The Awnings Industry: Past, Present & Future

Awnings are extremely useful additions to houses and businesses for a number of reasons. They create space for raising brand awareness, shading external areas, windows and internal spaces, and looking visually pleasing. It might be surprising to learn how such strong structures have been in wide use and the recent advancements that will see this technology flourish for many years to come.

The Dawn of the Awning

Awnings have been in use for over 2000 years. It is believed that they were used by Ancient Egyptian, Syrian and Roman civilisations. In fact, one of the most famous awning systems of the old world was the Velarium which shaded the seating areas of the Roman Colosseum. It is likely that the awning is virtually as old as the first woven materials and humans discovered the comfortable benefits of shade.

Development of Awnings

It wasn't until the last few hundred years that awnings became increasingly commonplace and as revolutions in industry propagated, cast iron and timber frames were replaced by more malleable iron pipes and string and pulley mechanisms were invented to operate the raising and lowering of awnings. Before their invention, awnings had to be hand-rolled which took considerably more time and hassle given they were usually set well above head height to avoid interfering with pedestrians.

Even with these improvements, awnings were still made from perishable fabrics that suffered in inclement weather. Even when retracted, the fabrics often bunched and pooled water leading to fading and discolouration.

Modern Materials

The humble awning continued to benefit from new technology all the way to today. These days, awnings typically utilise synthetic acrylic and vinyl laminated canvasses that are waterproof and provide shelter from the rain. In most situations steel and timber has been replaced by aluminium which is much lighter and in some locations where snow is likely to fall, awnings themselves are even made from aluminium.

Motorised Awnings

Motorisation of awnings further reduced the stress involved in expanding and retracting these useful furnishings. If you own one of these pieces of technology you will be thankful for being able to deploy the awning from inside without needing to expose yourself to the brutal sun.

Further developments improved the effectiveness of motorised awnings by coupling their motors to environmental sensors. Such a pairing can trigger the release of the awning when the temperature reaches a predefined limit or cause an automatic retraction if the wind picks up to a level that has the potential to cause damage to the awning itself.

Somfy are Market Leaders in Motorisation of Awnings

Somfy are market leaders in window furnishing automation. With a passion for innovation and research we are constantly refining our products to be stronger, quieter and more energy efficient. We pride ourselves on the strengths of our products and offer extensive warranties so our customers can enjoy peace of mind. To obtain a quote online, click here.