Picture: Courtesy of SolarLab

Written by Enrique Tovar

When designing facades, various factors can influence their conception. From compositional, geographic, and environmental elements, facades incorporate a series of gestures that shape the building envelope, serving as the interface between the environment and life inside the building. In this context, contemporary architecture has sought to enrich the role of facades, maximizing their potential through technological innovation. Today, technology has been integrated to create a more textured and expressive architecture, explore diverse materialities, and promote circular and low-carbon architecture.

Understanding facades as the skin of buildings and recognizing the growing global demand for efficient use of resources in the built environment, there arises a need to harness the incidence of sunlight on building facades. In response, and considering an architectural environment closely linked to technology, Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) has gained even greater relevance in creating new aesthetics for facades and minimizing environmental impacts. These systems, with their technical capabilities and aesthetic qualities, result in attractive, durable, and resilient solar facades. They generate a positive impact on the built environment by seamlessly incorporating sustainable energy production into buildings.

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