Critical infrastructure encompasses the systems and structures essential to the functioning of our society. These may support economic or social functions, such as health, transport, energy, information, food supply, or security, and architecture plays a central role in many of these domains. When buildings that support critical functions fail to operate, the consequences extend beyond the site itself, potentially compromising public safety or interrupting access to vital resources.
UdforskLarge scale and colourful industrial design in Asnæs Power Plant
Energy & Industry
The Asnæs Power Station, Unit 5
Kalundborg, Denmark
Unit 5 at the Asnæs Power Station was one of the first Danish energy facilities influenced by the growing awareness that large infrastructural constructions may be designed to enhance our visual environment.
At the time of its construction, the Asnæs Power Station was Denmark’s largest. It consists of an older section from the 1960s with four production units that appear as a single building with four smokestacks. The newest section, which opened in 1981, is entirely different. This was partly due to technological advances, but it was also because the buildings had undergone a more thorough architectural treatment.
Client
Dong Energy A/S
Status
Completed
Size
15000 m2
Year
1981
Areas of Expertise
Photos
Gottlieb Paludan Architects
The boiler in Unit 5 can burn oil as well as coal. The smoke passes through a series of cleaning units before being exhausted to the 220-metre smokestack. Electricity is produced by a turbine and a generator located in a lower building that stands next to the much taller boiler house.
Rising to a height of 82 metres, the boiler house is built up around six hollow, reinforced concrete columns, each with an area of about 30 m2. These large, hollow columns serve as shafts for lifts, stairs, technical installations and air ducts, and they support a console 68 metres above the ground floor. This console in turn supports the steel structure from which the 5,000 ton boiler is suspended.
A powerful colour scheme has been maintained for three decades, effectively promoting the perception of Unit 5 and the surrounding buildings as a harmonious whole.
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Energy facilities and industrial buildings are key to the green transition. We design technical infrastructure that combines function, safety, and aesthetics – adding value for both people and their surroundings.
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Thomas Bonde-Hansen
Creative DirectorArchitect MAA
tbh@gottliebpaludan.com+45 4171 8297