| Background

This Waste Power Plant in the mountains of Chengdu, was designed in the initial stage of Atelier-Sizhou, and we hope to explore the public and landscape nature of conventional industrial buildings in our design, and to make industrial buildings relevant to the daily life of the city. 

| Design Concept

The Waste Power Plant differs from cultural and commercial buildings in that it has clear logistics, process flows, and equipment. As a "container" building, its architectural dimensions and height cannot be designed using traditional approaches, such as varying through the connection of circulation routes or the combination of functions. Therefore, what we can do is to make this "container" more acceptable to the public.

Since the volume of the building was clearly defined at the initial design stage and cannot be changed (Figure 3), we believe that reducing the original building's sense of massive scale is the breakthrough for this design. Reducing the building's height is the first step; we transformed the nearly 50-meter industrial building scale into a cultural building scale. At the same time, as the existing park is excavated from the mountain, we hope to restore the feeling of the mountain's incline in terms of space.

In this way, by restoring the "plates" of the mountain, we formed two parts of the space, "above" and "below" (Figure 4). Below the "mountain" is the working circulation route, and above the "mountain" is the tour and visitation route. Normal production and power generation occur below the "mountain," while above it forms a completely open and natural public space. The upper and lower parts can be connected by several vertical transportation links, but they do not interfere with each other, allowing two groups of people to find their own places. Meanwhile, people on the "mountain" can look down through the main plant area's glass, and the entire process and technology are in full view. Relying on the landscape and mountain resources, the upper part forms various functions for gatherings, sports, exhibitions, and education. The two parts rely on each other and complement each other. At the same time, it is difficult to define industrial buildings/cultural buildings anymore, but rather serve the respective groups.

The entire building, from the park to the factory building, to the smaller chimneys, and small squares, has a great change in scale. We used a highly inclusive triangular topological figure to simplify the entire presentation. This allows the extremely rich spatial elements to be simplified on a macro level, but the details are rich and varied.

Although the "design" margin for industrial buildings is usually very small, we still grafted the concept of social operation, using the sense of scale as an entry point to make the industry more open and integrated, and to provide an "interface" for the social resources to be embedded in the industrial space in use. Just like its content, "making waste can generate electricity." From negative and passive to positive empowerment.

This conceptual design has reached a consensus at the planning and administrative departments, owner leaders, and industrial design units, but unfortunately, it cannot be further promoted due to objective reasons such as funding and cycle.