Designing with the Sun: Finding balance between aesthetics and energy performance in Building-integrated photovoltaic buildings

Energy generation in buildings is a reality in several countries. But to obtain the best aesthetics and energetic performance from the photovoltaics (PV) architectural integration, it is necessary to make essential decisions in the design stage. This paper aims to demonstrate how decision-making in the design phase of the PV design can take advantage of two tools that allow the designer to evaluate the use of solar irradiation and the impact of shading in different conditions of orientation and inclination: the solar abacus and the shading masks. The method introduced each tool and explained how they could be used to support and guide the definition of architectural design. Additionally, the critical decision-making points for each tool were highlighted, enabling better comprehension for decision-making. The method was applied in two case studies in the same residential building located in the South of Brazil: one PV system for a rooftop and another PV system for a solar carport. As a result of the application of this method, although the orientations and inclinations existing in the case study were not ideally oriented, it was still possible to respect them, creating a building-integrated photovoltaic system (BIPV) design that harmonized with the building and valued the integration of the PV in the architecture. Due to the simplicity of interpretation of the adopted tools, both architects not specialized in solar energy and end customers can understand the decision-making process and the resulting losses from each project choice.