Press Release
Silver A' Design Award in Architecture, Building and Structure Design Goes to Imatra GIS Electricity Substation by Virkkunen and Co Architects
Virkkunen and Co Architects recognized for architecture, building and structure design by the international grand jury of the 2020 - 2021 A' Design Award & Competition
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COMO, Italy, April 23, 2021 /DesignNewswire/ Imatra GIS Electricity Substation by Virkkunen and Co Architects, designed for Virkkunen & Co Architects, has been granted the Silver A' Design Award in the Architecture, Building and Structure Design category, A' Design Award & Competition has announced. The recognition forms part of the 2020 - 2021 A' Design Award & Competition and was determined through blind peer review by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members, who evaluated anonymized entries against predetermined criteria.
About the Silver A' Design Award
The Silver A' Design Award celebrates top-tier designs that embody excellence and innovation. This award acknowledges creations that are not only aesthetically pleasing but also highly functional, reflecting the designer's deep understanding and skill. Silver A' Design Award recipients are recognized for their contribution to raising industry standards and advancing the practice of design. Their work often incorporates original innovations and elicits a strong emotional response, making a notable impact on the improvement of everyday life.
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.
About Virkkunen and Co Architects
Tuomas Kivinen is an architect and a partner at Virkkunen & Co Architects, a Helsinki-based office focusing on the industrial sector. He is the lead architect and principal designer of major projects at the firm. Kivinen’s goal is to design architecture that is appropriate for its location and based on a broad examination of the context and landscape. His design of Kalasatama Electricity Substation in Helsinki was awarded the Finnish Metal Facade of the Year 2019 prize.
Award Record
With this recognition, Virkkunen and Co Architects is a winner of 1 A' Design Award.
About the A' Architecture, Building and Structure Design Award
The A' Architecture Design Award is an international architectural design competition recognizing good architectural designs by best architects worldwide. The competition is organized within the A' Design Award & Competition and is open to architectural design studios, building contractors, structural engineering firms and architecture and design consultants from all countries. Entries typically include skyscrapers, museums, residential buildings, commercial complexes, educational institutions and religious structures. Awarded architectural projects are published at https://dezigners.org/design-category/architecture
About A' Design Award & Competition
A' Design Award & Competition is an international, juried design accolade organized annually since 2008. The competition is open to entries from all countries. The A' Design Award has a philanthropic mission to advance society through good design by recognizing and promoting superior products, projects and services that benefit society, and by creating a global awareness and appreciation for good design practices and principles. Entries are peer reviewed and anonymously evaluated by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members against predetermined criteria such as functionality, ergonomics, engineering, presentation, innovation, usability, sustainability and technology, with score normalization applied to remove biases. Awards are conferred at Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze and Iron levels. The A' Design Prize granted to eligible laureates includes the award trophy, the certificate of design excellence, the hardcover yearbook, a lifetime license to use the A' Design Award winner logo, exhibition of awarded works, an invitation to the gala night and award ceremony in Italy, inclusion in the World Design Rankings and Designer Rankings, and public relations and publicity services. Registration, the upload of a work and the preliminary score are free of charge, and Professional and Digital Edition laureates are not contractually obliged to pay further fees to claim the A' Design Prize. Further information is available at https://competition.adesignaward.com
Press Resources
- Winner Page: https://dezigners.org/120944
- A' Design Award Page: https://competition.adesignaward.com/120944
- Media Showcase: https://www.designnewsroom.com/!120944
- Laureate Profile: https://dezigners.org/d/302328
- Further Information from the Laureate: https://bit.ly/31yfWjp
Media Contact
Giulia Ferrari, Press Office
Designers.Org
Via Leone Leoni 32, 22100 Como, Italy
press@designers.org
+39 031 4491953
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Fact Sheet
The Work
- Project
- Imatra GIS Electricity Substation
- Function
- Electricity Substation
- Category
- Architecture, Building and Structure Design
- Discipline
- Spatial Design
- Industry
- Architecture
- Colors
- Light Steel Blue, Dark Slate Gray, Light Gray and Dim Gray
- Images
- 5
- Client
- Virkkunen & Co Architects
The Recognition
- Laureate
- Virkkunen and Co Architects
- Country
- Finland
- Recognition
- Silver A' Design Award
- Edition
- 2020 - 2021
- Design ID
- #120944
Credits
- Team
- Tuomas Kivinen, Anna Blomqvist and Maria Karjalainen
- Image Credits
- Photographer Tuomas Kivinen, 2020.; Photographer Tuomas Kivinen, 2021.
Design Details
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Realization and 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.
- Operation and Interaction
- 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.
- Project Duration and Location
- Project completed: 2020 Location: Imatra, Finland
- Specifications
- 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.
- Keywords
- infrastructure, architecture, landscape, electricity substation, transmission, power line, brick, concrete, steel
