Category: Sun Protection

Brise soleil adapt with changing weather.

If you were around in the ‘90s, the chances are you’ll remember Baz Luhrmann’s long running chart topper titled Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen). The song split audiences: there were those who loved its pop philosophical bent and positivity, while others despised its patronisingly didactic nature. But whatever our criticism of this song, rarely did we think, well, it’s one thing for us humans to wear sunscreen but what about the buildings we all work in? The fact is that buildings need sun protection too if their employees are to stay safe. External louvres for buildings are a totally different kettle of fish. Commonly known in varieties such as brise soleil and glass louvres, they protect buildings’ external shells as well as the things and people inside them.

Brise soleil carry out their function by shading the external façade of a building in a stylish and streamlined fashion in keeping with the rest of the existing building. Often abstract in their design, they are brilliantly well-suited to public art galleries outdoors. In fact, the Yorkshire Sculpture Park gallery is one example of a building that uses a brise soleil to excellent effect. The shade is designed and positioned such that it works with the changing light and temperature according to the season. In summer, much of the large exterior window of the gallery will be kept in shade at noon. In winter, on the other hand, when the light is weaker and the temperature colder, only the top section of this window will be cast in shadow. A possible added feature (not so desirable in an art gallery but rather more so in a corporate space such as a lobby or reception room) with a brise soleil consists of a special design feature that allows patterned light into the room. If you’re the manager of a building that’s been purpose built for a particular company, you might consider trying to tailor the pattern of light to the company’s needs: why not reproduce the corporate logo or make a new design suggestive of their brand values?

Glass louvres and external louvres are slightly different from brise soleil, meanwhile. Glass louvres can in fact function as independent structures; think of the famous glass pyramid in the courtyard of the Paris gallery known as the Louvre. One difference is that in Paris, the pyramid actually connects to the main building and is visible when you look upwards from a position underground.

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Glass louvres in a whole variety of different sizes, colours and styles

Buildings that are excessively hot or cold are not only uncomfortable, they can also be a danger to the environment and dear to run. It is therefore essential to consider how issues of overheating, or a lack of insulation might be overcome. The fitting of sunscreening devices is one of a number of remedial options. Brise soleil, for instance, stop direct sun from entering buildings. A super alternative to air conditioning, which can leave us dried out and thirsty, brise soleil can be cut using reflective glass that at once diminishes glare and prioritizes privacy. glass louvres offer another solution that meets the demands of green policies with style; usually erected as additions to existing buildings, they can be made using tailor-made coloured glass and can even be run solely on solar power. External louvres are then a third way of making buildings more energy efficient and keeping customers and employees content on your premises.

So, if a workplace is airless and uninviting, any one, or a mixture of the above solutions might quite speedily rebalance the temperature and air quality while also saving money and supporting eco-friendly ideas. Company directors, or leaders with a deciding role in the well-being of employees have a responsibility to make offices, meeting rooms and other areas both pleasant to inhabit and conducive to work. In brief, an uncomfortable professional whose mind is caught up on keeping warm or staying cool is not going to be a happy one, nor, in all probability, will his or her work be up to scratch.

Unquestionably, the atmosphere of a workplace should be prized in much the same way by a respectable company as any more conventional asset would be. Therefore, if your building needs to be cooler, consider getting a brise soleil. If you need more room but want to use space efficiently and heat economically, why not acquire a glass louvre? And if you require some extra shading from the outside, external louvres can help. Quite simply, the reputation and the prestige of your brand is at stake every time visitors enter your building: first impressions of the business will be dependent not just on documentation but on the happiness of the people met and the surroundings that contribute to their outlook.

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Glass louvres provide the ultimate in practicality with good looks

As awareness of environmentally sound architecture increases and government regulations pertaining to the energy output of buildings become increasingly strict, many architectural features such as the brise soleil and external louvres have become commonplace, even if many people are unaware of their function. Many may assume that the aluminium curtains, glass louvres and sails which are increasingly an element of modern buildings, are just a design feature whereas their impact is far more than just decorative.

Given the popularity of programmes such as Grand Designs, the concept of passive solar heating and the use of increased levels of insulation to reduce heating outlay is now quite familiar. On the other hand, the opposite effect, passive cooling, is rarely considered, even though it is a technique which was used by the Ancient Egyptians! Less thought is also given, outside design circles at least, to maximising the use of natural light in new buildings, thus reducing electrical costs. Solutions that work with the sun to provide maximum natural lighting without glare and overheating are also still a quite novel concept.

However, the odd metal protrusions that stick out of many new buildings these days looking oddly like an over-sized set of IKEA kitchen shelves can assist with both cooling and lighting problems and numerous other more discreet design features, for instance glass louvres, are also providing more than just a visual function.

The term ‘brise soleil’ which, roughly translated from the French means ‘sun break’, refers in architectural terms to any permanent external structure which helps to stop the sun shining directly into a building. A few avant-garde architects have even built such a function into the main fabric of the building, such as Le Corbusier who created distinctive simply patterned concrete walls. More often, a structure made of a different material is used, such as steel or aluminium louvres. These can be angled to enable a building with a sizeable glass façade to be protected from overheating during the summer when the sun is at a higher angle while allowing the intake of light and warmth from the sun during the winter months when the light comes in  from a much lower angle.

The best firms are able to create detailed analyses of either existing buildings or the plans for new projects. These map out the angle of the sun during different times of the year and make suggestions based on these calculations for appropriate sun-shading. Maple Sunscreening, for example, is a company which regularly advises architects and engineers on how to use features such as brise soleils and glass louvres to meet standards for CO2 emissions and combines advice on internal sun-screening with suggestions for outdoor screening such as external louvres to create an overall scheme which maximises long term reductions in the final building’s energy costs.

Please visit http://www.maplesunscreening.co.uk/ for further information about this topic.

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