Beauty and brains combined in world premier of dutch design façade

Today the innovative, energy-producing design façade of Dutch team Studio Solarix has been launched at the Kuijpers building in the Eindhoven region. The sustainable design demonstrates a seamless blend of solar energy, interactivity and design. This accomplishment is the result of an intense cooperation between Studio Solarix, Kuijpers, Kameleon Solar and Sorba. This project was made possible thanks to support from SPARK Campus and the city of Helmond.

Helmond marks the first application of the start-up’s integrated concept on this scale. The next project, the façade of a new, healthy work environment Pharos in Hoofddorp, will follow next year. Studio Solarix is a collaboration of artist and designer Reinier Bosch and architect Marloes van Heteren, whose ambition is to upscale the principle of ‘solar design’ worldwide. Both founders received a Dutch Design Award for the Solarix design to make buildings more sustainable, connective and appealing.

Aukje Kuijpers, CEO of Kuijpers and 2018 Dutch Businesswoman of the Year, immediately saw the potential of Solarix and adopted their concept as launching customer. Kuijpers is a national service partner, engineer and designer of technical solutions for buildings. Their portfolio consists of museums such as the Rijksmuseum and Hermitage in Amsterdam, theme park the Efteling and the Elisabeth Hospital in Eindhoven.

The Solarix concept, a high-design solar tile, enables energy production on the façade whilst also enhancing the identity and appearance of the building as a whole. This combination answers the challenges of the energy transition with a practical, yet smart and beautiful approach and won Studio Solarix the 2016 Solar Challenge during the Dutch Design Week. Solarix’s practical and elegant essence is precisely what makes Dutch design unique in the world.

The new Pharos building in the Schiphol area in The Netherlands will be developed as healthy working community. In this transformation real estate developer Phaors works together with a combination of twenty advisors, designers and contractors to realise this idea. Studio Solarix is one of the selected designers.

 Constructed in 2003, Pharos consists of a total of 22,000 m² GFA divided over 19 storeys of high-rise and 6 floors of low-rise. Originally a standard office building, it has now been modernized into a healthy working environment. The central and attractive location in the heart of the Randstad and Schiphol region has ambitions to develop itself to a energy conscious and circular area.

The use of the Solarix solar design on the façade of the building emphasises this idea and marks the identity as a healthy workspace. Literally the concept will function as a lighthouse for healthy working.

On October 25th the first version of the Solar Design Challenge took place as part of the Dutch Design Week. The top three designs of this year’s competition were presented in the ‘Mind the Step’ theatre.

The  Solar Design Challenge is organized by Solliance (the thin film solar research center) in cooperation with High Tech XL, High TechXL (the incubator hub for start-ups at the High Tech Campus Eindhoven) and Holland Innovative (Project management, Product- & Process Development and Reliability Engineering).

Huib Van den Heuvel, Managing Director Solliance, is the initiator of the Challenge. “If you look at successful product introductions worldwide you see that design is often the differentiating factor. It adds human appeal and brand power to products.

Just recently, a scientific study showed that attention to design in the development stage of new products brings some 20% extra profit. The challenge for companies is to stand out in looks AND function. And blending the two is not that simple. That’s why we’ve organized the Challenge.”

Studio Solarix was selected as the winner by the jury, consisting of the organizing parties, chaired by prof. Elphi Nelissen, dean of the Department of the Built Environment of the TU/e and organizer on behalf of the three universities of technology in the Netherlands of the ‘Mind the Step’ exhibition.