The Visible Wind

An offshore substation integrating interactive oceanographic experiences

Fall 2023 @ Yale (Published in Yale Retrospecta 47)

Block Island, Rhode Island

The project defines a more active and integral role of electricity in the urban life. It aims to activate the typically invisible urban infrastructures to create a multifaceted atmosphere that visualizes the significance of electricity and interacts with people seamlessly. An offshore substation is integrated with an oceanography museum and institute to showcase various aspects of the ocean, including physical features, climate, ecosystems, and offshore electricity both locally and globally. One to one relationships are created between the infrastructural and the public spaces to make both more vibrant and interactive and contribute to an integrated wind power smart grid system.

Site Plan

The project serves as a mediator between the ocean and the Great Salt Pond of Block Island, a highly productive area while facing environmental threats posed by boating activities. With over 2000 boats arriving daily during the summer season, there are issues like invasive species, rising levels of nitrogen, and bacteria endanger the pond.

Offshore substation is an urban infrastructure that’s necessary but not typically aesthetic and is used mainly for power transmission only. They are hidden away from daily life and we don’t even realize when we pass by them. Thus the intervention develops new opportunities to transform it into vibrant spaces interacting actively with public programs, including interactive display, high voltage lab, energy storage for boat batteries, pipeline art visualizing the reuse of excessive heat, transparent smart grid control center etc.

Preliminary Research: Rhode Island Oyster Map