It all started in 1978, when Marilyn Hoare, the founder and owner, launched Huntington House, one of the country's first nursing care facilities. Marilyn was a nurse living in Surrey at the time, and she was so enthusiastic about providing high-quality nursing care for the elderly that she decided to make her dream a reality by offering inexpensive, luxurious 24-hour nursing care.
The problem
Charlie Hoare, the Managing Director of this care home, spent years looking for a solution to the excessive solar gain from the ground and first-floor windows. On the ground, he put a 700mm projection Brise Soleil that did not work and cost a fortune. The majority of the day, they only covered 20% of the ground windows. They needed to save cooling expenses and make the interior spaces usable, which were mostly inaccessible due to the increased heat.
The solution
Since the building is curved and the wind may whip around it, we had to adjust the Lift In / Lift Out (LILO) to accommodate for the nature of the inclement weather. We have installed end stops, locking pins, and bump pads. Microlouvre Koolshade® was the only option as they the building required ventilation and uninterrupted vision out. They had looked at all film and external blind options and trialled film, but soon realized that MicroLouvre® was the best and most cost-effective option.
Results
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Thermal and visual comfort
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Solar heat reduction
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Pure, natural daylight in
