The SUNIMPLANT hemp construction project of 90 m2 has participated in the 2019 edition of the Expo SOLAR DECATHLON, the first to be held in Africa. The biannual editions of this international competition challenge teams, including students, to develop highly efficient and innovative buildings, powered exclusively by solar energy.
SUNIMPLANT does not use solar technology only to solve energy efficiency requirements, the climate emergency requires recovering environmental health through the use of regenerative techniques that respond to the intentions of carbon sequestration in building envelopes, reduction of embodied energy through energy-saving processing and energy efficiency through plant-based insulation with passive thermal performance.
A spherical skin, made of hemp fibre bio-composite, integrates into the design the most efficient frameless photovoltaic technology of crystalline silicon cells on the market, whose performance is optimised through an insulating carrier substrate. The panels manufactured by vacuum injection were resolved with plant-based resins in the highest percentage, which show high UV resistance compared to synthetic binders. The compact, material- and energy-saving design, inspired by archaic African architecture, was also created with hemp concrete walls with high thermal effusivity and decent thermal conductivity, formulated with agricultural waste from Beldia hemp, a domestic variety from the Upper Central Rif.
SUNIMPLANT was not only one of the driving forces behind the legalization of industrial hemp in Morocco, it was awarded with the second prize by the EIHA (European Industrial Hemp Association) in 2020 and was nominated in 2021 for the prestigious Aga Khan Award of Architecture 2022.
