Architecture
What You Must Know About the Sun and Your Home
Learn about the powerful effects of sunlight on house materials and more, and see 7 homes that address the sun's rays beautifully
No matter where you live on Earth, you deal with the sun. Near the equator people seek shade. Toward the poles sunlight is precious. The sun provides more than light; it can create heat in homes: wanted in winter, avoided in summer.
Sunlight also degrades many materials. Untreated wood literally falls apart, blackens or is bleached under the sun. Plastics fade and become brittle. The heat created on the south side of buildings by the sun can cause buckling of asphalt shingles in unvented roofs.
In short, if your home's design ignores the sun, you will suffer. Most stock plans do not consider the sun's path across the site they happen to be built upon, but many designers find the sun an inspiration in custom designs for new homes and for renovating those stock, sun-ignoring designs.
Sunlight also degrades many materials. Untreated wood literally falls apart, blackens or is bleached under the sun. Plastics fade and become brittle. The heat created on the south side of buildings by the sun can cause buckling of asphalt shingles in unvented roofs.
In short, if your home's design ignores the sun, you will suffer. Most stock plans do not consider the sun's path across the site they happen to be built upon, but many designers find the sun an inspiration in custom designs for new homes and for renovating those stock, sun-ignoring designs.
Natural conditions drove the forms of this rural house on a windy hillside. Capturing the warmth of the sun was particularly important here, as the house is used primarily in the winter, but it was challenging because the views are in every other direction, most spectacularly to the west, from which direction a brutal wind blows all winter.
Three barn forms are now connected to one another with simple sheds, forming a south-facing courtyard that shelters the entry. A second courtyard faces west, with a south-facing “sun-catcher” porch opening onto it. Three large sliding barn doors can close off the west wind without blocking the sunlight.
Three barn forms are now connected to one another with simple sheds, forming a south-facing courtyard that shelters the entry. A second courtyard faces west, with a south-facing “sun-catcher” porch opening onto it. Three large sliding barn doors can close off the west wind without blocking the sunlight.
The ways we deal with getting sun into our homes or avoiding its overheating them can have a huge impact on the appeal of where we live. A large shade porch like this one creates its own world in any home.
The backlighting of the nonview side of interiors prevents glare and makes daylighting an effective way to reduce the cost of daytime lighting. In this home light is brought in from above via clerestory windows set in a sawtooth roof. Sunlight spreads across the center of the home to even out the daylighting in the interior.
But overlighting any room when the sun is low at the beginning or end of a day can wreak havoc on TV viewing or getting enough sleep, unless consideration is given to the location of openings or, more commonly, what blinds, curtains or shades are used. Shading skylights is possible but problematic and expensive, so if you can't sleep when the sun is up, or if you like daytime TV, maybe skylights should not be in places where beds and TVs are.
But overlighting any room when the sun is low at the beginning or end of a day can wreak havoc on TV viewing or getting enough sleep, unless consideration is given to the location of openings or, more commonly, what blinds, curtains or shades are used. Shading skylights is possible but problematic and expensive, so if you can't sleep when the sun is up, or if you like daytime TV, maybe skylights should not be in places where beds and TVs are.
Light can fade fabrics and carpet, but solar shading glass can look like cheap reflective sunglasses on your house. Extending new eaves on existing homes does cost money, but designing eaves into new homes or additions is almost free.
This home shows how extended eave overhangs can let light in during the winter, when the sun is low, but shade south-facing windows when the sun is high in the heat of summertime.
See more about how this works
This home shows how extended eave overhangs can let light in during the winter, when the sun is low, but shade south-facing windows when the sun is high in the heat of summertime.
See more about how this works
With one of the most spectacular views in Salt Lake Valley, Utah, the owners of this home wished to make the most of it both from the inside and the outside. The pounding sun, however, made the deck too hot to use, and interior window coverings blocked not only the solar gain but the view as well.
A closely spaced pergola was the answer. Positioned at 10 feet above the new deck, it reduced the solar gain without compromising the sense that you are on the top of the world when lounging outside. Even better, the new French doors have no need of window coverings, so the view can be enjoyed from morning to night from inside the home as well.
A closely spaced pergola was the answer. Positioned at 10 feet above the new deck, it reduced the solar gain without compromising the sense that you are on the top of the world when lounging outside. Even better, the new French doors have no need of window coverings, so the view can be enjoyed from morning to night from inside the home as well.
Designers of new homes get inspiration from the need to accommodate the sun. This coastal home has a water view directly south. Its large windows had to be cast in shade or the home would be an oven in summer. A dramatically extended roof allows full acceptance of the view while avoiding the sun.
Like death and taxes, the sun is a universal constant when it comes to every site's natural characteristics. Rather than retrofit awnings or fight the sun's intrusion with internal shading devices, custom designs can choreograph a home's sun dance in ways that seem effortless.
More:
Architect's Toolbox: Solar-Powered Design
Look to the Sun for More of Your Home's Lighting
Like death and taxes, the sun is a universal constant when it comes to every site's natural characteristics. Rather than retrofit awnings or fight the sun's intrusion with internal shading devices, custom designs can choreograph a home's sun dance in ways that seem effortless.
More:
Architect's Toolbox: Solar-Powered Design
Look to the Sun for More of Your Home's Lighting
A home's skin degrades more quickly and requires maintenance if the sun blasts any surface save rock or stucco. Painting is needed much more frequently wherever the sun has protracted contact with painted siding. All plastic surfaces have their colors impacted by the sun. Natural wood left raw — whether roofing or siding — degrades in the sun, often becoming brittle enough to erode and almost always becoming discolored. Tile and slate roofs are fairly impervious to the sun's impact but are very costly. Painted aluminum fades, and asphalt shingles become brittle as their aggregate coatings wash away over time.
Any surface can be painted and repainted, but the best defense against unwanted sun contact on a home's exterior wall surfaces is a roof overhang or any other shading device — an awning, a trellis or even strategically placed trees.