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IPV
Integrated
Photovoltaic

A showcase of case studies, 
products and tools for IPV

Supported by:

IEA PVPS Task 15 project aims to create an enabling framework to accelerate the penetration of BIPV products in the global market of renewables.

Operazione co-finanziata dall’Unione europea, Fondo Europeo di Sviluppo Regionale, dallo Stato Italiano, dalla Confederazione elvetica e dai Cantoni nell’ambito del Programma di Cooperazione Interreg V-A Italia-Svizzera

Novartis Pavillon

new construction

Building use: 
commercial
IPV architectural system: 
double skin façade
IPV integration year: 
between 2021 and 2025
Source: 
BIPV meets History project

Novartis Pavillon

St. Johanns-Hafen-Weg 5, Basel, Switzerland

Introduction

Stakeholders

Design approach

Aesthetic integration

Energy integration

Technology integration

Decision making

Lessons learnt

Data

Producer and installer

Map

Author

The Novartis Pavillon is a circular architecture that hosts an education and information centre where the company can be presented in an innovative way. It is a flexible architecture for events and exhibitions and, thanks to a technological façade, becomes itself a communicative content, staging the company's values and commitment to scientific dissemination. A multimedia membrane, which covers the upper part of the pavilion, is technologically prepared to communicate meaningful images. AMDL CIRCLE undertook a series of parametric design studies to define the geometry and graphic image of the façade, which was later engineered by iart. A sustainable energy system has been created: a diagonal mesh spatial structure, 50 cm from the metal roof, integrated a new generation of double-sided photovoltaic panels and a grid of LED lights. The system has the potential of self-feeding and provides a huge continuous and dynamic screen, usable from every cardinal point for light installations inspired by the shapes and colours of cells and molecules, as well as the themes of sustainability and the convergence of art and science.

STAKEHOLDERS

Main building designer: 

AMDL CIRCLE

IPV system designer: 

iart AG

IPV components producer: 

ASCA GmbH

Product type: 
Address: 
Steinweg 24, Kitzingen, Germany
Contact: 
+49 9321 26495 - 40
Web: 
https://www.asca.com/
IPV system installer: 

iart AG

Address: 
Freilager-Platz 3, Münchenstein, Basel, Switzerland
Contact: 
info@iart.ch +41 (0)61 500 11 50
Web: 
https://iart.ch/en
Consultants: 

Blaser Butscher Architekten AG, iart AG, Emmer Pfenninger Partner AG, HEK (House of Electronic Arts)

Works supervisor: 

Blaser Butscher Architekten AG

The project fully integrates the aesthetics of the building with the technical aspect of the photovoltaic system. The choice of the size and rhomboidal shape was developed to ensure integration into the roof of the building, following its curves, and to create a structural dimension that would also respond to climatic needs (e.g. snow). The holes in the centre of the panels to let the light from the LEDs pass through and the curved corners at the corners, which leave room for the screws of the mounting system, ensured full design freedom of this technology.The holes in the center of the panels to let the light from the LEDs pass through and the curved corners at the corners, which leave room for the screws of the mounting system, ensured full design freedom of this technology.

The use of organic photovoltaics makes it possible to illuminate the building with direct and indirect light, using the metal façade as a reflector, and thus improving also its efficiency. Light reflects off the shell and shines outwards through transparent modules, creating a visually multi-layered membrane that can display content.

An electric storage system is installed, which is used to display the artistic animations on the multimedia façade at nighttime. The excess energy produced by the photovoltaic system is fed into the building's grid.

The modules are mounted on an aluminium structure and are attached to the joints of the building's roof system. The mounting solutions and the organic photovoltaic modules have been incorporated as a single technical solution and with a single wiring cable. The cable system is integrated within the structural mounting system of the solar panels, the tubes follow the lines of the dome.

Novartis company’s intention was to create a building capable of expressing the character of research and innovation, which characterizes it as a leader in the medical field. The zero-energy media façade is an element of research and cultural communication and reflects Novartis' role in society: it is the vehicle for communicating issues related to biotechnology but also to climate change, and is an artistic-scientific expression of the company's research. Demonstrated the feasibility of the project, Novartis decided to invest in this operation.

Since this is a completely innovative project, a fundamental aspect was the development of a series of prototypes to achieve the final shape. A shape that could convince the customer from a technical and architectural point of view. While the supply of components came from different countries around the world, the complexity of logistics management required particular attention.

A "just in time" production of the panels was build up next to the construction site inside an existing building where sub-units consisting of 16 modules were assembled, then fixed with a crane.

PROJECT DATA

Project type: 
BIPV SYSTEM DATA
Architectural system: 
double skin façade
Integration year: 
2022
Active material: 
organic photovoltaic (OPV)
Module transparency: 
System power [kWp]: 
20
System area [m²]: 
1,300
Modules orientation: 
all
Modules tilt [°]: 
several
Annual PV production [kWh]: 
20,000
IPV components producer: 

ASCA GmbH

Product type: 
Address: 
Steinweg 24, Kitzingen, Germany
Contact: 
+49 9321 26495 - 40
IPV system installer: 

iart AG

Address: 
Freilager-Platz 3, Münchenstein, Basel, Switzerland
Contact: 
info@iart.ch +41 (0)61 500 11 50
St. Johanns-Hafen-Weg 5, Basel, Switzerland

Michele De Lucchi