Rui Grazina
Architecture+Design

The main concept for the City of Ames Power Plant Landmark Challenge proposal was that of a box that encloses the main body of the existing Power Plant and that transforms it into a completely new urban object, and a new reference point for the region.

Taking the higher part of the existing Plant as reference, we proposed a structure around it consisting of vertical stainless steel sheets of 3m length per 0.3m width, and repeated all around the perimeter. Each one of this vertical sheets is connected to a support in the existing wall, in a way that its able to rotate along its main vertical axis. By the changing wind conditions, each one of the 7775 vertical sheets is set onto different

By day the image will be one of bright, shifting steel elements, reflecting the sunlight in different angles and with different intensities. At night the exterior lights will be reflected in different angles by the rotating vertical sheets. The image that we try to convey is one of an ever changing image - an ever changing facade.