Gold Architecture, Building and Structure Design · 2023
Mountain Impression Power Plant
- A' Design Award 2023 Gold Winner in Architecture, Building and Structure Design
- Awarded April 15, 2023
- CLIENT: United Units Architects
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 32,595
- Verification code B2B7BF55EA · Verify this award
About Mountain Impression Power Plant
Backed by undulating karst mountains, this factory building draws its design language from the natural context. To the north of the site there is a bare plateau flattened by the mining of a cement factory. In order to respond to the nature and memory of the site, the facade of the building is featured by a pattern of undulating mountain range to visually remedy the damage to the mountains by human impacts, evoking the self-examination of human activities. The pattern of the mountain range is derived from the combination of four sets of trigonometric function curves through parametric design.
United Units Architects (UUA)'s Mountain Impression Power Plant represents a significant achievement within the contemporary discourse surrounding industrial architecture and environmental integration, demonstrating how infrastructural necessity can be reconciled with landscape sensitivity through thoughtful formal invention. The facility's most striking feature, its undulating facade treatment that abstractly replicates the profile of surrounding mountain ridges, suggests a design philosophy wherein built form enters into respectful dialogue with its topographical context rather than imposing alien geometries upon natural settings. This approach resonates with biomorphic and contextual design traditions that have sought to dissolve the perceived opposition between technological infrastructure and ecological systems, positioning architecture as a mediating presence rather than a dominating force. The chromatic restraint evident in the predominantly white and silver palette contributes to the building's capacity to register atmospheric conditions, its surfaces appearing to shift in character as light and weather transform its visual presence throughout diurnal and seasonal cycles. The vertical tower element at the facility's western edge provides necessary functional expression while also serving compositional purposes, anchoring the horizontal sprawl and creating a marker within the landscape that reads as a contemporary campanile of industrial purpose. The perforated and ribbed facade systems visible across multiple building volumes suggest sophisticated environmental mediation strategies, potentially incorporating natural ventilation, solar shading, or acoustic attenuation while simultaneously generating the rhythmic visual texture that enlivens these substantial masses. Viewers might contemplate how this project challenges conventional expectations regarding industrial aesthetics, inviting consideration of whether the integration of natural formal languages into utilitarian structures might foster more harmonious relationships between communities and necessary infrastructure.
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- Backed by undulating karst mountains, this factory building draws its design language from the natural context. To the north of the site there is a bare plateau flattened by the mining of a cement factory. In order to respond to the nature and memory of the site, the facade of the building is featured by a pattern of undulating mountain range to visually remedy the damage to the mountains by human impacts, evoking the self-examination of human activities. The pattern of the mountain range is derived from the combination of four sets of trigonometric function curves through parametric design.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- Gross Floor Area: 54,000 m2
Daily Waste Processing Capacity: 3,000 tons - Tags
- Waste to Energy, Power Plant, Carbon Neutrality, Parametric Design, Waste Treatment, Karst Mountains
- Production Technology
- The pattern of the mountain range is derived from the combination of four sets of trigonometric function curves. The mathematic control not only ensures the smoothness of the curve, but also provides parameters for design development. By manipulating the colour, texture and form of the facade, the building is endowed with a dynamic aesthetic that changes with the viewing angle, light, and weather in an imperceptible and sophisticated way, reducing the impact of the building's vast volume on the environment.
- Design Challenge
- The distinctive regional environment can often stimulate the bold ideas of architects, while large-scale infrastructure projects carrying social responsibilities usually require careful decision-making. Therefore, to achieve a balance between radical and conservative depends on an ingenious and effective design strategy. The design team realized the poetic design concept with rigorous engineering rationality, creating a state-of-the-art factory where art and engineering come together as one.
- Project Duration
- The project started in January 2020 and finished in August 2022 in Nanning, China.
- Operation Flow
- The garbage trucks enter the factory building along the ramp and unload to the enclosed garbage pit for fermentation. The fermented garbage is sent to the incinerator. The flue gas generated by the combustion of garbage is purified and discharged to the air; the fly ash is disposed of for landfill; the bottom ash can be comprehensively utilized. Finally the thermal energy generated by waste incineration is used to heat high-temperature steam to drive the steam turbine generator set to generate electricity, which is connected into the national grid.
- Research
- Nanning is a frontier city for China's opening up and cooperation with ASEAN, and is known as China's Green City. The rich folk culture in the multi-ethnic inhabited area and the mountains in the karst landform area together constitute the resource of design language belonging to Nanning, and also become the spiritual contention between the people and the building. UUA hopes to build a waste-to-energy power plant that eliminates the Not In My Backyard effect and allows the public to accept and even love it, so that the advanced waste treatment technology can operate smoothly.
- Inspiration
- The site of the project prompts us to reflect on the interaction between human activities and the natural environment in a very inspiring way. We hope to take this opportunity to set a precedent for similar projects, through metaphorical and abstract extraction of natural and cultural characteristics to unite art and engineering, provide multiple interpretations, and redefine the public attributes and humanistic values of industrial buildings.
- Image Credits
- Image #1: Photographer Lian He, Aerial View, 2022.
Image #2: Photographer Lian He, View from Southeast, 2022.
Image #3: Photographer Lian He, Landscape, 2022.
Image #4: Photographer Lian He, View from Southwest, 2022.
Image #5: Photographer Lian He, Facade Details, 2022.
Video Credits: Archi-translator, 2022.
Colors of Mountain Impression Power Plant
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