Brise soleil

File:Two Point Seven Facades Charles Wells Brewery Brise Soleil.jpg

A basic brise soleil at the Charles Wells Brewery for Wells & Co in Bedford, England. This photo was taken of the south facing elevation at noon in December, a little before the winter solstice. Note how all the windows are in the shade.

Brise soleil, sometimes brise-soleil (French: [bʁiz sɔlɛj]; lit. 'sun breaker'), is an architectural feature of a building that reduces its heat gain by deflecting incoming sunlight. The system allows low-level sunlight to enter a building in the mornings, evenings and during winter but cuts out direct light during summer.

Types

Brise-soleil can comprise a variety of permanent sun-shading structures, ranging from the simple patterned concrete walls popularized by Le Corbusier in the Palace of Assembly to the elaborate wing-like mechanism devised by Santiago Calatrava for the Milwaukee Art Museum or the mechanical, pattern-creating devices of the Institut du Monde Arabe by Jean Nouvel.

In the typical form, a horizontal projection extends from the sunside facade of a building. This is most commonly used to prevent facades with a large amount of glass from overheating during the summer. Often louvers are incorporated into the shade to prevent the high-angle summer sun falling on the facade, but also to allow the low-angle winter sun to provide some passive solar heating.

Gallery

• Millennium Point, Birmingham, UK: Half of the facade has exterior blinds
  Millennium Point, Birmingham, UK: Half of the facade has exterior blinds
• City of Arts and Sciences, Valencia: brise soleil at the L'Hemisfèric[clarification needed]
  City of Arts and Sciences, Valencia: brise soleil at the L'Hemisfèric
• The movable Burke brise soleil on the Quadracci Pavilion of the Milwaukee Art Museum closes at sunset.
  The movable Burke brise soleil on the Quadracci Pavilion of the Milwaukee Art Museum closes at sunset.
• Gustavo Capanema Palace in Rio de Janeiro
  Gustavo Capanema Palace in Rio de Janeiro
• Detail of north facade of Gustavo Capanema Palace
  Detail of north facade of Gustavo Capanema Palace
• The Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts
  The Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts
• The New York Times Building by Renzo Piano
  The New York Times Building by Renzo Piano
• Curutchet House by Le Corbusier, inside view
  Curutchet House by Le Corbusier, inside view

See also

• Awning
• Green building
• List of low-energy building techniques
• Mashrabiya
• Pergola
• Sudare

External links

• Brise soleil at the Milwaukee Art Museum
• [1] (Brise Soleil Commercial Applications)
• British-Yemini Society Influence of climate on window design
• [2] (demonstration of Brise Soleil in commercial applications)
• AD Classics: AD Classics: Palace of the Assembly / Le Corbusier
• Technical possibilities (in German)
• Museum of everyday culture (in German)
• [3] (Further reading on Brise Soleil from a supplier)