Form and Orientation Selection

Objective

To enable students to understand the heat gain from different directions of Sun’s position.

Outcome

Students will be able to understand that the choice of a form and orientation of a building affects the heat gain to a building.

Requirements

None

Prerequisites

Conceptual knowledge of passive design strategies

Procedure

Step 1: Show the following image A and image B to students

Step 2: Ask students which image they will want to select for their design 

Step 3: Give 5 minutes to students to think on the questions posed. 

Step 4: Students share their views on the questions for 15 minutes.  

Step 5: Explain to students about the heat gain caused due to the East, West, North and South orientation of a design.

Thumb rules:

1. In northern tropical climates, orient building shorter side to the E-W axis so that thermal gain due to solar radiation will get minimised and daylight infiltration maximised
2. Controlling sunlight through horizontal shading devices is easier on the Southern/Northern side. Whereas, vertical shading devices on the Eastern and Western side of the building.

References

Image A & B