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The art of building is indivisible! - Maurizio Scalera
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Another new solar power system is based on consolidated physical effects proven over centuries (such as the greenhouse, the chimney and wind turbines) is the solar chimney: a bed of black ceramic gravel is situated under a glass roof where hot air is produced by the heat of the sun. This flows through a chimney placed in the middle of the roof and is drawn upward driving turbines installed at the base which produce electricity. One prototype has been built in Manzanares, Spain (1989), but there is already a proposed project, to be realized for 2005 near Mildura (Australia), for a one kilometer high solar chimney, which will be the tallest human-made construction on the planet, capable of 200 Megawatt power production, enough to fully fuel a middle size regional town, with an estimated cost of 700million dollars.

After the lecture of the German professor I was certainly fascinated by his projects and constructions, but above all by the future scenarios he depicted of the energy produced by solar power plants. However I am ultimately unconvinced of the value of these highly sophisticated systems. Of course I do not doubt their efficiency and constructive ability but it seems that the light structures theory has an intrinsic dichotomy in its nature, and therefore in its aesthetic: their purpose is lightness and transparency, which are not always simply synonymous of quality. These constructions try to be each time ever more diaphanous that so one day they would virtually disappear from sight while their presence is firmly there (eg Hotel Kempinski at Munich Airport). The aim is to obtain the maximum continuity between different spaces, from inside to outside, from private to public, from natural environment to artificial places. These technological surfaces often represent a strong boundary which separates opposite contrasts or creates different microclimates and habitats, so why should they want to cease to be visible?

Here, in my opinion, is the main paradox- more virtual continuity generates more physical separation. Instead of obtaining this idealized lightness, it often happens that the medium overcomes the meaning, and so we observe the fragmentation of the structure (for example cable-nets and sharp joints) which loses its plasticity, its materiality, its "taste" and, above all, the natural hierarchy of the elements implicit in its construction.

So hopefully architecture will never become just a transparent membrane between different climatic conditions�

Maurizio Scalera is an architect, graduated from University of Florence in 2000 and is working with Grafton Architects.