There may be more aesthetic reasons for siting in some locations (a neighborhood, for instance, where all homes face the street). We live in the country, however, and our main door (which are patio doors), face South, rather than facing the the dirt road to the East. We faced South, and planted a lot of trees with the idea that in the winter, with the leaves gone, we'd get light and some heating, but in the summer, they'd protect the house.

I'm not sure we get that much heat out of the winter sun, but it's nice, until I have to prune all those dang things.

We looked a long time within a desired neighborhood to find a place where the rear of our home would face south.

Ideally, I would like both my kitchen and my MBR to face east -- more possible in a two-story than my one-story house. Our breakfast room is SE. Kitchen is north, but with light from the breakfast room. Our screened porch is SE with a sycamore offering dense shade on the south. The DR, LR, Guest Rm., and our MBR have south exposures. MBR is SW, with a maple giving shade on the west side and a locust to the south.

Three tall archtop windows face north to brighten Kitchen, Library, MBA. Our garage is at a 120 degree angle to the house and faces NW. I modified the walls supporing the roof over our north-facing front stoop to let more light in; this prevents mildew in summer and aids snow melt in winter.

Remember, in winter the sun is low in the sky; more light and heat come in through windows. (We have French doors in DR and LR.) In summer, the sun is high in the sky, with less light and heat flooding in. If you have a house oriented like ours, E-W, you need careful HVAC work -- or your north rooms will be too cool and your south rooms too hot.

In the northern hemisphere, the most favorable orientation, in general terms, is to the south. That is because in the summer the sun is high and can effectively be screened with architectural forms to reduce solar gain in the interior during the summer. In the winter the sun is low and can effectively be used in a passive solar design to provide useful heat gain for the house's solar mass. Thus most views, use of windows and natural light are usually best from the south. This is where many architects recommend locating family and public spaces in a house. East and west orientations are very difficult to control the sun and solar gain due to the very low angles of the sun early and late in the day. There is little effective architectural control of the sun on these elevations, so windows should be carefully designed or minimized on these elevations. North elevations are often the direction of winter storms, so windows should also be carefully considered and designed. Artists, architects and many others, prefer north light because it tends to be relatively uniform throughout the entire day, so if this is important in your case it may offer advantages. Good luck with your project.

If you have a choice, I'd probably decide what garden I want out the back (shade or sun) and site the house that way. Unless there's a great view to consider! If every side has a view, then I would go with the gardens. A shady garden with a seating area for summer (maybe on the side or back) and lots of sun for roses and vegetable garden :)

We spent a lot of time watching the seasons change on our land before siting the house. Our best view is to the north. Our best option was to rotate the house about 30 degrees so that the back of the house faces northeast. We still have our view, but also get light into the back of the house. When a wall faces dead north, the resulting space can be uninviting, and prone to mold and algae. It is also slow to thaw after ice and snow.

One of our best assets is large trees (remember those?) Our kitchen and MBR are on the east end of the house, but the trees keep the light filtered in the summer to prevent overheating. The house has large overhangs to protect the windows during the heat of the day. Our garage is on the west end, and also more trees to block the hot afternoon sun. We're in SC, so heat is more of an issue.

There are free sites that show the track of the sun for your exact location, although I don't know the name of them offhand. It's interesting to see how much the sunrise and sunset locations change with the seasons. We've had houses that were aimed in the 'wrong' direction, and the difference is amazing. Our last house, in FL, had a west-facing screened porch that was unusable 6 months out of the year due to the heat.

I wish more people would put more thought into siting their new house. I guess for some, that never look outside, it doesn't matter much. To us, the outside is a big part of our enjoyment, to the extent that we don't have window treatments except in the MBR. Each of our large casement windows frames Mother Nature's artwork.