SOLAR FLOATING RESORT

SFR is a unique hospitality concept, part habitation, part yacht and part submarine, totally self-sufficient energy generator, non-polluting and in unison with its natural surroundings.

SFR has been designed like a luxury yacht and a luxury hotel suite, with a fully submerged observation bulb because the majority of people are fascinated by photographing exotic fishes, dolphins, sharks and marine turtle.

SFR is a hospitality product that will enhance the standards of front beach hotels, bringing them to an ecological, non-polluting and self-sufficient seven stars level!

SFR reaches twenty meters in length, is designed for six people at sea and is ideal for living in marinas connected to front beach hotels. As an example, a marina composed of seven SFR would accommodate forty two persons in an exclusive high end environment.

SFR sleeps six with a premium on privacy. The design calls for two single and two double bedrooms, each with private a bathroom. A large kitchen, a dining area, a lounge area and a pilot room complete the 100 m2 interior layout, treated in the purest Italian style. Outside, the teak deck is set up with a large semi circular lounge / dinning area, six individual day beds and a six places Jacuzzi. But, the most distinctive feature is its fully submerged observation bulb. It’s big enough for six armchairs and it’s built like a tourist submarine with a thick glass enclosure that provides a 360 degrees view. When there is no sunlight, SFR has a ring of 200 watts spot lights, located around the observation bulb, to illuminate any sea life.

With SFR we enter a new era of advanced construction techniques, based on industrial design rather than traditional architecture.

SFR uses advanced materials, systems and techniques that have been applied successfully in the car and naval industries. But, the main originality of SFR resides in its modular system that permits to construct all the parts in a factory, to transport them on site by ground, air or sea and to assemble the whole in a few weeks, like a “Lego”.

SFR has been designed with the industrial viewpoint of fabricating repetitive standard elements, using molding technology. This way, the master molds can reproduce hundreds of pieces cutting down considerably the fabrication cost, like in the car industry.

SFR is composed of a central tower on which thirty-two modules are attached to form the main deck and twenty modules to form the habitation part. Each module is constructed using a composite balsa reinforced fiberglass that has been extensively used in the naval industry due to its lightweight and high structural performances. Besides, with molding techniques it’s possible to create a fifteen millimeters skin that is more resistant than a twenty centimeters wall stone! And between the two skins there is room for technical space that can be used for wiring, piping and insulation purposes.

SFR invention is based on a new construction element that is composed of and outside and inside skin in balsa reinforced fiberglass as structure, photo-electro-chemical cells integrated into the two skins, outside and inside, and a vacuum insulation between the two skins when they are concealed together. The outside skin absorbs sunlight energy, the inside skin absorbs artificial lighting energy and between both skins there is a vacuum insulation to protect the habitation from outside heat as well as maintaining the interior cold with a minimum of air conditioning. The whole is perfectly integrated and makes a modular construction element self-sufficient energy generator, non-polluting and lightweight which, has never been achieved before.

Power for the electrical and propulsion systems comes from photo-electro-chemical cells (PECC) that are integrated into the structure of SFR. The propulsion system is not intended for ocean crossing but to be sufficient for moving SFR to nearby reefs to explore marine life. The PECCs work under low light conditions as well as artificial light. The electrical current produced by the PECCs is stored into batteries with an inverter converting direct current (DC) into alternative current (AC), almost twenty four hours the day, providing enough energy to the entire electrical and propulsion systems.

Solar energy is the answer to all energy problems. Enough sun hits the earth’s surface in one hour to power global energy needs for an entire year! It’s an affordable, clean, convenient, ecological, non-polluting and secure energy source.

SFR is a “building integrated” self-sufficient energy generator. The traditional solar panels are ugly, expensive and not adapted to integration into architecture. It was absolutely essential to make the PECCs and integral part of SFR structure.

The photo-electro-chemical cell (PECC) has a dye that absorbs light and transforms it into electricity. It is a solar cell very cheap compare to the silicon cell. The dye is based on a chlorophyll molecule, the chemical that plants use o absorb sunlight. That’s science imitating nature! It’s called artificial photosynthesis. A molecule of chlorophyll absorbs light and generates electrical charges and then those charge s are conducted to produce an electrical current which is stored into batteries.

The PECCs are made of low cost materials and do not need elaborated apparatus to manufacture. They can be engineered into flexible sheets that are mechanically robust. They absorb light from sunlight, low light conditions, cloudy skies, non direct sunlight and artificial indoor lighting. Thus, we can recycle the energy wasted in the electrical indoor lighting process! And store it back to where it comes from….the batteries!

Moreover, SFR uses vacuum insulation, like “thermos” which, is the best existing insulating product on earth…and it has no weight!

Only advanced industrial design techniques would permit to integrate solar cells and vacuum insulation into ultra light structural modules, while creating and aesthetic, ecological, non-polluting and innovative hospitality concept.

That’s what SFR is made of!
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