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Architecture studio EFFEKT has created a charging station for electric vehicles in Sønderborg, Denmark, which is designed as a park with gardens and seating areas.
Called Better Energy Charge, the park is a pilot project for renewable energy company Better Energy and is located alongside a solar farm on the company’s R&D campus.
According to EFFEKT, the aim is to demonstrate how to “transform the conventional petrol station into a park” where visitors can unwind.
Looking to create a pleasant space for users to rest while their vehicles charge, the park’s charging points have been positioned around wildflower gardens, wooden benches and an arched, cross-laminated timber (CLT) canopy.
“A main idea was to offer the drivers a chance to recharge mentally while they wait for their cars to charge,” EFFEKT creative director Sinus Lynge told Dezeen.
“Therefore, the entire station is designed as a drivable garden with an inviting and playful roof structure reminiscent of a classic garden pavilion, offering a completely different experience than what we associate with traditional gas stations,” he added.
Supported by large timber arches, the CLT canopy shelters the southern end of the charging park and contains a glazed showroom area where information about renewable energy is displayed for users.
A staircase leads up to a small platform on the canopy’s green roof, where visitors are given a view over the surrounding Better Energy campus.
To the north, a paved area features areas of planting with flowers and trees that are wrapped by wooden benches. These help to demarcate parking areas on either side of the charging points.
“We wanted the pavilion’s design to be organic and inviting, much like Danish furniture classics,” said Lynge. “We have used nature’s own materials – the construction is built in cross-laminated timber,” he added.
The timber structure was constructed with a modular grid system, allowing it to be easily extended, downsized or dismantled or repurposed in the future.
“The design concept is meant to be scaled to many different locations,” Lynge told Dezeen.
“The design and construction system, utilizing a modular grid, is intended for expansion across Northern Europe, [and] work is already underway for station number two, with an anticipated opening at the end of 2024,” he added.
Better Energy Charge is one of the first stations to implement a dynamic pricing scheme, which incentivises users to charge their vehicles when there is the most renewable energy available in the grid.
Based in Copenhagen, EFFEKT is an architecture studio founded by architects Sinus Lynge and Tue Foged in 2007. Its previous projects include Norway’s first treetop walkway and a maritime academy with an exposed concrete frame.
The photography is by Rasmus Hjortshøj.
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