A TRANSPARENT PV CANOPY IN HARMONY WITH NATURE

One of the things we like the most is when technology and ecology walk hand in hand.

Madrona Marsh Nature Center in Torrance, Los Angeles, is a natural reserve where people can explore and learn the wonders of nature.

Onyx Solar provided transparent solar PV glass for its beautifully integrated photovoltaic canopy. This amorphous silicon solution allows the natural light in while filtering the 99% of UV radiation. It also prevents the release of CO2 to the atmosphere and generates free and clean electricity.

We interviewed Segun Abegunrin, from SAA Associates, about this green project.

THE AIA CERTIFIES ONYX SOLAR’S TRAINING COURSE

Learn everything you need to know about designing with photovoltaic glass by the hand of the Global Leader in PV Glass for buildings.

Understanding solar PV glass from a technical viewpoint and from an economic aspect are the main goals of our free Webinar accredited by the AIA (The American Institute of Architects).

Recognize the main photovoltaic technologies commercially available in the market for their incorporation into the building´s skin. Acquire the knowledge to evaluate which PV glass will be a better fit for a project and analyze the economics behind PV glass applications. ROI and Payback time are outstanding with this product!

This registered course offers Learning Unit Credits to AIA members, so don’t miss this opportunity to learn about this game changer product by the hand of the global leader in PV Glass for buildings!

Check out and register for Onyx Solar’s webinars here(or here for AIA members)!

Onyx Solar: when aesthetics and sustainability match

Onyx Solar^®’s glass, in addition to its sustainability and its efficiency, stands out due to its unlimited range of configurations, adapting to the design of each project.

Our PV glass integrates perfectly into buildings while producing free and clean energy from the sun. It also reduces the CO2 emissions to the atmosphere!

The unlimited range of configurations, to which we can add the possibility of including different colors, finishes, shapes, sizes and thickness, make Onyx Solar the ideal partner for incorporating PV systems into the fabric of all types of building without compromising design.

Contact us for more information!

ONYX SOLAR® WILL BE EXHIBITING ON 2016 AIA CONVENTION IN PHILADELPHIA

Onyx Solar^® will participate in the most important convention in the field of architecture and design in the US, which will be held from May 19 to May 21 in Philadelphia.

 

Thousands of attendees will have the opportunity to see the novelties presented by Onyx Solar^® and its Low-e photovoltaic glass, awarded by the National Glass Association of America as the 2015 Most Innovative Product.

Visit us at booth #848. Register here to attend the convention for free.

Onyx designs the photovoltaic roof and façade for Rintala’s Cabinet House located in the MAXXI musseum in Rome

Onyx Solar has designed and developed the photovoltaic roof and façade for the Cabinet House installed in the MAXXI museum, the last work of Zaha Hadid. The Cabinet House is an ecological prototype based on a new division of the space following the urban contemporary lifestyle: less squares meters and most of them for social life.

Firstly using wood, secondly by minimizing space and thus the construction materials being used, and lastly by adding the possibility of collecting rain water and sun energy in such a way that the architects are offering a more sustainable model  than the short-sighted, monotonous production of the building market today.

Cabinet House with photovoltaic façade and roof from Onyx Solar

The project is located in a public yard in front of the MAXXI museum and it’s aimed to become a mediator between this iconic building and the reality surrounding it, offering the visitors a peaceful place to stop by in the middle of Rome.

Rintala Eggertsson Architects’ MAXXI Museum Roma Project, The Cabinet House

If an architect’s intentions and restrictions could be worn on his perverbial sleeve,  then the Cabinet Home would be a good example.   Rintala Eggertsson Architects is led by the partnership between Sami, whose artistic view of architecture pertains to narrative along with conceptualism, and Dagur, who experiments with different ideas in building tectonics and making full scale architectonic objects. Together they have created a transportable one bedroom home with a minimalist aesthetic, equipped with a rooftop terrace that overlooks a small garden, collects rainwater, and solar energy for its habitants. Read More>>>

Source: Bustler

The Green Movement

Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao

“Green architecture, arguably the biggest single movement in the field since the emergence of modernism a century ago”. The last blog post of the Los Angeles Times journalist Christopher Hawthorne is devastating. And the comment comes to justify his critics to a survey undertaken by Vanity Fair to determine the most iconic architectural work in the last 30 years, which didn’t take into account sustainable building. Thus, among more than 50 prestigious architects including Foster, Gehry, Hadid or Pelli; the Guggenheim Museum of Bilbao finished in the first place.

