WEBVTT

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My mom has always reminded me

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that I have the same
proportions as a LEGO man.

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(Laughter)

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And she does actually have a point.

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LEGO is a company that has succeeded

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in making everybody believe
that LEGO is from their home country.

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But it's not, it's from my home country.

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So you can imagine my excitement
when the LEGO family called me

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and asked us to work with them
to design the Home of the Brick.

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This is the architectural model --
we built it out of LEGO, obviously.

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This is the final result.

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And what we tried to do was to design

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a building that would be as interactive
and as engaging and as playful

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as LEGO is itself,

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with these kind of interconnected
playgrounds on the roofscape.

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You can enter a square on the ground

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where the citizens of Billund
can roam around freely without a ticket.

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And it's probably one of the only
museums in the world

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where you're allowed
to touch all the artifacts.

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But the Danish word for design
is "formgivning," which literally means

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to give form to that
which has not yet been given form.

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In other words,
to give form to the future.

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And what I love about LEGO
is that LEGO is not a toy.

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It's a tool that empowers the child
to build his or her own world,

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and then to inhabit
that world through play

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and to invite her friends to join her
in cohabiting and cocreating that world.

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And that is exactly what formgivning is.

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As human beings, we have the power
to give form to our future.

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Inspired by LEGO,

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we've built a social housing
project in Copenhagen,

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where we stacked blocks
of wood next to each other.

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Between them, they leave spaces
with extra ceiling heights and balconies.

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And by gently wiggling the blocks,

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we can actually create curves
or any organic form,

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adapting to any urban context.

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Because adaptability is probably one
of the strongest drivers of architecture.

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Another example is here in Vancouver.

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We were asked to look at the site
where Granville bridge triforks

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as it touches downtown.

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And we started, like,
mapping the different constraints.

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There's like a 100-foot
setback from the bridge

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because the city want to make sure

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that no one looks
into the traffic on the bridge.

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There's a park where
we can't cast any shadows.

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So finally, we're left with a tiny
triangular footprint,

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almost too small to build.

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But then we thought, like,

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what if the 100-foot minimum distance
is really about minimum distance --

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once we get 100 feet up in the air,
we can grow the building back out.

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And so we did.

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When you drive over the bridge,

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it's as if someone is pulling
a curtain aback,

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welcoming you to Vancouver.

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Or a like a weed growing
through the cracks in the pavement

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and blossoming as it gets light and air.

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Underneath the bridge,
we've worked with Rodney Graham

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and a handful of Vancouver artists,

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to create what we called
the Sistine Chapel of street art,

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an art gallery turned upside down,

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that tries to turn the negative
impact of the bridge into a positive.

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So even if it looks like
this kind of surreal architecture,

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it's highly adapted to its surroundings.

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So if a bridge can become a museum,
a museum can also serve as a bridge.

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In Norway, we are building a museum
that spans across a river

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and allows people to sort of journey
through the exhibitions

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as they cross from one side
of a sculpture park to the other.

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An architecture sort of
adapted to its landscape.

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In China, we built a headquarters
for an energy company

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and we designed the facade
like an Issey Miyake fabric.

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It's rippled, so that facing
the predominant direction of the sun,

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it's all opaque;

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facing away from the sun, it's all glass.

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On average, it sort of transitions
from solid to clear.

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And this very simple idea
without any moving parts

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or any sort of technology,

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purely because
of the geometry of the facade,

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reduces the energy consumption
on cooling by 30 percent.

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So you can say what makes
the building look elegant

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is also what makes it perform elegantly.

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It's an architecture
that is adapted to its climate.

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You can also adapt one culture to another,

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like in Manhattan, we took
the Copenhagen courtyard building

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with a social space
where people can hang out

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in this kind of oasis
in the middle of a city,

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and we combined it with the density
and the verticality

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of an American skyscraper,

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creating what we've called
a "courtscraper."

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From New York to Copenhagen.

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On the waterfront of Copenhagen,

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we are right now finishing this
waste-to-energy power plant.

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It's going to be the cleanest
waste-to-energy power plant in the world,

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there are no toxins
coming out of the chimney.

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An amazing marvel of engineering
that is completely invisible.

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So we thought, how can we express this?

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And in Copenhagen
we have snow, as you can see,

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but we have absolutely no mountains.

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We have to go six hours by bus
to get to Sweden,

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to get alpine skiing.

