Working on tourism projects in Brazil could help alleviate poverty and reduce destruction of the rainforests, according to BIG partner Kai-Uwe Bergmann.
Bergmann added that the firm does not condone the policies of the country's controversial president Jair Bolsonaro.
Responding to criticism of BIG founder Bjarke Ingels' recent meeting with Bolsonaro, Bergmann said the firm was not working for the president and that architects should engage with, rather than walk away from, complex issues.
He added that BIG has in the past resigned from projects on ethical grounds, but said that refusing to work in places like Brazil because you don't agree with its political leadership is not the right approach.
"We're not working for Bolsonaro." "In no way do we condone Bolsonaro," Bergmann said after giving a lecture at Stockholm Furniture & Light Fair in Sweden this week. "I want to make it specifically clear, we're not working for Bolsonaro."
The architect compared the situation with working in the US, where the New York-headquartered firm has a number of projects underway despite not agreeing with the policies of president Donald Trump.

"We have the same opinions about Trump as we do Bolsonaro," he continued. "Working for the National Park Service [...] doesn't mean that you're working for Trump."
Bergmann said that Ingels' visit to Brazil was related to a project with the country's national park agency, as part of an initiative &...