Under the aegis of HfG Karlsruhe, students of several universities of design developed innovative designs in the fall semester 2011/2012 for a future under the sun. In the development of their forwardlooking ideas regarding the use of solar-thermal energy in urban and private environments, the young designers were advised by plastics experts of the world’s largest chemical group, BASF.
Every day, five thousand times more solar energy hits the earth’s surface than humanity needs to meet its energy requirement. The potential of solar energy is thus significantly higher than that of any other renewable form of energy. Solar-thermal facilities transform solar energy directly into useful thermal energy. They are therefore particularly suitable for playing an important role in the future energy mix of renewable energies. To gain solar heat, large collectors on roofs or facades are necessary. They are often perceived as disturbing the urban landscape.
The students of HfG and one of its partner universities, ENSCI – Les Ateliers in Paris, as well as of Berlin Uni- versity of the Arts (UDK), turned necessity into virtue and presented clever and surprising salutations for urban everyday life. Mentored by HfG and BASF, the young designers of The Sun Heat Project showed how the sun will help us heat pools and apartments efficiently, prepare meals, and use our streets as heat storage. For The Sun Heat Project, BASF experts from the field of solar-thermal energy discussed the technical feasibility of the projects with the young designers.
At the Milan furniture fair, the landmark annual international design event, in a joint representation with the HfG exhibition platform kkaarrlls, the project was presented for the first time to an international public and communicated via a sophisticated exhibition design planned by Martha Schwindling and Laura Jungmann.