The movable brise-soleil at the Milwaukee Art Museum has a wingspan of 66 metres.
The mechanism belongs to the museum’s Quadracci Pavilion, Santiago Calatrava’s addition to the lakefront institution in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Completed in 2001, the pavilion includes the soaring Windhover Hall and a pair of wing-like sunscreen structures that give the building its distinctive birdlike silhouette.
The brise-soleil is both architectural ornament and working sunshade. It opens during the day to frame the pavilion and regulate light, then folds over the structure at night or in poor weather. Wind sensors can trigger closure when conditions become too strong, protecting the moving assembly from damage.
The quoted measurement is often given as 217 feet, which converts to approximately 66 metres. That is why quiz references may show either unit. The figure describes the span of the opened sunscreen, not the height of the pavilion or the width of the museum complex. The Quadracci Pavilion was Calatrava’s first completed building in the United States and helped make the Milwaukee Art Museum a landmark of contemporary architecture.