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- El Centre del Món — Perpignan
A 200-metre wave of solar glass over a French high-speed rail hub — 2,800 m² of BIPV canopy where the roof and the generator are the same element
A 200-metre solar wave as the unifying element of a mixed-use district — where 1,100+ custom BIPV modules are not installed on the roof but constitute it entirely
One continuous glazed pergola linking a station, hotel, retail and offices — and generating 242 kWp while doing it
El Centre del Món is a mixed-use complex built around Perpignan’s new high-speed rail station: a station hall, shopping centre, hotel and office buildings organised along a linear axis and connected by a single continuous architectural element. L35 Arquitectos conceived that connector as a 200-metre wave-shaped glazed pergola — a new urban symbol for the district that would span the full length of the development, shelter its public spaces, and stand as the project’s most recognisable feature.
The decision to make that canopy entirely from BIPV glass was not a sustainability addition made after the architectural concept was fixed — it was the concept. ISSOL® designed and manufactured over 1,100 custom semi-transparent photovoltaic glass modules to form the full surface of the wave. The panels are the roof: every square metre of canopy is an active solar generator, and every watt produced passes through glass that simultaneously admits daylight, provides weather protection and acts as a brise-soleil for the spaces below.
Variable transparency, compound curvature and all-orientation yield — three problems solved by a single custom module matrix across 2,800 m²
- 1,100+ custom ISSOL® semi-transparent PV glass modules — each manufactured to millimetre precision to follow the compound curvature of the wave geometry; no standard module size, no flat approximation of the curve, no visual discontinuity across the 200-metre span
- Three transparency levels across the canopy — 20 %, 50 % and 90 % — allowing the design team to tune cell density zone by zone: denser where shading is the primary need, more open where diffuse daylight must reach the station hall below
- Over 60,000 monocrystalline cells integrated into the laminated glass-glass modules; the wave geometry means the canopy presents surfaces to all compass orientations — south, east, west, and partially north — and the ~242 kWp system is optimised to extract yield across this full range
- ~266 MWh of clean electricity generated annually — enough to power over 100 households — fed directly into the station’s grid, reducing reliance on the national supply and delivering more than 30 tonnes of CO₂ savings per year
- Integrated brise-soleil function: the BIPV canopy intercepts direct solar radiation before it reaches the public spaces below, reducing summer overheating in the station hall and commercial galleries without a separate shading system
- One of France’s first large-scale BIPV installations in public transport infrastructure — realised under HQE standards and supported by the national feed-in tariff scheme; a benchmark that demonstrated the commercial and technical viability of BIPV at transport-hub scale
Why it fits: An overhead BIPV installation on a compound-curved canopy places three simultaneous demands on the module: it must follow a geometry that is neither flat nor singly curved, it must transmit enough daylight to make the public spaces below usable without artificial lighting during the day, and it must generate electricity from a surface that presents itself to the sun at angles that change continuously along the 200-metre wave. ISSOL® Square’s custom-dimensioning capability was the enabling condition for all three: each of the 1,100+ panels was manufactured to the precise geometry of its position on the wave, cell density was varied panel-by-panel to deliver the required transparency gradient, and the monocrystalline cell specification was chosen to extract maximum yield from the diffuse and oblique irradiation typical of an all-orientation curved surface. The result is a canopy where no distinction is visible between the solar system and the architecture — because there is none.
Parameters for rapid evaluation
| Parameter | Value | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Application | BIPV wave canopy | Semi-transparent solar skylight spanning station hall, retail, hotel and offices; the canopy is the PV system — no separate roof layer |
| ISSOL® solution | ISSOL® Square | Semi-transparent laminated glass-glass modules; monocrystalline cells; custom geometry per panel to follow compound wave curvature |
| BIPV surface | ~2,800 m² | Full canopy surface — 200 m length; wave pergola connecting all volumes of the development |
| Module count | 1,100+ panels | Each panel custom-manufactured; millimetre precision to the wave geometry; no two panels identical in practice |
| Cell count | >60,000 cells | Monocrystalline PV cells laminated into the glass-glass modules; optimised for diffuse and oblique irradiation |
| Installed power | ~242 kWp | All-orientation yield from wave geometry; south, east and west faces all contributing |
| Annual yield | ~266 MWh/yr | Grid-connected; feeds directly into the station supply; equivalent to 100+ households annually |
| CO₂ savings | >30 t/yr | Estimated annual carbon reduction; financial return via French national feed-in tariff |
| Transparency | 20 % / 50 % / 90 % | Three transparency levels tuned zone by zone; denser cells where shading is primary, more open where daylight must reach public spaces below |
| Orientation | All orientations | Wave form presents surfaces to all compass points; system designed to extract yield across the full range of incidence angles |
| Shading function | Integrated brise-soleil | BIPV canopy intercepts direct solar radiation before it reaches the station hall; reduces summer overheating without a separate system |
| Energy standard | HQE | Haute Qualité Environnementale; French national feed-in tariff supporting grid-connected generation |
| Typology | Mixed-use · transport hub | Station hall, shopping centre, hotel, offices — one of France’s first large-scale BIPV installations at a public transport hub |
| Architect | L35 Arquitectos | Wave canopy conceived as the unifying urban symbol of the development; BIPV integral to the architectural concept from the outset |
| Installer | Cansol | Solar installation partner; worked alongside ISSOL® from design to on-site delivery |
| Client | Metrovacesa / SNCF | Perpignan, France · latitude 42° 41′ |
| Completed | 2010 / 2011 | Perpignan, France |
“The wave was never meant to be a roof with solar panels on it. It was meant to be a single gesture — one continuous surface that shelters people, admits light, and generates energy. The fact that every pane of glass in it is a photovoltaic cell is invisible from inside. What you see is light filtering through a canopy. What you don’t see is that the canopy is working.”
El Centre del Món — Perpignan SNCF Station · Perpignan, France, 2010 · L35 Arquitectos
200 metres of solar glass — the wave canopy from distance, inside and in detail
