Bachelor Thesis - The Solar Tree
Lasse P. S. H. / June 2020
The full thesis can be found here
Abstract
This thesis examines the re-design of an organic solar cell installation made for Roskilde Festival 2019 called the Solar Tree. The goal of the Solar Tree is to educate, engage and inspire festival goers in organic solar cells and engineering. The re-design was achieved by applying methods learned from the BSc. Design & Innovation. The project utilizes a user-oriented design philosophy, thus user feedback is central for the understanding of requirements for the product. User studies show that interactivity is essential in engaging festival guests in a conversation and that an aesthetically pleasing, organic and novel design would be eye-catching and attract users. Ideas were then generated and further evaluated using different design methods and tools. Lastly, the chosen idea was conceptualised by investigating its individual components through basic structures, quantitative structures as well as testing and prototyping. The result of the bachelor thesis is a Solar Tree concept consisting of benches, green energy charging, interactive sun tracking and an aesthetically pleasing design resembling a palm tree. The final concept hereby fulfills the requirements set forth by the user study and is presented through a CAD model, a scaled model and a product catalogue.