A translucent louvre system: Design concepts, modelling work and monitored data

A building has been constructed at the Building Research Establishment in the UK which is intended as a model for office buildings of the future. The study enabled a research team to assist with refining an element of this building at design stage and monitor it in use. The element was the glass louvre itself within a system of automatically-controlled louvres that were intended to provide solar shading to reduce heat gains. Initially it was anticipated that a secondary set of blinds would be used to control glare. However in the revised brief, the primary louvred shading system was designed to perform both functions and also, if possible, aid the penetration of daylight into the interior parts of the building. This paper considers some of the factors examined by the designers and describes a study undertaken by the researchers to investigate the shading devices using physical models. Comparisons are made between the conditions within the scale model and those experienced in the finished building. The implications of using scale models in future design studies are discussed.