A skier on an artificial ski slope

SNOWLEWSS SLALOM: A skier races down a newly opened artificial ski slope in Copenhagen, Denmark.

COURTESY OF NEVEPLAST

STANDARDS

NGSS: Core Idea: ETS1.A

CCSS: Literacy in Science: 7

TEKS: 6.7A, 7.2E, 8.3D, E.5F

No Snow Required

How a city turned a mountain of garbage into a mountain of fun

AS YOU READ, THINK ABOUT the challenges engineers might face when building a ski slope on top of a waste management facility.

Enlargeable map of the world showing the location of Denmark

JIM MCMAHON/MAPMAN ®

People looking for a fun day out in Copenhagen, Denmark, just need to head to the local trash disposal center. The city’s new Amager Bakke waste plant has a slanted roof that sports an artificial ski slope, named Copenhill. Its surface is covered in a mat of slick plastic bristles that skiers and snowboarders can glide over as easily as real snow.

Visitors can also explore hiking trails lining Copenhill or ascend its dizzying climbing wall— the highest one ever constructed on the side of a building. All the while, the state-of-the-art facility below works around the clock incinerating, or burning, the city’s garbage to generate electricity and heat. It’s one of the most efficient and environmentally friendly waste-to-energy plants in the world.

Copenhagen wanted Amager Bakke to be both a sustainable and an attractive addition to the city. Currently, there’s no other structure like it. But Peter Madsen Nordestgaard, a civil engineer who managed the project, doesn’t want it to always be that way. “I hope this will be a milestone and other cities will say, ‘Let’s do something like Amager Bakke.’”

Artificial and real grass

COURTESY OF CHRISTOFFER REGILD/ARC

SLIPPERY SURFACE: To mimic the feel of natural ground on the ski slope, engineers first laid down soil and then planted grass to hold it in place. They placed a layer of plastic bristles, which are coated in slippery silicone oil, on top. The grass can grow through holes in the material.

DESIGNING SOLUTIONS: How would you redesign a building near you to give its roof a secondary purpose that would benefit residents and the environment?

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