As with so many such developments, brise soleil and other forms of natural climate control have been around a while but are now becoming very popular due to cost and environmental reasons. A ‘sun breaker’, as the term translates, can be a very simple structure (little more than a well-placed wall), or it can be very complex, as with the elaborate and mechanical wing-like structures in use. Other variants are glass louvres and several forms of external louvres.

The overall idea in all cases is to avoid using unnecessary power to control the temperature in a building by making best use of natural resources. During the course of a day, and through the changing seasons, any face of a building will receive greater or smaller proportions of sunlight. The trick is to maximise the ‘passive’ heating provided by the sun in the winter, whilst making sure that in the summer the intake of sunlight is lowered and ventilation increased, to keep the building cool. Obviously, getting the balance wrong could result in freezing or stifling temperatures.

Whilst some forms of external louvre are highly complex, other types are really simple. Brise soleils can be little more than a wall, placed in such a location as to restrict the sun at certain points of the day and year. Louvres are generally positioned to allow the building to receive low-angle sun – at the beginning and end of the day, or during the winter, when the sun never rises very high in the sky. Higher-angle sun, at hotter points of the day and year, is blocked.

What this means is that the temperature of a building can be controlled far more easily, reducing the need for wasted energy on heating or air-conditioning systems. It also makes for a more comfortable office, because the air has not been heated or processed to the same extent – something that can leave it dry and stale. This means people are more comfortable, happier – and therefore more productive.

There are many examples of brise soleil and external louvres, which can be retrofitted to buildings. The simplest glass louvres are essentially slats which open and close depending on the present conditions. However, depending on your needs and budget, there are some truly imaginative examples around, which add to the character of the building and are part of its architectural appeal, as well as any functional upside.

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These days nearly all reputable offices have a human resource management strategy simultaneously serving the needs of employees as well as more corporate interests. Good human resource teams will spend much of their time considering how best to keep staff stimulated and proud of their work – preoccupations that many a workforce is thankful for and willing to respond to. However, it is sometimes the case that HR teams fail to recognise how improving just the most elementary of conditions can make the working day more pleasant and productive. One such easily addressed but persistent issue in the workplace is the warmth: when it is too hot or too cold employees are less able to carry out their responsibilities efficiently but with the implementation of brise soleil, glass louvres and external louvres, inefficiency – and with it unhappiness – can be fast reduced.

To give a brief picture of these unusual terms, brise soleil are systems designed to shade buildings from the outside by stopping the direct entry of sunlight. Their practical benefits thus speak for themselves – they keep anyone inside the building from getting hot and bothered. And in addition to this, the shading devices in question add modernist appeal to a place; they were championed by the iconic French architect Le Corbusier who famously wanted to make ‘machines for living’. Glass louvres, meanwhile, have the similar benefit of better ventilation while also lowering energy costs otherwise lost on expensive air conditioning and radiators. To any staff charged with the job of reducing their company’s carbon footprint the glass louvre option will be highly attractive as louvres help satisfy the kind of green policies governments are trying to implement worldwide. Finally, external louvres consist of elegant panels that can be fixed to any commercial or public building using steel or aluminium brackets. The visual effect is akin to an up-to-date awning while the physical effect for workers is a comfortable and consistent indoor temperature that even hours of bright sun hardly affect.

All in all, brise soleil, glass louvres and external louvres promise to be the architectural features of the future; a future characterized by enhanced conditions for workers, greater respect for our environment and more responsible levels of spending on energy. Hopefully, long working days spent sweating over desks, heat-induced headaches and avoidable stress will be consigned to the past.

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