Amagerforbrændingen Waste to Energy Plant

Year: 2019
Category: Commercial · Factories and Warehouses
Type: Government + Health
Status: Built
Firm: BIG - Bjarke Ingels Group
Location: København, Denmark

Photographer: Aldo Amoretti Photography Text by BIG : The waste-to-energy plant, Amager Resource Center, is located in an industrial area, that throughout the years, has turned into an extreme sport destination for thrill seekers. Different extreme sports activities take place in the raw industrial facilities such as cable wake boarding, go-kart racing, and rock climbing among others. The Amager Resource Center is the most significant landmark in the area and the building is in need of renewal. BIG propose a new breed of waste-to-energy plant, one that is economically, environmentally, and socially profitable.

Instead of considering Amager Resource Center as an isolated object, we mobilize the architecture and intensify the relationship between the building and the city—expanding the existing activities in the area by turning the roof of the new Amager Resource Center into a ski slope for the citizens of Copenhagen. The new plant establishes Amager Resource Center as an innovator on an urban scale, redefining the relationship between the waste plant and the city. It will be both iconic and integrated, a destination in itself, and a reflection on the progressive vision of the company.

Instead of considering the new Amagerforbraending as an isolated architectural object, the façade is conceived as an opportunity for the local context while forming it into a destination in itself and a reflection on the progressive vision of the company. The roof of the new Amagerforbraending is turned into a 31 000 m2 ski slope of varying levels for the citizens of Copenhagen, its neighboring municipalities and visitors, mobilizying the architecture and redefining the relationship between the waste plant and the city by expanding the existing activities in the area. into a new breed of waste-to-energy plant, one that is economically, environmentally, and socially profitable.