Manchester, United Kingdom

Tonkin Liu has completed the Tower of Light—a 40-meter tall tower supporting and enclosing flues for a new low-carbon energy center in Manchester’s city center. 

The Tower of Light has recently been awarded a 2023 International Architecture Award by The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.

The project won a competition for a combined heat and power center in 2017, the new 349-square-meter new energy center is positioned in Manchester’s historic district. 

The biomimetic structure has been built on the decade-long innovation and research on shell lace structures, which was pioneered by the architects and by learning from geometries in nature.

The tower’s form is its strength. 

The super-light, super-thin single-surface structure uses the least material to achieve the most. 

The tower is constructed from 6 and 8mm thick flat steel sheets, tailored, laser-cut, then welded together to create a curved stiff strong surface. 

Modern methods of construction using advanced digital modeling, analysis, and fabrication, combined with principles of tailoring, have made the Shell Lace Structure innovation possible. 

This is the largest built shell lace structure to date.

The Wall of Energy is a 63-meter long, 4-6 meter high street façade enclosing the new energy center. 

The glazed ceramic tiles reflect light and movement from the clouds in the sky and the hustle and bustle of pedestrians and cars on the streets. 

The tessellated interlocking lozenge tile pattern evokes the dynamic energy of the earth’s movements, as seen in patterns left in the sand by ocean waves. 

The 31 different tile types produce undulations that increase in height, across a total of 1373 tiles. 

Contained within a structure inspired by nature, the technological working of the new energy center hall can be viewed through a long ribbon window.

Minimal energy is used to light the Tower of Light. 

During the day, polished reflectors inside the tower move in the wind, to reflect sunlight into the tower’s chambers and fill the tower with moving light. 

During the night, LED lights are directed at the reflectors to create animated, programmed light sequences every quarter of an hour, marking the passage of time. 

The Wall of Energy reflects the light of moving clouds and car headlights on the street, as well as being animated with integrated programmed light at night. 

On landmark dates across the year, the Tower and Wall are illuminated together with colors to mark cultural celebrations.

Tonkin Liu worked with locally based fabricators to deliver both the tower and the wall. 

The tower was fabricated by Shawton Engineering, where the final stitch-welding was reserved for the most experienced hands of two veteran welders. 

The ceramic tiles were fabricated by Darwen Terracotta, one of the UK’s oldest and most respected terracotta companies.

With the opening of the Civic Quarter Heat Network (CQHN) and Energy Centre, Manchester’s Civic Quarter is provided with low carbon energy, across the 2 km network providing a highly efficient source of heat and power. 

The Energy Centre contains a 3.3MWe CHP engine and two 12MW gas boilers, with the capability to add future energy technologies without disruption to the supply. 

The heat from the power-generating CHP engine is harnessed to create hot water, distributed through insulated district pipework across the city network. 

The technology improves energy efficiency by as much as 45%, saving Manchester 1,600 tonnes of carbon emissions each year, and contributing toward the city’s goal of becoming zero carbon by 2038. 

The completed Tower of Light and Wall of Energy create a prominent new gateway into Manchester’s historic district. 

Together they form a holistic energy landmark that engages communities with the innovative technologies at the heart of Manchester’s low-carbon ambition and Climate Change Action Plan.

Project: Tower of Light and Wall of Energy
Architects: Tonkin Liu 
Lighting Design: SEAM Design
Façade Contractor: Axis Envelope Solutions
Steelwork Fabricator: Shawton Engineering 
Terra Cotta Manufacturers: Darwen Terracotta
Clients: Manchester City Council and Vital Energi
Photographers: David Valinsky, Michael Tonkin, and Mathew Burnett