Oxford-Duden pictorial dictionary
String Course. - a shallow moulding continued across a whole facade which may be defined by its position eg cill or impost course. (Illustration) ...
www.trp.dundee.ac.uk/research/glossary/stringco.html - 3k

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 36 mins (2006-02-11 08:35:03 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Just a couple more links ...
stringcourse: A continuous projecting horizontal band set in the surface of a
wall and usually molded. Click here for pronounciation ...
www.pitt.edu/~medart/menuglossary/stringcourse.htm
etangenmarkierungssimse,corniches bandeau,stringcourse frames,Catalogo Generale
... English · Inghilterra.jpg (11749 byte) · Français Francia.jpg (6207 ...
www.simplyelegantdonnicelli.com/ - 21k
It is decorated with Moorish ceramics and framed by a broad stringcourse consisted
of a..., ... restaurant Bagatelle. Marrakech, restaurant francais ...
www.terremaroc.com/en/meknes-the-bab-al-mansour-gate/ article-article-141_meknes-the-bab-al-mansour-gate.php - 55k - Résultat complémentaire

Une possibilité

Voir Termium :
Domaine(s)
  – Architecture
  – Roofs
Domaine(s)
  – Architecture
  – Toitures
 
fascia board Source CORRECT

eaves fascia Source CORRECT

fascia Source CORRECT

fascia-board Source CORRECT

bordure de toit Source CORRECT,
FÉM

planche de bordure Source
CORRECT, FÉM

planche de rive Source CORRECT,

fascia Source CORRECT

fascia-board Source CORRECT

bordure de toit Source CORRECT,
FÉM

planche de bordure Source
CORRECT, FÉM

planche de rive Source CORRECT,
FÉM

rive de toit Source CORRECT, FÉM

bandeau d'avant-toit Source FÉM

bandeau Source CORRECT, MASC

DEF – A board which is nailed
vertically to the ends of roof rafters,
and which may support a gutter.
Source

DEF – A finish member around the
face of eaves and roof projections.
Source

DEF – Planche recouvrant l'extrémité
des chevrons et portant quelquefois
une gouttière autour du débord de toit
d'un bâtiment. Source

DEF – Planche en bordure verticale
du toit.

You really need pictures for this one since "bandeau" can mean so many things and architectural fantasies can be so numerous.

From my notes: Bandeau String course; lacing course (chaînage) if at floor level; (encadrement) window surround ('dressings' if stones around window or door [Scott]), bandelet?; frieze. Can be spandrel panels. Also downstand, drop panel? (see Façade de plan vasque)

The "primary" (but largely outdated) meaning is string course or lacing course. 19th century buildings "en pierre de taille" often have a projecting line of stone at the level of each floor. This breaks up the monotony of the otherwise flat facade and throws water off, so the walls of the bottom floors aren't streaming with water from all the floors above. These days architects like totally plane surfaces, and the construction materials are designed to cope with the water flows, etc., but you see where they screwed up when you get dark streaks and mould appearing down the walls since they need constant maintenance. The old ways were the best ...

Other buildings, like my house, have a strip of apparent brickwork at every floor level, tying everything together. The rest of the wall is flint and mortar, with a cement render on the outside. THis too is a "bandeau".

The brickwork "bandeau" in houses such is mine is often picked up at corners, where there is a vertical "stack" of bricks, again to "hold everything together" and provide a neat edge to work to, and there is usually brick arond the windows too. Again, this window surround is a "bandeau". If stone is used, it is referred to as "dressings".

Finally - and especially in modern concrete construction - "bandeau" is the "spandrel", the part of the wall above one window and below the window above (if you follow!), or one or other of those parts.

Very hard to say what your "bandeau" is, but I'd say it is most likely to be either a window surround (a "ring" of concrete projecting slightly beyond the plane of the main part of the wall) or the panel below and/or above a window. The idea of painting these parts strikes me as strange, but architects are strange people ...