Photo: Shigeru Ban, Seine Musicale © Didier Boy de la Tour
The Innovative envelope research team (BIPV-Building Integrated Photovoltaics) of ISAAC-Institute of Applied Sustainability to the Built Environment (Department of Environment Constructions and Design SUPSI) has developed an innovative documentary project on the role of photovoltaics in contemporary architecture. Through exclusive interviews, three docufilms narrate the vision of three world-renowned firms: Renzo Piano Building Workshop, Shigeru Ban Architects & Jean de Gastines Architects, Foster + Partners.
The voices of the masters of architecture
This series of three interviews gives voice to key figures from three international architectural firms in dialogue with Pierluigi Bonomo, head of the BIPV team at Institute of Applied Sustainability to the Built Environment SUPSI, and with Jean-Didier Steenackers, founder of the architecture firm Sunsoak, revealing insights, challenges, and outcomes of different projects, all linked by the common thread of solar energy.
In the CERN project by Renzo Piano Building Workshop, photovoltaics are not merely integrated – they become a protagonist: part of the architectural identity and the narrative itself. Three large square canopies are suspended above the pavilions, able to protect and power the spaces below while filtering light with the delicacy and effect of forest leaves.
With Shigeru Ban Architects & Jean de Gastines Architects, a tone of poetry and structural elegance emerges. In La Seine Musicale in Paris, the large movable photovoltaic sail transforms from a simple energy device into a poetic gesture: an architecture that follows the sun, creates shade, brings movement, and generates a unique atmosphere. Foster + Partners, instead, demonstrates how solar thinking can be both global and deeply rooted in place, climate, and program. In Masdar City, in the Abu Dhabi desert, the photovoltaic canopy hovering over the urban blocks is not just a technical solution but an urban gesture: a visible systemic structure that generates energy and shade, signaling a collective commitment to a new ecological paradigm. As Evangelos Giouvanos recalls, building it was a struggle, technically and economically, but its presence now defines Masdar’s urban identity.
For those working in building and urban design or in real estate development, this is an opportunity
to closely explore experiences from leading figures who offer concrete and replicable insights capable of inspiring new visions for contemporary architecture.
Docufilm project leads: Pierluigi Bonomo, head of the BIPV team, and Greta Battaglia, research associate of the BIPV team, Institute of Applied Sustainability to the Built Environment SUPSI.
Special thanks, in addition to the SEAMLESS-PV project and the SOLARCHITECTURE.ch platform, to Sunsoak and Isplora.
The “Solar Machines”: beyond traditional solar integration
At the core of the docufilm project is the innovative concept of the “Solar Machine,” architectural interventions that move beyond simple photovoltaic integration to become generative elements of the architecture itself and of urban space.
The evolution of photovoltaics in architecture has gone through three distinct phases: the first “applied” generation, where panels were simply placed on roofs; the second “integrated” generation of Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV); and finally the third generation, known as the “Solar Machines.”
This new philosophy no longer hides behind discreet integration but takes on its own forms and functions, creating a completely new architectural language.
A European project for an integrated and sustainable future
The docufilms were produced by the Innovative envelope research team at ISAAC-Institute of Applied Sustainability to the Built Environment (Department of Environment Constructions and Design SUPSI) as part of the training activities supported by the European SEAMLESS-PV project, within the Horizon Europe research program, co-funded by the European Union and the Swiss Confederation. The project involves 18 partners from six countries, including research institutes, universities, companies, and professional practices. Its main goal is to develop advanced, flexible, and highly integrable photovoltaic technologies, as well as new training models and cross-sector collaborations, making them more accessible and competitive in the building market.
Within the project, the ISAAC research team promotes and coordinates activities related to education and lifelong learning, with a particular focus on solar architecture. Through the three interviews, and thanks to direct collaboration with cutting-edge international firms, the team proposes a new model of knowledge dissemination that combines technical explanation with visual and narrative dimensions to actively promote solar integration in contemporary architecture.
More broadly, the goal of the ISAAC team is to promote the practical adoption of solar buildings with integrated photovoltaics as a genuine building material, with particular attention to the quality of the resulting architecture, encouraging sustainable use in line with current regulations and advanced quality criteria. This is carried out through applied research, pilot and innovation projects, training, and market analysis, developed in collaboration with key stakeholders and industry partners in Switzerland and worldwide. A transversal approach that combines technology, architecture, and knowledge with real-world feasibility.