Something’s rotten in Denmark again, and the stench of decay wafting across the otherwise upbeat isle of Funen originates at the abandoned Fun Park Fyn.

The Other Fyn Land

Fun Park Fyn (“Fyns Sommerland”, in Danish) was a small, family-oriented amusement park located on Funen, Denmark’s third-largest island. The park combined some aspects of modern theme parks including Ferris wheels, bumper cars and water slides with more traditional types of outdoor recreation, like scenic cycling paths.

Not Mun-Dane

Fun Park Fyn opened in 1980 as a sort of small-scale smorgasbord of a Six Flags-style theme park and a low-maintenance, no-frills nature park. The park was also appreciated as an affordable option for families. That business plan only works if the park is profitable, however, and Fun Park Fyn just couldn’t take in enough kroner over the long term.

A Fyn-ancial Crisis

The chronic flow of red ink eventually proved to be unsustainable, and in 2006 the park’s owners declared bankruptcy and closed the doors. With the Global Financial Crisis of 2007-2008 looming, perhaps the owners decided that it’d be best to get out while the gettin’ was good. In any case, Fun Park Fyn was er, fyn-nished… or was it?

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A Fyn Mess Denmarks Eerie Abandoned Fun Park Fyn

The vivid blue and green artificial ski slope atop Bjarke Ingels Group’s mountain-shaped Amager Resource Center in Copenhagen is ready for action. The novel waste-to-energy plant aims to be fun and educational while producing power, offering three different gradients of ski surfaces suitable for all experience levels as well as a park complete with hiking trails, climbing walls and greenery, all for year-round public use. While the slopes won’t be open to all for a few more months, Denmark’s TV2 Lorry was on hand to capture some early tests.

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Situated in an industrial waterfront area, the so-called “urban mountain” adds to a range of fun physical activities and sports accessible nearby, including sailing, cable skiing and go-karts. But the architecture firm isn’t necessarily trying to gloss over the purpose of the building with all these unusual features. In fact, the mountain will release a ring of smoke into the air every time one ton of carbon dioxide emissions is produced “as a gentle reminder of the impact of consumption.”

BIG calls the project “a fun new breed of waste-to-energy plant, one that is economically, environmentally, and socially profitable. Instead of considering Amager Resource Center as an isolated architectural object, we consider the assignment to design a facade as an opportunity for the local context.

Slope images by TV2/Lorry; all other photos by Aldo Amoretti

Now open on the edge of Aarhus, Denmark’s second-largest city, the Harbor Bath project features a main 150-foot-long pool as well as diving and children’s pools, plus a pair of saunas. Naturally, the water is drawn directly in from the surroundings.

Designed by architects from Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) — images by Rasmus Hjortshøj — the complex can support up to 650 bathers at one time. Various pool sizes are elegantly integrating into the tapering form, creating poolside areas as well as swimming and lounging spaces.

Essentially a fake floating island, the structure is further supported by an array of beach volleyball courts, cafes and bars along the adjacent edge of the city.

Future plans call for theaters, hotels, restaurants, shops and more to be developed in the area, making this project a seed or generator of sorts for nearby activity, open all day every day through the summer.

An expansive master-planned complex to facilitate urban agriculture and private/public collaboration, The Agro Food Park is Denmark’s version of “Silicon Valley” for food research and development. From experimental greenhouses to vertical farm prototypes, the park is bringing together academics and businesses to work on creating a sustainable future via global food security.

Co-designed by an array of architecture, engineering, technology and agriculture firms, the food park was first opened in 2009 and already hosts nearly 100 companies in 44,000 square meters of space. The newly-expanded plan, however, will grow the park by 280,000 square meters over the coming decades, requiring careful strategic planning reflecting environmental considerations.

The long-term master plan features a communal Lawn showcasing experimental developments, a main-street Strip hosting various gathers and activities, and a series of Plazas to facilitate interactions between companies and researchers. The huge complex is also designed to recycle its own waste efficiently and minimize its footprint, a “practice what you preach” approach to ecological urban agriculture.

“Innovation occurs best when knowledge is concentrated in clusters and cross-pollinate. By linking food production to urban life, we have tried to create an environment where people, knowledge and ideas meet. The dream is to create the framework for agriculture’s answer to Silicon Valley.”

Though the plan is complex, the mission of the place is simple: to feed the world in a healthy way. The expressions of that mission, however, vary greatly, from initiatives to use clean energy and create biodiversity to facilitating healthy air and clean water. In short: it is not just about good food, but how best to produce edible goods in a sustainable way.

“Embracing Agro-Urban Ecosystem Design, the AFP treats urban and agricultural development together as a unified, productive and restorative ecosystem,” said the project architects.

“By integrating the carbon cycle and other ecological processes into large scale urban systems and their surroundings – buildings and energy flows, water cycles and wastewater treatment, land use and food production – the AFP creates economic value within the urban and agricultural infrastructure.”