Brise soleil Brise soleil Brise soleil, sometimes brise-soleil (, plural, "brise-soleil" (invariable), or "bris-ole", from French, "sun breaker"), is an architectural feature of a building that reduces heat gain within that building by deflecting sunlight. Brise-soleils 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 to the elaborate wing-like mechanism devised by Santiago Calatrava for the Milwaukee Art Museum or the mechanical, pattern-creating devices of the Institut du Monde Arabe by Jean Nouvel. In the typical form, a horizontal projection extends from the sunside facade of a
Soleil Center a spa and a 600-car parking garage. The total cost for the project was estimated to be $175 million and was a private investment project of the Soleil Group. The construction project was approved by the Raleigh City Council in November 2005, but after uneven bedrock conditions were discovered, test drilling of every column location was required causing a year-long delay. The original plan by developers was to build just a hotel, the Westin Hotel Crabtree, but no residences. After additional funding and investors were secured, the Soleil Group decided on building the larger project. The Soleil Center was to