Brise soleil, sometimes brise-soleil (French: [bʁiz sɔlɛj]; lit. '"sun breaker"'), is an architectural feature of a building that reduces heat gain within that building by deflecting sunlight.^[1] The system allows low-level sun to enter a building in the mornings, evenings and during winter but cuts out direct light during summer.^[2]

Brise-soleil can comprise a variety of permanent sun-shading structures, ranging from the simple patterned concrete walls popularized by Le Corbusier in the Palace of Assembly^[3] to the elaborate wing-like mechanism devised by Santiago Calatrava for the Milwaukee Art Museum^[4] or the mechanical, pattern-creating devices of the Institut du Monde Arabe by Jean Nouvel.^[5]

In the typical form, a horizontal projection extends from the sunside facade of a building. This is most commonly used to prevent facades with a large amount of glass from overheating during the summer. Often louvers are incorporated into the shade to prevent the high-angle summer sun falling on the facade, but also to allow the low-angle winter sun to provide some passive solar heating.^[6]

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