Mad White
Summary
This original building located in the city of Palencia in northern Spain is part of a larger structure that remains hidden underground. The whole represents a new energy infrastructure for the city. The district heating network is promoted by DH Ecoenergías, a pioneer of the energy transition in Spain. It is the first in a series of similar projects in a form like an industrial cathedral, which aim to decarbonise a large part of the country’s urban areas by changing the heating system to fossil fuels – diesel and gas – in order to replace them with a clean network powered by renewable energy sources.
The district heating network runs under the streets of Palencia, supplying hot water from renewable energy sources – mainly forest biomass – to buildings in much of the city. The central station, on the other hand, has a technical function but, at the same time, a clearly desired pedagogical significance: to make the transformation visible and to support and enable its dissemination. This dual condition requires approaching the issue of industrial construction not just as a strictly functional issue, where only the economic viability of the building matters, but in a more broadly architectural way.
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