I look at house depth from any/all directions, because it's not just about awesome natural light, but also keeping the roof in proportion. :-)

@ODD
That makes sense. :) it seems that one story homes would potentially be very difficult to design with that in mind. It’s just so much square footage to cram into one story.
....I know, hence the reason people advocate so strongly for architects on the forums lol.

It is more about designing a house two room deep. Also good architectural design will probably take an advantage of the room where windows be placed on both sides or provide lights from two different directions.

It would be difficult to design a very narrow one-story house with a ton of square footage and keep it to 2-rooms deep. That's the problem with subdivision houses - very narrow lots, and an attempt to give the buyer lots of different rooms on either the 1st floor or the only floor. Unless the narrow lot is also deep, it's nearly impossible.

Thank you ODD.

My house is a U shape and in reality the whole house is basically one room deep.

This thread is yet another example of the influence of the site on the design of the house. The "best" site, however, is always the site which allows the major public spaces of the house--living, dining and kitchen, at a minimum--to be oriented to the south.

But, a narrow urban lot will call for a design very different from a 1,000 acre cattle ranch.

That said, it's often the case that the most enjoyable and rewarding houses are those which are designed using passive solar and natural light strategies, and which take advantage of whatever positive benefits are offered by the site.

Here's an example, where the site encourages the siting and orientation of the house:

Lake Flato Architects

I live in a subdivision of tract houses(like most other homeowners) where houses face all directions.

a house does NOT have to face south( in the northern hemisphere) to be rewarding, contrary to what the representative of the American Institute of Architects seems to believe. just in my neighborhood there a many west facing houses that have all the shade needed from large trees, and still have plenty of light in the house.

Some people even prefer north facing windows as they have less glare and less heat gain in the summer in hot climates.

Per the AIA representative, Frank lloyd wright should have turned falling water to face south to be maximally rewarding.

Debbie, you simply don't know what you don't know. Why are you consistently argumentative?

Also, I live in a very rural area where people can typically face their house any direction they want. Those were the new builds I was referring to. I do agree though that subdivisions would present challenges to getting optimal exposure.

The whole notion of a "house" being a single structure ideally situated is needlessly constricting in many circumstances. (But don't try telling that to the zoning Lords!)

Yes, when the property permits, custom designed and built houses may consist of various components placed according to the site and solar/natural light strategies. If the budget allows, this often results in marvelous and unique houses.

Lake and Flato.

Instead of stating numbers of rooms /rules, let's look at the reason you don't want a deep house:

- You want natural sunlight in all your rooms. If your rooms are more than "two deep", (at least) one of those rooms will be pushed to the center of the house and will receive only sunlight filtered through other rooms.

- Deep porches can prevent natural light from reaching interior rooms as well, but not to quite the same extent.

- If you build a "too deep" house, your roofline is pushed "too wide". Such a roof can take on ungainly proportions, which also pushes up the cost of the roof.

To avoid these problems, you can build a house that is

- Only 1-2 rooms deep. This places every room on an exterior wall, and every room can receive natural sunlight.

- Two stories high. Again, this allows your rooms all to be on the exterior.

- Moderate in size. As you increase the number /size of your rooms, you also increase the probability of the above-mentioned issues.

Final thought: Yes, you should pay attention to the orientation of your land; however, it's not nearly so easy as saying "Your house should face South". That overly simplistic statement doesn't take into consideration the soil, geographical items that block sunlight, views, or the layout of the proposed house. For example, if you have a garage on the front of your house, you certainly don't want a South-facing house ... you'd be giving the best sunlight to the garage. And no one, regardless of trees, wants harsh Northern light in the main living areas.

"...it's not nearly so easy as saying "Your house should face South"..."

You completely misunderstand.

For best passive solar and natural light strategies, the major public spaces of your house, i.e., living, dining and kitchen should face south. The front and other areas of your house can face in virtually any direction.

I don't believe I've ever read here that the front of one's house should face south. There's little purpose or benefit in that.

And a simple, but useful guideline for evaluating and purchasing property is that its often the case that property which allows the public spaces of a house to face south will be the most useful and beneficial property.

That said, there are many architectural strategies which will allow the house's major public spaces to face south, such as "L", "T" and "C" or "U" shaped plans, where the public spaces face south while the other areas may face other directions.

And as for northern light, it's often the preferred light for artists and other similar activities since northern light tends to be a rather constant and unchanging level of illumination for much of each day.

You completely misunderstand.

Well, one of us does. I don't think you read what I wrote.

