In 2008, the jury of an international competition for the design of the Kara / Noveren incinerator line six unanimously selected Erik van Egeraat's design as the winner. The construction was completed recently, and on September 2, the official opening of the building took place with the participation of the Crown Prince of Denmark Frederik. The plant is located east of the small town of Roskilde, between the bypass road and the Copenhagen highway. Its building is almost closely adjacent to the building of the fifth line of the same enterprise, which was built in 1999, and is intended to increase its capacity by about a third: Kara / Noveren will now burn a year instead of 260 thousand tons of residual (not suitable for recycling) waste - 350 thousand tons, disposing of waste and feeding the entire district, about 65,000 houses, with heat and electricity generated by the combustion. Taking into account that Danish legislation prohibits the release of excess heat into water and air, the plant copes with the task of using it in the most efficient way. This state-of-the-art, energy-efficient facility that converts waste into heat and electricity and dominates the Roskilde plain due to its size, is also environmentally friendly, as thanks to the latest technologies it releases CO2 will be reduced in it to the minimum possible.
The adjacent fifteen-year-old building is designed in the spirit of modern industrial hangars in light colors with red accents; his pipe (it can be seen right behind the factory of Erik van Egeraat), in order to better merge with the sky, it is painted in consistently lightening shades of blue and, despite the hundred-meter height, looks modest - it does not attract attention, although it does not hide its factory purpose. The pipe is planned to be removed soon. Erik van Egeraat is working on a plan to re-use the existing structure.
Erik van Egeraat went in his project in a completely different, directly opposite way - his building is intended to become a landmark of the Skagerrak, to rise, saluting from the outskirts to the brick towers of a thousand-year-old cathedral located in the center of Roskilde, absorbing all possible allusions of the context, but not hiding either its size or modernity, no function - all this is emphasized, revealed, the chimney tower is not hiding in the clouds - the architect with tangible pride mentions its almost one hundred meter height (97 meters), comparing the tower with a lighthouse - that is, a building that, by definition, should be visible from afar …
Its long "body", outlined by rare fractures of large planes of anodized aluminum "umber color", gradually rises to the massive "shoulders" and high slender "neck", overlooking little Roskilde from its height. At the bottom, the walls are slightly chamfered from bottom to top.
In fact, the lower part of the “body” of the building resembles the angular roofs of neighboring factories and brick houses with gable roofs - the volume invented by Erik van Egeraat becomes an artistically enhanced figurative sum of these roofs, a meaningful representative of a spontaneous industrial suburb.
"Neck" - a pipe, turned by the architect into a kind of tower, is directed to the distant context, to the towers of the cathedral "with its stone and brick of light colors." The tower of the factory and the towers of the cathedral "… will together protect the city and impress those traveling on the modest plain of the Skagerrak" - says the architect, thus building a direct connection between them; the factory chimney is romantically likened to a Roman siege tower, or vice versa - to an outpost at
Roskilde, the ancient capital of Danish kings (in the cathedral - the royal tomb, we are in the heart of Denmark). However, journalists have already called the new building a "Danish cathedral": the long body and tower in the west are quite consistent with the basilical typology.
Immediately after the speaking silhouette, the second important means of expressiveness here is the metal shell, in which the entire volume is wrapped, both the “body” and the “neck”. The shell is double: the inner layer functions as a climatic barrier, and the outer shell is exclusively decorative, the whole image rests on it, and, as already mentioned, it is made of moderate brown anodized aluminum sheets fixed on a steel frame that rests on the inner shell (its frame is carrying). In the space between the shells, there are walkways for technical personnel.
On the entire surface of the decorative facade, round holes of different sizes are cut by a laser. There are fewer holes in the lower part of the building, while at the top they gradually thicken, transforming the upper part of the pipe (especially the last 15 meters) into perfect lace. The sky shines through it during the day, and at night the entire building turns into a light theater that deserves special attention.
Luminaires are fixed from the inside of the metal plates of the outer shell, their light is reflected from the inner shell and penetrates outward through the holes - thus the building does not "illuminate the sky", does not emit excess light outward (which, it turns out, is also important). In addition, due to this, the light sources are not visible, and the entire building appears to be illuminated. Smolders like coals from a fire, shimmering: the glow smoothly changes color, reflected in the smoke from the chimney. Several times an hour, a spark of light is ignited, which, turning into a flame, gradually engulfs the entire building. Erik van Egeraat describes this process as follows: “At night, the perforated façade is transformed, thanks to the illumination, into a beacon shining with soft light, symbolizing the process of energy production. When the metaphorical fire is extinguished, the building again plunges into darkness, permeated with embers."
The symbolism of the action is quite understandable: it reveals the essence of the incineration taking place inside the plant, illustrates the process of smoldering-combustion, demonstrates it outside, turning it into a performance. The building is safe and mesmerizingly beautiful - perhaps even excessively beautiful for a garbage factory. However, the topic of garbage recycling and energy production using environmental technologies is acute and important (it even takes envy when you once again drive past a stinking dump near Moscow while remembering such a luxurious garbage CHP), this topic is worthy of praise in its own way. One can argue about the adequacy of comparing the incinerator with the tomb of the royal dynasty, and even recognize such a comparison not respectful enough - but times are changing, in our time, ecology is probably more important than kings. Although not everyone and not everyone understands this.
