T E AC H I N G W I T H

SUN, WIND, & LIGHT

2 0 0 1 S B S E S U M M E R R E T R E AT

Mark DeKay, assistant professor

College of Architecture and Design
University of Tennessee
Knoxville, TN 37966
314.935.6282, mdekay@utk.edu
SUN, WIND, AND LIGHT is a 400 page book for designers who
want to consider the form-generating potential of climatic
forces in the earliest stages of the design process. The
second edition was recently published in January of 2001.
The second edition project expands the original, increasing its
scope by 40%, providing more recent architectural examples,
updating the methods, and incorporating more than a decade
of research in the field.

Organization
The book is organized into three parts:
1) Analysis Techniques, which give tools for understanding the climatic context of the design problem, along
with the pre-design implications of program and form;
2) Design Strategies, which give strategies for shaping
architectural form to achieve low energy consumption,
user thermal comfort, and effective lighting; and
3) Supplemental Strategies, which give mechanical/
electrical-assisted strategies for supplementing the
architecturally-based (passive) strategies.

The Idea of the Book

Sun, Wind, and Light is designed to fit with the rapid,
conceptual, exploratory, and synthetic thinking that
characterizes the beginning of the design process. It
stresses the energy implications of sun, wind, and light,
however, it is organized by the architectural elements
designers manipulate streets, open spaces and buildings,
rooms and courtyards, walls, roofs, floors, and windows.
These elements are discussed in terms of their
organization and their attributes.

Each design strategy is intended to support designers at

making important schematic-level design decisions about
the form or organization of building groups, sites, buildings, or building elements. Each gives a short statement
of the strategy, and explanation of its energy-related
phenomenon, an example of how the strategy has been
used in an elegant way by another architect in buildings
of high design quality, and very importantly, offers a tool
that helps to make a design decision such as size, shape,
organization, color, material, etc. (see diagram on following page).

The second edition of Sun, Wind, and Light represents one

of the only sources to fundamentally integrate the formal
language of preliminary architectural design with the
discipline of building science. Climatic forces are important in architecture because a buildings response to
climate is directly related to its energy consumption, and
because climate is a powerful local context giving designers a means of regional expression and placemaking. The
books audience is practicing architects and architecture
students. Its purpose is to help architects integrate
architectural design and energy, to design more energy
efficient buildings, while also making humane, sustainable, aesthetic buildings.

Making Patterns Visual, Translating Science for Designers

The book is graphics-intensive, with one or more handdrawn architectural illustrations on every page. It is
graphic for three reasons: 1) to communicate in the
language of architects; 2) to simplify the methods and
reduce calculation, such as with nomographs; and 3) to
make the connection between patterns of form and their
1

associated energy processes. Patterns must be drawn and

mapped. The illustrations take several forms. First, there
are charts and graphs that make the patterns of phenomena and their relationship to architectural elements
visible. Second, there are analytical and interpretive
diagrams that show how a building works, such as how air
moves through a plan, or explore the interactions of
important variables, such as the effect of latitude and
building height on light in an atrium. Finally, there are
illustrative architectural drawings, such as plans, sections, and perspectives that show the formal implication
or application of an idea.

What is available is often presented in the language of

engineering and science. Each design strategy and
technique in Sun, Wind, and Light required either assembling and translating existing research into a form useful
to designers or developing a novel technique for designers
to use.
Techniques and Strategies
The matrix on the following page shows all of the 109
analysis techniques and design strategies categorized by
both their part and section within the books structure
(horizontal axis) and by their role in building environmental controls issues of daylighting, heating, and
cooling (vertical axis).

The book is also a long series of small, well-defined

research projects. There is a wealth of literature and
research on these topics, increasing at a rapid rate.
Unfortunately, this knowledge explosion has not penetrated very deeply into either education or practice.
Much of the knowledge is inaccessibly stored in engineering studies, doctoral dissertations, and obscure journals.

A ~ n ` S , W , ` L D S ~
2

D E S I G N
Analysis
Techniques

Daylighting

Buildings

Mech/Elec.
Supplement
102. task lighting
103. electric light zones

32. glazed streets

35. daylight envelope

51. thin plan

54. borrowed daylight
58. daylight zones
70. atrium
71. daylit rm. depth

78. reflecting surfaces

84. low contrast
85. skylight wells
92. reflected sunlight
94. daylight apertures

3. solar radiation
21. heat losses

30. tall buildings

34. gradual height
transitions
38. E-W bldg. groups
41. winter outdoor rms.
42. neighborhood sun

52. E-W plan

53. deep sun
60. direct gain
61. sunspaces
62. thermal stor. wall
64. thermal collectors

77. mass absorptance

82. solar reflectors
87. breathing walls
91. well-placed window
93. solar apertures
97. movable insulation

16. window solar gain

20. shading calendar
21. heat gains

26. vent. corridors

27. shared shade
36. breezy streets
37. dispersed bldgs.
39. bldgs. + plants
40. bldgs. + water
44. green edges
45. overhead shades

48. layer of shades

50. permeable bldgs.
65. cross-ventilation
66 stack-ventilation
67. wind catchers
68. night-cooled mass
69. evap. cool towers
73. water edges
75. shady courts

81. double skin matls

90. ventilation openings
arrangement
99. external shading
100. internal shading &
inbetween shading

105. mech. mass vent.

