What is Space orientation or Building Orientation?
Design for orientation is a fundamental step to ensure that buildings work with the passage of the sun across the sky. Knowledge of sun paths for any site is fundamental in design building facades to let in light and passive solar gain, as well as reducing glare and overheating to the building interior. It is important to remember that the position of the sun in the sky is dynamic, changing according to time of day, time of year and the site’s latitude.
Using the Sun to your advantage when you orientate your building
The fact the sun is lower in the sky in Winter than in Summer allows us to plan and construct buildings that capture that free heat in Winter and reject the heat in Summer. The orientation of the whole building plays an important part in ensuring such a 'passive' process works. See the diagram below.
Why consider building orientation?
Well-orientated buildings maximize day light through building facades reducing the need for artificial lighting. Some typologies especially housing can be zoned to ensure different functional uses receive sunlight at different times of the day. Buildings that maximise sunlight are ideal for the incorporation of passive solar collection techniques that can reduce carbon use and enhance user comfort. A careful strategy can also mitigate overheating and glare when sunlight is excessive. You should know how the sun interacts with your building in high summer and the depths of winter.
Ideal house orientation
The ideal house orientation is that the main long axis of the building runs East-West, i.e the ridge line. You can move this by as much as 20 degrees without ill effect, but the most glass on the building must be facing towards the Sun. When deciding the building orientation also take into account the location of landscape features on your plot , i.e. trees and walls, etc which will impact on how you harness the Sun. Ideally you do not want them blocking the sun light as the sun tracks across the sky.
Living Area placement
Also of importance is that the rooms most used must be on the side of the house orientated towards the Sun, i.e. the kitchen, lounge, etc. Also put the least used rooms on the side of the house in shade, i.e. garage, laundry; these will also act as additional thermal mass, if properly insulated.
Orientation / South Facing Windows
Based on the movements of the sun, passive solar buildings typically have windows (glazing) on the southern facing side* of the building in order to absorb the sun’s heat energy to warm a building during the winter. In order to stay cool in the summer, passive solar houses rely on a system of shading (or an overhang) to keep the building cool.
Seasonal Window Considerations
Winter
The diagram to the left shows how the sun is lower in the winter, while it is much higher in the summer. (See the building at Zion National Park.) During the day, the low winter sun can shine through windows are to allow heat energy to be absorbed into the building’s thermal mass.
While windows allow heat into a building to be absorbed, their thin and transparent nature also allows heat to escape a building.
In order to keep this from happening in cold climates, it is recommended that the glass panes are doubled (double glazing) or even tripled. An insulated window covering or thick shade can also be used to help insulate the windows and help keep the heat in the building after the sun goes down.
Summer
In the summer, as temperatures rise, a passive solar building uses its thermal mass to help keep the building cool. In order for this to happen, the summer sun is kept from reaching the thermal mass of the building.
The summer sun’s path aides in this process by traveling high in the summer sky, thus a proper overhang or other type of system is needed to shade or cover the widow, in the summer so that the sun’s heat energy is blocked or avoided when it is desired to have the building cooler than the outside temperature.
A properly designed overhang keeps the heat and energy from being absorbed into the house in the summer. (In the picture at the very top of this post, you may also notice that the overhang is keeping the high summer sun from entering the house.)
Simply by building in this way, a house can reduce its heating and cooling costs by 85%.
In the northern hemisphere, in order to face the sun and obtain maximum solar gain, the windows would face the south. In the southern hemisphere, however, it is opposite, with the windows facing the north in order to maximize solar gain.
Building Orientation
Because the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, the side of the building that is utilized for solar gain needs to be facing the south to take maximum advantage of the sun’s potential energy. If the building’s axis is located on the east-west direction with its longest dimension facing the south, more of the building is situated to absorb the sun’s heat energy.
South Facing Windows and Orientation
It is ideal to have the windows (solar glazing) within 5 degrees of true south. However, windows that are within 15 degrees of true south are said to function almost as well.
As the degree difference from true south expands, the overall potential solar efficiency of the structure decreases. Put another way, the greater the degree variation from true south, will decrease the amount of the the building’s solar gain. As a result, larger amounts of supplementary energy may be needed to heat the building in the winter. As the building’s glass (glazing) faces more to the southwest, more energy may be needed for summer cooling.
Southern facing windows (southern solar glazing) are a vital component for a passive solar design and building. Because the southern side of the building is the side that will potentially receive sunlight throughout the day, most passive solar buildings will feature glass dominating the southern side. Southern facing glass
allows the sun’s energy to be absorbed and distributed through the building’s thermal mass.
You may hear people referring to glass as glazing. Glazing is the fancy architectural word typically used for southern facing glass that has the capacity to transfer the sun’s energy.
Another benefit of having windows on the south side, is that it allows natural light to bathe the house throughout the day. This aspect can also lower energy use throughout the house since it minimizes the use of artificial light.
All of these factors can be used to one’s advantage, depending upon the site location and depending on the specific characteristics that you want within the house.
While southern facing windows (glazing) are a necessary component of passive solar design, care must be taken to insulate them in the winter after the sun goes down, as well as shade them in the summer.
Note that because the Earth is a sphere, depending on where you are located, the sun will interact slightly differently than in other places. For example, the angle of the summer and winter sun will be different.
If, however, you are located in the Southern Hemisphere, in order to build a passive or active solar home, the building will need to be oriented to the north.
Vertical and Angled Glass (Glazing)
Most glass that is used in building is vertical. Angled glass, however, is frequently used in passive solar design because it increases the amount of solar energy that can be absorbed. Caution! This can cause overheating in the summertime.