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So we thought,
let's put an alpine ski slope

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on the roof of the power plant.

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So this is the first test run
we did a few months ago.

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And what I like about this

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is that it also show you the sort of
world-changing power of formgivning.

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I have a five-month-old son,

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and he's going to grow up in a world

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not knowing that there was ever a time

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when you couldn't ski
on the roof of the power plant.

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(Laughter)

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(Applause)

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So imagine for him and his generation,
that's their baseline.

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Imagine how far they can leap,

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what kind of wild ideas
they can put forward for their future.

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So right in front of it,
we're building our smallest project.

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It's basically nine containers

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that we have stacked
in a shipyard in Poland,

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then we've schlepped it
across the Baltic sea

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and docked it in the port of Copenhagen,

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where it is now the home of 12 students.

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Each student has a view to the water,

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they can jump out the window
into the clean port of Copenhagen,

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and they can get back in.

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All of the heat comes
from the thermal mass of the sea,

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all the power comes from the sun.

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This is the first 12 units in Copenhagen,

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another 60 on their way,

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another 200 are going to Gothenburg,

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and we're speaking with the Paris Olympics

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to put a small floating
village on the Seine.

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So very much this kind of, almost like
nomadic, impermanent architecture.

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And the waterfronts of our cities
are experiencing a lot of change.

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Economic change, industrial change
and climate change.

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This is Manhattan before Hurricane Sandy,

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and this is Manhattan after Sandy.

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We got invited by the city of New York

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to look if we could make the necessary
flood protection for Manhattan

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without building a seawall

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that would segregate the life
of the city from the water around it.

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And we got inspired by the High Line.

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You probably know the High Line --
it's this amazing new park in New York.

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It's basically decommissioned train tracks

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that now have become one of the most
popular promenades in the city.

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So we thought,

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could we design the necessary
flood protection for Manhattan

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so we don't have to wait
until we shut it down before it gets nice?

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So we sat down with the citizens
living along the waterfront of New York,

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and we worked with them to try
to design the necessary flood protection

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in such a way that it only
makes their waterfront

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more accessible and more enjoyable.

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Underneath the FDR,
we are putting, like, pavilions

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with pocket walls that can slide out
and protect from the water.

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We are creating little stepped terraces

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that are going to make
the underside more enjoyable,

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but also protect from flooding.

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Further north in the East River Park,

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we are creating rolling hills

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that protect the park
from the noise of the highway,

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but in turn also become
the necessary flood protection

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that can stop the waves during
an incoming storm surge.

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So in a way, this project
that we have called the Dryline,

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it's essentially the High Line --

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(Laughter)

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The High Line that's
going to keep Manhattan dry.

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(Applause)

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It's scheduled to break ground
on the first East River portion

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at the end of this year.

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But it has essentially been codesigned

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with the citizens of Lower Manhattan

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to take all of the necessary
infrastructure for resilience

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and give it positive social
and environmental side effects.

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So, New York is not alone
in facing this situation.

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In fact, by 2050,

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90 percent of the major
cities in the world

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are going to be dealing with rising seas.

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In Hamburg,

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they've created a whole neighborhood

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where the bottom floors are designed
to withstand the inevitable flood.

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In Sweden, they've designed a city
where all of the parks are wet gardens,

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designed to deal with storm water
and waste water.

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So we thought, could we perhaps --

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Actually, today,

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three million people are already
permanently living on the sea.

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So we thought, could we actually
imagine a floating city

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designed to incorporate all
of the Sustainable Development Goals

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of the United Nations

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into a whole new human-made ecosystem.

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And of course, we have to design it
so it can produce its own power,

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harvesting the thermal mass of the oceans,

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the force of the tides,
of the currents, of the waves,

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the power of the wind,

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the heat and the energy of the sun.

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Also, we are going to collect
all of the rain water that drops

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on this man-made archipelago

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and deal with it organically
and mechanically

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and store it and clean it.

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We have to grow all of our food locally,

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it has to be fish- and plant-based,

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because you won't have the space
or the resources for a dairy diet.

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And finally,

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we are going to deal
with all the waste locally,

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with compost, recycling,
and turning the waste into energy.

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So imagine where a traditional
urban master plan,

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you typically draw the street grid
where the cars can drive

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and the building plots
where you can put some buildings.

