Bu

uildin
ng Sitte Surrroun
ndingss
A building'
b
's immed
diate surrroundings chang
ge its efffective weather
w
p
patterns,
, as
nea
arby buildings or trees can
c blockk sunligh
ht and ch
hange wind
w
pattterns. Wh
hen
dessigning a new building
g, youll want to
o take surround
s
ding buildings into
acccount both so you can
n understtand how
w they affect
a
you
ur design
n, and what
w
passsive stra
ategies you
y can rely
r
on.
Sha
ading and S
Solar Wind
dows

To visualize
v
ho
ow surroun
nding obje
ects will sha
ade your building,
b
yo
ou can crea
ate a modified versio
on of
you
ur sun path
h diagram that
t
includes obstrucctions.
Ima
agine lookking straight up thrrough a 180
1
fisheyye lens, so
o you can
n see all 360 of your
y
surrroundings and see what is obstructin
ng the skyy. The ap
perture or angle thro
ough whicch a
partticular point can "see" the sky is called the
t solar window.
w
Sun path dia
agrams sho
ow this image,
but flipped le
eft-to-rightt to look down
d
from
m the sky's point of view.
v
(Thiss avoids co
onfusion when
w
looking at pla
ans and ma
aps of the site.)
s
Sun
n path diag
gram and solar
s
windo
ow, with ob
bstructionss causing shade.

Learn morre about So

olar Positio
on >>
Learn how
w to find yo
our solar window in Ecotect
E
(sha
ading masks and ove
ershadowin
ng) >>

Righ
ht to Lightt and Solar Envelopess
Right-to-lightt and solarr access are importa
ant when building in
n dense urban envirronments, and
there may be zoning re
equirementts to prese
erve solar a
access. If buildings
b
are too den
nse or too tall,
acce
ess to dayllighting an
nd solar rad
diation can
n become severely
s
lim
mited.
Auttodesk Eco
otect can help you analyze th
his using right-to-lig
r
ght and vvertical skyy component
guid
delines esttablished in
n the UK (LLearn more
e).
Sim
milar design
n methods to help im
mprove access to sunlight for bu
uilding occcupants and surround
ding
site
es are solarr envelope
es or dayliighting en
nvelopes. To
T learn more,
m
see the
t book Sun,
S
Wind, and
Ligh
ht by G.Z. B
Brown and Mark DeK
Kay, or this page by USC
U Professsor Ralph Knowles.
K
A solar envelo
ope of a building
b
sitte regulate
es development within imagina
ary bounda
aries so that it
won
nt oversha
adow the surroundin
s
gs. It is the greatest volume yo
ou can buiild on a sitte that will not
shade nearby sites durin
ng a given time perio
od. Solar e
envelopes are
a based on direct-beam sunlight
strik
king surrou
unding con
ntext (and thus help prevent blo
ocking dire
ect solar ra
adiation).

Solar Envelope: An
A image of
o a hypoth
hetical buillding that sits
s within a solar envvelope.
(Image fro
om Sun, Wind,
W
and Liight, p. 90 by
b G.Z. Bro
own and Mark DeKay,
y, published
d by Wiley)
A daylighting
d
envelope of a build
ding site iss the greattest volume you can build on tthat site while
w
still ensuring the neighboring buildings' access to da
aylight. Dayylighting envelopes
e
are based the
entire sky dom
me and asssume an ovvercast skyy (and thuss help prevent blockin
ng daylight).

Dayligh
hting Envelope: The Look
L
Buildin
ng in New York City uses
u
a stepp
ped buildin
ng form
to allow more daylight peenetration to surroun
nding build
dings.
(Image fro
om Sun, Wiind, and Lig
ght, p. 110 by G.Z. Bro
own and Mark
M
DeKayy, published
d by Wiley))
Win
nd Access & Shelterin
ng
Surrounding buildings and
a
other context ca
an block your
y
buildings accesss to preva
ailing wind
ds. If
you
ur design w
will rely on
n wind ven
ntilation, be sure to consider the contextt and its im
mpact to your
y
acce
ess to wind
d.
On the other end of the spectrum, some
etimes you can havve too mu
uch wind. You can use
veg
getation such as treess and bush
hes to shellter your building
b
fro
om harsh prevailing
p
w
winds. A good
rule
e of thumb
b is to placce vegetative sheltering three to four times the heig
ght of the building from
f
the building. This distan
nce is give
en because
e it not on
nly provide
es wind she
elter, but it
i also will still
allo
ow solar radiation to access the
e building if the she
eltering is placed on the equattor side off the
building.