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michael jantzen

michael jantzen

Santa Fe, NM, US

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Electric Pavilion

Electric Pavilion

The Electric Pavilion was designed as a public art-gathering place that makes electricity from the sun and wind for the local community. Visitors can also charge their electronic devices by plugging them into various outlets built into the pavilion.

The structures design incorporates four large photovoltaic panels that convert sunlight into electricity, as well as one large wind turbine that converts kinetic wind energy into electricity. Some of the converted electricity is stored in batteries located under the center-seating platform and some is sent into the local power grid. The stored electricity is used to power four spherically shaped nightlights and the electronic charging outlets. In addition to the center-seating platform, visitors can also sit on the lower portion of the structures support frame.

The pavilion was conceived of as a merging of sculpture and architecture; a new kind of eco-friendly machine for the 21st century. The unexpected aesthetics of the Electric Pavilion are formed around the incorporation of the alternative energy gathering and storage systems as well as other visual elements that symbolically refer to that kind of hardware.

My hope, as the designer, is that this kind of public art gathering place will help to celebrate the use of alternative energy gathering and storage systems into the built environment, and as a result inspire the visitors to become more aware of the need to build everything (even public art) in a more eco-friendly way.

 
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Status: Unbuilt