Imatra Electricity Substation

Imatra Electricity Substation
© Tomi Parkkonen

IMATRA ELECTRICITY SUBSTATION

Virkkunen & Co Architects

AREA
965 m²

PHOTOGRAPHS
Max Plunger, Tuomas Kivinen, Tomi Parkkonen

MANUFACTURERS
Petersen Tegl

CATEGORY
Infrastructure

LOCATION
Imatra, Finland

PROJECT MANAGER
Fingrid Oyj

LEAD DESIGNER
Tuomas Kivinen

BIM MODELING, ASSISTANT ARCHITECT
Maria Karjalainen

ARCHITECT
Anna Blomqvist

BUILDING OWNER
Fingrid Oyj

YEAR
2020

Text description provided by architect.

The project is composed of an electricity substation building and five transmission towers and terminals in Imatra in Eastern Finland.

Imatra Electricity Substation
© Tuomas Kivinen
Imatra Electricity Substation
© Tuomas Kivinen

The project extends over two tributaries of the river Vuoksi and the culturally significant landscape of Imatrankoski rapids. The rapids were harnessed for power generation in the 1920s when the Imatra hydropower plant was constructed.

This landmark industrial site was also the starting point of the first part of the Finnish main power grid.

Imatra Electricity Substation
© Max Plunger
Imatra Electricity Substation
© Max Plunger
Imatra Electricity Substation
© Max Plunger

The historical significance of the area was why our client, the main grid operator Fingrid Oyj, pursued an exceptional substation facility.

The outstanding feature of the old hydropower plant buildings' red brick-clad facades is the rhythmic arrangement of window bays and doors.

Imatra Electricity Substation
© Max Plunger
Imatra Electricity Substation
© Max Plunger

Rhythm also became the main feature of the new substation facades and powerline structures.

The old air-insulated switchgear, completed in 1929, was coming to the end of its operational life cycle and had to be replaced with gas-insulated switchgear housed in a new substation building.

Imatra Electricity Substation
© Max Plunger
Imatra Electricity Substation
© Max Plunger

New powerline structures replaced old lattice-type towers to the east and west of the new substation. Besides the location of the new powerlines, the scale and coordinates of the old hydropower plant buildings were primary factors in the positioning and layout of the new substation building.

The lower floor of the substation is set underground to match the height of the nearest section of the old power plant.

Imatra Electricity Substation
© Max Plunger
Imatra Electricity Substation
© Max Plunger

The design of the new transmission structures also seeks balance with the built and natural landscape, with all but one tower being lower than surrounding trees.

The new substation building has a concrete frame and double-skin facades.

Imatra Electricity Substation
© Max Plunger
Imatra Electricity Substation
© Max Plunger

The outermost facade layer consists of hand-made long bricks laid in a zigzag profile, a motif which the building shares with the triangular steel profiles of the new powerline towers and terminals.

The inner layer of the double facade consists of in-situ and prefabricated concrete walls cut by a continuous strip window set behind the brick lattice.

Imatra Electricity Substation
© Max Plunger
Imatra Electricity Substation
© Tuomas Kivinen

Inside the building, the main process equipment room and the lobby receive natural light via the clerestory window strip through which the brick lattice of the double facade can be seen.

Imatra Electricity Substation
© Tuomas Kivinen
Imatra Electricity Substation

The interior is defined by the structural logic, detailing, and materiality of the exposed, prefabricated concrete parts.

Imatra Electricity Substation
© Tuomas Kivinen
Imatra Electricity Substation
© Max Plunger
Imatra Electricity Substation
© Max Plunger
Imatra Electricity Substation
© Max Plunger

The project features three types of transmission structures: a tall tower with vertically arranged cross-arms, two low pylons with a horizontal configuration of cross-arms, and two terminals that connect overhead lines with underground cables.

The structures consist of prefabricated sections of triangular steel profiles in repetitive arrangements.

The various parts of Imatra Electricity Substation are spread over a large area, and the main design challenge was to form a coherent whole that fits in the setting.

Imatra Electricity Substation
© Max Plunger
Imatra Electricity Substation
© Tomi Parkkonen
Imatra Electricity Substation
© Tomi Parkkonen
Imatra Electricity Substation
© Tuomas Kivinen

The design breaks apart aspects of the built context and reassembles them in a new abstracted form.

The derived design language gives a unified identity to the new project and places it in the context.


Imatra Electricity Substation
Plan - Mechanical room
Imatra Electricity Substation
Plan - Ground floor
Imatra Electricity Substation
Plan
Imatra Electricity Substation
Plan - Site


Imatra Electricity Substation
Section
Imatra Electricity Substation
Section - Cross
Imatra Electricity Substation
Section - Area
Imatra Electricity Substation
Detail
Imatra Electricity Substation
Detail
Imatra Electricity Substation
Detail


Imatra Electricity Substation
Elevation - Northeast
Imatra Electricity Substation
Elevation - Northwest


Imatra Electricity Substation
Diagram