SUN ORIENTED ARCHITECTURE.

Harshavardhan Reddy Goli.

IV semester, Architecture, 15122022.
National Institute of Technology, Raipur.

ABSTRACT
The sun is the brightest star in the Earth’s solar system.
Not only does the sun give us light, but is also a
valuable source of heat energy. The sun can be
considered the ‘life giver’ of all living things on Earth,
for without the sun, many living organisms would cease
to exist. However, the sun does create some problems Table 1: Building Components and Passive Solar Functions.
for us. For example, extreme heat is undesirable as it
may cause a sudden increase in bodily temperature. 2. USING THE SUN TO YOUR
Hence, people have always sought ways to harness the ADVANTAGE WHEN YOU
sun’s power and yet at the same time reduce the ORIENTATE YOUR BUILDING.
detrimental effects of it. Before explaining the part on
how architects come up with designs of buildings to The fact the sun is lower in the sky in winter than in
control the sun’s energy, it is important to give a short summer allows us to plan and construct buildings that
summary of the relationship between the sun and the capture that free heat in winter and reject the heat in
earth as this will affect the summer. The orientation of the whole building plays an
Architects’ knowledge of the sun’s effect on building important part in ensuring such a 'passive' process
design. works.

1. INTRODUCTION: Building Orientation

What is Building Orientation? Building orientation
refers to the way a building is situated on a site and the
positioning of windows, rooflines, and other features.
A building oriented for solar design takes advantage of
passive and active solar strategies. Passive solar
strategies use energy from the sun to heat and
illuminate buildings. Building orientation and building
materials also facilitate temperature moderation and
natural day lighting. Active solar systems use solar
collectors and additional electricity to power pumps or
Figure 1: Sun Path Diagram:
fans to distribute the sun's energy. Heat is absorbed and
transferred to another location for immediate heating or Source: Google images
for storage for use later. Water, antifreeze or sometimes
air circulates to transfer heat. Unlike active solar 3. READING THE SUN POSITION
strategies, a passive design does not involve the use of The position of the Sun in the sky at any time of the
mechanical and electrical devices, such as pumps, fans, day on any day of the year can be read directly from the
or electrical controls. Passive solar heating makes use diagram above. First you need to locate the required
of the building components to collect, store, distribute, hour line on the diagram. Then locate the required date
and control solar heat gains to reduce the demand for line, remembering that solid are used for Jan Jun and
fossil fuel powered space heating. Passive solar heating dotted lines for Jul-Dec. Follow the steps below to read
strategies also provide opportunities for day lighting the Sun position from a stereographic sun-path
and views to the outdoors through well positioned diagram:
windows. The goal of passive design is to maximize
solar gain while minimizing conductance.  Step 1 - Locate the required hour line on the
diagram

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  Step 2 - Locate the required date line, conditions and build or renovate to maximise the site’s
remembering that solid are used for Jan Jun potential for passive heating and passive cooling,
and dotted lines for Jul-Dec. adjusting the focus on each to suit the climate. For
 Step 3 - Find the intersection point of the hour those sites that are not ideally orientated, there are
and date lines. Remember to intersect solid strategies for overcoming some of the challenges. In
with solid and dotted with dotted lines. hot humid climates and hot dry climates with no winter
 Step 4 - Draw a line from the very centre of heating requirements, aim to exclude direct sun by
the diagram, through the intersection point, using trees and adjoining buildings to shade every
out to the perimeter of diagram. façade year round while capturing and funnelling
 Step 5 - Read the azimuth as an angle taken cooling breezes.
clockwise from North. In this case, the value
is about 62°.
 Step 6 - Trace a concentric circle around from
the intersection point to the vertical North
axis, on which is displayed the altitude angles.
 Step 7- Interpolate between the concentric
circle lines to find the altitude. In this case the
intersection point sits exactly on the 30° line.
This gives the position of the sun, fully
defined as an azimuth and altitude.

Figure 3: wind directions

Source: Google images

Figure 2: azimuthal diagram

Source: NOAA solar position calculator

Figure 4: sun positions

Source: solar postion.org

4. PRINCIPLES OF GOOD
ORIENTATION 5. SOLAR ORIENTATION IS
DIFFERENT TO MAGNETIC
Good orientation, combined with other energy ORIENTATION
efficiency features, can reduce or even eliminate the It is very important that you remember to orientate your
need for auxiliary heating and cooling, resulting in house with respect to the Sun and not to the magnetic
lower energy bills, reduced greenhouse gas emissions North (or South), see the diagram below. Apparent
and improved comfort. It takes account of summer and magnetic North can be very different to where Solar
winter variations in the sun’s path as well as the North actually is (up to 20 degrees), this can make all
direction and type of winds, such as cooling breezes. the difference between a passive solar design being
Good orientation can help reduce or even eliminate the viable or not. Your local council should be able to give
need for auxiliary heating and cooling resulting in you details of what the offset should be as this varies
lower energy bills, reduced greenhouse gas emissions from place to place.
and improved comfort Ideally, choose a site or home
with good orientation for your climatic and regional
Figure 5 solar
orientation