106. mech. space vent.

1. sundial
2. sun path diagram
4. wind rose
5. wind square
6. air movement prin.
7. site microclimate
11. bioclimatic chart
15. skin heat flow
17. infil/vent gain & loss
18. bldg. bioclimatic cht.
19. earth contact
22. balance point temp.
23. balance pt. profiles

28. topo. microclimate

33. loose & dense
urban patterns
43. windbreaks

46. migration
47. outdoor rooms
49. clustered rooms
55. heat prod. zones
56. stratify zones
57. buffer zones
59. rms. facing sun &
wind
63. roof ponds
72. earth edges
74. breezy/calm courts

76. skin thickness

79. ext. surface color
83. thermal mass
88. insulation outside
95. air-flow windows

104. rock beds

107. ducts & plenums
108. buffer zones &
air/air x-changers
109. earth/air heat
x-changers

Cooling

29. solar envelopes

Heating &
Daylighting

96. light shelves

98. daylight-enhancing
shades

Daylighting
& Cooling
31. balanced urban
patterns

Heating,
Cooling &
Daylighting
Power

Building
Parts

8. sky cover
9. daylight availability
10. daylight obstruction

Heating

Heating &
Cooling

Building
Groups

S T R A T E G I E S

89. separated/combo
openings
101. glass types

24. eletric loads

25. hot water loads

80. PV walls & roofs

86. solar hot water

T ` D S ~ h S , W , ` L

Use in Different Classes

by the energy topics of daylighting, cooling, heating, and

power. The techniques and strategies in bold show one
possible suggestion for which sections to address first in
a typical design problem for a daylighted building design,
a solar heated building design, or a natural ventilation
building design.

SWL is really a design process resource manual, not a

conventional textbook. It has been used in seminars,
large lecture courses, architectural design studio courses,
and by professional architects in practice.
The diagrams below show how the content of SWL can be
used to support teaching different types of classes.

A set of individual techniques and strategies can be built

up to form a network of concepts and tools that form a
larger integrated system in the students design process.
For instance, as shown in the matrix for heating, a solar
heated building design requires assessing the potential
for solar heating in the climate (#7) and on the site
(#18), configuring groups of buildings for solar access in
the site plan (#38), organizing the rooms to get sun (#52
& 53) and shaping the rooms and their enclosure to
collect sun (#60 & 61), sizing the windows and thermal
mass (#83 & 93), and moving heat from where it is
collected and stored to where it is needed (#107).

Linking Strategies by Topic

Many of the techniques and strategies in SWL are linked
to each other logically. In some cases, one technique is
required as data input for another technique or strategy.
The four matrices on the following pages show the SWL
analysis techniques and design strategies separated out

Depending on the architectural question asked, or the

pedagogical approach of the instructor or particular class,
techniques and strategies can be combined to form class
exercises or design methods in a variety of ways. For
instance, instead of the multi-scalar, singe-issue approach
given above, an instructor could ask students to engage a
multi-issue, single-scale question, such as window design.
A window design exercise (or class!) might include a
range of parts-scale strategies such as reflection, sizing,
positioning, orientation, shading, insulation, and type
strategies integrating issues of heating, cooling, and
daylighting, along with other architectural window issues
if desired.
Digital Image Library
A full library of the 700 illustrations and tables in the
book has been developed for use by instructors who adopt
the book in their classes. This library is available on CD
from Mark DeKay.
Instructors will soon be able to order full or partial sets of
slides of these same illustrations for use in lectures.
Contact Mark DeKay if you are interested in purchasing
slides.
Additional Climate Data Resources for SWL
The print edition of SWL has data for five climates.
Through a grant from the Hay Fund of the Renewable
Energy Institute at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, data for an
additional 19 climates are being developed in format
similar to that in the SWL appendix. The new data and
analyses will be keyed to SWL techniques. The new
climate reports will include additional data, graphics, and
analyses not found in the print edition.
U n r ~ h c b
4

D E S I G N
Analysis
Techniques
8. sky cover
9. daylight availability
10. daylight obstruction

Building
Groups

S T R A T E G I E S
Building
Parts

Buildings

29. solar envelopes

32. glazed streets
31. balanced urban
patterns
35. daylight envelope

51. thin plan

54. borrowed daylight
58. daylight zones
70. atrium
71. daylit rm. depth

78. reflecting surfaces

84. low contrast
85. skylight wells
89. separated/combo
openings
92. reflected sunlight
94. daylight apertures
96. light shelves
98. daylight-enhancing
shades
101. glass types

