The Plus honoured with RIBA International Award for Excellence
Bjarke Ingels Gorup - BIG has received the RIBA International Award for Excellence 2026 for The Plus, Vestre's furniture factory in Magnor, Norway. Presented by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), the award is among the world's most prestigious recognitions in architecture.
The award celebrates buildings that push the boundaries of architecture through innovation, sustainability and positive social impact. Winners are subsequently considered for the prestigious RIBA International Prize.
Designed by BIG, Bjarke Ingels Group, The Plus was created with the ambition of becoming the world's most environmentally friendly furniture factory. The facility combines manufacturing, a visitor centre and a public park, and was the first industrial building in the Nordic region to achieve the highest environmental certification, BREEAM-NOR Outstanding.
"We're absolutely thrilled. To be recognised by RIBA is a huge honour, and I'm incredibly proud of everyone who has contributed to making The Plus what it is today. This award is a recognition of BIG's visionary architecture and of the close collaboration between architects, engineers, contractors and our own team that brought the project to life," says Bjørn Fjellstad, CEO of Vestre.
"We are deeply honored that the Royal Institute of British Architects has acknowledged our design for Vestre's factory The Plus with a RIBA International Award for Excellence. In all its simplicity, The Plus seeks to explore and showcase how economic growth and ecological sustainability can go hand in hand, by designing and building it as the most environmentally friendly factory in the world.
Built from locally sourced timber, powered by local hydroelectricity, geothermal and photovoltaics, covered in locally sourced turf and displacing the bare minimum of forest, the factory has the smallest and gentlest environmental footprint possible.
As a positive social side effect, factory workers, leadership, customers, and collaborators alike get to experience the joy of making furniture in the middle of the forest, making it blatantly evident that sustainable manufacturing not only is better for the environment but also more enjoyable for the people who practice it.
A literal architectural manifestation of our philosophy of hedonistic sustainability", says Bjarke Ingels, Founder & Creative Director, BIG.