Canada's first cathedral in 50 years will use solar cells

The first Roman Catholic Cathedral to be built in Canada in 50 years will become the first in the world to integrate solar energy collection and stained glass.

In May, windows laced with solar cells will be installed into the $28.5 million Cathedral of the Holy Family in Saskatoon, Sask.

The windows are the creation of Toronto artist Sarah Hall.

German company Glasmalerei Peters Studios will bring Hall’s stained glass window panels, depicting the northern lights and colourful prairie sky, with them to Saskatoon when it comes to install them.

The studio, from the northwest German town of Paderborn, has specialized in cutting-edge glass painting techniques for close to 100 years.

“When I was in Germany, I saw these great facades that were solar cells and one of the engineers came in to our studio and asked if anyone would be interested in using this as an elegy in their work,” Hall said.

Most rejected the idea, as incorporating a solar cell unit would impose a noticeable grid pattern on their artwork.

However, Hall loved the idea, as it immediately reconciled her concerns about how humans live in the world and use energy, along with her artwork.

Also, since her artwork is usually really large, the photovoltaic solar cell grid won’t be visible at eye level.

Divided into 18 painted glass panels each, the three finished windows will contain a total of 1,113 solar cells and will produce as much energy as five Canadian households use in a year.

The largest of the three will measure 37 feet high by 12 feet wide.

She titled the project Lux Gloria.

Mickey Lux (no relation to the title of the piece) with I.R. Project Management, Ltd., Saskatoon, is project manager for the Saskatoon Roman Catholic Diocese.

He said the project’s electrical and glazier subcontractors, Triad Power and Dynamic Glass and Door, respectively, will likely get work with Glasmalerei Peters, when work starts on the windows.

“The agreement we have is with Glasmalerei Peters from Germany, which is a separate contract from Graham,” explained Lux.

“However, there is a lot of co-ordinating work, so I think that our German friends will be looking to hire Triad people, if necessary, and some people through Dynamic most-likely.”

Lux understood that Glasmalerei Peters has spoken with Dynamic Glass and Door about possibly subcontracting.

However, Rick Little with Dynamic Glass and Door said no arrangement has yet been worked out.

“As I understand it, the windows install like any other, except for the little wire that needs to be connected. There’s no glazier in western Canada, as far as I know, that does this type of work yet.”

Hall was hoping that Glasmalerei Peters could be convinced to provide a workshop to local electricians and glaziers about the technique of assembling and installing large solar cell windows.

To create a solar stained glass window, the glass is painted and fired with metallic oxides, which fuse onto the base glass.

The painted glass is then tempered and silver polycrystalline solar cells are soldered and embedded into the painted surface.

A layer of ultra-white tempered glass is then laminated on top and the window is made into a thermopane.

Tim Gallaugher, senior project manager with Graham Construction, describes the cathedral as a bit of a challenge and different from the company’s usual projects.

Graham Construction & Engineering Inc. is the general contractor.

“It’s not your regular box building,” he said.

“It’s got some features that require a lot of detailed engineering and detailed fabrication as well. I would say it’s a couple of levels up in quality and complexity from what we would do as a standard building.”

Gallaugher said the church pews are coming from Pennsylvania and the marble and granite have been sourced from overseas.

“That’s something you certainly don’t see every day, but that is something that’s within our scope,” he said.

Lower building areas will be clad with Tyndal stone quarried from Manitoba.

While the project is on schedule, he said the elements have prevented them from gaining any ground.

“Our nemesis has been the weather ever since last spring. Spring, summer and fall were just brutal,” he said.

“Other than that, it’s gone extremely smooth.”

Lux said he was looking into the workshops for local glaziers and electricians.

The 5,500-square-metre cathedral, designed for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saskatoon by Henry Downing Howlett Architects, is scheduled to open in November 2011.