Sustainable spatial design

During the whole duration of the whole assignment we where given the task to come up with a design for an agrivoltaic systems which shape shifts, collects water and protects the crops with still managing to give them as much sunlight as needed. The tutors from the engineering side of MCAST showed us a small animation of what they had so far and explained that they came to us to make the design more aesthetically pleasing. Instead of doing like some people I opted to create  a system which consists of a lot of small single structures scattered around the field instead of having a structure with a square frame. 

    My initial inspiration was from sailing and sails as such systems used are perfect as they make use for my design. After extensive research done i found how such systems are used as canopies for restaurants and public spaces all over the world. This research helped me come up with both an aesthetically pleasing and modular design. A problem i encountered was one of how the supporting pillars are going to open up and how they will fold.Other problems I encountered regarding my individual design was the track that the system was all going to fold as a big problem is that when it rains mud will enter the track and consequence to this the track could get jammed. Aspects I liked about my design was one that all modules work individual, could be rotated to what ever angel is best used to collect energy and also the fact that it is all motorised.

   My design was not short listed and joined the group which consisted of Raissa , Jonathan and Mariah. Raissa’s design consisted of panels on a rectangular structure. We started off by allocating certain jobs to certain people and as a group tried solving how the mechanism will work. After a lot of consultation we agreed on a system and did the adequate CAD drawings for the structure. I then started building the 3D model and preparing for the animation.During the process we had some strong opinions on certain things but at the end we certainly managed to deliver a strong concept. 

    Our final result of this assignment was a very positive one and all members where proud of what we presented. Regarding some feedback given to us that it looked like a green house we where initially told to keep the structure as was as it was a good point that helped the structure get chosen. I personally think that such projects wont have a good affect in malta and we would have benefitted highly iff instead of having to design agrivoltaics we should have worked on something more useful and try improve the regular household  structure which PV panels are mounted on as at the moment cause a inconvenience and in most cities especially ones in the countryside such as Bahrija tend to cause a big eyesore. All in all i enjoyed working on this project as I learnt a lot about sustainability and PV systems.