Sustainable BRUSK: installation of photovoltaic glass shales
BRUSK, the new museum building and cultural flagship of Bruges and Flanders, is slowly rising in the very heart of Bruges. During the construction of BRUSK, the city resolutely opts for sustainability. The roofs of the exhibition rooms, for instance, will be completely covered with electricity-generating glass shales.
Electricity-generating glass shales: what and how?
The roofs of the exhibition halls will be entirely covered with electricity-generating glass shales. The design of the glass shingles is by Jean-Didier Steenacker of Sunsoak Design while Belgian technology company Soltech carried out the various mock-ups and production.
These integrated solar panels (‘BIPV panels’) cover an area of 1.298m². They produce an output of 197kWp. The roofs face south to ensure maximum output. In order to make a real eye-catcher of the roof with the BIP panels, the adjacent surfaces and part of the west facade were also covered with glass panels that have the same look and feel as the active panels, covering an area of 1,218m².
In addition to the roof of the exhibition halls, the shed roofs of the logistics part of the new building project have also been used to full effect to generate energy. A further 215 conventional solar panels are located on those roofs. In turn accounting for 124.7 kWp. On all roofs combined, the entire PV installation reaches an impressive total power of 321kWp and 285,000kWh of expected output. That is the average consumption of 85 single-family houses combined.
Visual harmony with surrounding park
Thanks to these innovative technologies, BRUSK will be more than twice as energy-efficient as the current NZE (nearly zero-energy) standard. This means that the building not only meets its own energy needs, but also achieves a significant reduction in CO₂ emissions. The dark green colour of the glass shells also creates visual harmony with the surrounding park and contributes to the sustainable, aesthetic integration into Bruges' city centre.
Besides the innovative solar panels, BRUSK is strongly committed to energy efficiency and, with BRON (the research centre of Musea Brugge), also to circular construction. The design and materials used meet the strictest sustainability standards. BRUSK, BRON and later also the Groeningemuseum will be connected to a BTES field (borehole thermal energy storage), providing environmentally friendly heating in winter and passive cooling in summer.
Click here for the original press release (in Dutch).