An electrical substation occupies a street corner in Arlington’s Crystal City neighbourhood. When Dominion Energy expanded the facility, Atelier Manferdini and local architect and engineer Dewberry used the perimeter to give the equipment enclosure a distinct presence on South Hayes and South Fern streets. The façade, completed in 2026, is called inVisible.

The lower band is made of glazed ceramic tiles in three sizes. Their changing scale alludes to the voltage conversions taking place inside, while a ten-colour palette moves across the wall. The studio used code to lay out the pattern, interrupting smooth colour transitions with clusters of contrasting tiles. At pavement level the individual pieces remain visible; from across the street they read as a continuous field.

Above the tilework, the design changes register. Folded anodised aluminium catches daylight on alternating faces, so the upper band changes with the angle of the sun and the position of the viewer. The two parts of the enclosure work at different scales: the tiles draw attention to the wall at walking distance, while the larger folds give the utility building a silhouette from farther away.

Programmable lighting changes the reading after dark. It picks out the folded surface and portions of the ceramic base, giving the corner a visible edge without exposing the machinery behind it. The result is a useful example of what a façade can do for a building with few conventional openings: it can give an otherwise closed perimeter depth, scale and a relationship to the street.

Cover photograph: Dave Huh / Dewberry. Project source and images.