Tropical Climates
In the Tropical Climates there are many considerations that are different, for example the structure frame is ideally in metal to avoid problems with termites. The SOLAROOF structure will not use metal cladding since our building envelope needs to be transparent so that the building has "Cool Daylight?" and can capture and use solar energy, while remaining a cool and pleasent environment for living, working and recreation.
If your home is located in the tropics or in a HotClimate region then conventional "Best Practice?" would recommend that you have a white painted sheet metal roof with insulation and a ventilated airspace; however, your roof will still be far too hot at mid-day. But, dark shingled or asphalt roofs get very hot (and you pay in high air-conditioning cost). The new Sola Roof is a 10 to 20 times improvement over the best roof construction we have today. In this new Blue Green concept a plant leaf canopy is used to intercept the solar radiation. This leaf canopy (at the roof level) in combination with a translucent Sola Fabric sheet-material forms a shaded, cool and weatherproof roof.
The living plant Leaf Canopy? shades the living space, which is always in the cool since this living shade system is cooled by the plant growth mechanism called transpiration. The plants may be growing over the rooftop (no problem in the tropics)which we refer to as a Sola Roof Garden or they can be intensively cultivated in a closed atmosphere Growing Space? that is referred to as a Phyto Technology? system.
The Sola Roof Garden design creates a secure working space between the rooftop Leaf Canopy? (which is supported by a structural netting) and the Sola Fabric that forms the inner wheather proof layer of the roof and it is safe for you to go into this roof area to access the crop growing system and harvest the plant products. You can grow plants that need almost no attention at all or you can grow food crops abundantly. This Sola Roof Garden is equipped with a lightweight hydroponic (no soil) roots misting system that automatically waters and "feeds" the plants. The Sola Roof Garden is also designed to collect rainwater from the weatherproof roof-layer. The plants can be chosen to be compatible with a fresh water irrigation or sea-water for salt tolerant plants.