In today’s world, architects are becoming more and more fond of using large expanses of glass in their designs, especially in industrial buildings. This creates a striking facade, however, these buildings can be prone to overheating and lack of ventilation. This is where external louvres can prove a wonderful asset. These ventilating features consist of wooden, aluminium or glass slats placed periodically down the side of a building in order to encourage circulation of fresh air.
Glass louvres are especially popular in big cities or other heavily populated areas, where the air is polluted, or in excessively hot or cold climates.
Many people walking past a building which has external louvres installed will not realize their practical advantages, as louvres can be so aesthetically pleasing that they can be mistaken for a mere design feature with no useful function. However, louvres not only function as ventilation features or temperature control, they can also be used to keep sand from entering a building, as well as preventing noise pollution.
For larger buildings, or buildings frequented by the public, such as museums or galleries, architects often choose brise soleil. French for ‘sunbreakers’, these features reduce heat gain within a building by controlling the amount of sunlight that penetrates the (often glass) walls. They have the added advantage of shading visitors around the building from sunlight or rain.
The structure of brise soleil vary wildly from one project to the next, but typically they consist of a horizontal projection made of steel. Some structures are much more complex, however, with architect Jean Nouvel designing an elaborate facade of multi-layered patterns evocative of ancient Islamic screens on his Burj Qatar skyscraper. Structures can also be made to move with the sun: for example, the Quadracci Pavilion at the Milwaukee Art Museum includes a wing-like structure that opens during the day to shade visitors from the head, and closes at night. These dramatic brise soleil are wonderful examples of how function and design can combine to create iconic buildings that are highly practical in their conception.
Obviously, one of the main advantages of louvres is temperature control, and this is why they are so well respected as eco-friendly features. In fact, glass louvres donât just deflect excess heat, they actually absorb it, retaining it to be released to heat the building in the winter. In this way, louvres are capable of helping to regulate a buildingâs heat, from cool in summer to warm in winter. External louvres can even be integrated with solar energy, as they are perfectly positioned to house delicate solar panels.
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