Solar Design

The main aim of the design studio was to develop a facade, focusing on “integrated solar cells”. Integrated solar cells consists of two parts. Integrated solar cells can be divided into two areas of interest. The first, integration, prompts the question why should we integrate solar cells into our facade? Clearly we would want to exploit readily available energy already exposed to the surface. Furthermore, how we wish to utilise the energy afterwards is even more interesting. What should be integrate solar cells into? There are tests on integrating invisible solar cells into glass windows on one hand and on the other hand there are whole facades made out of solar cells. In the first case it is not about finding an aesthetic way of integration, but about non visibility with new technical innovations. In the second
case we are talking about the use of the own aesthetic the cells have and not mainly about integration. From this line of thinking came the step to integrate the solar cells in a system instead of integrating them in a material itself. The system itself consists of different materials.

Student design project by Mona Mühlich, University of Stuttgart.
Design Studio: Material Mater Lab, SS 17
In cooperation with Prof. Dr. habil. Jürgen Werner, Institut für Photovoltaik (IPV) and  Prof. Dr. habil. J.Schulze, Institut für Halbleitertechnik (IHT)
Funding: MML Materials Matter Lab – function follows fiction, Baden-Württemberg Stiftung, Stifterverband für die Deutsche Hochschullehre