*This information pertaining to facing windows to the south works for those in the northern hemisphere. Down under, in order to use solar gain, they need to face the windows to the north.
The Kitchen Work Triangle
What is the kitchen work triangle?
The concept for the kitchen work triangle was developed in the 1940s, a time when kitchens were very small and appliances were generally very large. The kitchen was looked at as a space where only cooking took place.
The kitchen work triangle connects the three main work areas in the kitchen — the sink, the range, and the refrigerator. As a general guideline, the distance between these areas should be no less than 4 feet and no larger than 9 feet. The sum of all three sides of the triangle should be between 13 feet and 26 feet. If the distance is too small, it can make a kitchen feel cramped and blocked. If it's too large, it makes cooking a hassle.
The dominant geometric shapes in most kitchens are the four-sided variety, from rectangular cabinetry to square appliances. But it is a triangle — albeit an imaginary one — that has always been an important element of a kitchen's design and functionality.
The "work triangle" is defined by the National Kitchen and Bath Association as an imaginary straight line drawn from the center of the sink, to the center of the cooktop, to the center of the refrigerator and finally back to the sink. The NKBA suggests these guidelines for work triangles: The sum of the work triangle's three sides should not exceed 26 feet, and each leg should measure between 4 and 9 feet.The work triangle should not cut through an island or peninsula by more than 12 inches.If the kitchen has only one sink, it should be placed between or across from the cooking surface, preparation area, or refrigerator. No major traffic patterns should cross through the triangle.Efficiency is the triangle's main goal, as it keeps all the major work stations near the cook, without placing them so close that the kitchen becomes cramped. The work triangle is also designed to minimize traffic within the kitchen so the cook isn't interrupted or interfered with.
Here are some examples of standard kitchen layouts with their work triangle:
The work triangle isn't without its flaws though. The layouts above illustrate one of its problems: It assumes that a kitchen will only have three major work stations and one person cooking. As kitchens grow in size, and feature more than three workspaces, the regular work triangle isn't always practical. And in many households today, two or more people share cooking duties. Because of these issues, designers do not always play by the triangle's rules when it comes to drafting kitchen plans.
"We haven't thrown the idea of the standard work triangle out the window, but creating a triangle just for the sake of having one isn't always the best thing to do when designing a kitchen," says Linda Larisch, CKD, CBD, a designer who works with Smartrooms in Chicago. "With many of the kitchens we design, we'll have more than one work triangle in it. If you can't configure the standard triangle, you have to make do by creating the most functional kitchen possible."
Remember, your lifestyle should determine the functionality of your kitchen, not the other way around. The work triangle is not a law, merely a suggestion. Although it can be a helpful tool, don't let it inhibit you from thinking outside the triangle when it comes to designing your kitchen.
DESIGN PROCESS
Define the Problem
You can't find a solution, until you can spell out what the problem is. Architects work with the client to define the project. The problem may be something like "A new school kitchen with cafeteria that seats 300 students" or "A new high school for 1,000 students."
Collect Information
Once the problem is defined, architects will spend time gathering information to help them understand the neighborhood, the site, the users of the building, any existing buildings. Typically this means taking photographs, sketching, and interviewing the client. It's also valuable to collect information on the natural environment, so architects may gather data on the path of the sun around the site, the direction of the wind, the climate, as well as what types of plants are currently growing around the site.
Brainstorm/Analyze
During this stage of the process, architects may begin sketching or making diagrams to help them understand how all the data and information they've collected may impact the design of the building. These early drawings - which may
include bubble diagrams, for example, will help the architects document their ideas, because it's likely the solution will change as they go along.
Develop Solutions
At this stage in the design process, architects will create drawings with specific solutions to be shown to the client. Schematic drawings, as these are typically called, help illustrate the big ideas and space requirements of the project. Schematic drawings usually do not include dimensions or other construction-related notes.
Feedback
No solution is perfect the first time around, so it's critical that the architects continue the discussion with the client to receive feedback.
Improve
With feedback in hand, the architects will go back and continue to revise and improve the final solution. Over the next several months, or even years, the architecture firm will work with the client to refine the original design. Based on an analysis of cost vs. needs, together the firm and the client will closely review the solutions and make balanced decisions on which features will stay, which will be redesigned, and which may be eliminated. The architecture firm will also work closely with the general contractor responsible for constructing the building. Depending on the size of the project, other partners – such as structural engineers, mechanical/plumbing engineers, acoustical engineers, lighting designers, civil engineers, landscape architects, electrical engineers are brought into the process and hired for their expertise.
Build It
The precise details of the building will determined over several months while the firm is developing a set of construction drawings and specifications - called construction documents - which will be part of the legal contract between the architect and client. These construction documents will be used by the contractor to construct the building.
Information and diagram is from discoverdesign.org
ARCHITECTURAL METHODOLOGY
What is Methodology?
Miriam Webster define it as a set of rules, or ideas that are important in a science or art. She also defined it as a particular procedure or set of procedures. The definition of methodology also applies on architectural methodology as it is in the perspective in the architectural world.
The Development Process
Schematic Design
- Review of program with Client
- Preliminary design concepts
- Landscape consultant input
- Presentation of design concepts to Owner
- Owner review and input
- Schematic design finalized
Design Development
- Preliminary design of building systems with consulting
engineers
- Presentation of design development to Owner
- Review of project cost estimate with Owner
- Owner review and input
- Design finalized
Construction Documents
- Working drawings and specifications production
- Owner review
Bidding & Negotiations
- Competitive bidding
- Bid evaluation
- Contract awarded
Construction
- Construction begins with on-site construction observation