Source: solar 2
position.org
6. SUNLIGHT AND ARCHITECTURAL  Get significant quantities of daylight as deep
DESIGNS into the building as possible.
Mankind has always sought ways to harness the power  To maintain a uniform distribution of daylight
of the sun for their daily needs and uses. In designing from one area to another, and
buildings and structures, architects have constantly  To avoid visual discomfort and glare. Along
focused their attention towards the sun. The sun has with these objectives in mind, the architect
been both a bane as well as an aid for building will design a building according to the
designers: too much sunlight will lead to excessive behaviour at that particular latitude. The two
heating. On the other hand, incorporated properly into main ways arc effects of the sun on the
the design of the building, sunlight can be used as a building is rough the orientation of the
complement to light interior facades and rooms. Hence building and the overall design structural
architects today must not only design buildings to layout.
collect energy from the sun to provide heating and
lighting, but also to reject solar energy when is can lead
to overheating of the building. This is known as passive
solar architecture. Passive solar design main goals are
to reduce the fossil fuel consumption of buildings as
well as produce buildings that act in conjunction with
natural forces and not against them. This report aims to
explain how architects, based on their knowledge of the
sun and the sun’s path, design a building so that the
building can fully utilize the available solar energy. Figure 7: Sunlight as Light Source

Source: Uses of Sun. blog

8. THE SHADING EFFECT

The sun will always cast a shadow on any object. Only
the length, shape and size of the shadow will change
with respect to the sun’s position in the sky throughout
the year. When designing buildings, it is important to
notice the amount of shade cast on the building, or
otherwise how its shadow will affect its surroundings.
As mentioned earlier above, at different latitudes, the
Figure 6: Wind Flow sun will travel along different paths along the sky at
different times of the year. The sun’s peculiar
Source: Google images behaviour is a very important factor when designing
7. SUNLIGHT AS A SOURCE OF and constructing buildings. For locations which are at
LIGHTING latitudes away from the equator, during the summer
On a clear and bright day, the sun, combined with the months the sun will cast relatively short shadow while
reflective qualities of the clear sky, vies off about 8,000 during the winter months, the sun will cast long
to 10,000 foot-candles of light. During any normal day, shadows of objects. In the equatorial region, the sun’s
be it over cast or clear, there is almost always enough path remains relatively unchanged hence the length of
light available from the sun and sky to provide the shadows does not vary much throughout the year.
illumination for most human visual tasks. However, Depending upon the functionality of the building
due to constantly changing cloud cover, the amount of sunlight is either filtered out or allowed to penetrate
illumination varies from time to time. Hence it is into the building envelope. Most of the time, sunlight
almost impossible to predict with precision what the is filtered out or prevented from reaching the interior
interior day lighting conditions in any building will be facades of the building. This is done by using three
like at any given moment. Nonetheless, the architect main methods of shading: using natural devices,
should at least have on hand a rough range of expected internal devices, and external devices. Natural devices
daylight conditions based on the sun’s behaviour at that include shading by trees and shrubs. For example,
particular location. The main aims in day lighting a deciduous plants have the advantage of providing
building are to : shade during the winter and spring months- most trees
give shade only during summer and early autumn as
they shed most of their crown during the winter and

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 spring. During the winter months (sun is low in the 10. BENEFITS:
sky), these trees are able to block out the low rays and By relying on solar energy, a renewable, non polluting
hence effectively shading the building. Internal devices energy source, passive and active solar designs do not
include curtains and blinds that are installed within. generate greenhouse gases and slow fossil fuel
depletion. #Passive solar buildings can respond to
changing weather conditions and connect occupants to
the natural environment. # Passive solar buildings
provide day lighting, which has been linked to
increasing occupant satisfaction and productivity.

 Passive solar buildings use thermal massing to

reduce temperature swings and produce a
higher degree of temperature stability and
thermal comfort.
 Reduced heating and cooling costs through
natural heating/cooling cycles and using
Figure 8: Shading Effect materials enhanced for penetrating, absorbing
or releasing solar radiation.
Source: Google images
11. RESOURCES:
9. THE SUN AS A HEAT SOURCE
Lastly, the sun is a valuable source of heat energy.
•Wright, D. (1984). Natural Solar Architecture. New
Similar to light, the sun’s natural heat may be wanted
York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Company.
or unwanted. Countries in the tropics do not want
excessive heating from the sun while higher latitude •Shaw, A. (1989). Energy Design for Architects. New
countries welcome the sun’s warmth during the winter Jersey: Prentice-Hall
months. Hence, the amount of heating required
depends largely again on the latitude and the function •Eco Who, 2017, Importance of Building Orientation,
of the building. Once again, the orientation of the Retrieved from:
building as well as the structural elements used in the https://www.ecowho.com/articles/6/The_importance_
design of the building play a active role in controlling of_building_orientation.html
the sun’s heat. For example, buildings with overhangs
• Level the authority of sustainable building¸ 2017, site
are able to provide shade during the summer months.
analysis, Retrieved from:
The sun is unable to reach within the building.
http://www.level.org.nz/site-analysis/sun/
However, during the winter months, the sun is allowed
to penetrate through the building envelope.

Figure 9: Sun as a heat

Source: usesofsun.blog

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