@ Virgil Carter Fine Art I second Mrs Pete, you must read again the comment, you both are in the same boat ;)

I think not. Ms. Pete is clearly talking about the front of a house facing south, which makes no sense. I'm talking about the rear of the house.

She wrote: "...Final thought: Yes, you should pay attention to the orientation of your land; however, it's not nearly so easy as saying "Your house should face South". That overly simplistic statement doesn't take into consideration the soil, geographical items that block sunlight, views, or the layout of the proposed house. For example, if you have a garage on the front of your house, you certainly don't want a South-facing house ... you'd be giving the best sunlight to the garage. And no one, regardless of trees, wants harsh Northern light in the main living areas..."

No one, especially moi, has ever advocated a house which has the front facing south.

The useful guidance, once again, is to have the house's public spaces--living, dining, kitchen--facing south. In a majority of cases, the front of a custom designed house is not where the living, dining and kitchen spaces are located.

In a majority of cases of custom designed houses by architects, the front of the house is private and the rear of the house is where the indoor-outdoor relationship takes place. Said differently, in a majority of cases the front of the house is a private zone from the street front and the rear of the house is a public zone where family and friends move from indoors to outdoors and back. That is where, in the majority of cases the living, dining and kitchen are located. That is the portion of the house best oriented to the south. The portion of the house, where the living, dinging, kitchen are located, oriented south.

I remember drawing my “dream” houses in notebooks when I was in junior high, so it’s just something I have always found intriguing and enjoyable.

:-D

My folks gifted me a 3D Floor Plan software game for our PC when I was in junior high, because they thought it would save the cost of all the graph paper I used, lol.

(It really didn't; I still liked to draw!)

I live in a subdivision of tract houses(like most other homeowners) where houses face all directions.

Me, too, and the sales ladies who were trying to sell me a subdivision lot were surprised/frustrated/puzzled why I would only consider lots that gave the kitchen/dining/living spaces southern exposure... My husband thought I was a little nuts, too, at first. Sadly, there are a *ton* of dark houses in my neighborhood (orientation + 2.5-4 rooms deep). :-/

Thank you, ODD!

The more I learn, the more frustrated I get with my current home [....]

Such is the curse of education. lol Ignorance totally is bliss. ;-)

With our first house as newlyweds, my husband and I got lucky and built an H-shaped tract house on a lot that sat diagonally, so we had southern sunshine coming into the kitchen, nook, family room, and combination living/dining. It twas amazing, even in Phoenix.

And then, when we moved to Texas, we rented an apartment that was horrible, and the house we rented wasn't much better. We learned from that rental home that despite being 1.5-2 rooms deep, it was still dark because the north-ish facing kitchen had no windows and the windowless staircase enjoyed the most southern exposure. :-/ The worst of it was, the master and backyard faced west. We're "cold" sleepers, so we were miserable at bedtime. Hosing off the patio every day from March to October, so the kids wouldn't burn their feet playing outside, was also a chore I never wanted to repeat.

I started reading this forum, and I loved how everything made sense, why I hated that rental so much. So, when we built our current home, I was like, "Dude. Southern Exposure or Bust!"

@ Virgil Carter Fine Art I second Mrs Pete, you must read again the comment, you both are in the same boat ;)

Thanks, Deep Houzz.

No one, especially moi, has ever advocated a house which has the front facing south.

I have not advocated that either. A poster above me said that, and I was explaining why that isn't a one-rule-fits-all statement that'll magically sum up how a house should be oriented.

However, sometimes a South-facing house is the right choice. I grew up in an old farmhouse, which was built in the days when people sat on their front porches /back yard privacy wasn't "a thing yet". The living room and dining room had large windows that faced South. Since we had something like five acres of front yard and 20+ mature oak trees in the front yard, privacy wasn't an issue.

I remember drawing my “dream” houses in notebooks when I was in junior high, so it’s just something I have always found intriguing and enjoyable.

I did the same thing, though I don't think I did it in junior high.

And it may be an unusual pet peeve, but I can’t see my driveway from the main living areas and have limited views of the vehicle that belongs to whichever visitor is knocking on my door. Depending on where people park I can sometimes see the vehicle if I go upstairs to the master bedroom. For me, this is a huge annoyance and feels uncomfortable when unexpected guests arrive.

I've never lived in a house with this problem, but I agree -- I wouldn't like it.

Similarly, I don't like houses with side garages positioned in such a way that a guest cannot see the front door from his parking place. It's an awkward situation.

"...I have not advocated that either. A poster above me said that, and I was explaining why that isn't a one-rule-fits-all statement..."

My apologies. I re-read your post several times, but completely missed that.