The Adam Joseph Lewis Center de Oberlín (Ohio)

As a response to that ranking, Architecture Magazine published his own survey which only considered green buildings. The winner? The Adam Joseph Lewis Center in Oberlín (Ohio), designed by William McDonough + Partners, followed by the California Academy of Sciences of Renzo Piano. It’s odd that the Italian architect is the only one alongside Foster that has two buildings in the ranking.

Hawthorne’s article is not only interesting for checking the results of the surveys but also to put in context both rankings, and the phrase with which we started this post makes us really happy as we feel we are participating in this green movement which is becoming more and more important.

United States

Lunch & Learn in KPF office in New York

For some time now the American market do nothing but surprise us. Early this year, when we decided to exhibit in the largest and most important trade show for architects in the US we started broadening our contacts there in order to better prepare our participation on the event. On the one hand, we started developing a net of representatives there; on the other we contacted some of the most important architect studies with headquarters in the US.

The feedback we obtained was the same from both sides: a huge interest in what we do. Sometimes together with some ignorance, which is normal given the innovative features of the product, but always accompanied with curiosity and responsiveness. We are now doubtless that the US is one of the most receptive markets to the green and innovative, and thus we are focusing our efforts on that country.

Onyx Solar CEO and CTO have just come back from the US where they met architects from KPF, SOM, Gensler, URS or HOK, among others. These architects have designed some of the most iconic buildings in the World such as the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) of New York, the Sears tower (now Willis Tower) in Chicago or the World Financial Center in Shanghai. And the feelings are the same: interest, a lot of interest in what we have to offer. That’s why we don’t want to miss the opportunity to thank all of them for receiving us and his enthusiasm. In the future we expect to work with them in some of those building they keep designing all over the World and that have made them the best in their category.

Architectural Partners in Japan Become the 2010 Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureates

Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa, partners in the architectural firm, SANAA, have been chosen as the 2010 Laureates of the Pritzker Architecture Prize. The formal ceremony for what has come to be known throughout the world as architecture’s highest honor will be held on May 17 on historic Ellis Island in New York. At that time, a $100,000 grant and bronze medallions will be bestowed on the two architects.

In announcing the jury’s choice, Thomas J. Pritzker, chairman of The Hyatt Foundation, elaborated, “This marks the third time in the history of the prize that two architects have been named in the same year. The first was in 1988 when Oscar Niemeyer of Brazil and the late Gordon Bunshaft were so honored, and the second was in 2001, when Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron, partners in a Swiss firm, were selected.” He continued, “Japanese architects have been chosen three times in the thirty year history of the Pritzker Architecture Prize — the first was the late Kenzo Tange in 1987, then in 1993, Fumihiko Maki was selected, and in 1995, Tadao Ando was the honoree.”

The purpose of the Pritzker Architecture Prize is to honor annually a living architect whose built work demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent, vision and commitment, which has produced consistent and significant contributions to humanity and the built environment through the art of architecture.

Pritzker Prize jury chairman, The Lord Palumbo quoted from the jury citation to focus on this year’s selection: “For architecture that is simultaneously delicate and powerful, precise and fluid, ingenious but not overly or overtly clever; for the creation of buildings that successfully interact with their contexts and the activities they contain, creating a sense of fullness and experiential richness; for a singular architectural language that springs from a collaborative process that is both unique and inspirational; for their notable completed buildings and the promise of new projects together, Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa are the recipients of the 2010 Pritzker Architecture Prize.”

While most of their work is in Japan, Sejima and Nishizawa have designed projects in Germany, England, Spain, France, the Netherlands and the United States, under their combined name SANAA. The first SANAA project in the United States began construction in 2004 in Ohio—a Glass Pavilion for the Toledo Museum of Art. Completed in 2006, it houses the museum’s vast collection of glass artworks, reflecting the city’s history when it was a major center of glass production.