Functional and elegant: what else could you ask from a production site? No pollution! Topped with a ski slope, BIG’s Amager Bakke in Copenhagen seems to tick all the boxes. At a cost.

What’s sustainable about envisioning snow on a burner? Or a ski slope on a mountain of rubbish, or in a city, where this kind of project is generally written off as environmental heresy and protested against tooth and nail by the Greens. As always, it depends which way you look at it. The Amage Bakke waste-fired power plant built for Amager Ressource Center (AR C) in Danish capital Copenhagen combines a clever mix of uses that makes it possible to keep a factory only three kilometres from the town centre, within an urban zone, avoiding pollution of either air or landscape. The rectangular building with curving corners, whose sloping roof runs down in a tight hairpin bend, can be seen from a distance. Clad in a checkerboard of iridescent panels alternating with openings, it has taken its place on the harbour skyline. Its outline, dominated by a tall chimney, cannot go unnoticed by the trails of tourists merrily making their way to what is undoubtedly the country’s most visited monument, the statue of the Little Mermaid (…).

Click on the picture below to read the full version of this article, written by Catherine Sabbah.

This article was originally published in AA’s 430th issue – Private commissions, public intentions – released in May 2019, available on our online shop.