We are excited to announce that the Benoy project, Guangzhou Yangtian Substation 220-kV, has been shortlisted at 2022 WAN Awards in the Future Projects — Urban Design category.
The World Architecture News Awards (WAN Awards) is the largest international architectural awards programme recognising outstanding projects by architects and designers around the world.
The winners for each category will be announced virtually on 16 — 17 November. You can find out more about the awards and view the full shortlist for 2022 here.
Guangzhou Yangtian Substation 220-kV
Electric substations are often on the periphery; while it provides essential infrastructure to any neighbourhood, they are rarely a place where people congregate. Our goal was to change this mindset and subvert those of conventional substations. To pave the way for a new generation of public-facing infrastructure.
Located in Huangpu District, Guangzhou, this substation competition is intended to integrate into both physical urban context and social fabric while capturing the local historical heritage in the area. Covering a total area of 14,600 m2, the project will be built on the local material palette to create a series of layered walls that allow the substation to sit harmoniously within the surrounding natural and built environment.
Inspired by a phoenix’s rebirth, Benoy designed a series of blade structures using repurposed crushed bricks from the old houses of an abandoned village as the aggregate of the concrete structure to achieve a terracotta-like surface and a historical texture. The use of cladding boards creates a highly distinctive 3‑dimensional illusion of a phoenix’s feathers, conveying a subtle and serene beauty in the change of light and shadow.
Viewing from the front, the blade structures will appear layered, creating an abstract landscape appearance seen in traditional landscape painting. From the west side of the park, each blade structure opens up into pocket spaces of different zones; Seating Area, Water Scape, Sculpture Park and Garden.
In 2021, Benoy was recognised for three projects from China and the UK in mixed-use and urban design categories. Discover the winning projects here.
