In recent years, the acceleration we have witnessed, in the field of renewable energy and technologies for sustainability, is prodigious: every day we see the launch of new revolutionary engineering applications, which give us the idea of being at the dawn of a new revolution, a new era whose effects are still unpredictable, but which will lead us, in the near future, to a fully sustainable industrial production and consumer society.
Consider, for example, the experimentation, already underway in France since 2016, of covering about 1000 km of roads with a substrate of resistant polycrystalline silicon panels that do not require the replacement of the road surface, in practice a sort of “photovoltaic asphalt” .
Or the recent presentation, albeit in an experimental form, of “photovoltaic coatings” capable of transforming any surface, potentially, into a photovoltaic panel.
Or, to stay on the subject of photovoltaic energy, the diffusion, which has taken place in recent years, of almost completely transparent panels, capable of opening enormous aesthetic opportunities in the architectural field.
Or again, to the shocking abilities shown, with spectacular punctuality every year, by the automata of Boston Dynamics, ever closer to human behavior and movements, and even to animal ones.
Such radically innovative technologies require equally innovative and radical aesthetic visions and design concepts: for a design studio, this is a fascinating and unrepeatable challenge. That of defining new aesthetic paradigms, to enhance new technological and engineering paradigms.
We in Model 5 are fully involved in this challenge: our team, which brings together engineers, creatives, modeling experts, virtual reality experts, in a mix of young talents and experienced professionals, is the perfect place to conceive innovative concepts related to environmental sustainability, and to then transform these concepts into real products, to be placed on the market.
When in 2104 we began to think about how to innovate the concept of “photovoltaic field”, we asked ourselves: why should a photovoltaic field be created by subtracting space, perhaps by cutting down woods or cultivated fields, and be hidden away from cities? Why not create a new concept of a photovoltaic park, aesthetically fascinating, so much so that it can be brought to the center of our cities, inside our parks? The poetic inspiration was therefore to combine natural trees, which produce clean air, with other artificial trees, which instead produce clean energy. Side by side, in the parks of our cities. Thus was born the Solar Tree concept, an innovative Solar Pursuer for urban parks or woods.
At the same time, our deep engineering expertise guarantees the production feasibility of our concepts, which through engineering studies, feasibility studies and progressive optimization are transformed into products ready to be marketed. This is how, once again in 2014, we began to think: why should a photovoltaic street lamp be the same as a traditional street lamp? What new aesthetics could enhance the peculiar characteristics of photovoltaic panels? And what new functions could be included in a photovoltaic street lamp? From this research, Ghost and Vela were born, innovative concepts of photovoltaic street lamps, which then evolved up to production and placing on the market.
This is Model 5, the place where innovative ideas take shape, and become projects and then products: Model 5 gives shape to your ideas!