Daylighting

Mech/Elec.
Supplement
102. task lighting
103. electric light
zones

A ~ T ` D S ~ enq D ~

D E S I G N

Heating

Analysis
Techniques

Building
Groups

1. sundial
2. sun path diagram
3. solar radiation
4. wind rose
5. wind square
6. air movement prin.
7. site microclimate
11. bioclimatic chart
15. skin heat flow
17. infil/vent gain & loss
18. bldg. bioclimatic
chart
19. earth contact
21. heat losses
22. balance point temp.
23. balance pt. profiles

28. topo. microclimate

29. solar envelopes
30. tall buildings
31. balanced urban
patterns
33. loose & dense
urban patterns
34. gradual height
transitions
38. E-W bldg. groups
41. winter outdoor rms.
42. neighborhood sun
43. windbreaks

S T R A T E G I E S

Buildings
46. migration
47. outdoor rooms
49. clustered rooms
52. E-W plan
53. deep sun
55. heat prod. zones
56. stratify zones
57. buffer zones
59. rms. facing sun &
wind
60. direct gain
61. sunspaces
62. thermal stor. wall
63. roof ponds
64. thermal collectors
72. earth edges
74. breezy/calm courts

Building
Parts

Mech/Elec.
Supplement

76. skin thickness

77. mass absorptance
79. ext. surface color
82. solar reflectors
83. thermal mass
87. breathing walls
88. insulation outside
89. separated/combo
openings
91. well-placed window
93. solar apertures
95. air-flow windows
97. movable insulation
101. glass types

104. rock beds

107. ducts & plenums
108. buffer zones &
air/air x-changers
109. earth/air heat
x-changers

A ~ T ` D S ~ enq H ~
End

Preliminary graphic and tabular data are available for

download from the Climatic Design Resources web site at
http://dell2002.cap.utk.edu/ecodesign/cdr/.

The second edition of Sun, Wind, and Light is a large and

complex resource with 382 pages and 700 illustrations
and tables. It has the potential to bridge the two worlds
of design and performance: to make energy a relevant
concern of any designer by revealing both the great
design potential latent in buildings that tap site-based
energy, and the great consequences for resource consumption (and thus the future) of differing design
alternatives.

Data currently available are preliminary sets of climate

calendars, in the form of Microsoft Excel workbooks,
giving mean hourly data for several variables, derived
from TMY2 files.
Additional data will be posted by summers end and final
products should be posted by late fall 2001. Instructors
teaching fall 2001 classes can be provided with prerelease data and climatic analyses as available. Contact
Mark DeKay for more information.

Check the new SWL web site (appearing late summer

<http://dell2002.cap.utk.edu/ecodesign>) for more
instructor resources!

D E S I G N
Analysis
Techniques

Cooling

1. sundial
2. sun path diagram
4. wind rose
5. wind square
6. air movement prin.
7. site microclimate
11. bioclimatic chart
15. skin heat flow
16. window solar gain
17. infil/vent gain & loss
18. bldg. bioclimatic
chart
19. earth contact
20. shading calendar
21. heat gains
22. balance point temp.
23. balance pt. profiles

Building
Groups

S T R A T E G I E S
Building
Parts

Buildings

26. vent. corridors

27. shared shade
28. topo. microclimate
31. balanced urban
patterns
33. loose & dense
urban patterns
36. breezy streets
37. dispersed bldgs.
39. bldgs. + plants
40. bldgs. + water
43. windbreaks
44. green edges
45. overhead shades

46. migration
47. outdoor rooms
48. layer of shades
49. clustered rooms
50. permeable bldgs.
55. heat prod. zones
56. stratify zones
57. buffer zones
59. rms. facing sun &
wind
63. roof ponds
65. cross-ventilation
66. stack-ventilation
67. wind catchers
68. night-cooled mass
69. evap. cool towers
72. earth edges
73. water edges
74. breezy/calm courts
75. shady courts

76. skin thickness

79. ext. surface color
81. double skin matls
83. thermal mass
88. insulation outside
89. separated/combo
openings
90. ventilation openings
arrangement
95. air-flow windows
96. light shelves
98. daylight-enhancing
shades
99. external shading
100. internal shading
& in-between
shading
101. glass types

Mech/Elec.
Supplement
104. rock beds
105. mech. mass
ventilation
106. mech. space
ventilation
107. ducts & plenums
108. buffer zones &
air/air x-changers
109. earth/air heat
x-changers

A ~ T ` D S ~ enq C

D E S I G N
Analysis
Techniques
Power

Building
Groups

Buildings

24. eletric loads

25. hot water loads

S T R A T E G I E S
Building
Parts
80. PV walls & roofs
86. solar hot water

A ~ T ` D S ~ enq P

Mech/Elec.
Supplement