Making The Plus: A manifesto for the green transition
In 2022, Vestre unveiled The Plus, the world’s most environmentally friendly furniture factory. Sensitively situated in a Norwegian forest, The Plus was designed by Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) as a wooden factory, the construction of which would preserve its surrounding environment. Blending nature, public space and contemporary manufacturing, it soon became the first industrial building in history to receive the world’s highest sustainability rating, BREEAM Outstanding. This book tells the full story of The Plus’s creation, revealing how BIG and Vestre reimagined the factory for the twenty-first century, transforming an industrial site into a safe, transparent and publicly accessible community space.
Designed by Studio AKFB and featuring exclusive documentation of the factory’s construction by renowned photographer Einar Aslaksen, Making The Plus encompasses essays, dialogues and sustainability insights that explore how architecture, industry and nature must be intertwined as society moves toward a sustainable future. Like the building whose story it tells, it serves as a manifesto for the green transition.
“The Plus is the next step in this furniture factory evolution, enabled by an environmentally ambitious client as interested in design innovation as in the reduction of environmental impact.” A snippet from the chapter ‘Plus, ça change: Vestre, BIG and the Clean Factory’ by Prof. Susannah Hagan.
We’re going on a book tour
We’re about to embark on an extensive book tour – in collaboration with bookstores in several countries, including the USA, Sweden, Germany, England, and Norway. We’ll keep you updated when more venues are added to the list! In the meantime: Do you have a favourite independent bookstore that might be interested in hosting an event? We would love your input!
A special thank you
Our special thanks go to the editor Marianne Preus Jacobsen. Thank you to Einar Aslaksen for committing your entire self to creating beautiful photography. Thank you to co-editors Studio AKFB for concept, art direction and design. Thank you to BIG architects: Viktoria Millentrup, David Zahle, Bjarke Ingels and the whole team.
We would also like to thank our publisher Hatje Cantz and the project leaders Richard Hagemann, Fabian Reichel and Lydia Fuchs. Furthermore, a special thank you goes to Professor Susannah Hagan, member of the Architectural Association Council and Degree Awards Committee, and editor of The Round Table; and to Johanna Agerman Ross, Chief Curator at the Design Museum and editor of the Disegno Journal. Another big thank you to the whole Disegno team and all those who have helped create this beautiful book. We hope you will be inspired.
Buy the book here