The Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia’s Brilliant, Passively Sun-Aware Endesa Pavilion
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Last November an odd-looking wooden structure went up at the Olympic Port in Barcelona. Called the Endesa Pavilion, or Solar House 2.0, it was designed by the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia, a Spanish education and research center.
The Pavilion was ingeniously designed and sited for the exact position it occupies on Earth. The sun’s seasonal path was mapped, and all of the house’s odd angles you see are purposefully calculated rather than being architectural whimsy: The windows provide illumination all year ’round, but allow no direct sunlight during hot summer months, and plenty during winter months. Overhangs placed directly in the sun’s line of sight are bristling with solar panels.
In addition to the clever and observant design, CNC fabrication is what makes houses like these feasible. Imagine handing traditional blueprints of the shape to traditional contractors; construction would take months. Instead the IAAC used CNC to prefabricate the house in sections, and workers on-site spent just two weeks snapping everything together like a jigsaw puzzle.
What’s most surprising is the way the inside of the house looks. The chaotic exterior belies a calm, rectilinear and well-lit interior space.
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