Hunter Douglas Open Façade Sun Louvres blend design and functionality. They bring a distinct look to a building's exterior, while providing shade and comfort to the people inside. The aluminium panels provide an effective sun control solution and create a semi transparent envelope around the façade.
Why Open Façade Systems?
Used as open façades or in front of windows, louvre panels provide shading from all sun angles, reducing glare and heat gain around the building. They create a visual boundary to the building while still allowing natural ventilation and outward view where required. Hunter Douglas offers a variety of louvre systems in different shapes and materials. They are produced in high quality materials and have been designed for easy installation. They also add a sleek appearance to the building envelope.
Characteristics
Application
Open façade systems are typically specified on larger building projects, such as offices or public utility buildings. They are chosen as an effective sun control solution or as a ventilating envelope to visually divide open spaces.
Material characteristics
Hunter Douglas supplies roll formed or extruded aluminium panels for open façade systems. Roll formed panels are available as C-shaped or Z-shaped profiles. Their typical span capacity is around 1.2 meter (at 1 kN/m2 wind load). The panels are easily clipped to their aluminium brackets that in turn slide into the matching aluminium support profile. Extruded panels are available in two different C-shapes and fixed to their support structure with glass-reinforced plastic brackets. Their typical span capacity is around 2.4 metre (at 1 kN/m2 wind load).
The choice of the correct support structure will depend on the location of the project, the panel span and the building structure. The aluminium support profiles have been designed to be an integral part of the system and enable easy and fast installation.
Hunter Douglas contributes to sustainable buildings through aesthetic solutions that enhance comfort and save energy. Promoting health and wellbeing of their occupants is arguably the most important function of buildings. Buildings are not constructed just to be energy efficient. Our shading solutions promote the use of healthy daylight without the hindrances of glare and thermal discomfort. Our acoustic ceilings are a key element in the provision of acoustic comfort.
Environmentally sound materials are key to sustainable buildings. Our strategy is to pick materials that have good environmental properties to start with. Many of our products are made of aluminum produced in our own smelters. We’ve optimized our processes to use up to 99% of recycled content to produce the right alloy for our products. Our wood is FSC certified and we embrace the Cradle to Cradle principle in our product development.
Reducing the energy use of the total building stock is key to the prevention of global warming. Most modern office buildings use more energy for cooling than heating. Effectively managing the solar energy that passes through the transparent part of the façade is a key strategy in the prevention of overheating in both old and new buildings. Our high performance shading solutions bring substantial energy savings, while at the same time promoting health and wellbeing.
Keen on Green is an important company-wide initiative to reduce energy consumption, water usage and our overall carbon-footprint. We embrace the ISO 14001 framework to actively manage our Keen on Green objectives. Hunter Douglas and its employees actively support the communities in which we live and work, as well as those on a more global scale. Business is people. We pride ourselves on our worldwide network of experienced, intelligent, passionate and creative people that have consciously chosen Hunter Douglas as their employer.