Well, at least the roof rotates. That’s still pretty wild and, it turns out, solar efficient. The Heliotrope, designed by German architect Rolf Disch is a wild looking structure located in Germany that has a rotating array of solar panels to follow the sun during the course of the day. A “Sun Sail” on the roof of the Heliotrope “is made of 60 monocrystalline silicon modules…with 6.6 kW peak output. The mounting system and rotation mechanism of the Sun Sail were completely newly developed: the panel tracks the sun throughout the day automatically and computer controlled – turning independently from the building itself.” Staying more directly below the sun’s rays during the day allows the house’s solar panels to produce five times more electricity than the house actually uses. Triple paned thermally insulated glass maintain balance between letting light in and keeping the house cooler on the inside.

Rotating gives the solar panels a 30-40% advantage in energy production over regular solar panels on the roof. Architect Disch lives inside his masterpiece and keeps the inside green as well. “The collected rainwater is automatically filtered and reused. Garbage and feces is decomposed in an odorless dry composting, while the sewage water is clarified in a vegetated cascade pond in the homes’ front yard.” A Heliotrope – and there have been two others built – costs around $2 million.

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