He will take that for granted – and so will his entire generation. BIG's Copenhill is a functioning power plant in Copenhagen combined with public program like a ski slope and climbing wall. A crystal clear example of Hedonistic Sustainability – that a sustainable city is not only better for the environment – it is also more enjoyable for the lives of its citizens.” Bjarke Ingels, Founder & Creative Director, BIG. You need upgrade your browser to see the projects. Clean energy and skiable power plants is going be the baseline of their imagination –the platform from which they will leap and propose new and wild ideas for their future. CopenHill, also known as Amager Bakke, opens as a new breed of waste-to-energy plant topped with a ski slope, hiking trail and climbing wall, embodying the notion of hedonistic sustainability while aligning with Copenhagen’s goal of becoming the world’s first carbon-neutral city by 2025. "This is the key: BIG has learned to use its outlandish ingenuity for more that its own sake; it has learned to use its guerilla-like tactics to encourage public participation and then give that participation purpose. “CopenHill is a blatant architectural expression of something that would otherwise have remained invisible: that it is the cleanest waste-to-energy power plant in the world. The idea didn't come to fruition, despite winning the competition, but it was the first seed of the idea for the CopenHill we see today. In countries that don’t have this system, heat comes from burning natural gas or oil in a boiler or using electricity to run some kind of heat pump—all from within t… Designed by BIG (Bjarke Ingels Group), SLA, AKT, Lüchinger+Meyer, MOE, and Rambøll, CopenHill is a waste-to-energy plant crowned by an active ski slope, hiking trail, and climbing wall. ArchDaily initially covered BIG's project in January 2011, and the waste-to-energy plant would later include hedonistic ideas of the world’s first steam ring generator and crowdfunding through Kickstarter. As it broke ground and began to rise, so too has the profession changed. Some 11 years after first being unveiled, the much-anticipated CopenHill, by BIG (Bjarke Ingels Group) is now finally open to the public. As BIG said back in 2011, "The main function of the façade is to hide the fact that factories are having a serious image/branding problem. 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Just as its predecessor the plant was to generate power and heating from waste as efficiently and cleanly as possible. Sustainable architecture is a difficult term to define. BIG blended two unexpected typologies to form one of its biggest architectural achievements to date. Sam has design experience at multiple renowned architecture firms such as Gensler and Bjarke Ingels Group. September 1, 2020, 12:51 pm. CopenHill has become more than the sum of its parts, and more than a collection of superlatives. CopenHill's running and training community, RUN365 In the spring of 2018, a small running and training community, RUN365, started up with its base on the ski slope. Standing at the peak of this humanmade mountain that we have spent the last decade creating – makes me curious and excited to see what ideas this summit may spark in the minds of future generations.”. “To me, CopenHill is a perfect example of the world changing power of architecture. CopenHill has had a variety of names since 2011, from Amagerforbrændingen to Amager Bakke and CopenHill. It does not have to be either/or – it can be both!" Sam Pires is a Contributing Writer at My Modern Met and an architectural designer. New images of BIG's Amager Bakkewaste-to-energy plant in Copenhagen, taken by Danish photographer Rasmus Hjortshøj, show that the artificial ski slope on … A nice community focusing on being active together and practicing real "mountain running" in Copenhagen. A waste-to-energy incinerator that you can ski down, Copenhill is perhaps the most-hyped of the Danish firm’s projects. CopenHill: The Story of BIG's Iconic Waste-to-Energy Plant, the world's most visited architecture website, © All rights reserved. The idea that would become CopenHill actually dates back to 2002, before BIG, when Bjarke Ingels’ firm went by the name of PLOT. Danish architecture firm BIG’s CopenHill power plant, dubbed the “cleanest waste-to-energy power plant in the world”, opened its rooftop ski slope to the public in October. To complete the project, BIG worked with SLA, AKT, Lüchinger+Meyer, MOE and Rambøll. Eric Baldwin . Bjarke goes on to explain that CopenHill means today. CopenHill stands as a monument to BIG's trajectory and echoes the practice's influence on architecture and design. The 41,000m2 project includes an urban recreation center and environmental education hub, turning social infrastructure into an architectural landmark. According to Bjarke Ingels, the founder of BIG, CopenHill is a perfect example of the firm’s approach to sustainability. As a power plant, CopenHill is so clean that we have been able to turn its building mass into the bedrock of the social life of the city – its façade is climbable, its roof is hikeable and its slopes are skiable. Residents simply pay a utility company to access hot water through a large network of pipes. CopenHill is a 41,000m2 waste-to-energy plant with an urban recreation center and environmental … Today, CopenHill is the result of nearly ten years of thought, time and design. That means, however, that the power plants heating the water need to be fairly close to the city. We want to add functionality! “CopenHill is a blatant architectural expression of something that would otherwise have remained invisible: that it is the cleanest waste-to-energy power plant in the world. The team included engineers, landscape experts, and even material designers who helped develop a green panel system that mimicked the feel of snow for ski areas. Would you visit this incredible ski slope/powerplant? Last year, SLA revealed the signature park and ski slope design that caps CopenHill. Part recreation center and part power plant, CopenHill will convert 440,000 tons of waste into energy every year. We have become more attuned to the climate crisis and the relationship between building and environmental impact. In order to give locals a new understanding of the issue of global warming, for every ton of CO2 generated by the burning of waste, the plant would emit a super-sized ring of steam into the sky from the chimney perched at the top of its sloping roof. Located in an industrial area near the city center, the new waste-to-energy plant aspired to become an exemplary model in the field of waste management and energy production, as well as an architectural landmark. Bjarke Ingels shares his hopes this project will have not only have an influence on the local community but the world. At the time, the project was the single largest environmental initiative in Denmark with a budget of 3,5 Billion DKK. Fast forward a few years, and the plant breaks ground as a series of superlatives. 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