A few weeks ago, I was at the Universitat Polit\u00e8cnica de Val\u00e8ncia.<\/p>\n
With 4th-year Architecture students.<\/p>\n
Young people, motivated, and still free from many of the professional habits that come with time.<\/p>\n
And I left with an uncomfortable conclusion:<\/p>\n
They\u2019re ahead of us.<\/p>\n
\u2014<\/p>\n
When you talk to the more experienced side of the industry, the conversation often revolves around the same old arguments:<\/p>\n
\u2022 \u201cThat looks ugly.\u201d
\n\u2022 \u201cThere\u2019s no room for that.\u201d
\n\u2022 \u201cYou can\u2019t put that on my building.\u201d
\n\u2022 \u201cThat can\u2019t be done.\u201d<\/p>\n
The classic handbook of resistance.<\/p>\n
\u2014<\/p>\n
When you talk to people who haven\u2019t even started their careers yet, the conversation changes.<\/p>\n
They don\u2019t ask whether it can be done.<\/p>\n
They ask how it can be done better.<\/p>\n
\u2014<\/p>\n
And this is where the problem (or the opportunity) begins.<\/p>\n
For them, energy isn\u2019t an add-on.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not \u201csomething we\u2019ll figure out later.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s part of the design.<\/p>\n
From day one.<\/p>\n
\u2014<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, many projects today still work like this:<\/p>\n
The building is designed.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s completed.<\/p>\n
It gets photographed.<\/p>\n
And then\u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cLet\u2019s see where we can fit the solar panels.\u201d<\/p>\n
(I really hate it when people call them \u201cplates\u201d instead of panels.)<\/p>\n
Elegant. Very much so.<\/p>\n
\u2014<\/p>\n
Of course, then come the patches.<\/p>\n
Added structures.<\/p>\n
Drilling.<\/p>\n
Installations that look like an afterthought.<\/p>\n
And worst of all:<\/p>\n
Architecture that loses its coherence in the final stage.<\/p>\n
\u2014<\/p>\n
The alternative already exists.<\/p>\n
Lightweight rigid and flexible solar panels.<\/p>\n
No drilling.<\/p>\n
No heavy structures.<\/p>\n
No destroying the original geometry.<\/p>\n
Curved roofs that remain curved.<\/p>\n
Designs that don\u2019t have to compromise at the end of the project.<\/p>\n
\u2014<\/p>\n
But this isn\u2019t really about panels.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s about having the right mindset.<\/p>\n
About stopping thinking of energy as a problem and starting to treat it for what it really is:<\/p>\n
another part of the design.<\/p>\n
\u2014<\/p>\n
Because, let\u2019s be clear:<\/p>\n
If energy \u201cgets in the way\u201d of your project, it\u2019s not energy\u2019s fault.<\/p>\n
\u2014<\/p>\n
It\u2019s because someone decided to think about it too late.<\/p>\n
\u2014<\/p>\n
If you want to do things differently and avoid the last-minute patch…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A few weeks ago, I was at the Universitat Polit\u00e8cnica de Val\u00e8ncia. With 4th-year Architecture students. Young people, motivated, and still free from many of the professional habits that come with time. And I left with an uncomfortable conclusion: They\u2019re ahead of us. \u2014 When you talk to the more experienced side of the industry, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":110,"featured_media":3868,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[154],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3912","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lightweight-and-flexible-solar-panel"],"yoast_head":"\n