After an intensive competition amongst international design firms, Benoy’s conceptual design of the 220 kV Yangtian Substation as part of the “International Competition on Landscape and Function Design of Substations in Guangzhou” stood out among 177 proposals from 8 countries including China, the United States, Germany and the UK. As a result, Benoy was one of the winning firms selected for the professional group and is pleased to collaborate on this project with the property owners, Guangzhou Municipal Planning and Natural Resources Bureau, and Guangzhou Power Supply Bureau of Guangdong Power Grid Company Limited.
In this year-long competition, numerous teams of well-known academics and master architects competed to design substations at 21 locations around the city, culminating in Benoy being selected as one of 15 winning teams in the professional group thanks to its “Phoenix Rebirth” design concept. Based on the goal of making new progress in four aspects, as put forward in the Guangzhou municipal government’s master plan to accelerate the regeneration of the old city, this substation competition is intended to resolve the problem of municipal public facilities through landscape and function enhancement, promoting their integration into the development of the urban landscape.
Gregory Kovacs, Design Director and Principal Project Director said, “We all know too well how such substations can become less than welcome, yet permanent, visitors in their neighbourhoods. How can this relationship be turned around to make these pieces of essential infrastructure a part of their neighbourhoods? Integrating them not only into the physical urban context but also into the social fabric? Our strategy was to capture some of the qualities of the tiny, abandoned village we found when we visited the site. We are building on that local material palette to create a series of layered walls that allow the substation to sit harmoniously within the surrounding natural and built environment. The layering of the walls activate the public spaces around them and create pockets of open spaces with diverse uses for the local community.”
Jinyoung Choi, Senior Architectural Designer and Project Leader added her thoughts on the design’s contribution to the local context, “This project is all about creating facilities to form a city and creating space to form a community.”
The project is located in Huangpu District, Guangzhou, which has been the gateway to South China since ancient times and boasts rich cultural heritage and historical relics. Legend has it that a phoenix flew to a village by the Pearl River to bathe, and this village gradually grew into the district that is now called “Huangpu”. In many ancient villages in Huangpu District, there is a great deal of traditional Lingnan-style architecture, from which the Benoy team drew inspiration for their design, which also reused old bricks from these villages to create a new landmark structure.
Inspired by a phoenix’s rebirth, the new substation uses traditional local building materials to gradually emerge from the surrounding landscape like a phoenix rising from the ashes. Benoy used cladding boards to create a three-dimensional effect like a phoenix’s feathers, conveying a subtle and serene beauty in the change of light and shadow. The layered walls are like the heavy clouds of the Baiyun Mountain gently unfolding, bringing traditional local materials back to life in a new creation.
Since this was a cultural renovation project that needed to reflect historic local heritage and architectural features, Benoy used broken bricks from old houses as aggregates for the concrete structure, creating a terracotta-like surface and a historical texture. Likewise, the walls of the different parts of the substation are made from traditional local building materials with a highly distinctive look: the retaining walls are decorated with paint, broken-brick aggregate concrete is used for the non-load bearing wall, and exposed concrete is used for the substation walls.
The non-load bearing wall blocks the view towards the waste disposal centre in the north-south direction but opens outward in the east-west direction, subtly integrating into the surrounding landscape to create a rich public space and multi-layered landscape that provides the public with a pleasant and comfortable outdoor leisure area. Amidst water features, rest areas, a sculpture park, garden and lawns, residents can appreciate the harmonious beauty of architecture and nature, surrounded by scenery that changes with each step.
Benoy’s design shatters the stereotype of the electrical substation, transforming it from an unwelcome urban presence into a public space that actively gives back to the community. The substation becomes a landmark building, while also providing residents with a back garden that is open to all. By giving the substation human value, contemporary energy and an updated look, as well as turning it into a popular place for community activities, Benoy has changed the design concept of conventional substations, bringing even more innovation and inspiration to the future design of public utilities.
We thank the client Guangzhou Municipal Planning and Natural Resources Bureau and Guangzhou Power Supply Bureau of Guangdong Power Grid Company Limited for their trust in our team and our partners Cundall and Steensen Varming for their collaboration and contribution to the project.
Project overview:
Scope of services: Architectural design
Category: Industrial Park substation, Cultural transformation project
Client: Guangzhou Municipal Planning and Natural Resources Bureau
Guangzhou Power Supply Bureau of Guangdong Power Grid Company Limited
Area: 14600m2
Principal project designer: Gregory Kovacs
Project leader: Jinyoung Chou
Design team: Eric Niemy, Edward Ge, Haiying Wang, Philip Li
