Founded in 1908, Danish furniture manufacturer Carl Hansen & Son is largely known for using natural materials, relying on refined design and the unblemished beauty of raw wood, wicker and leather to tell each piece’s individual…
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A celebrated innovator in material design and a pioneer in the school of thought that designers should work side-by-side with engineers, over the last 88 years Bang & Olufsen has released some of the most iconic…
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Modular panels fold around the exterior of this electricity station in rural Denmark by Scandinavian firm C. F. Møller (+ slideshow).
C. F. Møller was commissioned by Danish energy company Energinet to design the gas-insulated switchgear (GIS) station, used to control the flow of electricity on its way from Dutch wind farms to the Danish areas where it will be used.
The project forms part of a wider government scheme to upgrade the visual appearance of the country’s power grid.
The first switchgear station has been built in Vejen from prefabricated wooden components on a steel frame.
“Since it is a design concept and the first in a series of new stations, the exterior cladding is something that can be varied according to the location and context,” architect Julian Weyer told Dezeen.
“The first station now completed is clad in pre-weathered zinc panels, chosen mainly for their low maintenance, good recycling potential and the interesting play of light as reflected on the folded surfaces,” Weyer added.
Each modular unit of the exterior has a sloping roof and sides that triangulate to add stability.
They create a row of gill-like openings ranged along the sides of the structure, admitting daylight and allowing glimpses of the GIS units from the outside.
“With the progressing daylight, the folded surface creates an ever-changing play of shadows, altering its appearance all day long and all year round,” said the architects.
Exposed wooden fibreboard panels line the interior, contributing to the acoustics of the building.
Other projects we’ve featured by C. F. Møller include a proposal for the world’s tallest timber-framed building, an art and craft museum with a frosted glass exterior and illuminated fracture lines and a state prison in the format of a small village.
Other infrastructure projects featured on Dezeen include a combined power plant and ski slope that blows smoke rings, a biomass power station covered in panels planted with indigenous grasses and pylons shaped like giants marching across the landscape.
See more architecture and design by C. F. Møller »
See more stories about infrastructure architecture »
Here’s some information from the architects:
Gas-insulated Switchgear Stations
The Danish Parliament wishes to upgrade the visual appearance of the Danish power grid. Therefore, C. F. Møller has been hired to create a new design concept for switchgear stations for
Energinet.dk. The first 400 kW station is now ready for operation.
As a result of the new design concept, Energinet.dk has decided not to construct a new large open-air switchgear station in Vejen, Jutland, but instead build a gas-insulated switchgear station – also called a GIS station.
The idea of the design concept has been to give the technical enclosure of the station, placed in the open landscape, a distinct architectonic profile, and at the same time maximise the future flexibility.
This GIS (gas-insulated switchgear) station is one of the nerve centres in the Danish power grid, through which increasing volumes of sustainable energy – mostly wind power – will be transported.
The GIS station is an important part of 175 kilometres of new 400 kW high voltage cable running from Kassø in Southern Jutland to Tjele in central Jutland.
The link has been built to upgrade the power grid and to ensure that wind power from Danish wind farms is transported to the areas where it is needed. The GIS station is linked to a total of six aerial cable systems.
The enclosure has been designed as a series of modules, each consisting of a lightweight shell with a slanted roof and a folded exterior surface which adds lateral stability. Arranged in series, the modules create a transparent, gill-like envelope with triangular openings, letting ample daylight into the interior and allowing glimpses of the GIS units at the heart of the building.
All this gives the design an unmistakeable and strong sculptural and facetted identity. With the progressing daylight, the folded surface creates an ever-changing play of shadows, altering its appearance all day long and all year round.
Client: Energinet.dk
Size: 1,650 m² (450 m²workshops and 1,200 m² GIS building)
Address: Vandmøllevej 10, Revsing, 6600 Vejen in Denmark (and various sites across Denmark)
Year of project: 2010-2013
Design architects: C. F. Møller Architects
Executive architect: Kærsgaard & Andersen
Landscape: C. F. Møller Architects
The post Switchgear Stations
by C. F. Møller appeared first on Dezeen.
