Curtains and Drapes Filters; Prouvé, Mimram & Souto de Moura

The glass, as a simple gap enclosure, can not guarantee complete protection against the

sun, light or privacy. The contemporary glasses protective efficacy has been increased

regarding solar radiation, but always at a very high cost, and sacrificing light capture. But

above all, glasses are not yet, adjustable. It is desirable to have filters protecting from the

sun in summer, but also as a heat source in winter. Comfort is a matter of adapting to each

situation and subtle nuances in its gradation. Contouring the visuals, getting total darkness

or dimming light, redirecting light to areas of the room where do not dazzles but allows a

sufficient lighting. All of them are options that only operable protections allow.

Mobile protections are the appropriate mechanism to provide richness to our architecture,

allowing to generate a wide variety of atmospheres while dynamizing the facades. There are

many possibilities of operability, but there is a feature that reduces them to two groups: the

direction in which they move when collecting. Blinds, or other external protections can

move vertically or horizontally, as curtains or drapes.

In the construction of the “Eixample” of Barcelona roll-up blinds were used on the facades

overlooking the interior courtyard while the noble façade, facing the street, was solved with

folding-sliding louvered shutters, which are kept, when open, on the jamb of the windows.

Proper control of radiation and views suggests the vertical displacement, while the dignity

required by the main façade shunned the picturesqueness of roll-up blinds. Opening, by

folding on the jambs, these shutters should not mislead about the possibilities of the

outside and inside views control. Most of these devices also leave mobility of the louvers

independently as horizontal stripes, allowing the variation of the conditions of protection of

the internal space according to different heights.

MBM Architects seek the picturesqueness of the traditional roll-up blind in the residential of Santa Agueda in Benicassim 1966-67 incorporating their support in the design of the railings.

In some way, Herzog & de Meuron remember this duplicity in their homes in the rue des Suisses (Paris). Resorting to perforated metal sheet on folding leaves in the outer block while in the small block of the interior patio used wooden roller shutters.

If the facade has parapets under the windows, the simplest solution will be to move

vertically the frame with the shutter. The ingenious Prouvé experimented with slidings on

vertical guides. In many of his projects, metal exterior shutters slide down to hide in the

parapet. On the façade of the houses in the place Mozart in Paris (1954), the same sliding

shutter can be projected outwards like a sun visor.

More recently, in 1995, Marc Mimram designs a façade from sunscreen in Barbes Parisian

boulevard. With a clear inspiration in retractable shutters of Prouvé, Mimram fascinates us

with translucent marble protections that filter daylight inside and lit as lanterns at night.

Mimram divides the shutter into two parts of different size. Both moving vertically on side

guides. The division in two of the shutter allows to vary the height position of the opening,

and not only its size. The problem with these vertical-moving solutions is that they require

complex counterweights system to allow movement. They play against gravity. Today

Mimram facade presents a very different picture from the original. The shutters have been

attached to the parapet, entrusting the control of radiation and views to curtains and

interior protections.

Souto de Moura recovers, in the Novartis building in Basilea, vertical sliding protection

devices. Glass shutters reduce solar incident radiation with pattern drawn on it. Souto uses

chromatic variations, alternating black and green panels, and their mobility, to give

dynamism to the facade. The Novartis building has hollows from floor to ceiling divided by

the woodwork in horizontal grilles. Panels respond to the same modulation, but in a closed

position do not cover the entire opening.

The dichotomy between curtains and drapes, between vertical or horizontal, is usually

solved by subordinating it to the composition of the facade. However, our relationship with

the outside is highly stratified.

From the inside, our views meet diverse references to sky or floor, while the right and left is

usually not so different. Thus the traditional awnings, roll-up blinds, roller shutter moving is

vertical, to protect us when half risen while allowing free horizontal viewing.