigantic facades to facilitate interesting and innovative shapes that respond to the requests of the client and the demands of the site. In a world without limits (or wind) I can see these buildings popping up like weeds.
This book’s charm is in its format and optimism. A graphic novel is uniquely adapted to present highly visual concepts to an audience not necessarily in the industry, though at some points the image quality left things to be desired. And Ingels’ personal and professional optimism, which in retrospect seems oddly representative of the late 2000s, is presented by small images of the smiling and wide-armed Ingels himself. A highlight of the book is the interview at the end, where Ingels presents his ideas more clearly than he did through the preceding hundreds of pages.
In sum: cool ideas, Ingels. Now, how are you going to do it?
Profile Image for Preeti.
126 reviews1 follower
April 11, 2020
"Yes is more" is a great storyteller.

An inspiring story of rejection and reinvention, turning limitation into potentials, telling the story about the demise of their project with the right amount of jest. BIG speaks of the generation of thoughts and ideas for any projects and putting it into paper, the evolution of the ideas where BIG takes reference from all over the world uniting the world for the communicative - approachable and understandable- architectural discussions emphasizing on “architectural evolution happens across borders, cultures, and climates”.
Big further, speaks about the importance of ecology-economy (ecolomy), political, social, cultural, vernacular aspect in an expressive architecture. As BIG says, Architecture is a means, life is its purpose. He emphasizes in designs of engineering without engines concerning designing concerning the ecological and environmental context.
The introduction of various artists in the conversation in between creates a window to new horizons, thus introducing the readers to the mentioned artists – like finding gems in a sandbox. With great visuals and the conversational tone of the archicomic presented feels like “yes is more” is having a conversation with the reader rather than a long list of projects and an essay like an explanation. Any readers can go through the book and understand and visualize it without having to go through an Architectural degree.
Profile Image for Maria Popescu.
148 reviews64 followers
May 5, 2023
I had watched a video of Bjarke Ingels a few years ago while studying interior architecture and found him pretty arrogant. My ex then bought me his book as a half-joking present, and I only just now got around to reading it, in the quest to gain more inspiration from engaging with architectural materials. I was very pleasantly surprised. Yes, the man still comes across as arrogant, but his creativity and work are actually amazing. It was so stimulating to read about the studio's projects and notice the creativity. I really liked the approach to sustainability and people centric buildings, the building as part of the fabric of the city. I have to admit I was charmed. I don't like the energy through which everything seems to be taken as a joke, but I think the idea of saying 'yes, and' when designing is very powerful. Incorporating all challenges and overcoming it is a great policy for design as well as life. I would thoroughly recommend this book to learn about the design process and gain creative ideas.
Profile Image for Dom.
134 reviews4 followers
January 17, 2021
I admire everything he, they stand for. What they manage(d) to turn into lived reality. He makes me think time and again: why leave "big data" and "machine learning" to machines? Let's all be sponges, go for full exposure and exploration. Best with the neck and team to turn it all into better, life- and joy enhancing structures, spaces, and experiences. Yes is more. More? Yes, please!


Keywording
Columbus egg, towards fewer egg-heads. Context, Con texto, Certo! Defensive vs Proyesive. Ecolomical bottom line. Fun in translation. Hedonic Sustainability with Sonic Capability. Machine learning and learning "like a machine". Master pieces to master a plan. Maximum effect with minimal means. Pipetting authority. Politics, poly ticks. Public canvas, moderated pliability. Social symphony, built poetry. Start from the water, the essential. Towerphobic, towering deprivation of minds. Word play to world play.
Profile Image for Monica.
4 reviews
July 5, 2023
I was eager to read this after watching Bjarke Ingel's TED talk, "3 Warp-Speed Architecture Tales", which is basically a verbal version of three chapters in this book.

Ingels describes his design philosophy as the medium between the avante-garde and the pragmatists. I'm of the opinion that, oftentimes, the design doesn't always achieve an appealing aesthetic i.e. they're butt ugly (the People's Tower, the first example in the book, is a good example of this).

