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BIG alternates balcony types to form the jagged, illusory Kaktus Towers in Copenhagen

Torqued beside the rail lines at Dybbølsbro Station, the Kaktus Towers cut serrated profiles against the Copenhagen sky. Designed by Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), the seemingly—but not quite—twisted micro-living towers mark the edge of Vesterbro, a former industrial zone now undergoing a new wave of development. Rising from an elevated green plateau—about 65 feet above the street, spanning a neighboring highway and IKEA—the duplicate towers induce a vicarious sort of thrill. Two gigantic biophilic figures mimic each other in a game of suggested motion. With balconies arranged in different orientations, their protruding, puzzle-like facades are both amusing and difficult to track. They seem almost to beg for reverse-engineering.