The Solar Energetic Pavilion
The Solar Energetic Pavilion is a proposal for a large public art sculpture made of steel tubes, and fifteen large solar cell arrays in the shape of four-foot diameter disks. The eight foot three and a half inch diameter steel tubes are all bent into six-foot radius curves, and connected together to form the main body of the sculpture. Each of the curved sections of tubing are placed together end to end and rotated to various degrees relative to one another, before they are fixed into longer curved sections. These long sections are then attached with bolts at their intersections, in order to form the abstract curvaceous shape of the pavilion. Fifteen of the long curved sections of tubes are terminated into a vertical position above the rest of the structure, where the solar arrays are mounted. Each of the fifteen solar arrays are also connected at their bases to sun tracking motors so the disk shaped solar cells can follow the sun throughout the day.
The electricity generated from the sun through the solar cell arrays is used to light the pavilion at night, with the excess electricity used by the community in which the structure is installed. The conceptual design of the Solar Energetic Pavilion originates from a symbolic visualization of energy patterns associated with the conversion of light energy into electrical energy. It also refers to a large plant with leaves that convert sunlight for use by the plant through the process of photosynthesis.
Status: Unbuilt
