Brise soleil
The term brise soleil refers to a variety of elements used to prevent direct sunlight to enter a building. The definition here is extended to all shadow casting elements that are connected to the exterior of the building, including all sorts of screens and external blinds.
Click here for an extensive overview of buildings that have some sort of brise soleil applied.
Basics of solar protection
how incoming sunlight heats a building
Direct sunlight that enters a building heats the floors and the walls. These floors and walls start to work as a heating, causing uncomfortable temperatures. As it costs a lot of energy and money to abduct the hot air with an airconditioning system, it’s common practice to block part of the direct sunlight before it reaches the window glass.
The major complication is that the angle at which sun rays enter the window depends on the time of day, the time of year, the overcast and the lattitude of the building. Therefore not any type of brise soleil will work on any place or any time.
Differences in sun angles. These images show a south west oriented window on August 21 at noon. The left one is located in Oslo, the right one in Athens.
Adjustable and fixed brise soleil
Two distuingishable types of solutions are available: fixed brise soleil that is designed to block the sun rays that come in relatively vertically, and adjustable brise soleil that can be adapted, manually or automatically, to the weather conditions of the moment.
Fixed variants of brise soleil
Fixed brise soleil should not block the horizontal view fromout a window. In many occassions the brise soleil only covers the upper part of windows. Another option is to use fins or some perforated element that cover the whole window, but still allow for some outer view.
Adjustable brise soleil
These systems can be adjusted to the weather conditions of the moment. External venetian blinds, external roller blinds, --rolgordijnen- awnings, shutters and sliding screens are the most common types of adjustable brise soleil. Less regular types are adjustable fins or other, less or more exotic, motorized systems.
Horizontally projected brise soleil
Often found as protection for a glazed top floor. Effecitive during summer, when the azimuth value of the sun is high. During winter it doesn't have have much effect. Mostly made of aluminium, steel or wood.
examples
Simple addition of basic aluminium frameworks to a sophisticated facade. The slanted facade faces north.
Projected brise soleil is responsible for the looks of this buildings facade
Typical solar protection for the top floor of an office building
These horizontally projected louvres are actually foldable shutters. The ones on the ground floor are fixed
Housing at Greenwich Millenium Village, London. Brise soleil made of painted wood
Horizontal fins
Many variants are possible. The fins either cover a whole facade or just the top parts of the windows. Often the fins are made of aluminium and have a flat oval profile. They can be made of glass as well. Glass fins block part of the sunlight and you can add a film to the glass that redirects part of the light (not the heat) into the building.
examples
No detail images available but the louvres on its facade seem to be rotatable
Horizontal louvres on this building in Lille provide a multi layered facade effect
Ferring International Centre in Copenhagen. Because of them, the building looks extremely dark
Horizontal fins on the transparent building in the financial district of Brussels, Belgium
Radical use of horizontal fins on this office building in Lisbon. Fins are directly attached to the curtain walling facade.
Outlet store in Brussels. The building is known for its use of renewable energy and uses wooden louvres for the front facade.
Building in London. It's looks are based on the use of wooden louvres.
The west facade of this Copenhagen hotel has transparent louvres. They might have a function in blocking noise as well.
Transparent louvres covering the upper part of the windows. The glass has a pattern in it and is not fully transparent.
The use of glass louvres at Richard Rogers Law Court in Antwerp adds to the appearance of the facade.
Fixed screens
Not as flexible as sliding screens, but cheaper and easier to maintain.
examples of fixed screens
Apartment building in Ørestad, Copenhagen. The screens add a multi layered effect to the facade .
Another apartment building in Ørestad. The screens consist of metal gauze in a steel frame.
New apartments in London. The random pattern of the screens suggests that they slide, but they are probably fixed.
Bank in Istanbul. It's a bit a-typical but it works.
Sliding screens
Sliding screens are mostly made of metal frames with horizontal laths within. They create kind of loose, random patterns to a facade. We found a lot of them on recent housing projects in Copenhagen.
examples of sliding screens
Large apartment block in Copenhagen. The screens consist of wooden laths in a metal frame.
