How Top Designers, Architects, and Entrepreneurs Are Responding to Climate Change

According to AD100 architect Bjarke Ingels, going green isn’t just serious business—it can also be fun. In Copenhagen, the Danish wunderkind and his firm, BIG, recently completed a waste-treatment facility that converts trash into energy while also luring thrill seekers. Its 107,640-square-foot green roof doubles as a hiking trail and year-round ski slope; a façade reveals a climbing wall; and two bars provide rooftop or après-ski libations. “The project is a crystal-clear example of hedonistic sustainability, the idea that a sustainable city is not only better for the environment, it is also more enjoyable for the lives of its citizens,” says Ingels, who sees addressing the climate crisis as a design challenge, not simply a moral imperative. Though the plant does important work for its city, producing enough clean energy annually to power 150,000 local homes, it is also a public amenity, injecting both adventure and curiosity into the Danish capital. Says Ingels: “It makes me excited to see what ideas this summit may spark.”

Read the full Architectural Digest article here!