Piers Tayor, Founder of Invisible Studio, said: “I wanted to banish the demons of my youth and move on from the house which I had designed as a young architect. In the intervening years I have learnt so much, while technologies and materials have improved. We have loved living in Moonshine over the last two decades but it needed an overhaul and there’s something very enjoyable about being able to tinker with your surroundings to improve them, which I suppose is what we’ve been doing across the whole site.”
Architects use brise-soleil as solutions to overheating in many hot climates with long days of direct sunlight. These permanent sun-shading structures range from simple patterns of concrete fins to more elaborate wing-like mechanisms that can be adjusted based on different solar angles throughout the day and across the seasons. Some buildings incorporate louvers into the shades to mitigate high-angle rays in summer, but also permit low-angle winter sunlight for passive solar heating with a variety of pattern structures that act as light-filtration screens on the façades of buildings.
One of the most common types of brise-soleil, simple concrete fins, became widespread after Le Corbusier’s Ministry of Education and Health was completed in Brazil.
Called Engawa House, it is composed of a glass and black steel volume that extends from a cliff to rest on slanted, bold red supports.
Sliding, slatted doors made from the Chilean wood Raulí wrap the house on three sides, giving the residents the option of privacy and natural light, or to open the residence entirely to the exterior views.
Originating as a tool for civil engineering, the gabion wall dates back to the late 1800s. It slowly made its transition to architecture because of its superior strength and permeability. The gabion wall consists of a metal mesh cage filled with loose material, usually stones, sand or soil. The wall is crack resistant and contours to the grade of the site. The material used to fill the cages determines how porous the wall is, a feature often used to create a natural cooling effect.
Architects prize the gabion wall, traditionally used as a landscape material, for its bold, textured look. Unlike the orderly rock wall, gabion walls provide a feeling of accidentality to a building, allowing the eye to explore the irregular shapes and patterns. They are often used as exterior walls to provide a rugged, outdoor aesthetic, but are also exposed in the interior, merging the two both materially and environmentally.
