TECHNOLOGY & DESIGN

Initiated by the EPFL+ECAL Lab, the Sunny Memories international design workshop offers a new vision of solar energy.

This workshop is based on a new technology of dye solar cell invented at the Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). Inspired from photosynthesis in plants, the technology harnesses solar energy with flexible, coloured and even see-through surfaces. 

Four world-leading design schools have explored the technology's prospects so as to renew our relationship with energy and light:  the California College of the Arts (CCA), the Royal College of Art in London (RCA), the ECAL/University of art and design Lausanne (ECAL) and the Ecole nationale supérieure de création industrielle in Paris (ENSCI). Over 80 students have shared their vision of the future of solar energy under the guidance of top-level designers. 

The Sunny Memories project is the subject of a brochure presenting the 28 selected projects and of three exhibitions in 2009, respectively at the EPFL+ECAL Lab (Renens/Switzerland), at ENSCI (Paris) and at RCA (London).

The selected projects fall into three categories:  designs that can move into production today, those which can potentially be produced within two to three years and those based on projections for technologicyl progress within 10 years.

This ambitious project, which has served to highlight the potential for innovation at a crossroads between design and engineering, was made possible thanks to the commitment of private bankers Lombard Odier, pioneers in the field of responsible investing.