Friends in the Sun is focused on the principles of regenerative architecture, didactic technology and symbiotic industries. The project looks to provide an understanding of physical and mechanical principles that is not reliant upon a formal education, in doing so the proposal aims to encourage divergent understandings of our physical world.
‘Solar Engines’ use sunlight to create kinetic energy which is in turn converted in electricity, this electricity is stored by the Solar Engines until their capacity is reached, at which point the electricity is released in the form of a St Elmo’s fire. It is proposed that the Solar Engines are positioned throughout agricultural fields, illustrating the connections between solar, kinetic and electrical power to the workers in the fields, as well as fixing nitrogen in the atmosphere with the St Elmo’s fires, to help with plant growth.
Friends in the Sun is situated in the Northern Territories in Australia, to the south of Alice Springs, an area pitted with exhausted uranium mines as well as a large nomadic aboriginal population. Alice Springs is reliant upon imports of food, water and electricity for survival, the Friends in the Sun project looks to address this imbalance and provide the city with the means the support itself. The selected site is on top of an abandoned mine and benefits from the transport links to Alice Springs which were previously used for mining.
Friends in the Sun is a proposal for a solar tower power plant, which use expansive glass canopies to heat the air below, a tall tower at the center of the canopy allows the hot air to rise causing an updraft which is used to drive turbines to generate electricity. It has been observed in other examples of this technology that moisture is trapped within the system and condensate forms on the underside of the glass canopy creating arable climates within desert landscapes.
Friends in the Sun is organised as a series of layers; the glass canopy is used heat the air and trap water, below the canopy crops are grown in aquaponics trays suspended above the earth providing shade and coolth at ground level for people traveling or settling on the site, the subterranean mines are sealed and used as batteries storing compressed air.
SAMWITHTHEPLAN 