Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) has revealed its winning design for a new waste-to-energy plant in Copenhagen. Image: BIG Extra Large Image
Copenhagen · 2011.0126
Architecture firm Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) of Copenhagen, Denmark, has revealed its winning design for a new waste-to-energy plant planned for an industrial area near Copenhagen's city center. The 95,000-square-meter (one million-square-foot) facility will replace the adjacent 40-year-old Amagerforbraending plant.
In addition to its primary function, the building is conceived as a recreational destination: its roof will hold a 31,000-square-meter (330,000-square-foot) ski slope, using a recycled synthetic granular. An elevator will transport visitors up alongside the plant's smokestack, with views into the plant, leading to an observation platform 100 meters (330 feet) high. As designed, the entire building will be wrapped in a vertical green facade formed by planter modules stacked like bricks.
The design by BIG for the new Amagerforbraending plant includes a large inclined roof designed to function as a synthetic ski slope. Image: BIG Extra Large Image
The smokestack will be modified to puff "smoke" rings 30 meters (100 feet) in diameter whenever one ton of fossil carbon dioxide has been released. The brainchild of Germany-based art studio realities:united, these rings will form due to the condensation of water in the flue gases as they slowly rise and cool, and are intended as a reminder of the impacts of energy consumption.
The project budget is 3.5 billion DKK. Bjarke Ingels and David Zahle are serving as partners-in-charge for BIG. Other collaborating firms include AKT (facade and structural consulting) and Topotek 1/ Man Made Land (landscape).
An expansion of the Plantation Oaks Athletic Center in Orange Park, Florida, is complete. Image: Courtesy Ervin Lovett Miller Extra Large Image
Orange Park · 2011.0127
A new pool and aquatics facilities are complete at Plantation Oaks Athletic Center, located in the master-planned community of OakLeaf Plantation in Orange Park, Florida. Multidisciplinary design firm Ervin Lovett Miller of Jacksonville, Florida, designed the expansion, which includes an eight-lane competition pool and associated facilities, slated to open to residents in the first quarter of 2011. The firm previously designed the athletic center.
Ehrlich Architects has revealed its winning design for the United Arab Emirates Federal National Council's new parliament building complex in Abu Dhabi. Image: Ehrlich Architects Extra Large Image
Abu Dhabi · 2011.0126
Ehrlich Architects of Culver City, California, has revealed its winning design for the United Arab Emirates Federal National Council's new parliament building complex, planned for Abu Dhabi. The competition entry melds familiar Arabic design language with contemporary form.
The design is anchored by a striking 100-meter- (330-foot-) diameter dome structure, which will create a shaded micro-environment while casting dappled light onto the white marble assembly hall. Flanking parliamentary buildings will house the majority of the offices, meeting halls, and visitors' program. The site for the project is on one of the grand processional boulevards in the country's capital, facing the Persian Gulf, which six of the seven emirates border.
The architects teamed with UAE-based architecture firm Godwin Austen Johnson and landscape architecture firm ValleyCrest Design Group for the second phase of the design competition.
NORR Ltd. has revealed its design concept for the Jenan City development in Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia. Image: NORR Group Consultants International Limited Extra Large Image
Al Khobar · 2011.0124
NORR Group Consultants International Ltd. has revealed its design concept for the Jenan City development in Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia.
Office and hotel towers anchor the master plan for the 288,000-square-meter (3.1 million-square-foot) development, which will also include retail and residential elements. The design combines horizontally massed low-rise buildings with towers varying in height from 12 to 37 floors. "The massing of the project, with the highest buildings in the west and openings in buildings along the north edge of the site, is intended to make the most of the prevailing winds," says Yahya Jan, NORR vice president and design director.
Construction is slated to begin in summer 2010, and completion is scheduled for the end of 2013. The architecture and engineering design commission for the project, which is owned by Al Khobar-based Jenan Real Estate, was awarded to NORR in 2009. NORR is a member of the Ingenium Group of companies, based in Toronto, Canada.
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