Improve Energy Efficiency with Intelligent Dynamic Shading
Dynamic Shading is an automated solar shading solution that optimizes a building's energy performance, thermal comfort and natural daylight. By intelligently controlling exterior roller shutters, external venetian blinds and ZIP screens, the system responds in real time to sunlight, temperature and weather conditions.
The result is lower cooling and heating demand, reduced energy costs, improved occupant comfort and smarter, more sustainable buildings that support today's energy efficiency standards.
Dynamic Shading adapts to your building. Using intelligent building automation, it automatically controls exterior and interior solar shading, including roller shutters, exterior blinds, interior blinds and curtains.
Connected to sensors that monitor sunlight, temperature, wind and occupancy, the system continuously optimizes energy efficiency, natural daylight and thermal comfort.
Facility managers can define building-wide settings, while occupants can temporarily adjust the shading to meet their personal comfort needs.
By intelligently managing the building facade, Somfy Dynamic Shading reduces energy consumption, enhances occupant well-being and supports the performance of sustainable buildings.
Somfy tubular motors power exterior roller shutters, external venetian blinds and ZIP screens, ensuring precise, reliable and whisper-quiet operation. Integrated into an intelligent building management system, they enable automated shading that continuously adapts to the sun's position, changing weather conditions and the unique requirements of each building.
The Somfy Building Automation Platform continuously analyses sensor data and automatically optimizes façade shading in response to changing environmental conditions. This reduces solar heat gains, enhances occupant comfort and improves the building's overall energy performance. Without intelligent automation, motorized shading cannot deliver its full operational and energy-saving potential.
Environmental sensors continuously monitor solar irradiance, sun position, outdoor temperature and wind speed, while occupancy and scheduling data can be integrated from the Building Management System (BMS). This real-time data enables precise, automated control of façade shading to optimize building performance.
Why Automation Matters Automation is not an optional feature - it is a prerequisite for achieving the full energy performance benefits recognized by the ESBO methodology. Without automatic control, motorized shading is assessed in the same way as manually operated systems, limiting its contribution to building energy performance.
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Whether new build or renovation, considering the effective use of daylight is essential when undertaking a commercial building project. There are primary requirements and challenges to be addressed: and daylight management plays a role in each of them:
Improvement in function and memory for workers with access to quality daylight.
Source: Heschong, 2003.
Increase in productivity in optimally lit, thermally comfortable workplaces.
Source: Loftness, 2003.
Reduction in absenteeism in green, comfortable office environments.
Source: Thayer, 1995.
People spend approximately 90% of their time indoors, making indoor environmental quality essential to health, well-being and productivity. Somfy Dynamic Shading optimizes daylight, reduces glare and cooling demand, while maintaining thermal comfort through intelligent automation. Quiet operation and individual user control ensure a superior occupant experience.
So, having an intelligent controlled solar shading system helps create a better indoor environment for the well-being and comfort of the building occupants, positively influencing welfare and productivity. It also significantly contributes to building energy management by:
Generating energy savings for cooling and heating
Supporting a more consistent, healthy indoor environment through improved visual comfort, thermal comfort and access to natural daylight.
Dynamic Shading significantly reduces heating and cooling demand by automatically adapting to seasonal conditions. In summer, it limits solar heat gains to reduce cooling loads. In winter, it maximizes passive solar gains and minimizes heat loss, improving the building's overall energy performance.
Beyond energy savings, Dynamic Shading supports higher asset value, enhances ESG performance and helps create more attractive, future-ready buildings for investors, tenants and occupants.
Two thirds of a commercial building’s total energy consumption is dedicated to heating, ventilation, and air conditioning. Dynamic Shading attacks this at source.
Reduction in energy use achievable in buildings adopting dynamic shading and green design principles.
Source: UNEP, 2012.
Increase in asset value for green-certified buildings. Institutional investors and corporate occupiers increasingly require this documentation.
Source: American Economic Review, 2009.
Somfy ensures all products meet eco-design requirements across their full lifecycle, from raw material extraction to end of life. We act for a better way to care by reducing our environmental impact to take better care of our planet and face the climate emergency. Our solutions are accessible to all, improve building energy, performance, and contribute to the well-being of their inhabitants.
The building industry is responsible for an estimated 38% of all energy-related greenhouse gas emissions annually.
Source: Global Alliance for Building and Construction, 2021.
Buildings adopting dynamic shading and green design can achieve a reduction in carbon emissions of up to 35%.
Source: UNEP, 2012.
