Graber Pulver Architekten

Description

The brief here was to find a specifically urban architectural approach to an unusual infrastructure complex (waste recycling plant plus combined cycle power station). The extensive spatial programme specified in the competition already gave an idea of the tremendous output with which the facility today supplies a portion of the city’s energy needs. The design lines up all plant components in a 300-meter long, differentiated volume, thus abstractly mapping on the exterior the linear process taking place inside. Concrete, both in-situ and prefabricated, lends the power station the monumental majesty of a cargo ship that seems to have anchored in the forest and can be seen far and wide. A visitor centre and a long, colourful circulation corridor with views of the high-tech workings inside the processing halls give visitors an idea of the complex processes involved in today’s energy production and explain in an engaging manner the current socially relevant topics of energy supply and waste disposal.