Category: Sun Protection

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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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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