Use of Solar Energy in Architecture

Fortunately, solar energy technology has made great strides in recent years, culminating in buildings such as the Four Times Square Building in New York City- a building which is its own freestanding, environmentally friendly electric utility. Photovoltaic panels, gas fired absorption H-vac systems, high-efficiency variable speed pumps, motors, and fans, and high performance glass curtainwalls all come together in the Four Times Square Building to create an attractive, efficient, and non-polluting testimony to the power and practicality of solar energy(Brown, 1999, p. 36).

Buildings such as the Four Times Square pay homage to those that have come before them. One such building is the Shanghai Bank in Hong Kong, designed and built by Norman Foster in the early 80s. Norman Foster, regarded as an architectural visionary, has in the Shanghai Bank executed his plan to achieve harmony between a man-made structure and the natural environment. Foster, when

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ates interior spaces of varying width and depth, and allows for many garden terraces(www.fosterandpartners.com, 2000). The bank exterior consists of a combination of steel framing and transparent panels, which provides high visibility and a capacity to absorb daylight in abundance. As a result, the Shanghai bank is more insulated than many other buildings of its type- its lush greenery and its manipulation of solar energy allow for the costs of insulation to decrease significantly(www.architecture.com, 2000, p. N1.2). Clearly, Norman Fosters vision of a ôgreen buildingö is encapsulated well in the Shanghai Bank. However, this vision did not come without a price. FosterÆs attempt to circumvent the pitfalls of the average office building, though noble, did cause some concern as the Shanghai Bank was in development. Claimed to have cost more money than any other building of the decade to erect, the Shanghai Bank received a fair share of negative publicity as it neared its completion in the mid 80s(www.greatbuildings.com, 2000). Cost concerns and the quest to incorporate solar energy into large-scale buildings have been historically common. Until recently, buildings such as the Shanghai Bank have been viewed as long-term inv
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Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page)

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