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There's a lot more to solar architecture than just strapping a bunch of solar panels to the outside of a building. Green architects with an eye for solar also need to think of things like how to maximize exposure to the sun, how best to design a structure that comfortably distributes heat, and how to do it all without sacrificing any of the aesthetics that are so important to design.
With many of the world's most spectacular structures in development utilizing solar energy in some way, here's just a small sampling of the wonders of modern solar architecture. (Text: Bryan Nelson)
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1. Cybertecture Egg
Photo: James Law Cybertecture
Commissioned for Mumbai, India, the Cybertecture Egg will be an impressive feat of sustainable architecture. The concept for the structure was inspired "by looking at the world in terms of the planet being a self-sustaining vessel with an ecosystem that allows life to exist, grow and evolve," according to its designers at James Law Cybertecture.
The eggy shape of the office building isn't just for show; it will also utilize passive solar design, which will serve to regulate temperatures within the building by decreasing heat gain and lowering energy loads. Gardens will be incorporated throughout to provide shade and a natural aesthetic. This will include an elevated garden at the egg's upper "tip," which will assist in cooling the building.
The building will be powered using solar panels and rooftop wind turbines, and it will even harvest its own water for garden irrigation.
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2. Sonnenschiff and the Freiburg Solar City
Photo: Rolf Disch
It's one thing to build an energy-independent home or building; it's another thing to built an entire settlement that produces more energy than it consumes. That's exactly what the designers at Rolf Disch have done with the Solar City in Freiburg, Germany.
The rooftops of the settlement's buildings consist of large photovoltaic panels all pointed in the perfect direction, but they also act as a giant sun shade. So even as the sun beats down on their roofs, residents underneath can enjoy cool temperatures.
The solar community is anchored to Sonnenschiff, or the Sun Ship, a commercial building that is another marvel of solar architecture. In fact, Sonnenschiff was the first positive energy commercial building ever built.
3. Vertical Village
Photo: Graft Lab
Known for its outlandish architecture, Dubai's latest trend is sustainable design. Few designs exemplify this more than the Vertical Village, created by the architects at Graft Lab.
The structure's arrays of solar panels will sparkle in the scorching Dubai sun, but the real genius of the Vertical Village's design lies in how everything will be positioned to keep the building cool while maximizing solar capture at the same time. Each of the jettisoning "walls" that hang over the structure's base will point their panels at the sun while also being perfectly placed to provide shade.
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4. Solar City Tower
Designed specially for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, this stunning energy-generating waterfall display will be located on Cotunduba Island and will serve as a beacon to all those arriving in Rio by sea or air. The Solar City Tower will be the iconic symbol of Rio's efforts to make the 2016 Summer Games the first zero-carbon footprint games in history.
Designed by RAFAA Architecture and Design, the tower's interplay of renewable energies is impressive. It all begins with the power generated by solar panels, which will produce energy for the Olympic village by day, then pump seawater by night. That seawater will then be released to drive turbines. It can also be pumped over the top of the building to create a breathtaking wall of water.
There will supposedly also be a retractable platform equipped for bungee jumping from the top, which isn't so much sustainable as it is cool.
5. Kaohsiung Stadium
Photo: wei-ren/Flickr
Stadiums are almost always massive energy hogs, and usually make for poor examples of sustainable architecture. One exception to the rule, however, is this spectacular, dragon-shaped arena in Taiwan, which generates 100 percent of its electricity from the solar panels lining its exterior.
Designed by Toyo Ito, the energy production of Kaohsiung National Stadium is enough to power 3,300 lights and two jumbo vision screens. Perhaps most impressive, the stadium takes just 6 minutes to power completely up.
Since games aren't played inside the stadium every day, the building is transformed into a power plant during its "off" days, capable of meeting almost 80 percent of the neighbouring area's energy requirements.
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6. Almeisan Tower
Photo: Studied Impact
Created for Za’abeel Park in Dubai, this stunning tower designed by architect Robert Perry would not only provide its own energy, but more than enough energy to run the rest of the park too. 224 large heliostatic polished mirrors positioned on the tower's top platform would rotate to track the sun, which then reflect brilliant beams of light into a central collector at the tower's tip. This magnified sunlight would then be used to generate steam to power a turbine.
The tower would also provide the venue for a cultural centre. An observation platform near the top would offer fantastic views.
"Almeisan" is the Arabic name for one of the brightest stars in the sky from the Gemini constellation. It's a fitting name for a tower that would surely be defined by the sunlight beaming at its tip, likely visible from a great distance.
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7. Chicago Solar Tower
Photo: Zoka Zola
Solar architecture doesn't just have to fill the skylines of foreign cities; it could also soon be coming to North America. Check out this design for a Solar Tower in Chicago by Zoka Zola Architects. This skyscraper is almost completely shielded by sun-tracking solar panels, which rotate like sunflowers to follow the sun throughout the day.
The panels are carefully positioned to provide shade for the building's floors but not to obstruct the view. According to its designers, this tower's "cosmo-bio-logical skin" could have the power to produce "new and intensified experiences and awareness" for the citizens of Chicago.
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