Apartments Above, Parking Below Yield Grand Views

One might argue that by providing 480 parking spaces for automobiles, a project is not that sustainable. The Mountain, a housing and parking development in Copenhagen began as two separate projects that would have situated a huge parking structure next to a multifamily residential project - creating a potential eyesore and blocking the sun. Architects Bjarke Ingels Group of Denmark saw it as an opportunity for residents to be elevated above the city with magnificent views, solar access and rooftop gardens, with parking tucked under. The resulting structure is adjacent to bike and walking trails, lightrail, and a canal. It has been a somewhat controversial building, rising out of the flatlands near Copenhagen and swathed in a gargantuan metal mural of Mount Everest. From the south side, the building presents a series of gardens and terraces that slope away from the street - with an organic feel of vegetation and wood trellises. The other elevations, though, provide stark materials that loom high above the human scale.