Dynamic Shading is a documented compliance strategy for nZEB standards under the EPBD recast across all CEE markets and a route to ZEB classification from 2028.
We provide expert guidance throughout the design and specification process, helping project teams select the most effective solar shading control strategy for commercial buildings. From concept design to handover and beyond, Somfy delivers comprehensive support to ensure dynamic shading systems achieve their performance, comfort, and energy-efficiency objectives.
Our service offering covers every phase of the solution’s life cycle. From early planning, to maintenance and modernization – securing the systems lifetime and optimal performance – and our local support teams will play different roles in different stages.
The primary drivers in office buildings are glare elimination for screen-based work, thermal stability near glazed facades, and energy class certification. Somfy solutions manage exterior rolling shutters and External Venetian Blinds (EVBs) across all orientations simultaneously, without occupant intervention. In addition, interior motorised blinds complement facade systems by fine-tuning daylight at workstation level, improving visual comfort and reducing reliance on artificial lighting. Beyond performance, these solutions contribute to a clean, modern interior aesthetic aligned with contemporary office design standards.
In multi-family and high-rise residential buildings, Somfy manages exterior rolling shutters and zip screens across all units from a single platform. The io-homecontrol® wireless protocol is particularly well-suited to residential projects where cabling between floors is limited. Inside the apartments, motorised interior blinds and curtains enhance comfort, privacy, and design cohesion. Residents benefit from intuitive control of natural light, while maintaining a consistent building-wide energy strategy. The combination of exterior protection and refined interior finishes elevates both functionality and perceived living quality.
Hotels require facade management across large numbers of guest rooms, conference facilities, and public spaces without depending on individual guest behaviour. Somfy automates exterior rolling shutters and zip screens silently across all orientations, maintaining guest comfort throughout the day. Central management allows different strategies for occupied and vacant rooms, contributing to measurable energy savings across a full occupancy year. At the same time, interior motorised blinds and curtains play a key role in enhancing the guest experience. Automated shading integrated with room controls allows guests to easily personalise light levels, create ambience, and improve sleep quality. Quiet operation and smooth movement contribute to a premium feel, while coordinated fabrics and finishes support the overall interior design concept, reinforcing the hotel’s aesthetic identity and brand positioning.
Classroom environments directly affect learning outcomes. Dynamic shading optimises daylight while eliminating glare that makes whiteboard and screen-based teaching difficult. Somfy manages exterior rolling shutters and EVBs automatically, without requiring teacher intervention during lessons. Complementary, interior blinds provide additional control where needed, enabling flexible light management for different teaching formats while maintaining a calm and visually balanced classroom environment.
Healthcare environments demand steady thermal and visual conditions that support patient recovery and clinical work. Somfy tubular motors operate below noise thresholds that would be disruptive in wards, consultation rooms, or operating environments. Somfy automation solutions maintain consistent façade performance without any clinical staff involvement. Internally, motorised blinds and curtain systems contribute to patient comfort, privacy, and hygiene, while supporting a soft, reassuring aesthetic. Controlled daylight and reduced glare create a more pleasant environment for both patients and healthcare professionals, reinforcing well-being and operational efficiency.
Solar heat gain through glazing is a major cause of overheating in modern buildings. Somfy Dynamic Shading reduces solar heat before it enters the building, lowering cooling demand while maintaining a comfortable indoor environment.
In winter, the system maximizes passive solar gains during the day and minimizes heat loss after sunset, ensuring year-round thermal performance through intelligent automation.
Studies show that employee productivity can decrease by up to 6% in overheated offices and 4% in cold environments, highlighting the importance of maintaining optimal indoor conditions.
Natural daylight enhances occupant well-being and productivity, but uncontrolled sunlight can cause glare, eye strain and increased reliance on artificial lighting.
Somfy Dynamic Shading automatically adjusts exterior shading based on the sun's position, maximizing daylight while preventing direct solar exposure.
Key benefits:
Dynamic Shading controls glare from direct sun while preserving daylight provision and view out — the core of the glare and daylighting criteria.
Rejecting solar heat before the glass lowers cooling demand and regulated energy use, improving the modelled energy and carbon score.
Automated shading limits summer solar gain and supports CIBSE TM52/TM59 overheating thresholds.
Reduces radiant heat gain to support ASHRAE 55 / EN 16798.
Dynamic Shading admits daylight while suppressing glare, supporting spatial daylight autonomy (sDA) targets without overlighting.
Lower solar heat gain cuts cooling and lighting loads, improving modelled energy performance against the baseline.
