Enel Challenges / Primary Substation
New design for sustainable Enel Primary Substation
UPDATE: The deadline for submissions has just been extended until December 20!
Abstract
Enel Grids is on calling designers, architects, engineers or inventors to reimagine its most iconic asset: Primary Substations!!
The Company is looking for a new design concept for the construction of this innovative sustainable building system that must have innovative features in terms of design, materials and construction, incorporating principles of sustainability within a circular design approach and better fit into the urban landscape.
Visit the official Enel Open Innovability® challenge page to participate.
Overview
Primary substations are infrastructures dedicated to the interconnection between high voltage and medium voltage in the electrical system and can be built in different environmental contexts whenever energy demand makes a primary substation needed. Therefore, primary substation can be inserted in urban contexts, both in the city center or peripheral quarters, or in rural environments belonging to different natural contexts (countryside, seaside, mountains etc.). Integration of such an industrial facility in different environments requires reconciling sustainability and technical aspects.
The challenge
The purpose of this challenge is the creation of new sustainable architectural concepts dedicated to Primary Substation. The primary goal of the challenge is the creation of a sustainable architectonic modular system that allows a high degree of versatility and replicability, a necessary requirement to adapt the buildings and architectural elements to the different contexts of use present in the territory. This system must be able to house all the required electrical equipment of the Primary Substations and at the same time shall improve the visual, functional and spatial impact of these installations and their surrounding areas.
Given the great variety of environments wherein the primary substations will be installed, the challenge provides four case-study sites to adopt as contexts of use for the development of the proposed solutions:
● urban contexts (large municipalities);
● semi-urban (small municipalities) or peripheral contexts;
● rural contexts, inland;
● rural contexts, coastal.
The competitors are asked to design architectural solutions for the visual impact of the technical area of the primary substation and, at the same time, to rethink the relation between the primary substation and the context of use, with the aim of avoiding or minimizing its environmental and social impact. The proposals should reimagine the primary substations as a whole, with a design consistent throughout all its components. The new design should be centered on the following key aspects:
1. Project modularity and replicability
2. Visual and sustainability impact
3. Communication
4. Sustainable materials and renewable energy
5. Innovative initiatives for Development Areas
6. E-mobility promotion
7. Social inclusion
8. Lighting
Proposals will be assessed by an independent jury of prestigious international experts in the fields of architecture, design and sustainability, including:
- Antonio Citterio Patricia Viel, an international architecture and interior design studio;
- Arup, a London Based multinational engineering consulting firm focused on sustainable built environment;
- Legambiente, an Italian non-profit environmental organization;
- CIID, Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design;
- EnSiel, an Italian consortium of Universities that operate on electric systems and facilities;
- IED Istituto Europeo di Design;
- Francesco Cascino Art Consultant.
Typology: Architectural Design | Deadline(updated): 20 December 2022 | Award: up to €40.000
