Kebag Enova
Credits
Company / Customer
kenova AG
Designer
Penzel Valier
Year
2025
Location
Emmenspitz, 4528 Zuchwil (Schweiz)
Disciplines
Architecture
Category
Corporate
Award
Best of Best
Details
The power station is divided into two parts: a solid plinth containing the main infrastructure and the machinery above it. This improves functional clarity and balance. The technical facilities rest on the base and are enclosed in a lightweight shell, not unlike a car body. A glazed band marks the transition and offers glimpses into the impressive machine hall.
The Jury‘s Statement
The waste treatment plant with its solar power plant in the Swiss municipality of Zuchwil looks like a concrete sculpture. It supplies the town and the region at the southern foot of the Jura Mountains with electricity and heat, and its wedge-shaped chimney is a well-known landmark, visible from far away. It was designed by Zurich-based architects Penzel Valier on behalf of kenova AG in a simple but powerful visual language. The combination of exposed concrete construction with a large-scale photovoltaic façade is an ingenious solution that emphasises the spatial concept of a base structure – which houses the delivery and temporary waste storage areas – and the technical equipment located above it.