House in Sluseholmen, Copenhagen. The screens have a rusty metal look but they are just painted this color.
One more apartment block in Copenhagen. The screens are used as the major facade element.
Apartments in Luxembourg with painted metal screens.
Harbour Hall of ABP Architekten in Hamburg. The screens induce a regular random pattern.
Folding screens
Not a very regular solution. Often the screens are made of perforated metal.
examples of folding screens
Beautiful example of RISCO architects in Lisbon. The screens are made of metal and have a similar pattern as the glass.
Office building on the Kirchberg Plateau in Luxembourg. It has remarkable brown painted metal screens.
Another office building in Luxembourg. The screens are a little transparent.
Fünf Höfe in Munich with perforated screens, typical for Herzog & de Meuron architecture.
Apartments in Ljubljana with large circular perforations in the screens.
External blinds
This type seems to be the default solution for office buildings in Germany. The blinds can be rotated to adjust the amount of sunlight coming in, and they can be put up on a cloudy day.
examples of external blinds
The whole facade is covered with external blinds that can be opened or closed individually. The facade becomes a pattern of graytones.
Another typical German office building with external blinds
The blinds have the same color as the facade tiles. Rotating the blinds make them look darker
All shades of gray are visible, due to the reflectiveness of the blinds.
The building of the Chamber of architects North Rhine - Westphalia in Düsseldorf has the typical German blinds as well
Laths
Using laths as a facade material gives interesting options for sun shading.
examples
Metal laths give a smooth layered effect, strengthened by the color accents on the inner wall.
The whole facade is built up with laths. The light gray color is the result of omitting laths.
Debis Haus at Potzdammer Platz in Berlin is fully covered with laths.
Vertical fins
Using vertical fins is a good method of hiding a facade. The fins will dominate the and everything behind it is hardly noticable.
examples of vertical fins
Building at Tooley Street in London, nearby the new City Hall at the South bank of the Thames. The fins are fixed to the curtain wall
Some office building in Marseille. The facade behind the fins is hardly visible.
Not the regular wing flat oval fins on the Portugese building but some other profile shape, blocking most of the direct sunlight.
Perforated metal screen
As any perforation design can be produced it gives lots of options for patterns or randomness.
examples of perforated metal screens
Random perforation patterns with highest perforation density where the windows are.
Typical Arabian patterns. You can't see the inside but if you are within you can look outside easily
Technically it's not perforated metal but at least the metal screen covers the whole facade.
House on Borneo Sporenburg in Amsterdam. The screen is probably more about aesthetics than about sun shade.
Other types of brise soleil
The classification used here doesn't cover everything we found. Therefore some more examples:
examples of hard-to-classify brise soleil
School in Ørestad from 3XN architects. It has rotatable glass panels with a print.
Building at La Défense, Paris. The concrete construction functions as sun protection.
Building of Rafael de la Hoz in Madrid. The outer glass facade reflects part of the sunlight.
Another office building in Madrid. It looks as if the panels are movable but probably they are just fixed.
Alternative strategies to keep the sun out
Instead of adding elements to a facade, the sun protection can be an integral part of a facade as well.
Some examples
Office building in Almere, Netherlands. The facade has deep reveals and most of the windows have a rather limited height.
Protruding floors of this apartment building in Paris function as sun screens.
Apartments in Zurich, Switzerland. The cantilevered boxes give shadow to the floors below.
The loggia's of this tower of Wiel Arets in Amsterdam provide a lot of shadow.
Philharmonie Luxembourg by Christian de Portzamparc. Two or three layers of columns cast shadow of the glass facade.
Typical office building in Brussels. Part of the sunlight is reflected by the glass.
Office building in Madrid. The concrete construction works as a screen of large vertical louvres.
National Library, Paris. Its rotating panels behind the glass facade are not as effective as external brise soleil, but Perrault wanted to preserve the glass reflections.
Sunlight on this building in Valencia is blocked radically by using lots of concrete. It gives the building a brutalist look.
The horizontal louvres on this university building in Lisbon are an integral part of the precast concrete facade.
