Brise soleil

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.^[1] The system allows low-level sunlight to enter a building in the mornings, evenings and during winter but cuts out direct light during summer.^[2]

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.

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^[3] to the elaborate wing-like mechanism devised by Santiago Calatrava for the Milwaukee Art Museum^[4] or the mechanical, pattern-creating devices of the Institut du Monde Arabe by Jean Nouvel.^[5]

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.^[6]

Gallery

• 
  Millennium Point, Birmingham, UK: Half of the facade has exterior blinds
• 
  City of Arts and Sciences, Valencia: brise soleil at the L'Hemisfèric^{[7][clarification needed]}
• 
  The movable Burke brise soleil on the Quadracci Pavilion of the Milwaukee Art Museum closes at sunset.
• 
  Gustavo Capanema Palace in Rio de Janeiro
• 
  Detail of north facade of Gustavo Capanema Palace
• 
  The Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts
• 
  The New York Times Building by Renzo Piano
• 
  Curutchet House by Le Corbusier, inside view

See also

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