LAND INTEGRATED PHOTOVOLTAICS : The New Energy Landscape of Europe

Abstract

Renewable energy technologies bring the promise of a decentralized model, with power produced at or near the point of consumption, allowing for the production plant to be near or in the city. The combined effect of distributed generation and community-owned power models, together with new requirements for energy performance of buildings, will have powerful implications in urban and rural areas across Europe. Recognizing the impending energy revolution as the driver for transforming current planning practices, the study proposes the synergetic integration of productive activities, energy infrastructures, natural resources and urban fabric in a radical new model of land development. The research attempts an investigation of both the cultural and the technological overlay of human activities, in order to identify strategies of occupations that are compatible with pre-existing uses and that respect the natural vocation of the land. The three demonstration projects explore the architectural language emerging from new forms of energy production, offering an unapologetic - and perhaps controversial - vision of energy landscape in Europe.