
Chapter 39
Solar Power in Practice
Stefan Behling
Design Director and Senior Partner, Foster + Partners,
Professor for Advanced Building Construction, Technology and Design,
University of Stuttgart, Germany
When Foster + Partners first introduced photovoltaic technology
into one of its schemes back in 1975, both the technology and
the reasoning behind its use was in its infancy. The Gomera
Masterplan—a tourist development on the Canary Island of
Gomera—aimed to encourage self-sustaining development based on
a combination of indigenous construction techniques and renewable
resources. Crucially, the island’s constant sunshine and steady winds
made it a natural ...