But no matter the outcome, reading through the design process offers great insights, especially for architecture students. We're always told to refer to B.I.G's diagrams in design class, because of their simplicity and clarity in translating a building's process.

However, a visit to B.I.G's website(with the amusing url of big.dk) will show you most of the buildings and diagrams that you can find in this book. What makes the book fun to read is the 'archicomic' style, a blend of comic books and architectural presentation.
Profile Image for Jed Herne.
Author 11 books359 followers
March 15, 2019
3.5*. BIG is one of my favorite architecture firms. For all their funky building shapes and sometimes wacky designs, they're unapologetically people-centered and back their decisions with extensive research, testing, and empathy. This book is a great insight into their process. My favorite part of this archicomic was seeing how few of their projects actually got built, because it's an honesty, authentic insight into how difficult the creative life is, even for massive entities like BIG. Highly recommended.
1 review
September 23, 2023
This book is ingeniously crafted. It adopts a comic book style, making it unique and entertaining. It simplifies complex ideas and concepts, making them easily digestible. The manner in which Bjarke Ingels seamlessly weaves together nature, lifestyles, and community in his architectural concepts is truly remarkable. For individuals intrigued by architecture but lacking technical expertise, I wholeheartedly recommend delving into this book. To this day, it remains one of my all-time favorites.
Profile Image for Afra Anan Anan Saba.
117 reviews26 followers
April 17, 2020
B.I.G. showed us a new way of communicating architecture to the general people. He has a lot of revolutionary ideas, but I am unsure about some of the aspects of the designs. Nonetheless, my favorite project is the Danish Pavillion in Shanghai Expo 2010.


Profile Image for Pauls Kļaviņš.
90 reviews8 followers
May 6, 2021
Šis arhikomikss latviski izdots 2012.g. Jāņa Rozes apgādā. Visnotaļ interesanta literatūra, daudziem lasītājiem, ne tikai profesionāļiem. Vai pat tieši - neprofesionāļiem. Jebkuram kurš interesējas par savu mājokli vai pilsētvidi. Dāņu athitekta grāmatā, satpcitu ir stāsti arī par Viļņas celtnēm, kuru tapšanā autors bijis iesaistīts.
Profile Image for Dale.
1,093 reviews
June 1, 2025
I ordered this book after seeing it on an episode of Abstract The Art of Design on Netflix. Very interesting. The graphic book shows some of the projects taken on by the architect; the creative methodologies as well as the practical planning. The book is more about processes than product so has utility across other planning and design efforts outside of structures.
Profile Image for Orsela.
27 reviews3 followers
August 12, 2020
Enjoyed the graphics. You could tell Biarke Ingels was a comic book writer "wanna be". As for the content you get a glimpse of BIG projects, design process, the challenges they face and the solutions they come up with.
50 reviews
June 24, 2025
Comic-hafte Projektbeschreibungen seiner Bauten, ganz okay. Geschichte und Ideenfindungen waren interessant, der rest hat mich nicht unbedingt überzeugt.
Art der Darstellung ist mal etwas anderes, sollte mann sich öfters trauen, ins unetablierte zu gehen
Profile Image for Kittiehawk.
92 reviews3 followers
March 6, 2017
Clever way to present stories about architecture.
14 reviews
September 12, 2017
fantastic book for professional architects, students(myself) til people who just enjoy building and want to know how there were imagined
Profile Image for Sam.
213 reviews5 followers
December 30, 2017
Fascinating if a little depressing to see how little of the stuff actually gets built.
147 reviews
April 15, 2018
Now I want to go and see all of these places!
Profile Image for Martin Majna.
5 reviews
February 12, 2020
This is how you present your work as an architect. Concept focused, explaining, inspiring, original. Must have for every architects library.
Profile Image for G..
Author 24 books341 followers
March 22, 2020
Fascinating architectural philosophy that can be applied to any art or project. Inspired and inspiring.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 67 reviews

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