Building as Power Plant

Infrastructure as Architecture

For most of the 20th century, infrastructure was something cities hid. Power plants, water treatment facilities, waste processing centres — these were banished to the periphery, wrapped in chain-link fencing, and forgotten.

CopenHill changed that logic. By placing a ski slope on the roof of a waste-to-energy plant, we made the case that infrastructure can be the most civic building in the city — a place that processes the city's waste while offering its residents a mountain in a country with no mountains.

The building produces enough energy to power 62,500 homes annually, while the public amenity draws 500,000 visitors per year. These are not competing programmes. They are the same argument.