Lütjens

Padmanabhan

Architekt*innen

Unterfeld

The new subsystem building forms a striking figure, opening up towards the landscape and connecting the sky and the earth.

Unterfeld

The guiding motif for the design for the Unterfeld hydroelectric substation derives from natural water life cycle.

Unterfeld

Throughout the year, rainwater flows from the roof over the façades, and seeps into the ground and returns to Lake Zug.

Unterfeld

This circularity, coupled with the lake-water cycle of the BBW, provides a second water loop, forming a sensorial intertwinement of nature and architecture.

Unterfeld

Together with an existing electric substation, the new Unterfeld Lake Water Sub Station forms a pair in the fluvial plain near Lake Zug.

Unterfeld

Its simple modular steel construction is flexible and open to future changes.

Unterfeld

The building gives expression to a sustainable technology of energy production that would otherwise remain invisible.

Unterfeld

Flowers, herbs and bushes grow between the façade’s staggered eternit plates, combining a geometric idea of nature with literal presence of the natural world.

Unterfeld

The plant life is curated to correspond to the alpine microclimates depending on their specific exposure to the sun.

Unterfeld

Geometry and organic natural form meet in unexpected ways.

Unterfeld

The completion of the building coincides with the beginning of the plant’s growth.

Unterfeld

Like in natural geometry, the buildings’ presence in the landscape remains elusive and without scale.

The theme of the design for the Unterfeld Energy Centre is the circulation of water. The plant is part of the Circulago thermal grid, generating district heating and cooling from the water of Lake Zug and thus supplying the city of Zug.

The new Energy Centre is equipped with a facade that brings both the technical cycle and the natural water cycle alive. All year round, rainwater flows from the roof over the facades, seeps into the ground and returns to Lake Zug via the stream. This second water cycle results in a delightful fusing of nature and architecture with each other.

The new Energy Centre creates a striking, upward-opening shape in the countryside surroundings. It links the sky with the earth. Its geometric gesture appears both natural and artificial, fragile and powerful.

The surface enclosing the building consists of layered Eternit panels. Nestled in the cavities are planters, in which grasses, flowers and shrubs grow, transforming the clear-cut form of the facade into artificial cliffs. The separation between architecture and nature seems vanquished, creating a new unison between constructional order and natural form.

2021–2024
Location: Zug, Switzerland
Programme: Facade, Energy Centre Unterfeld
Client: WWZ Energie AG, Zug
Competition: 1st Prize
Project Status: Built