Boundary and skin
Lattice screen
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A lattice of timber slats, pierced stone or another material that covers an opening and lets you see without being seen.
What it solves
It filters the sun, lets the breeze through and protects privacy. In humid climates larger openings are used than in dry climates so the air circulates better.
Today
Use lattice screens on west facades, balconies and service areas to ventilate without losing privacy. Keep enough open area for the breeze to really pass through.
Common mistake
Making the pattern so dense that the lattice becomes mere decoration and no longer ventilates.
Tomorrow
Lattice screens of timber, clay or recycled metal made in local workshops can take up patterns specific to each region. Their pattern can be adjusted to each orientation to let the breeze in and block the low sun.
Fact In the Indian stone lattice each opening is the same size as or smaller than the thickness of the stone, so the screen keeps its strength.
Where it comes from
- 1Abbasid and Ottoman Arab world (mashrabiya) Baghdad, the Levant and Egypt, since the 12th century, widespread between 1517 and 1805
An enclosed balcony of turned wood that gives privacy and ventilates, where water jars were placed to cool by evaporation. - 2Indian and Indo-Islamic architecture (jali) India, ancient temples, and geometric stone since 1305
A pierced stone screen that lets light and air through while blocking sun and rain, as in the Alai Darwaza in Delhi. - 3Spanish language Spain and Spanish America, of diffuse origin
The Spanish name comes from celoso, jealous, since the lattice lets one look out from inside without being seen.
Masters
- Laurie Baker Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram, India
He fills many exterior walls with brick jali, a brick version of the traditional timber lattice of southern India. The breeze passing through the openings keeps the campus cool without air conditioning.
Appears in the routes
See also
Also in Boundary and skin
Diagrams and texts by LDB Arquitectura. They are shared under the CC BY 4.0 license, which allows them to be used and adapted with credit to the source.