Beloit College Powerhouse Wins WAFX Reuse Award from the World Architecture Festival
September 28, 2018
“The World Architecture Festival (WAF) has revealed the winners of ten WAFX prizes … awarded to future projects that identify key ecological and societal challenges that architects are actively seeking to address over the next ten years. These challenges span diverse topic areas including climate change, energy saving and carbon emissions, water wastage and shortage, ageing populations and health issues, reusable materials, smart cities, building technology, cultural identity, ethics and power and justice. … Transforming a former power plant into a student union and recreation facility, Studio Gang’s Beloit College Powerhouse Project seeks to replace an old model of energy with a new model to support the health and wellbeing of its many inhabitants. The Powerhouse is designed to become a centre for human energy, activity and health. Nestled between the Rock River and the college’s campus, the Powerhouse will serve as a recreational resource and a community forum, all the while fostering a public connection to the riverfront – embracing it rather than polluting it – that foregrounds the connection between human and environmental health. The judges were impressed not only with the repurposing of its cavernous industrial spaces, but with how the project maximises its riverfront location, utilising river water to manage the temperature of the building whilst also significantly minimising total energy use.”
