Nº 008
brise-soleil
Sunglasses for a building.
Fixed or adjustable fins or louvres set in front of glass to stop the sun before it reaches the window, while letting light and air through.
The film, in words
This building is wearing sunglasses.
It's called a brise-soleil, French for sun breaker: fins or louvres set in front of the glass.
They stop the sun before it hits the window, so the heat stays outside, while light and air still pass.
Their angle follows the sun: vertical fins for low morning and evening light, horizontal shelves for the high sun.
In Rio, a ministry finished in the 1940s put adjustable ones on its north face, the sunny side south of the equator.
Its cousins: the jali screens of India, the mashrabiya of Cairo, the louvred shutters of the Mediterranean.
Brise-soleil. Sunglasses for a building.
Cousins
- jali India
- mashrabiya Cairo
- louvred shutters Mediterranean