After Bjarke Ingels left Copenhagen for New York City in 2010, his first project in Manhattan was a real humdinger: The stark and pyramidal Via 57 West, an apartment building with a not-small hole sliced down the middle, allowing for a courtyard. Now Mr. Ingels is putting his stamp on other parts of the city, among them the Robert De Niro-backed Wildflower Studios, in Astoria, Queens. “Having spent a good chunk of his life in these environments, Bob has very specific feedback on the dressing and green rooms,” Mr. Ingels said of taking direction from the Academy Award winner and famous New Yorker. His firm is also involved in the East Side Coastal Resiliency project, an initiative to protect part of Manhattan, including East River Park on the Lower East Side, from rising waters because of climate change. “The more people you touch, the more opinions you solicit,” Mr. Ingels said of the divisive and long-term undertaking.

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