Lauttasaari Electrical Substation
The substation is located on a narrow site in an urban setting with a mix of residential and office buildings surrounding the building. Following the masterplan of the area, the substation buildings are placed close to one edge of the property, leaving a service yard on the other side, facing an adjacent office building.
The station houses two large transformers that have a substantial fire loading and therefore need to be contained within a robust concrete envelope. Due to the site conditions, the maintenance doors are located on one side of the buildings.
Based on these functional aspects, the architecture shelters the surrounding context, and also opens up to allow maintenance of the process equipment and the buildings. As a result, the walls facing out are of in-situ concrete, and on the service yard side the facades are clad with a grille in weathering steel.