VM Bjerget

BIG’s creation was inspired by a mountain village, with little dwellings stacked up along the slope. The roof of one residence is the garden of another.

Award winning and progressive, it’s curiously ironic that VM Bjerget takes its inspiration from what is usually considered staid and standard. Yet suburbs and typical residential areas are what informed the ‘mountain’s’ form and purpose as an ‘upright suburb’.

Viewed from the north, VM Bjerget’s silhouette and mass mean it resembles a high-tech metal-and-glass machine. But residents arrive in its colur-popping 650-vehicle parking facility, with direct access to their homes.

As a nod to its name, this north side’s sheet aluminium façade depicts Mount Everest, while its dwellings are plots stacked up like rice paddy fields on a hillside. The roof of the resident below serves as the garden of its neighbour above.

Viewed from the south, the building has a different personality, with wooden terraces of roof gardens dominated by natural materials, climbing plants and lawns.

The building speaks to those wanting to combine city and suburban living, and its position highlights this: all the terraces face the old Vestamager housing district, overlooking back gardens, DIY home extensions and Danish flags. On the other side of VM Bjerget is a more futuristic urban spectacle, featuring the Metro’s elevated tracks and the contemporary housing complexes of Ørestad City.