Architectural Quality approaching Integration with Solar Thermal Collectors and Photovoltaics

Climate change has been always mentioned as being a significant problem rooted in overusing fossil fuels. Also considering the negative effects it has on climate, having only a limited source and depletion of the fossil sources, it is necessary and imminent to head towards using renewable energy sources; therefore, solar facilities, being known as equipment for utilizing the free source of solar energy, play a crucial role in human’s future life. From an architectural point of view, the employment of solar facilities, for their disregarding the architectural concerns, is not always considerably being welcomed in the new designed buildings. Paying attention to architectural quality is also needed, because of its being the main purpose of facilities among energy efficiency strategies. Quality of architecture in implementing solar facilities can be overviewed in three items: a) functional: for climatic protection, b) construction: for structure, equipment, execution and integration of solar features with building elements, c) formal: which can be seen only from aesthetic viewpoints. Besides, flexibility is needed for the above mentioned items so to achieve harmony between architecture and the related environment. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to find possible ways of enhancing architectural quality integrated with both PV panels and solar thermal collectors in order to approach energy efficiency without any negative impacts on architectural aesthetics.