Silver Architecture, Building and Structure Design · 2021
Imatra GIS Electricity Substation
by Virkkunen and Co Architects
- A' Design Award 2021 Silver Winner in Architecture, Building and Structure Design
- Awarded April 15, 2021
- CLIENT: Virkkunen & Co Architects
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 22,090
- Verification code DBFD899149 · Verify this award
About Imatra GIS Electricity Substation
Imatra GIS is an electricity substation set in the landscape of the Imatrankoski rapids in Eastern Finland. The project includes a substation building and five power pylons and terminals. The building has a concrete frame and double-skin facades. The outer layer is made of hand-made long bricks laid in a zig-zag profile and supported by a steel frame. The transmission structures are made of triangular welded steel profiles. The design breaks apart aspects of the built context and reassembles the elements in a new abstracted form, in balance with the surrounding landscape.
Tuomas Kivinen's Imatra GIS Electricity Substation represents a distinguished contribution to the evolving discourse surrounding infrastructure architecture, demonstrating how essential utility facilities can transcend purely functional requirements to achieve genuine architectural expression within their environmental context. The work emerges from a Nordic design tradition that has long valued the synthesis of pragmatic engineering with aesthetic refinement, positioning itself within a lineage of Scandinavian industrial architecture that treats even the most utilitarian programs as opportunities for spatial and material poetry. The building's sophisticated dual-material expression—a grounded concrete base supporting an articulated metal louver envelope—establishes a clear tectonic hierarchy that communicates structural logic while creating a visually engaging surface that responds dynamically to changing light conditions throughout the day. The horizontal louver system demonstrates particular accomplishment in its ability to serve multiple functional purposes: providing necessary ventilation for electrical equipment, creating visual screening appropriate to the industrial program, and generating an animated architectural presence through the interplay of light and shadow across its rhythmically spaced elements. The compositional relationship between the new structure and the adjacent heritage brick buildings reveals a thoughtful approach to contextual design, where contemporary architectural language enters into respectful dialogue with existing industrial character rather than competing for attention. Landscape integration through carefully graded earthworks and establishing vegetation suggests an understanding of architecture as existing within larger ecological and temporal frameworks. The work invites contemplation of how societies might approach the design of necessary infrastructure—those buildings and structures that form the essential substrate of contemporary life—with the same care and intentionality typically reserved for more celebrated building types. What responsibilities might architects bear in ensuring that the built environment, in all its functional manifestations, contributes positively to the visual and experiential quality of shared landscapes?
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- The project is composed of an electricity substation building and an array of five designer power pylons and terminals, set in the national landscape of Imatrankoski rapids in Eastern Finland. The new structures were designed to be in balance with the surrounding landscape. Their design breaks apart aspects of the built context and reassembles them in a new abstracted form. A combination of hand-made and industrial materials and structures is used to achieve this.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- The substation building floor area: 965 sqm. Length x width x height of the building 44,1 m x 13,2 m x 8,1 m.
- Tags
- infrastructure, architecture, landscape, electricity substation, transmission, power line, brick, concrete, steel
- Production Technology
- The substation building has a concrete frame and double-skin facades. The outermost facade layer consists of hand-made long bricks laid in a zig-zag profile. The brick cladding is supported by a steel frame fixed to the inner concrete facades. The concrete structure consists of pre-fabricated and in-situ parts. The transmission structures are made of triangular welded steel profiles. They consist of workshop-made, coated pre-fabricated sections assembled and erected on the site without welding.
- Design Challenge
- The main challenge was architectural rather than technical, due to the qualities of the surrounding landscape and the history of the area. Visual and structural coherence of the distinct parts and general sensitivity to the context were methods for overcoming this challenge. We arrived at the final design through a process of elimination. Dozens of prototype 3D models were evaluated for impact in a detailed and accurate site model based on an extensive point-cloud data set of the area.
- Project Duration
- Project completed: 2020
Location: Imatra, Finland - Operation Flow
- Imatra electricity substation and the transmission structures are not fenced off from the surroundings and they can be approached freely. The substation is an unmanned facility that is mainly remote-controlled from a central control room located off-site. It is visited regularly for inspection and maintenance purposes by trained personnel. In the main process equipment room, the users control the switchgear equipment on a workstation designed for this purpose.
- Research
- We used site visits and literature sources for determining visual and historical factors that would most influence and serve the design. Literature about the history of the landscape, tourism, architecture, and industry in the area was used. The finding that had the most impact on the design was based on the analysis of the external architecture of the old hydropower plant: the rhythm of the facade openings, and the materials used in the buildings.
- Inspiration
- The beautiful landscape and the historical significance of the area were the primary sources of inspiration for us. The existing, impressive industrial architecture of the context was another major factor in the design. The guiding principle has been that the new structures should form a clearly defined new historical layer. They would also have to be timeless and combine harmoniously with the context. We sought to further elevate the beauty of the site.
- Image Credits
- Image #1: Photographer Tuomas Kivinen, 2020.
Image #2: Photographer Tuomas Kivinen, 2021.
Image #3: Photographer Tuomas Kivinen, 2020.
Image #4: Photographer Tuomas Kivinen, 2021.
Image #5: Photographer Tuomas Kivinen, 2021.