The International School Nordhavn in Copenhagen is covered by 1,200 sea green solar arrays, creating a soothing and refreshing aesthetic appearance to the school and for its students, while keeping the air cleaner.
The International School Nordhavn in Copenhagen is covered by 1,200 sea green solar arrays
Sea Green is possibly the most soothing calm colour of the entire colour spectrum. Imagine how wonderful it must be to be encompassed and surrounded by 1,200 sea green solar arrays as a student at C.F. Møller-designed International School Nordhavn in Copenhagen. It is clean-tech magic informing the architecture – not only soothing to the eye but refreshing to the student’s mind and body as the solar panels produce clean energy and keep the air cleaner while adding to the building’s aesthetic.
The specific solar technology was developed by Swiss research institute EPFL (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne). In general, solar technology used as part of the fundamental components of a building is called building-integrated solar PV (BIPV). This is reportedly one of the largest BIPV projects in Denmark.
By a detailed and ingenious process, the tinting of the solar and thermal panels turn the panels into beautiful architectural features in their own right. The shimmering sea-green panels mesmerize the eye. An interesting point is that no pigments were used to make them. The panels are clear. The oceanic sea green colour is thanks to technology that adds fine particles to the glass surface. It is the appearance of coloured panels that we see. Explaining the process of light interference developed over the years in EPFL labs, Jean-Louis Scartezzini, the head of the Solar Energy and Building Physics Laboratory (LESO-PB) expounds, “The iris effect creates a colourful rain...
