Category: Construction

Integrating external louvres as part of an environmental strategy

The brise soleil, first invented by Le Corbusier in first part of the last century, is a fairly simple sun-shading structure that is added to buildings (or else integrated in the initial design and construction). Its purpose is to limit the amount of sunlight reaching a surface, often a big glass façade, thereby ensuring that temperatures keep within a comfortable range inside. They take various forms and degrees of complexity, with some of the more intricate versions providing architectural appeal to a building as well as a useful function. The commonest simple forms are horizontal projections that are attached to the vertical face of a building and prevent some sunlight from hitting the surface. Other similar approaches are glass louvres – with various types of finish and in different shapes – or other kinds of external louvres.

The huge variety of designs and materials used in the manufacture of louvres can make for some very intriguing approaches. For example, glass louvres can be coated with reflective material or tinted to refract light and lower glare within the building. However, these can also be combined with photovoltaic (PV) cells, a type of solar panel. This means that not only are you not distracted by the unpleasantly high levels of sunlight in the building, but that sunlight is turned into a useful form of energy. This makes the office space more comfortable, and reduces bills – as well as being more environmentally beneficial. There are therefore a range of reasons to opt for louvres as a climate-control choice. An increasing number of offices are being designed with these in mind from the start.

The brise soleil is the most basic of the choices you can get for controlling the amount of passive heating a room or face of a building enjoys. It is usually also the cheapest option as a result. It can be retro-fitted, although in some cases will be part of the design – some of the most celebrated buildings in the world include a brise soleil in their make-up. Glass louvres and other sorts of external louvres (such as aluminium) offer better flexibility and some truly imaginative design features. They also offer the opportunity to incorporate solar cells into them, allowing you to generate power as well as keep the building cooler. The variation you go for will depend on a number of things, including your budget and the size and nature of the space you want to cover. Some organisations specialise in fitting louvres to existing buildings, whereas if you are starting from scratch there is more scope for integrating them into the building’s appearance.

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Glass louvres are precision cut and customized for architecture enthusiasts

Brutalist building design is frequently decried nowadays as the epitome of ugliness and drabness that exhibits a general ambivalence towards its inhabitants. The fact remains, however, that the avant-garde architects at the forefront of this building style – Le Corbusier, for example – were really most enthused by the notion of making life more efficient. While beautiful but inefficient buildings increasingly require extra features such as brise soleil, glass louvres or external louvres to keep them aerated, insulated and well-lit, the likes of The Barbican in London has these kinds of sensible instruments already built into its structure. Of course, many people would not want to sacrifice old or attractive buildings that contain within in them quirks and memories. Most people would not want to rebuild whole towns and cities using Brutalist master Le Corbusier as a guide. But the fact remains that we still hanker after more efficient living and working spaces that are more comfortable because the air circulates within more freely and the sun does not come glaring in.

The brise soleil actually maximises heat flow through buildings, meaning that greatly contrasting ice-cold and stuffy rooms within the same building can be a thing of the past. Certainly, these features turn buildings into better ‘machines for living’. Intelligent and environmentally friendly as heat balancing systems, brise soleils have the additional benefit of helping to reduce our heating bills: you won’t find yourself turning a radiator up to full blast in one particularly chilly room any more because the device redistributes and balances heat fairly and appropriately between bigger and cold and smaller, usually warmer rooms.

At a time when we are all striving to be thriftier though gas expenses are rising, such a ventilation and heating system really is a worthwhile investment. Beyond the home, the office can also benefit from modern systems that maximise the efficiency of our offices. Very often workers delight in and benefit from getting direct sunlight as they work but in some buildings pleasant brightness can quickly turn into a headache-inducing glare. To minimize this unwanted side-effect an external louvre is recommended: consisting of extendible slats akin to a mechanical awning, this piece of architectural ingenuity can be rolled out at the times when the sun is at its harshest and rolled back again at will. glass louvres can function similarly but, tailored to the individual’s needs, are often the first choice of architectural style hunters.

