nils koenning frames bjarke ingels group's copenhill energy plant in its copenhagen context

on october 4, 2019, ‘copenhill’ — the power plant/ski slope designed by bjarke ingels group and landscape architects SLA — opened to the public in copenhagen. billed as ‘the world’s cleanest waste-to-energy plant’, the project — also known as amager bakke — contains an environmental education hub and is topped with an urban recreation center comprising a ski slope, a hiking trail, and a climbing wall. located on the waterfront of the danish city, the plant is surrounded by other destinations for extreme sports enthusiasts, as well as waterfront communities. to document the building within this context, photographer nils koenning visited the site and has shared his images below.

image © nils koenning (also main image)

in addition to capturing those hiking to the power plant’s peak (complete with observation deck), and those skiing down its man-made slope, koenning’s photos also illustrate the activity taking place around the site. a stone’s throw from copenhill, go-karts line up to race in the shadow of the chimney, while wild swimmers take advantage of the region’s clean water. aligning with copenhagen’s goal of becoming the world’s first carbon-neutral city by 2025, the scheme embodies bjarke ingels’ idea of ‘hedonistic sustainability’ — a notion that a sustainable city is not only better for the environment, it is also more enjoyable for the lives of its citizens.

image © nils koenning

‘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,’ says bjarke ingels. ‘to me copenhill is a perfect example of the world-changing power of architecture. that we have the power to give form to the future that we want to live in.’ see designboom’s previous coverage of the project here.

image © nils koenning

image © nils koenning

image © nils koenning

image © nils koenning

image © nils koenning

image © nils koenning

image © nils koenning

image © nils koenning

image © nils koenning

image © nils koenning

1/8

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

project info:

name: copenhill / amager bakke
type: international competition
size: 41,000 sqm / 441,300 sqf
location: copenhagen, denmark
client: amager ressourcecenter
collaborators: detailed design: SLA, lüchinger+meyer, MOE, rambøll, jesper kongshaug, and BIG ideas; competition: AKT, topotek 1, man made land, realities:united
thanks to: A.P. møller fonden, lokale og anlægsfonden, nordea fonden, fonden R98, københavns kommune, frederiksberg kommune, tårnby kommune, dragør kommune og hvidovre kommune

BIG–bjarke ingels group
partners-in-charge: bjarke ingels, david zahle, jakob lange, brian yang
project leader: jesper boye andersen, nanna gyldholm møller, claus hermansen
team: alberto cumerlato, aleksander wadas, alexander codda, alexander ejsing, alexandra gustafsson, alina tamosiunaite, armor gutierrez, anders hjortnæs, andreas klok pedersen, annette jensen, ariel wallner, ask andersen, balaj iiulian, blake smith, borko nikolic, brygida zawadzka, buster christensen, chris falla, chris zhongtian yuan, daniel selensky, dennis rasmussen, espen vik, finn nørkjær, franck fdida, gonzalo castro, gül ertekin, george abraham, helen chen, henrick poulsen, henrik rømer kania, horia spirescu, jakob ohm laursen, jelena vucic, jeppe ecklon, ji-young yoon, jing xu, joanna jakubowska, johanna nenander, kamilla heskje, katarzyna siedlecka, krzysztof marciszewski, laura wätte, liang wang, lise jessen, long zuo, maciej zawadzki, mads enggaard stidsen, marcelina kolasinska, marcos bano, maren allen, mathias bank, matti nørgaard, michael andersen, narisara ladawal schröder, niklas a. rasch, nynne madsen, øssur nolsø, pero vukovic, richard howis, ryohei koike, se hyeon kim, simon masson, sunming lee, toni mateu, xing xiong, zoltan david kalaszi, tore banke, yehezkiel wiliardy