Best known for their smart, minimal home furnishings, Denmark’s Normann Copenhagen recently took a step into the drinkable design category with the introduction of a line of 12 teas. Contained in colorful, reusable tins with graphics by designer ,…
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by Adam Štěch As the year rolls forward many furniture and lightning brands continue to show an interest in reissuing historical design artifacts of decades past. Large or small, most producers comprising the design market now present some form of forgotten or previously discontinued elements of design. To offer…
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Named for the Latin motto “nec plus ultra” (literally, “nothing farther beyond”), Henrik Vibskov’s latest effort “Neck Plus Ultra” is a continuation of his AW 2013 show, “The Stiff Neck Chamber.” Taking place in an elaborate space—a forest of upside down long necks that can be identified as black…
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Johan Bülow gets to the sweet root of licorice
In 2007, Johan Bülow launched Lakrids, intent on making the world fall in love with licorice. Though it’s a much-loved Danish ingredient, licorice has always had a polarizing reputation abroad and Bülow was well aware. Wisely, he steered his efforts away from traditional candy applications and focused instead on…
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Sampled sounds from an Arctic ghost town comprise the unlikely music on Efterklang’s new album
Perpetually in search of new possibilities in the realm of music, the trio behind the Danish band Efterklang set out on a sound-seeking mission last August to the remote island of Spitsbergen to create their fourth album, Piramida. Over the course of their nine-day expedition on the Arctic isle—one…
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Voici ces enceintes de la marque danoise Libratone au look épuré et doté d’une connectivité sans fil « Airplay ». Elles sont conçus en bois laqué et s’habillent de housses en tissus. Pour l’occasion, Fubiz vous permet de gagner un exemplaire Libratone Live en édition limitée par tirage au sort dans les commentaires.
Concours
Pour obtenir le modèle Libratone Live en édition limitée (valeur 700 euros) : par retweet du compte Twitter, en rejoignant la page Facebook Fubiz et enfin par tirage au sort dans les commentaires jusqu’au 5 août minuit.
Denmark’s notoriously conceptual fashion designer in a new book spanning boobies to mint
The new self-titled book from Henrik Vibskov is a lot like his work—slightly haphazard yet cohesive; purposeful, but ultimately entertaining. Since graduating from London’s Central St. Martins in 2001, the Danish designer has penetrated the regimented fashion industry with a distinct style that bucks conventionality and traditional seasons in favor of more conceptual shows and collections that reflect his artistically driven mind.
“Henrik Vibskov” the book is set up to explore these themes and his larger creative oeuvre in a natural progression, starting with a preface split between five contributors that loosely alerts readers to the collage-like layout that lies ahead. The collaborative foreword is written by Vibskov’s brother Per, German professor of experimental fashion design Dorothea Mink, New Museum deputy director Keren Wong, Danish artist Jørgen Leth and Röhsska Museum director Ted Hesselbom. Together they shed a little insight on Vibskov while referencing five keywords that help define his career—”donkey”, “boobies”, “mint”, “tank” and “shrink wrap”. Before delving fully into what these words mean, social anthropologist Camilla R. Simpson offers a more serious biography in the three-page essay “The Vibskov Scenario”, which is followed by an equally extensive but completely different story—novelist Jokum Rohde’s “Science-Fiction Noir”, an imaginary work that draws from Vibskov’s various show titles over the years.
From there Vibskov takes over, detailing his career to date with randomly ordered sketches, candid commentary, inspiration shots and behind-the-scenes images of his shows and art installations (which are sometimes one in the same). While slightly confusing at first, the arrangement actually works out well and fans will enjoy how the book mimics the same sentiment expressed in his bizarre ensembles. At first glance there is a lot going on on the page, but further inspection reveals a beautiful chaos. As Wong comments in the preface, Vibskov’s work is always full of contradiction—to her, he simultaneously evokes confidence and humor, and inspires performance and relaxation.
The layout also shows how his projects continue to evolve and more importantly, how many different artistic elements they incorporate. Stating in his short note at the beginning that this is a book “mainly based on visual materials”, Vibskov, who is also a serious drummer, shows how his vision applies to a myriad of media. For example, an over-sized blue cardigan sweater from his A/W 2008 collection, “The Mint Institute”, is featured on the page opposite his explanation of “Drumming Friday”, a concept initiated in 2007 where Vibskov and musician Mikkel Hess send out a text message asking who wants them to stop by. They then hit the streets with their drums while donning blue plastic tarps. In 2009 he employed the same shade of blue in his S/S collection called “The Tent City”.
Vibskov notes that in retrospective they should have named that show “The Tent City Blues”, but it isn’t until 20 pages later that he speaks candidly about the importance of show titles. “I think in general it’s nice to have bizarre, twisted names for the collections, and actually we end up spending a lot of time talking and discussing what the name of the collection should be,” he writes. After emailing around for ideas, he lets it hang there for a few weeks and typically makes the decision at the last minute, which, he says “mostly works out well”.
Leaving things to chance to work out well seems like a modest understatement for the industrious designer. By allowing his imagination to lead the way and exploring fields outside of fashion, his collections are highly original and fully developed, making his one of the most honest and interesting labels to watch.
“Henrik Vibskov” sells online in Europe and soon the US from Amazon and Gestalten.
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