The WELL Building Standard focuses directly on the health and comfort of people inside the building. Somfy automated shading is a documented compliance pathway for three key WELL features:
WELL Feature 56
Requires that fenestration with a direct line of sight to the sun be managed for glare, through occupant-controllable or automatically/timer-operated interior or exterior shading, among other accepted measures.
WELL Feature 60
Credits automated systems specifically. An automated solar shading control system with sun-azimuth tracking is a documented compliance pathway for both.
WELL Feature 62
Requires demonstrated daylight levels, spatial daylight autonomy (sDA300,50%) across a minimum share of regularly occupied space, and the ESBO daylight simulation documentation generated as part of the Somfy free specification provides the data required for the assessor submission.
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New buildings owned by public authorities must meet the Zero-Emission Building (ZEB) standard from 2028, with the requirement extending to all new buildings from 2030. The ZEB standard replaces the previous Nearly Zero-Energy Building (nZEB) framework as the minimum performance requirement for new construction across the European Union.
Energy Performance Certificates increasingly reflect the calculated energy performance of a building, including the impact of building systems and controls. Automated dynamic shading can contribute to reduced cooling and lighting demand, supporting improved energy performance ratings when recognised within the applicable national assessment methodology. In contrast, motorised shading without automated control typically delivers fewer measurable energy performance benefits.
National Building Renovation Plans (NBRPs) are the strategic roadmaps through which EU Member States will decarbonise their building stock and improve energy performance by 2050. As renovation programmes increasingly focus on reducing operational energy demand and achieving higher building performance standards, automated dynamic shading can support these objectives by reducing cooling loads, improving occupant comfort, and contributing to overall building energy efficiency.
A motorised blind responds to manual commands - someone presses a button to raise or lower it. A dynamic shading system uses intelligent controls and sensor inputs to respond automatically to real-time environmental conditions such as sun position, solar irradiance, temperature, and wind. It operates continuously across the building façade to optimise comfort, daylight, and energy performance.
The distinction matters for energy assessment. Under methodologies such as ESBO, the highest energy performance benefits are attributed to automated shading systems with verified control strategies. Motorised shading without automation delivers convenience, but its energy performance contribution may be significantly lower than that of a fully automated dynamic shading solution.
Yes. Each facade orientation is configured independently in Animeo Suite with its own sensor thresholds and control parameters. South and west facades typically have more aggressive shading schedules due to higher solar irradiance; north-facing facades may require little or no shading. Animeo Suite manages all orientations simultaneously from a single platform.
Yes. Animeo systems can be integrated.
ESBO simulations based on EN/ISO 52022-3 recognise that manually operated solar shading rarely performs at its theoretical optimum because occupant behaviour is inherently variable. Automated control systems such as Animeo Suite operate according to a defined control strategy and can therefore deliver performance much closer to the design intent. In many building energy assessments this results in significantly lower cooling demand and improved energy ratings. Depending on the facade design, glazing specification and national certification methodology, the improvement can be substantial.
Somfy automated shading can contribute toward credits and features within major green building certification schemes, including BREEAM, LEED, and the WELL Building Standard. Typical areas of contribution include daylighting, glare control, visual comfort, thermal comfort, energy optimisation, and occupant wellbeing. The specific credits or features achieved depend on the certification version, building type, climate, control strategy, and overall project design.
Dynamic shading is not mandated as a specific technology under the EPBD or national nZEB/ZEB regulations. Compliance is based on overall building energy performance rather than prescribed products. However, for buildings with significant glazed areas, controlling solar gains is often critical to achieving energy and comfort targets. Automated shading systems can help reduce cooling demand, mitigate overheating and improve overall building performance.
Our technical team reviews the drawings and prepares a project-specific shading assessment, including ESBO-based performance modelling where applicable. We then provide a recommended specification covering shading products, motorisation, control strategy and supporting performance documentation.
As early as possible, ideally at concept design stage. Facade orientation, glazing specification, and structural system all affect which products are appropriate and how they are specified. Engaging early avoids redesign and ensures ESBO documentation is available for planning and energy certification submissions.
BIM objects (Revit and IFC formats) and CAD drawings are available for a wide range of Somfy commercial shading solutions. Additional project-specific files can be provided on request.
Project Business East Europe supports projects across multiple Central and Eastern European markets, including Poland, Czech Republic, Romania, Croatia, Hungary, Serbia, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. Local commercial and technical support availability varies by market.
Schedule a meeting and see how you can improve energy efficiency in your projects.
