Bjarke Ingels joins WeWork as chief architect

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A portrait of Adam Neumann, CEO at WeWork, and Bjarke Ingels, founding partner and creative director at BIG
A portrait of Adam Neumann, CEO at WeWork, and Bjarke Ingels, founding partner and creative director at BIG.
(Image credit:  Alexei Hay)

Global co-working network WeWork announces Bjarke Ingels as chief architect. The Danish architect, the founder of BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group, will bring his expertise and vision to WeWork to create a design language across all buildings, campuses and neighbourhoods.

Ingels, who will maintain his leading role as founding partner and creative director at the helm of BIG, was impressed by the progress and innovation of the WeWork team: ‘WeWork was founded at the exact same time as when I arrived in New York. In that short amount of time – the blink of an eye at the time scale of architecture – they have accomplished incredible things and they are committed to continuing their trajectory to places we can only imagine,’ he says.

HFZ Capital Group and Bjarke Ingels Group


(Image credit: DBOX)

The Eleventh is one of BIG’s upcoming projects in NYC. Image courtesy of DBOX for HFZ Capital Group and Bjarke Ingels Group

See more of what’s to come from Bjarke Ingels

‘WeWork’s commitment to community and culturally-driven development is perfectly aligned with our active, social and environmental agendas. As WeWork takes on larger and more holistic urban and architectural challenges, I am very excited to contribute with my insights and ideas to extend their community-oriented vision to ground-up buildings and urban neighbourhoods,’ says Ingels.

Adam Neumann, co-founder and CEO, WeWork, credits Ingels with ‘changing the way we think about architecture’: ‘His designs inspire as much as they surprise. When we started WeWork eight years ago, we knew the world didn’t need another office building, it needed spaces where people could collaborate on projects, connect and create together, and potentially change the world. As WeWork’s Chief Architect, Bjarke Ingels will help us reimagine and reshape the future of our spaces, our company, and ultimately our cities.’

Hong Kong outpost designed by Nelson Chow

WeWork’s Hong Kong outpost designed by Nelson Chow. Explore the rest of the space here

(Image credit: Nelson Chow)

Waterhouse Square

One of WeWork’s London locations at Waterhouse Square. Explore the rest of the space here

(Image credit: Press)
Harriet Thorpe

Harriet Thorpe is a writer, journalist and editor covering architecture, design and culture, with particular interest in sustainability, 20th-century architecture and community. After studying History of Art at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) and Journalism at City University in London, she developed her interest in architecture working at Wallpaper* magazine and today contributes to Wallpaper*, The World of Interiors and Icon magazine, amongst other titles. She is author of The Sustainable City (2022, Hoxton Mini Press), a book about sustainable architecture in London, and the Modern Cambridge Map (2023, Blue Crow Media), a map of 20th-century architecture in Cambridge, the city where she grew up.