When Norwegian company Vestre reached out to the architects at Bjarke Ingels Group about building a new factory, company officials put a priority on transparency. They wanted the production of their outdoor furniture, which is used in public spaces around Scandinavia, to be as public-facing as the end product.
"Normally, factories are these hostile, hermetic, no-trespassing, keep-out kinds of environments," Bjarke Ingels tells Fast Company. But for Vestre, they opened up the factory to observers, with big windows, stairways that line the walls, and a huge public park surrounding it. "Everything can function completely seamlessly," Ingels says, "but everything can also be viewed and admired."
Read my story to learn how this factory went see-through—and the surprising way Danish cartoons influenced the design.
— Nate Berg | | |