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External louvres could be right for your project

Do you know your brise soleil from your glass louvres?  If you are embarking on an architectural project, the first thing you might like to do is to make sure you understand the key terms that are often bandied around.  Beneath the complex language often lie a few easy concepts that, once explained, are really quite simple and are likely to be very useful for your project.  If you would like to be confident when talking to an architect about external louvres, this article should be of some help.

The term ‘brise soleil’ is from the French, meaning ‘sun breaker’.  The term refers to all sorts of permanent sun-shading techniques, and the beauty of the technique is the range of architectural strategies that come under this umbrella – from the basic patterned walls used by Le Corbusier to the stunning mechanical, pattern-creating devices of the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris.  In its standard form, this sun breaker exists as a horizontal projection attached to the sun-side façade of a building.  Façades with a large amount of glass can be in danger of overheating during the summer, and installing a brise-soleil is a very good way of stopping this from happening.  The structure can be further adapted by incorporating louvres, which prevent high angle summer sun falling on the façade, and allow low-angle winter sun to provide passive solar heating.

Glass is one of the most widely used and multifunctional building products there is.  It can be used for a variety of purposes, from creating striking glass façades to elegant internal screen solutions.  Glass louvres are used to control solar heat gain within buildings, and have traditionally been tinted to give the desired effect.  More elaborate finishes are available, too.  Ceramic frits, for example, involve baking a type of paint onto the glass.  These type of finishes create a more adventurous appearance while reflecting the sun’s heat and helping to maintain an appropriate interior temperature.  Currently, glass louvres are taking on a more active role in buildings than ever before, with light redirection and photovoltaic systems allowing for several different functions.  These louvres can offer building owners and specifiers realistic solutions in terms of creating environmentally friendly buildings by reducing the need for air conditioning while providing renewable energy sources as well as shading.

Basic external louvres, on the other hand, are usually mounted in the vertical, with a row of horizontal blades shaped and positioned to minimise the ingress of water.  With largely simple functions such as providing shade from the sun, the brise soleil, glass louvres and the like should not provoke confusion.  Once you know what they are and how they work, it should be fairly easy to assess which solution would be right for your project.

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Using Chelsea builders to help improve the value of your property

With house prices in some areas of North London now averaging around a million pounds, keeping your home in perfect condition is likely to be a matter of great concern for residents of Chelsea, Hampstead and surrounding areas.  People often look to increase their house value by booking a builder for home improvements, perhaps updating the bathroom or adding more modern conveniences to the kitchen.  North Londoners who are thinking about making such changes to their valuable homes would be well advised to look for builders who are specialist in their area.  Neighbours are likely to be able to recommend good chelsea builders, Hampstead Builders or more general North London Builders, depending on your location.

A good North London builder might be able to advise you on what kind of improvements might work best in your home, but this article aims to give you some points to think about when deciding how to figure out building work to improve the value of your property.

Although building work is likely to add value to your house, this cannot be guaranteed, however good your Hampstead builders might be.  Therefore, it is recommended that any improvements to your house are made according to your own taste, and make the property a more pleasant or convenient place to live in. If you want to sell your house in the near future, it is probably better to consider small changes that might make the property a more attractive investment, such as perhaps a new coat of paint.  This is because it is often the case that major improvements such as replacements of rooms tend to pay off in the longer term.

If you are going to call in the Chelsea Builders and opt for major changes, perhaps the most important thing to consider is that the improvements are in keeping with not only the rest of the house but also the rest of the neighbourhood.  Indeed, according to experts, trying to raise the value of your home above those of neighbouring properties is actually likely to pull its value down.

As previously mentioned, good North London builders are likely to be able to give you more detailed suggestions based on their experience with properties in the area.  They may be particularly helpful if they are specialised to your area – so, for example, Chelsea residents should look specifically for chelsea builders, and recognised Hampstead Builders would probably be most useful for those in that area.  Whoever you decide to employ to make important changes to your house, just make sure the improvements you opt for are carefully considered.

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