RADIATIVE PERFORMANCE OF LOUVRES, SIMULATION AND EXAMPLES IN ASIAN ARCHITECTURE

For most sunny climates, the presence of high thermal loads due to the effect of solar radiationreinforces the need to protect the glazing in the facades and skylights. If this is not properly donethe performance of air-conditioning systems would be compromised and the lifespan of thatglazing would result severely affected. However, depending on the type and reflective nature ofthe shading system selected, undesirable effects for ventilation, comfort and especially forday-lighting tend to occur in the rooms provided with apertures that, paradoxically, we are trying toprotect. In this paper we intend to outline the results of several years of work in the complexsimulation of the radiative field generated by different types of solar protection, especially systemsof louvres, sun-breakers or brise-soleil (which according to some authors may have had an Asianorigin in Khmer and Indian architecture).Starting from the theories of the Japanese scientist Jiro Yamauchi, algorithms for new types ofconfiguration factors will be proposed, and based on the former, a new superimposition techniqueto deal with different sets of angled louvres and light-shelves will be presented.As an illustration we would like to discuss the efforts to implement such control elements incontemporary Asian Architecture like those attributed to Kunio Maekawa, Antonin Raymond orGeoffrey Bawa.