Amagerværket, BIO4

22. September 2015

Solution provider

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The new biomass fuelled power plant at Amagerværket, named BIO4, is set to punctuate Greater Copenhagen Utility (HOFOR) and The City of Copenhagen’s joint ambition to become the world’s first CO2-neutral capital by 2025.

Challenge

Acting as lead consultants, Gottlieb Paludan Architects has won the architecture competition to design the new bio-mass combined heat and power unit. The proposal has been created in collaboration with landscape architects; Møller & Grønborg and lightning designers; Speirs + Major.

The BIO4 project includes designing new premises for the administration, laboratories, workshops, and welfare facilities and producing a green, forward-looking master plan for Amagerværket. Occupying a very central and visible position in the Copenhagen cityscape, The BIO4 unit is situated only 2 km from the city centre, across from the old fortress Kastellet and diagonally behind the Copenhagen Opera House.

Photo: Allan Toft

Solution

The forest is the recurrent design theme in both the masterplan and the power plant symbolizing renewed resources (a source of CO2-neutral biofuel) . Thus, tree planting is the leading strategical and characterizing principle in the treatment of Amargerværket’s surrounding areas. Surrounding the new power plant a façade of thousands of suspended debarked tree trunks creates striking aesthetic and spatial experiences. Moreover, the façade will be telling a story of the forest and the transition to renewable energy. The trunks’ lifetime are more than 30 years, and when worn out, they will be grinded into wood chips and fired into the plant’s furnaces.

Photo: Allan Toft

Result

The new BIO4 is a heat generating sustainability landmark and a destination for city-dwellers and tourists who are invited to wander up amongst the trunks to learn about the plant’s process and sustainable energy production, while enjoying a unique view of Copenhagen.

Photo: Jens Lindhe