Bioclimatic Façades responds to the extremes of external environmental conditions by controlling heat loss and gain, managing daylight and enhancing the quality of the indoor environment.
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Daylight Management
Maximise use of natural daylight to ensure greater visual comfort, reduce the need for artificial lighting, lowering energy consumption and operating costs.
Heating and cooling strategies
Dynamic Insulation™ provides better control of thermal exchanges, enhancing energy efficiency and maintaining thermal comfort.
Natural Ventilation
Automatic window controls reduce the air conditioning bill, and create a healthier and more productive working environment.
Somfy’s commercial solutions can be used in various areas of the building: the entire or part of the façade <Facade Management>, in a specific room <Local controls> or on a single window <Motorisation>.
Facade Management Systems
Centralized controls of shading devices are processed through the Somfy bus lines or open protocols.
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Local controls
Somfy has a wide range of controls that allow each user to control their own shading devices, whatever the technology may be.
Motorisation of openings & closures
Somfy provides motors for all the major applications used in commercial buildings today.
Somfy’s solutions for residential buildings can be applied to the whole house <Home Automation>, a specific room <Local controls & automatic systems>, or to a single window <Motorisation>.
Home Automation
Somfy has solutions to power and move all openings in the house <Home Motion by Somfy>. They can be operated alongside other systems as well, such as lighting <Interoperable solutions>.
Local controls & automatic systems
Somfy has a wide range of controls and automatic devices. The choice of technology depends on the building configuration, its usage and the occupants' way of living.
Motorisation of openings & closures
Somfy provides motors for all the major applications used in residential buildings today.
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Motorisation of openings & closures
Purpose of motorized shading devices
They allow users to manage natural light, increase the insulation potential of windows and control the air circulation between different rooms, thus contributing to the process of bioclimatic facades.
Motorizing and automating blinds also ensure:
Motorizing and automating blinds also ensure:
- increasing the life of end-products,
- preventing discoloration of materials inside the building,
- gaining privacy or complete darkness a room,
- securing openings
- decorating (interior shading devices),
- contributing to the esthetics of the facade (exterior shading devices)
The level of performance is related to various factors:
- position in reference to the facade indoor or outdoor ?
- width of the air space between the glazing and the shading device
- alignment: vertical or horizontal ?
- materials, thickness, color…
Bioclimatic façades and motorized end-products:
The chart below indicates the performance levels of different motorized end-products with respect to the 3 main objectives of bioclimatic facades.
| Application |  |
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| Interior solar protection | ||||||
| Venetian blinds |  |
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| Roller blinds | |
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| Fabric blinds | |
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| Curtains | |
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| Horizontal blinds | |
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| Exterior solar protection | ||||||
| Venetian blinds | |
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| Roller blinds | |
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| Adjustable louvers | |
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| Vertical awnings | |
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| Horizontal blinds | |
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| Conservatory awnings | |
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| Roller shutters | ||||||
| Traditional | |
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| With large space between slats | |
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| With adjustable slats | |
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| Windows | ||||||
| Facade and roof windows | |
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Daylight management Natural Ventilation
Dynamic Insulation- winter comfort Dynamic insulation - summer comfort
Note that only the combination of automation and motorization can guarantee a significant level of performance.