*UPDATED WITH IMAGES* Rooftop park and ski slope on Amager Bakke waste-to-energy plant set to open in April

The rooftop park and artificial ski slope that will top Bjarke Ingels Group’s (BIG) Amager Bakke waste-to-energy plant, now known as Amager Ressourcecenter (ARC), has officially opened. In addition to the BIG-designed ski slope, the rooftop will also feature a nature-filled park, designed by SLA Architects.

The artificial ski slope is being created with a product from Neveplast, a company that creates dry ski slopes. The slope will feature various shades of green that will be a lighter shade in the middle and become progressively darker near the edges. The ski slope will start its approximately 1,640-foot-long run at the tallest point of the 290-foot-tall building’s roof. It will run to the power plant’s base and feature two turns equaling 180 degrees. Beneath the ski slope, furnaces, steam, and turbines convert 440,000 tons of waste annually into enough clean energy to deliver electricity and district heating for 150,000 homes.

Photo: Søren Aagaard.

The internal volumes of the power plant are determined by the positioning and organization of its machinery in height order, creating an efficient, sloping rooftop fit for a 9,000m2 ski terrain. At the top, experts can glide down the artificial ski slope with the same length as an Olympic half-pipe, test the freestyle park, or try the timed slalom course, while beginners and kids practice on the lower slopes. Skiers ascend the park from the platter lift, carpet lifts or glass elevator for a glimpse inside the 24-hour operations of a waste-to-plant.

See Also: BIG’s Audemars Piguet hotel des Horlogers allows guests to ski down the roof

The accompanying park will include hiking trails, climbing walls, trail running, vantage points, a rooftop bar, crossfit areas, and playgrounds across a 10,000-sm green roof. After experimenting with a wide range of nature-based design solutions, SLA specially selected different nature biotropes to withstand some of the difficult living conditions the building presented, such as the complicated wind and weather conditions found 290 feet in the air and heat from the large energy boilers under the roof.

Photo: Rasmus Hjortshoj.

The nature will not just be contained to the power plant’s roof, as it has been designed to spread biodiversity to the surrounding area. “The rooftop’s nature is designed to attract and shelter a wide selection of birds, bees, butterflies and insects, which in itself will mean a dramatic increase in the biodiversity of the area. And utilizing natural pollination and seed dispersal will mean that we can spread the rooftop nature to also benefit the adjacent industry area, parking lots, and infrastructure. In this way, Amager Bakke will function as a generous ‘green bomb’ that will radically green-up the entire area,” said Rasmus Astrup, Partner and Project Director, SLA, in a release.

The dry ski slope and elements of the neighboring park are currently being installed and tested ahead of the planned April opening.

Photo: Laurian Ghinitoiu.