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This master plan, we sat down
with a handful of scientists

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and basically started
with all of the renewable,

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available natural resources,

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and then we started channeling
the flow of resources

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through this kind of human-made ecosystem
or this kind of urban metabolism.

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So it's going to be modular,

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it's going to be buoyant,

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it's going to be designed
to resist a tropical storm.

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You can prefabricate it at scale,

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and tow it to dock with others,
to form a small community.

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We're designing these
kind of coastal additions,

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so that even if it's modular and rational,

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each island can be unique
with its own coastal landscape.

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The architecture
has to remain relatively low

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to keep the center of gravity buoyant.

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We're going to take all of the agriculture

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and use it to also create social space

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so you can actually enjoy
the permaculture gardens.

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We're designing it for the tropics,
so all of the roofs are maximized

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to harvest solar power
and to shade from the sun.

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All the materials are going to be
light and renewable,

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like bamboo and wood,

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which is also going to create
this charming, warm environment.

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And any architecture is supposed
to be able to fit on this platform.

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Underneath we have all the storage
inside the pontoon,

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almost like a mega version
of the student housings

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that we've already worked with.

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We have all the storage
for the energy that's produced,

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all of the water storage and remediation.

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We are sort of dealing
with all of the waste and the composting.

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And we also have some backup farming

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with aeroponics and hydroponics.

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So imagine almost like a vertical section
through this landscape

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that goes from the air above,
where we have vertical farms;

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below, we have the aeroponics
and the aquaponics.

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Even further below,
we have the ocean farms

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and where we tie the island to the ground,

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we're using biorock to create new reefs
to regenerate habitat.

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So think of this
small island for 300 people.

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It can then group together
to form a cluster or a neighborhood

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that then can sort of group together
to form an entire city for 10,000 people.

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And you can imagine
if this floating city flourishes,

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it can sort of grow
like a culture in a petri dish.

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So one of the first places
we are looking at placing this,

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or anchoring this floating city,

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is in the Pearl River delta.

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So imagine this kind of canopy
of photovoltaics

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on this archipelago floating in the sea.

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As you sail towards the island,
you will see the maritime residents

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moving around on alternative forms
of aquatic transportation.

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You come into this kind of community port.

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You can roam around
in the permaculture gardens

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that are productive landscapes,
but also social landscapes.

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The greenhouses also become orangeries
for the cultural life of the city,

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and below, under the sea,

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it's teeming with life
of farming and science

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and social spaces.

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So in a way, you can imagine
this community port

00:13:51.847 --> 00:13:54.934
is where people gather,
both by day and by night.

00:13:55.284 --> 00:13:58.291
And even if the first one
is designed for the tropics,

00:13:58.315 --> 00:14:01.535
we also imagine that the architecture
can adapt to any culture,

00:14:01.559 --> 00:14:04.464
so imagine, like,
a Middle Eastern floating city

00:14:04.488 --> 00:14:07.307
or Southeast Asian floating city

00:14:07.331 --> 00:14:11.408
or maybe a Scandinavian
floating city one day.

NOTE Paragraph

00:14:12.412 --> 00:14:14.840
So maybe just to conclude.

00:14:16.142 --> 00:14:19.570
The human body is 70 percent water.

00:14:20.134 --> 00:14:23.610
And the surface of our planet
is 70 percent water.

00:14:24.623 --> 00:14:25.773
And it's rising.

00:14:26.148 --> 00:14:28.727
And even if the whole world
woke up tomorrow

00:14:28.751 --> 00:14:31.036
and became carbon-neutral over night,

00:14:31.060 --> 00:14:35.222
there are still island nations
that are destined to sink in the seas,

00:14:35.246 --> 00:14:40.032
unless we also develop alternate forms
of floating human habitats.

00:14:41.977 --> 00:14:45.109
And the only constant
in the universe is change.

00:14:45.133 --> 00:14:49.259
Our world is always changing,
and right now, our climate is changing.

00:14:50.014 --> 00:14:53.337
No matter how critical
the crisis is, and it is,

00:14:53.361 --> 00:14:57.868
this is also our collective
human superpower.

00:14:58.345 --> 00:15:01.484
That we have the power to adapt to change

00:15:01.508 --> 00:15:04.841
and we have the power
to give form to our future.

NOTE Paragraph

00:15:06.040 --> 00:15:11.642
(Applause)