IMAGINE ENERGY infrastructure not merely as functional systems but as living cultural landscapes, public artworks and community playgrounds: bold beacons that brighten everyday life. Sustainable energy projects could become palaces for the people, nurturing social bonds, economic resilience and well-being, while spreading into decentralised corners as genuine hubs of communal life.
Just as theatres, galleries and parks are central to the UK’s social fabric, so too could energy and transport systems be civic, multipurpose and delightfully engaging.
With investment in the energy sector roughly doubling over the past five years, and government spending rising to meet net-zero and energy security goals, now is a rare chance to weave culture, imagination and infrastructure together.
If only battery storage facilities could pulse as nightclubs or hydro canals as floating theatres, alongside solar sculpture gardens, techno parkscapes and hydrogen refuelling stations, which metamorphose into centres for creativity and exchange. Integrating art, culture and community ensures systems that not only function but inspire and kindle shared civic pride.
Ben Hayes, Theo Games Petrohilos and Kaowen Ho are Founding Directors of Unknown Works, an architecture practice whose pioneering projects span a broad spectrum of typologies across Europe, the Middle East, Sub- Saharan Africa and Asia.
