Kyocera, a manufacturer of industrial ceramics and solar panels, wished to create a "showroom" of their solar products as shade structures for their parking lot.

 

Being a Japanese company, and poetry and nature being integral to Japanese culture, we used their transparent glass-on-glass panels in the center of each structure to mimic the dappled sunlight effect of walking amidst a grove of trees.

 

The 235 kW project consists of 25 solar "trees", producing an estimated 421,000 kWh per year.

 

Laurie served as the project designer for this project while employed at Tucker Sadler Noble Castro Architects in 2003.