External venetian blinds that follow the sun: daylight without glare in winter, cool rooms in summer. We plan shading as part of your KNX system — matched to the façade, the orientation and the way you live.
A time switch knows the time of day, not the sun. Our KNX shading calculates the sun's position for each façade separately: the slats move automatically to the angle that stops glare and still lets daylight through. When cloud moves in, the façade opens again — you notice none of it, except that it never dazzles you.
Large south- and west-facing windows heat rooms up quickly in summer. External venetian blinds stop the heat before it comes through the glass — automatically, even when nobody is at home. In winter the logic reverses: low sun is let in and helps the heating.
When the blind comes down in the evening, the lighting scene takes over. In summer the shading works with the cooling, in winter with the heat pump. While you are away the blinds move as if someone were in; with the terrace door open the roller shutter stays up. We plan and program that logic in KNX — documented, and adjustable later.
Motors run to the clock or at the press of a button — the sun plays no part in it.
Weather station, solar position calculation and slat tracking per façade — planned, programmed, documented.
The commonest mistake is harmlessly programmed: a time switch lowers the blinds at eleven o'clock — on the north façade, while the west side only heats up in the afternoon and is then left unprotected. Solar protection is façade physics, not a calendar. We plan it per orientation, per opening and per season — coordinated with lighting, climate and architecture.
We calculate azimuth and elevation across the year and set separate thresholds for each façade. East needs protection early in the morning, west only turns in the afternoon, north almost never. Neighbouring buildings, roof overhangs and existing trees go into the zoning as shade that is already there.
An external venetian blind can do more than open or closed. We track the slats at the cut-off angle: direct sun stays out, diffuse daylight is directed onto the ceiling. The room stays bright, the view out stays clear, the artificial light stays off.
External venetian blind, roller shutter, awning, screen or an internal blind — the choice is made per opening, not per house. Floor-to-ceiling sliding units, roof windows and historic façades call for different systems than a south-facing terrace. In the period building in Oberkassel we matched shading and existing façade in exactly that way.
In summer the protection belongs in front of the glass, so the room does not take on the heat in the first place. In winter we reverse the logic and deliberately let solar gains in rather than shutting them out automatically. Two operating modes, one set of rules, switched over with the season.
Wind, rain, frost, brightness and dusk provide the inputs — the order of precedence decides. A wind alarm retracts façade by façade and locks out with hysteresis and a run-on time, frost blocks iced-up blinds, rain brings awnings back in. Safety beats automation, automation beats comfort.
Handle and reed contacts on terrace doors and lift-and-slide units block the downward movement while the door is open. Anyone standing outside in the evening is not locked out by an automatic command. On the panel and in the app we show the contact state rather than hiding it in the background.
The individual room control knows whether the shading is down, and the shading knows whether cooling is running. In cooling mode the blind closes before the load builds up in the room; with a window open the control goes into its window state instead of heating against the terrace door.
In the evening the direction of view reverses: switch a light on inside and you are in a shop window from outside. We tie privacy to dusk and lighting status — in the bathroom the blind comes down as soon as the light goes on, in the bedroom with the night scene. Automatically, without anyone having to think of it.
The choice of motor, the actuators and the bus routing are decided during shell construction. We fix cable routes, inspection hatches and top-mounted shutter boxes, settle positioning accuracy and the reference run, and record where wireless is the more honest answer — in the 400-year-old manor house in Cologne that was exactly the route taken.
A short press moves the blind, a long press adjusts the slat — or the other way round, depending on the habits of the house. Group, floor and central commands sit where people look for them. After a manual intervention the automation only returns after a defined period, not in the middle of dinner.
Shading and artificial light work together: brightness sensors control blinds and lighting groups so that daylight is used first and artificial light is only added on top — bright enough to work in, without lamps burning at midday.
Awnings and large blinds need a wind monitor of their own, with hysteresis, a run-on time and evaluation façade by façade. In a storm whatever is at risk retracts — and stays locked out until conditions are stable. That protects equipment which, if it comes to it, costs more than any automation.
Good solar protection is only noticed when it is missing — we plan it so that the room stays cool, bright and free of glare without anyone having to operate it.
For each window we plan the blind that suits it — and the logic that controls it.
External venetian blind, roller shutter or fabric screen — chosen by use, façade and architecture, manufacturer-independent.
Mounted on the roof, it supplies the sun's position, wind and temperature for every façade.
The slats move automatically to the angle that stops glare and lets daylight through.
Wind alarm and frost protection take priority over any manual command — before damage occurs.
While you are away the blinds move as they would in an occupied house — unobtrusively and plausibly.
Conduits, motor supply cables and actuators go into the electrical planning early — cheap when planned early, expensive when retrofitted.
We look at façades, orientations and glazed areas: where is heat a risk, where glare, where is blackout needed? The shading concept per window comes out of that.
For each window we choose the blind and the drive, and plan motor supply cables, conduits, weather station and the link into the KNX system — coordinated with the electrical and window planning.
The work is carried out by our sister company elektrofabrik if you wish, or by your own contractor working from our documents. Planning and programming stay with us throughout — up to handover.
We program the solar tracking, the protective functions and the interplay with the lighting scenes — and adjust again after you move in, until the automation serves you rather than dictating to you.
Roller shutter automation in an occupied house — together with alarm, garage door, DoorBird and visualisation as one system you can actually operate.
Shading as part of the complete electrical installation — planned in an existing building, together with Occhio lighting, DoorBird and a smart office.
A timber-framed house with Homematic IP Wired and DoorBird: we choose the system that suits the house — not the one from the catalogue.
smartfabrik is a smart home planning practice based in Düsseldorf (Reisholzer Werftstr. 31A). We plan for private clients and companies in Cologne, Düsseldorf and across North Rhine-Westphalia — and, where wanted, nationwide and internationally. A selection of the places we have already planned and delivered in:
Both work with adjustable slats. The internal blind sits inside the room or in the cavity between the panes; the external venetian blind sits outside, in front of the window. For heat protection the external position is clearly better: the solar energy is stopped before it comes through the glass. That is why, with large glazed areas, we almost always plan external venetian blinds.
Yes. The weather station measures the wind speed and, at critical values, issues the command to raise — per façade, before damage occurs. Frost protection is part of the logic too: where there is a risk of icing, the blinds do not move. These protective functions always take priority over manual commands.
At any time. A press of a switch or a command in the visualisation overrides the automation for that blind. The system then returns to automatic operation after a defined period or at the next sensible moment. How long the override holds we settle together — the automation is there to serve, not to dictate.
With large glazed areas, in our view always. Protection against summer overheating is a design matter in a new build anyway, and automated external venetian blinds meet it without you having to intervene daily or come home to overheated rooms on hot days. Planned early, the step from motorised to automated is a modest one — the gain in comfort is not.
Yes, with realistic planning. Existing motors can often be brought into KNX via actuators; for new blinds we check the cable routes or use wireless where it makes sense. We tell you honestly what is worth doing in an existing building and what is not — and plan the retrofit so that it fits the system as a whole.
We plan your shading façade by façade — talk to us before the electrical planning is settled.
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