Integrating Architecture and Infrastructure: The Design of a Solar-Powered Hydrogen Refueling Station

In the United States today, as well as the world, the means of energy production has begun to shift. The fossil fuels that have powered homes and businesses through the last century are on their way out, and new technologies are bringing renewable forms of energy to the forefront. The question now is, how can the transition from coal and oil to sun and wind be made smoothly and effectively? One of the answers is found in the way we build. Integrating devices that harness renewable power into new building construction can increase clean energy production, and allow architecture to take advantage of the spatial qualities that arise at the intersection of the two. This thesis studies the boundary between infrastructure and architecture by thinking abstractly about the components of a solar concentrating device and those of a building. They each include two main parts: structural elements and surface elements. By designing a form that merges the architecture of a building with a solar concentrator, buildings can serve as both a shelter for human activity and a power plant for energizing the building systems. This idea is studied through the integration of a concentrating solar skin with the form of an interstate hydrogen refueling station. By using energy from a solar concentrating building skin to harvest the hydrogen from water, a completely renewable system is created that can function in a closed loop where there is no waste. The focus on energy infrastructure and the transportation network aim to address the shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy from an architectural perspective. As new types of infrastructure are more closely tied to surrounding context, they begin to move from the background to play active roles in the experience of the built environment.