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In its simplest form the brise soleil is hardly more than a textured wall, and yet in some of its better-known incarnations this architectural device is stunning and detailed in its execution. The Milwaukee Art Museum is world-famous for its folding, automatic wing-style brise soleil. However, in other instances they just take the form of a concrete surface – horizontal or vertical – with spaces in. The concept is that these will let through some but not all of the sunlight that hits them. The exact amount will rely on a number of factors, including the climate, latitude, direction the building is facing and the time of day and year. Variations on this theme are glass louvres and other forms of external louvres. Although they may seem very different, the same principles are used, and for the same ends.

Effectively, the purpose of all these things is to limit the amount of sunlight coming through them at key points, whilst still making the most of it at other times. Take a large, modern office block, for example, which may have a broad south-facing window. In the winter this will be a asset to the building (so long as it is well insulated) since it will let in large amounts of sunlight – thereby cutting down on artificial lighting and heating and their associated expenses. Passive, natural heat and light are usually more comfortable than central heating and electric lights. However, in the summer such a large window would present a significant problem. Without good shading, the amount of heat and light it lets in would make the office space hotter than was comfortable (or, in some jurisdictions, legal). The purpose of the brise soleil and external louvres are to vary the incoming sunlight at different times of the day and year. Low-angle morning/evening and winter light is encouraged; hotter, high-angle midday and summer sun is not.

Some glass louvres are equipped with photovoltaic systems to generate power as well as limit unwanted light and heat. In other cases, external louvres are automated so that their angle can be adjusted for the exact circumstances and weather conditions; the one-size-fits-all approach is useful up to a point, but can often be improved. But even a basic brise soleil can make a huge difference, cutting down the need for heating and air conditioning, and therefore improving energy bills in the process.

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Brutalist architecture is frequently decried these days 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 actually most enthused by the idea of making life more efficient. While beautiful but dysfunctional buildings increasingly require additions 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 optimises 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 added 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 larger and cold and smaller, usually warmer rooms.

At a time when we are all striving to be thriftier though energy expenses are rising, such a ventilation and heating system really is a worthwhile investment. Beyond the home, the workplace can also benefit from modern systems that maximise the efficiency of our offices. Very frequently 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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Buildings that are excessively hot or cold are not only uncomfortable, they can also be harmful to the environment and dear to maintain. It is therefore essential to consider how problems of overheating, or a lack of insulation might be overcome. The installation of sunscreening devices is one of a number of remedial options. Brise soleil, for instance, stop direct sunlight 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 reduces 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 specially 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 stuffy and uninviting, any one, or a combination 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 say 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, think about 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 honour 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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If you work in a modern building then you probably have broad, expansive windows that give the room an airy, open feel and allow in plenty of sunlight. This has a number of advantages. For starters, you cut down on lighting bills – and sunlight is far better than electric lights. It’s brighter, and the mixture of wavelengths is (by definition) more ‘natural’, meaning that people generally feel better in the sun than under artificial lights. It also decreases heating bills. The problem comes when it’s summer, and the building can overheat. Then, you have a different issue, since you have to spend money you saved on heating on new air conditioning. Another solution is to retrofit a brise soleil, or glass louvres. External louvres can be an effective way of having the best of both worlds – allowing the sun to light your premises in the winter, but not overheating them in the summer.

There are a number of variants on the theme, and the particular version will depend on your circumstances – your climate, for starters, but also where your building is positioned and which way it faces. Some louvres are movable, and can be controlled from minute-to-minute to react to conditions on the day. Others are fixed, though these can still be highly effective. One of the most simple but helpful types is a ‘shelf’ which admits low-angle winter sun, or light at the start of the day when the sun is still low in the sky. In the summer, or the middle of the day, when the sun tends to be overhead, the shelf blocks its light from the windows.

The brise soleil – French for ‘sun breaker’ – is a permanent sun barrier that can take a variety of forms. Sometimes it is little more than a horizontal surface projecting from the side of the building. On other occasions they are more complex, perhaps being slatted to admit a proportion of the sun, or only sun at certain times of day or year. These, along with glass louvres (which can be used in conjunction with a sun breaker), are effective solutions to managing sunlight, which can result in large savings for your business. If this is something that your office finds a problem, then external louvres might be something to look into.

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When I first entered the construction trade, I found the more technical aspects of the industry rather confusing.  Where construction meets architecture, it all gets a bit scientific, apparently! Everyday parlance at work demanded, however, that I was conversant with certain concepts – for example, I needed to know my brise soleil from my aluminium curtain and external louvre.  I was hoping to learn a great deal on the job but pretty soon I realised that I would only actually get ahead if I spent some evenings teaching myself until I really knew what I was talking about in all things construction.

The word brise soleil, I read, is from the French for ‘sun breaker’ which pretty much explains its purpose.  Architecturally, brise soleil describes a number of sun-shading techniques – and there can be more versions of them than you might think.  A brise can be a patterned concrete wall, or a more elaborate creation like the one devised by Santiago Calatrava for the Milwaukee Art Museum.  They are not always ornate or creative, though.  More frequently, it will be a horizontal projection from the sun facing side of a building.  Buildings with large amounts of glass can overheat seriously during the summer moths, and a brise soleil is the ideal way to stop this from happening.

External louvres can be incorporated into a brise soleil to make sure it offers protection from sun which falls from a higher angle, while also allowing winter sun in, making the most of the passive solar heating potential of the building.  An aluminium curtain is also a means of protecting buildings from the weather – it is a kind of curtain wall which provides a non-structural covering of a building, but one which protects it from air and water infiltration, as well as the effects of the wind.  In their early days, curtain walls were made of steel, but they tend to be constructed with aluminium these days.  The aluminium frame can be infilled with glass to create an nicer looking building, which lets in a decent amount of natural light.

Although I now comprehend that an external louvre can be fitted to a brise soleil to minimise exposure to direct sunlight, and an aluminium curtain provides a non-structural outer covering, I still feel rather out of my depth when discussing the finer points of these structures with the skilled architects who come up with them.  The more I looked into the subject, the more I came to realise why these professionals need to study for seven years!

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