LA SAETTA FOTOVOLTAICA – MILANO

The installation is conceived as an icon for the new headquarter of Arval in Scandicci (Florence), a self-sufficient structure in terms of energy. A sustainable project that makes maximum use of sunlight while drastically reducing energy loss, a model for a new type of ecological construction based on the use of renewable resources (solar, geothermal, wind). The structure is made by one part clad in mirror-finish steel, the supporting frame, and a suspended glass element with a lightning bolt shape, in which some photovoltaic panels are inserted in order to produce energy for the lighting. The earthward end of the bolt features a steel tip grafted into a hollow filled with lava stone to represent a virtual point of return to the earth.