The central theme of Dutch Design Week 2022 is Get Set. It indicates a shift in mindset: We’re bracing ourselves, it’s time to take action, and we have to do it together. The Solar Pavilion realised the transition from solar technology to solar design through an inspiring collaboration between designers, engineers, builders and innovators. It resulted in a pavilion full of poetry and pragmatism in which the sun's energy provides an extraordinary experience.
The visitor climbs up a staircase from the seating pit and then stands in the middle of the ‘sun cloth’. This offers the visitor a new perspective on solar energy. The special pattern and the different colors turn a purely technical element into a meaningful part of our built environment. The proximity of the panels makes technology touchable, tactile and offers inspiration to make the energy transition meaningful and, above all, beautiful.
The Solar Pavilion harvests the energy from the sun, stores it and shares this energy with the visitors in a sensory way after sunset. 380 colored solar panels together form an impressive hanging canvas, which is stretched between two large steel beams. After a sun simulation, the pavilion was optimally placed on the Ketelhuis square in order to harvest maximum energy between the surrounding buildings.
44 LED lamps light up in the dark and the alcove furniture heats the visitor by means of infrared panels. A seating area has been created under the canvas, in which The Circle, the symbol of the Solar Biennale, forms an energetic stage for debate and meeting.
The pavilion consists of a robust steel construction that is circular and demountable. The static and dynamic load of the ‘sun cloth’ is fully absorbed by the four steel masts in combination with tension wires and large floor beams. The steel is left untreated and all connecting elements are exposed.
In contrast to the impressive civil engineering effort is the delicate nature of the ‘sun cloth’. The glass panels between which the PV foil is included are mounted like tiles on steel sleepers that rest on 3 cables.
