This unusual-looking structure is the Endesa Pavilion, also known as the Solar House 2.0. Created for the Smart City Expo, the pre-fabricated pavilion was designed to soak up as much sun as possible while also providing shade below, using wedge-shaped sections set at various angles and topped with solar panels.
A collaboration between the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC) and the Spanish energy company Endesa, the Solar House 2.0 was designed with computer software which generated the code for a CNC mill to ‘print’ the wooden components. It was built in just one month and will be in place at Barcelona’s Marina Pier until November 28th.
Says the IAAC, “The structure brings the distributed intelligence concept to the realm of architecture through a multiscalar aproach. The project aims to define an adaptative constructive system able to respond each solicitation at the lowest scale. By doing this, each single module could answer to his own structural, energetical and enviromental needings. The skin will act as a network of inteligent nodes, a “solar brick” that protects from the solar radiation, collects and storage the energy the data at the local scale.”
“The project is an exercise in which a building, under the guidance of the block type of Barcelona, is adapted by adding a series of modules on its facade. These modules, which are seen as triangular pieces section, make possible for the building to optimize energy and spatial intelligence. Its size and components vary depending on the orientation and inclination of the sun, the relationship with the environment and other technical needs.”

