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.
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
Naturally ventilated buildings with automated windows and night cooling, significantly reduce the need for additional cooling and improve air quality. Creating a healthier, more productive working environment.
Somfy provide blind and shading control solutions for single zone or multi zone applications.
Facade management systems
Somfy offers a range of solutions for the centralised management of solar shading and window opening devices within a commercial building environment.
Local controls
Somfy offers a comprehensive range of control devices that enable building occupants to manage shades and other facade applications from their local working or living environment.
Motorisation
Somfy offers a comprehensive range of motors for a variety of solar shading and facade applications. Click on the relevant application below to find a suitable solution.
Somfy provide Home Automation solutions for single zone or multi zone applications.
Home Automation
Local controls
Somfy offers a wide range of controls and automatic devices.
Motorisation
Somfy offers a range of solutions for automated solar shading and security applications in and around the home.
Search and find Somfy reference buildings using different criteria :
Heating & cooling
The purpose of Bioclimatic design is to reduce the energy consumption rate required to operate a building while enhancing the quality and comfort of the indoor environment for occupants. 
- To provide comfort during the summer requires a cooling strategy: protection from direct solar gain and glare, minimising heat gain*, dissipating solar heat gain and cooling naturally.
* Heat gain comes from internal sources such as electrical appliances and building occupants. This is the primary difference found between residential and commercial buildings.
- Comfort in the winter requires a heating strategy: Utilising solar gain, storing it in thermal mass, retaining heat through insulation and transmitting it throughout the building.
Dynamic Insulation™
Dynamic Insulation™ works by positioning roller shutters and shading devices on the façade to control thermal exchange. This allows a fluctuation of the g and U-values that will in return continuously ensure optimal settings, possible only with automation.
The overall heat transfer coefficient (U) measures the rate of heat transfer through a window area. The lower the U-Value, the better the insulation. To measure the performance of Dynamic Insulation™, U-values for the glazing and shading devices must be combined: single-glazing with a shading device can actually provide a U-value that is inferior to double-glazing. A few examples:
Single glazing : U = 5,9- Double glazing : U = 2,7
- Triple glazing : U = 1,8
- Double glazing with roller shutters : U < 1,8
Its important not only to reduce heat transfer through openings, but also essential to take advantage of solar gain during colder periods.
The solar heat gain coefficient (G) measure the solar energy transmittance through windows. A low SGHC (approx. 0,4) allows limiting energy gain in the summer but also counters it in the winter.
Double glazing : g = 0,59- Roller shutter : g = 0,05 à 0,1
- Outdoor blinds : g = 0,05 à 0,2
- Indoor blinds : g = 0,3 à 0,5
Ideally, the solar heat gain coefficient G should be low in the summer to reduce passive heat gain and high in the winter to take advantage of solar heat gain.
This can be achieved by combining shading devices and glazing as well as strategic orientation of the building according to its heating and cooling needs. This is the basis of Dynamic Insulation™.
Optimal use of shading devices
In order for solar shading to perform effectively automation is essential. Manual systems do not allow for optimal use of shading because they do not adapt to the needs of the building. Manual systems require operation from users throughout the day which is not always possible. In order for shading to be effective it should be automatically controlled, responding to changes in temperature, light levels, occupancy and time of day. This ensures occupants are protected from solar gain and glare in a comfortable working environment and the need for additional cooling is eliminated.
To optimise building performance solar shading should be effectively controlled and linked to timers and climate sensors, especially when a building is unoccupied
Main source: Traité d'architecture et d'urbanisme bioclimatique, A.Liébard et A. de Herde, Editions Observer.