Mimicking and blending in with a region’s topography is a trick that most architects are familiar with, but Danish firm Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) take the art to the highest level.

In October 2008 WAN caught up with the firm’s founding partner, Bjarke Ingles, following their presentation of residential development Mountain Dwellings at the World Architecture Festival Awards in Barcelona, which subsequently won in its category. But that has proven just a taster of BIG’s passion for man-made mountains as they present details of the Zira Island master plan in Baku, Azerbaijan - a 1million sq m range of seven cultural, residential and leisure peaks and Central Asia’s first carbon neutral master plan.