Incinerator With Skiable Roof to Open in 2017.

Skiable incinerator being built near Copenhagen. Credit: BIG Architects

For reasons I can’t fully explain, Denmark ranks at the top of the 2016 edition of the United Nations “World Happiness Report.” I’ve been to Copenhagen a few times and enjoyed the people and the food. Skiers there have painfully few options: a few tiny runs and an indoor facility.

Skiing off the roof, there will be a beautiful view of downtown Copenhagen.
Credit: BIG Architects

That’s about to change with the addition of a massive waste-to-energy incinerator under construction near Copenhagen. Designed by innovative architectural firm BIG in New York, the building has 41,000 square meters of roof which will have trees, hiking trails and a ski slope with synthetic snow. It is scheduled for completion in 2017.

BIG is headed by Bjarke Ingels, whose work includes 2 World Trade Center in Manhattan, the recently announced stadium for the Washington Redskins, and many other eye-popping projects around the globe.

In addition to its skiing feature, the incinerator will remind those in the neighborhood about their disposable consumables by sending a single smoke ring skyward every time a ton of carbon dioxide is produced.

See how the project works in the video below.