Enel's WinDesign contest traces the future of wind energy, thanks to projects that rethink plants in their aesthetic form, namely through vertical turbines, flower-shaped systems, mirror-clad towers, aerodynamic biplanes and tuning forks tuned to the flow of the wind. This way, production efficiency can be achieved in harmony with the territory, a concrete response to the so-called nimby effect.
Today at MAXXI (Italy's National Museum of XXI Century Arts) Enel Group CEO Flavio Cattaneo presented the awards to the three winners of the Group's international contest aimed at giving a new look to wind energy with innovative and sustainable proposals.
THE AWARDS
"Powering the Future", by Mario Cucinella as designer and Robert Bird Group as engineering consultant, is the winning project that leveraged on the intuition of a vertical structure composed of hypnotic lowerable sails. The second place went to "WindBioma + WindBloom" by Hope Engineering, which focused on the suggestion of reflective surfaces collecting water to support wildlife. "LA3 + Aria", designed by the TECTOO architecture studio and the engineering company Buromilan, ranked third; the project is focused on technology and lighting as well as on the reduction of visual impact and land use. Three special prizes were also awarded: "Design" to the architect Queena Le with the project "Aeris + Bloom"; "Technical and Economic Feasibility" to O'Sullivan Studio with the "Horizon + Sylva" turbines and finally "Innovation and Sustainability" to the Etesias+Rithem startups with the "Ecospire + Ecoline" project.
THE CONTEST
Launched by Enel in spring 2025, WinDesign has brought together architectural firms, engineering companies, businesses, start-ups, universities and students from all over the world, with the aim of collecting innovative ideas and cutting-edge solutions, with a view to possible future development, in order to give a new look to sustainable energy. WinDesign was the most popular contest ever launched by Enel, thanks in part to an open and collaborative approach based on Open Innovability®, the online crowdsourcing platform developed by the Group specifically to find innovative solutions among the brightest ideas and technologies available.
The challenge arises at a time of major growth in wind power, a segment in which Enel boasts over 15.8 GW of installed capacity globally, of which 874 MW in Italy. It is a renewable source that has undergone significant developments in recent decades, thanks to technological advances, material science and solutions capable of guaranteeing increasingly higher performance.
