Public utility building

Building housing infrastructure equipment

For the skyscraper named Public Utility Building in Bangalore, India, see Public Utility Building, Bangalore.

A public utility building (also known as infrastructure building, and utility building[1]) is a building used by a public utility to maintain its office or to house equipment used in connection to the public utility. Examples include pumping stations, gas regulation stations, and other buildings that house infrastructure components and equipment of water purification systems, water distribution networks, sewage treatment systems, electric power distribution, district heating, district heating, telephone exchanges, and public service telecommunication equipment.[2]

## Exterior design strategies[edit]

### Decorative cloak[edit]

Foundational waterworks style of Springhead Pumping Station Sacred atmosphere imposed by the design of Abbey Mills Pumping Station

After the industrial revolution, cities in the industrialized countries required to construct and maintain infrastructure facilities to support city growths. Modern water industry was one of the early types of city infrastructure that was born in the early 19th century out of that necessity. There were three types of structures that were unique to the water industry: pumping stations (including water and wastewater), water towers, and dams. In particular, the pumping stations that housed large steam engines in the 19th and early 20th centuries were built intentionally to be symbolic. The building architectures were to communicate a message to the public of safety and reliability, and express their functions. Building designs inherited from beam engine buildings required strong rigid walls and raised floor to support the engines, large arched and multi-story windows to let the light in without compromising wall strength, and roof ventilation such as decorative dormers. These functional features formed the principal of "waterworks style." An example of simple waterworks architectural style is Springhead Pumping Station. More elaborated designs were also used to communicate sacred atmosphere to highlight the importance of critical tasks of the facilities such as in sewage pumping stations. An example is Abbey Mills Pumping Station that employed baroque eclecticism in its design.[3]

The city infrastructure buildings in this period were more communicative and expressive with their own designs without having to conceal their locations from the public.[3] However, the internal machinery is not exposed to the view from public streets as the buildings provide a decorative "cloak" function.[1] Other examples are Radialsystem (Berlin, Germany sewage pumping station), Kempton Park engine house, Chestnut Hill Waterworks in Massachusetts, United States, Spotswood Pumping Station in Melbourne, Australia, Palacio de Aguas Corrientes in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Sewage Plant in Bubeneč, in Prague, Czech Republic, and R. C. Harris Water Treatment Plant in Toronto, Canada. These buildings are considered to be part of the world heritage in the water industry.[4]

Other types of infrastructure facilities had their unique architectural expressions as well. Those include gas supply, electrical supply and communication buildings.[5] An example for electrical substations is seen in a 1931 Commonwealth Edison substation at 115 North Dearborn Street in Chicago. The building completely encloses the equipment but the facade is decorated with a basrelief in Art Deco style.

### Functional and anonymous[edit]

Main article: Fake building

Many of these public utility buildings need to be close to the users. They may need to be in residential and commercial areas of the cities in which the public has an expectation of the areas to be aesthetically pleasing to attract residents and visitors. One strategy to hide unattractive equipment is to create enclosures or buildings with exterior designs to disguise and blend in to the neighboring buildings. The goal is to make the buildings not to stand out so that they can stay anonymous.[1] In some municipalities, this design decision is mandatory. For example, public utility buildings in residential zones of Montgomery County, Maryland are required to have exterior appearance of residential buildings.

Large scale implementations this design strategy is seen in Toronto and Washington, DC where the electric operators put electrical substations in buildings that are disguised as houses in the neighborhoods (also known as fake houses).[6][7]

Another example is the 23-story AT&T equipment building at 10 South Canal Street in Chicago. While the ground floor and the top floors have an appearance of a normal skyscraper, the middle 18 floors of the building are windowless concrete to protect the equipment. The architect designed rough-grooved concrete texture to disguise as windows of typical office buildings.[1]

### Inspire curiosity[edit]

Another strategy is to have exterior the buildings to blend in with the neighborhoods, but there are parts that reveal the existence of the equipment that is housed inside the building. This strategy is to provide aesthetic compatibility with the areas, but it does not hide the locations of such facilities. An example of this is Enwave Chiller Building at 137 South State Street in Chicago. The building has ground floor retailer that is compatible with the commercial area of the city, but the upper floors house the chillers, pipes, and water tanks which are seen to be too industrialized for the area. The architect sheathed the upper floors with precast concrete walls, glass blocks, and large rounded vents. While that hides the equipment behind the walls, it generates some curiosity for the passersby that the building may be industrial in nature. When the chillers work at night, the building is illuminated with blue light at the roofline to showcase that there is an ice making operation inside the building.[1]

### Open and transparent[edit]

West Campus Combined Utility Plant at the University of Chicago

In the 21st century, some utility operators started to recognize that the internal working machinery of the infrastructure can be seen as aesthetics to the public. Some infrastructure building designs were more transparent by incorporating glass walls, color-coded pipes, and light for night time illumination. Some examples of such architecture can be seen at the University of Chicago's South Campus Chilling Plant,[1] and West Campus Combined Utility Plant.[8]

## See also[edit]

* List of fake buildings

## References[edit]

1. ^ a b c d e f Masengarb, Jennifer; Dukes, Jesse (10 July 2016). "Hidden in Plain Sight: Inside Downtown Chicago's Windowless, Doorless Buildings". WBEZ. Retrieved 11 February 2024.
2. ^ "Public Utility Building". Zoningtrilogy.com. Retrieved 11 February 2024.
3. ^ a b Douet, James (1 January 1992). Temples of Steam Waterworks Architecture in the Steam Age. Bristol Polytechnic. ISBN 1871056659. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
4. ^ Douet, James (25 January 2018). The Water Industry as World Heritage (PDF). The International Committee for the Conservation of the Industrial Heritage. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
5. ^ Infrastructure: Utilities and Communication. Historic England. December 2017. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
6. ^ Mars, Roman; Kohlstedt, Kurt (10 May 2020). "See the secret buildings that make cities run". Fast Company. Retrieved 11 February 2024.
7. ^ Basch, Michelle (14 December 2017). "Concrete roofs and secret rooms: Local homes with forgotten past lives". WTOP News. Retrieved 11 February 2024.
8. ^ "West Campus Combined Utility Plant". The University of Chicago. Retrieved 11 February 2024.