Solar Architecture: The Future of Our Buildings?

Good evening, fellow Environmental Ethics learners. Today I woke up and went outside, got into my car, put on some Christmas music, and drove to the Student Union Building to get some lunch. While driving I noticed how beautiful of a day it was compared to our past couple, and it made me think, man I really take the Sun and everything it does for granted. So here's a reminder to not take the Sun for granted and to find ways to use it in your homes or apartments!

I think sometimes humans like to over-complicate things in this world, and I think this is ever prevalent when it comes to which form of energy is the best, or most green, or most profitable. I think all three answers can be found in the big, bright ball we have in the sky, the SUN. Fortunately, there are humans who are not over-thinking our energy crisis and they are investing in many different ways to utilize the Sun and her power. One of these ways is Solar Architecture. Solar Architecture has been around for thousands of years, and will continue to be around for thousands of more (as long as humans are!). 

We can see the first tracings of Solar Architecture in ancient China around 6,000 years ago. the Chinese people used to have the sole opening of their house face South, so as to catch the rays of the low winter sun to keep their houses warm. They then would have a low hanging thatch roof that would catch the high summer rays to help keep their houses cool during the summer. Example below. 

Furthermore, we can see early solar architecture in the Greeks and Romans. The Greeks followed the advice of thinkers like Socrates and Aristotle who spoke on using the Sun to best maximize winter and summer seasons. Archeological evidence shows us that they did listen, and the Greeks did in fact do this. The Romans took what the Greeks and Chinese did, but went further. On a military campaign in Greece, famous roman general and architect Vitruvius saw what the Greeks did, and brought it back to Rome. This is most noticed in Roman bathhouses that needed to be warmed pretty much at all times. Romans also covered bathhouses and certain buildings with transparent windows using clear stone like clear glass or mica, which is seen as a huge invention for solar architecture. 

This is the Baths of Constantine, which as you can see have these clear transparent windows for sun rays to come through. 

Now I want to talk about five ways to help better buildings using Solar Architecture. 

Way 1: Legibility. This is celebrating and revealing the actual building of solar architecture in buildings. It is giving legibility to the process, and showing people what is actually being done.  

This is an example. You can see how the house is situated to utilize the Sun, how air flows throughout the house, how the heating and cooling systems work, and how the insulation of the house it built in the top right. 

Way 2: Material Planes. This is matching the look and material of Solar Panels with different materials used to build the house. This is meant to give more cohesion and a more unified look to the house so the solar panels do not look so out of place. 

Way 3: Form Follows. This comes from the adage "form follows function". This essentially means that we should be designing houses to best utilize the Sun and the path of the Sun. 

Way 4: Shading Through Solar Architecture. In this way, a person is using their house and the solar panels on top of the house to create more shade. So say someone is building an extended porch, do that, but in a way that utilizes the path of the shade the house creates. 

Way 5: Disguised Solar Panel Design. If someone really hates this look of solar panels, then this is the way for you. In this method you simply find ways to hide the solar panels on your building, whether through strategic placing or compositional design of the house as spoken of in Way 2. 

Here is an example of a real Solar House that exist in Wyoming that attempts to utilize many of these 5 Ways. 

In conclusion, GO SOLAR! The benefits are quickly catching up to the cost, and as I said in my presentation, in five years, solar energy could very well be everywhere with how efficient and inexpensive it is becoming. Thank you all for a great year in Environmental Ethics, I hope you all continue to fight and care for the environment, I know I will continue to do my best.