Aesthetic appeal - SCHOTT Solar for architects
Integrated solar glass is a superb design element. With the range from opaque to semitransparent, architects can combine functionality and aesthetics. In the building sector, SCHOTT ASI® Glass modules provide a wide variety of application options like semitransparent façade glazing, double roof glazing and rear-ventilated façades.
Transparent façade glazing: Solar façade SCHOTT Ibérica Barcelona Spain 2005
Technical data:
- Photovoltaics façade with 27 modules
- ASI® THRU Color
- Nominal module output: 50 Wp
- Total installed output: 1.35 kWp
- Yearly production of electricity: 1.43 MWh
- Inverse rectifier: Fronius IG 15
- Energy savings for the building: 8 MWh / year
- Reduction of the CO2 discharge: approx. 5.6 t / year
- Planning: May 2004 – February 2005
- Realisation: March 2005 – April 2005
Project data:
- Building owner: SCHOTT Ibérica SA, Sant Adria del Besos
- Architect: Torsten Masseck, Barcelona
- Employee: Estevan Navarrete
- Scientific support: CISol – Centre d’ Investigació Solar ETSAV (UPC)
- Construction supervision: DF Studio, Barcelona
- Facade construction: CALVIA, El Masnou (Barcelona)
- Photovoltaics installation: Trama TecnoAmbiental, Barcelona
ASI® THRU Color:
A new type of photovoltaic module, based on the ASI® THRU product series made by SCHOTT Solar, was developed by the CISol-Solar Research Centre ETSAV at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC), combining semitransparent ASI® THRU modules with SCHOTT® IMERA coloured glass as laminated sheet glass. The result is ASI® THRU Color, an attractive, transparent-coloured solar module which allows for architectural innovation within the photovoltaic sector. Additionally, the sun protection capabilities as well as the anti-glare properties of the glass were improved significantly.
Façade concept:
The combination of photovoltaic modules in the upper section of the façade and coloured glass elements with serigraphy in the lower area is the result of a study on the sun exposure situation of the south-west oriented façade. The chosen serigraphy combines sun protection properties with attractive light and shadow effects inside the building. Openings in the façade permit natural ventilation by the stack effect.
Overall concept:
Façade elements, the façade system, the new foyer area and opening options were optimized with regard to sun protection, natural ventilation and functionality. A thermal building simulation and temperature measurements of the building were conducted for this purpose. The energy consumption for heating and cooling the building should be reduced by 8% with the new façade, and overheating problems in the summer months should be solved. 1.43 MWh solar power should be produced per year and fed into the electrical grid. This will avoid a total discharge of 5.6 t CO2 per year. Long-term monitoring by CISol experts will enable the scientific research and valuable insight.
Double roof glazing: primary school Munich 2002 (Germany)
Project data:
- Building owner: state capital, Munich
- Installation size: 40 ASI® THRU double glazing elements with a total of 2.1 kWp power
- Architect: Krug und Partner, Munich
- Metal construction: Metallbau Brandl, Eitensheim
- Realisation: 2002
How elegantly semitransparent photovoltaic elements can be integrated in architecture is impressively demonstrated by the elliptical glass roof over the new three-storey hall the pupils of the primary school in the Markgrafenstrasse in Munich-Trudering use during their breaks. Transparent double-glazing elements alternate with a total of 40 partially transparent ASI® THRU double-glazing elements with an output of 2.1 kilowatts.
The conduits were installed by Glaswerke Arnold; the double-glazing glass composite is suitable for composite safety glass panes (VSG) for overhead glazing. The modules’ airy appeal – almost like clouds in a sky of glass – is owed to both their transparency and the self-supporting substructure from the metal construction company Brandl from Eitensheim near Ingolstadt.
The flat steel supporting the glass is slightly angled from pane to pane, bending the entire construction like a hammock. This means that it can hold the weight of the glass without additional support elements. The tension forces are accommodated by a surrounding steel clamping ring with a diameter of almost 14 metres at its widest point. The extra expense for thin-film modules is worthwhile: on the one hand a shading installation is not required and on the other hand income for solar electricity is generated. All in all, a glass roof with the necessary blinds is more costly. Not to mention the higher aesthetic value of the modules.
Ventilated cold façade: Bayerisches Staatsministerium für Umwelt, Gesundheit und Verbraucherschutz [Bavarian State Ministry of the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Protection], Munich 1993 (Germany)
1993:
For product demonstration purposes a solar façade based on SCHOTT ASI® technology was installed at the Bayerisches Staatsministerium für Umwelt, Gesundheit und Verbraucherschutz.
2003: Following complete renovation of the shell, the building is bright and shiny in its newly polished outfit. The SCHOTT ASI® glass modules have remained in situ.
