Visiting a combined heat and power waste-to-energy centre, may not stand out as an obvious destination to enjoy a fun afternoon or to hold an important business meeting, but for residents in Copenhagen, that prospect is now an extremely appealing proposition.
Housed on the outskirts of the Danish capital city, is the eye-catching, spectacular $670 million Amager Resource Center, also known as Amager Bakke. The facility, which opened (in part) during last year (2017), has been internationally hailed as one of the (if not, the) cleanest and most efficient waste burning and energy-generating plants on the planet. It has also been designed – as labelled by its architects (Bjarke Ingels Group) – as an “extension of the city.”
Why is that? For the facility goes way beyond any preconceived ideas or thoughts as to what an energy plant (ugly grey looking, smoke bellowing incinerators) might look like or provide.
Multipurpose
In addition to treating an estimated 400,000 tonnes of municipal waste annually and supplying a minimum of 50,000 local households with electricity, the venue’s design also doubles it as a major tourist attraction, a learning hub and location for businesses to work and collaborate.
Externally, it includes a towering 85 metre sloping roof, which doubles up as an artificial ski-slope. It’s also home to the world’s tallest climbing wall and hiking slope.
Dynamic meeting space
Internally, the ’face of the plant’ is its technology fuelled resource centre (administrative hub/visitors centre), which encompasses a series of dynamic meeting spaces used by staff and visitors, which typically include schools, sports associations, youth groups and charities amongst others.
Like the rest of the building, the resource centre is designed to impress, both on a visual and technological level externally but also – crucially – internally too.
State-of-the-art-tech
Amager Bakke wanted to equip the visitor centre with state-of-the-art technology to reflect and showcase the facility as well as support and facilitate the needs based on those mentioned above and widen its appeal and reputation.
An IT infrastructure, communication systems, printers, desks and AV equipment were all required.
To achieve this, Amager turned to Ricoh to provide all elements of its advanced audiovisual and print communications technology.
The Japanese tech giant, now making a major push in the UK and Europe, was selected ahead of other potential bidding partners having demonstrated its ability to provide integrated audiovisual and printing systems for a wide range of global projects.
“We needed technology that would complement the bold design concept,” commented Thorbjørn Toftum, IT business consultant, for the Amager resource centre.
Solution
Ricoh’s chosen solution encompasses digital signage, audio visual control systems, projectors, interactive whiteboards, videoconferencing and multifunctional printers.
It installed displays, ranging in size from 55” to 84” in the resource centre’s reception area, administration complex and meeting rooms.
Wall-mounted panels provide simple touchscreen control of each AV environment, making it easy to select system components, such as projectors, manage data sources and adjust volume levels.
Open and secure environment
Meeting rooms are equipped with Ricoh interactive whiteboards. Combining high-definition displays, writing tools, a video camera, microphone and speakers, they offer an integrated solution to all meeting needs, including video conferencing. The smart technology enables meeting attendees to share information and collaborate on projects.
Meeting notes can be emailed, saved to the Cloud, or printed from the Ricoh interactive whiteboards directly to a multifunctional printer. To safeguard data security, the Ricoh interactive whiteboards support card-based authentication and, when meetings are concluded, all information is automatically erased.
“Ricoh delivered, providing wall-to-wall signage and high-tech collaborative communication technology,” added Thorbjørn. “Ricoh’s integrated solution offered best value for money. They were excited about the project and wanted to showcase their technology. Ricoh has proven to be an extremely flexible and supportive business partner.”
Michael Raetzel, sales manager at Ricoh Denmark concluded: “It was a pleasure to be involved in this astonishing environmental and cultural project. We are proud of our collaboration solutions that enable people to work in a more productive and flexible way, which helps keep employee engagement and motivation high”
THE TECH:
Ricoh screens:
Interactive Whiteboards (that are technically interactive flat panels) D8400 x 4
And 5 other models of screens:
Philips 65 inches display x 2
Philips 55 inches display x 8
Philips 49 inches display x 4 for video wall
Visiosign wayfinding screen 55 inches x 1
Visiosign wayfinding (meeting room booking) screen 10 inches x 13
And…
Barco ClickShare for wireless connection x 17
Jabra Speak 510 phone x 1
Jabra speak 810 phone x 2
Soundtube speaker x 19
Conerd Audio speaker x 8
Sennheiser microphone x 2
HDMI distributor from Crestron x 1
Electrovoice and Dynacord amplifiers
Visiosign Room booking screens x 13
Crestron room mnt panel x 1
Bojle microphone x 1
Neets Central Control room mnmt panel x 14
Ricoh Laser Projector x 3
MFP MP C4504SP x 6 (with 2 x 550 sheet cassette coverage, Booklet Finisher for 20-shett folding and cage unit)
Equitrac Office 5 – software
USB Card Reader x 6
For more details, visit: www.ricoh-europe.com
