Massing & Orientation for Heating

Massing and orientation are important design factors to consider for passive
heating. Massing and orientation for passive heating is often helped by
extending the east-west axis of buildings to take advantage of the consistent
sun on the northern and southern exposures.
Many strategies that are appropriate for daylighting are also effecting for passive heating massing
and orientation. However, thinner buildings may not be better. It depends on the climate and the
program. Some distinctions of massing and orientation for passive heating are:
First, the amount of sunlight that is optimal for daylighting is often not optimal for solar heat
gain.
Second, since the sun's heat does not come from all directions like the sun's light can, walls
facing away from the sun's path get no heat gain, even though they can still get large amounts
of diffuse light.
Third, the sun's heat can be stored by thermal mass, which the sun's light cannot. This can be
useful for west-facing walls to store heat for the night.
Massing Strategies for Passive Heating
In cold climates, massing that minimizes the ratio of surface area to volume (approaching a cube
or hemisphere) can avoid unwanted heat loss. The sun's heat is advantageous, though, and more
surface area facing it can help passively heat the building. The side of the building exposed to the
sun's path can be increased while reducing the exposed areas of the other sides of the building.
In hot climates, thin buildings with their biggest face exposed to the sun can cause unwanted
solar heat gain. Shading devices and good windows can be used to reduce this while still allowing
natural ventilation. Taller buildings can also reduce unwanted gains in hot climates, as the sun's
heat strikes more strongly on roofs than on walls in warm latitudes, and tall buildings have less
roof area per unit volume.
Its important to remember that the sun's heat does not come from all directions like the sun's
light can. Walls facing the sun's path get the most light and the most heat. Windows facing away
from the sun's path can still get large amounts of diffuse light, but without heat gain (and can have
excessive heat loss). Windows facing east are warmed in the morning when it is often welcome to
break the chill of night, but windows facing west are heated in the afternoon when spaces are
generally already warm.

M
Massing
for solar heat
h
gain (orange)) can be different from
f
massing for daylighting
d
(yellow
w).

Orie
entation Sttrategies fo
or Passive Heating
Builldings thatt are long
ger than th
hey are wiide should
d usually be
b oriented
d east-west rather than
t
norrth-south. This orien
ntation letss you conssistently ha
arness therrmal gain, or consisttently avoid it,
alon
ng the lon
ng face of the building. It alsso lets you
u minimize
e the area thats sub
bject to fa
aster
ene
ergy swingss from the rising or setting
s
sun. Solar hea
at gain on the east side can be
e acceptable or
eve
en useful, b
because it happens in the morning after the coolerr night; bu
ut solar hea
at gain on the
wesst side is ra
arely desira
able at the end of an already wa
arm day.
Befo
ore determ
mining the materials for the faade, its im
mportant to understa
and the pa
atterns of solar
s
radiation thatt affect the
e building. The follow
wing imag
ge shows solar incide
ent radiatio
on through
hout
the day and th
hroughoutt the year o
on the five exposed ffaces of a cube-shape
c
ed building
g. The verrtical
axiss shows tim
mes of dayy while the horizonttal axis sho
ows times of year, and
a
the co
olor shows the
amo
ount of inccident heatt.

Incident solar ra
adiation on differen
nt faces of a buildiing through time, in a mid-latitude

The
e graph sho
ows how thermal hea
at gain on the east and
a west siides of buildings change rapidlly as
the sun moves through the day, w
while northe
ern and southern exp
posures are
e more con
nsistent.
Calcculating the Optimum
m Orientatiion
The
e below diagram sho
ows optim
mum orienttation angles for a building,
b
b
based
on ssolar radia
ation
rece
eived in th
he coldest three mon
nths (blue), the warm
mest three months (rred), and over
o
the en
ntire
year (green).

Optimal orientation tool iin Ecotect

The
e most favo
orable orie
entations occur
o
wherre the amo
ount of incident radia
ation in winter is gre
eater
than the incid
dent in sum
mmer, wherre the blue
e line exten
nds out beyyond the re
ed line.
How
wever, it iss also desirrable to prrovide as much
m
prote
ection from
m the maxximum sum
mmer radia
ation
as possible.
p
T optimu
The
um orientation balan
nces these. Thus, in the
t graph above, the
e comprom
mise
ang
gle is not e
exactly at the
t point of
o maximum
m winter collection,
c
but slightly to the ea
ast in orde
er to
"turrn away" sllightly from
m the hot afternoon
a
s in sum
sun
mmer.

Ma
aterial Ch
hoices for Orienta
ation

Matterial choices and glazing

g
are
e part of a building
g's orientattion for passive.
p
Th
hey can avvoid
unw
wanted solar heat gain,
g
or unlike dayliighting, th
hey can sttore the sun's
s
heat with therrmal
masss. An orie
entation that suppliess just enou
ugh dayligh
ht may sup
pply too much heat, or
o vice-verssa.
Equ
uator-facing sides of the buildiing are we
ell suited to
o capture and store the sun's heat via la
arge
windows and materials with high thermal mass,
m
while
e sides faccing away from the sun's
s
path are
not.

To even out ttemperaturre swings at

a sunrise and sunset, east side
es may benefit from more wind
dow
area
a for direcct solar hea
at gain, wh
hile west sides may b
benefit fro
om smaller window areas
a
and high
h
thermal mass to absorb
b the heat and releasse it throug
gh the night. The rig
ght strateg
gy dependss on
the climate.

More glazzing to
the east and more
thermal mass
m
to
the west ca
an even
out tempeerature
swings fro
om the
suns heeat.

In cold
c
climattes, sides facing
f
awa
ay from the sun's pa
ath will usu
ually benefit from m
more insula
ation
than sides facing the sun
s
(which
h means le
ess glazing
g or highe
er-insulatio
on glazing)), while in hot
clim
mates the opposite
o
is true.
Advvanced gla
azing can separate
s
th
he harvestiing of the sun's ligh
ht from the
e sun's hea
at. It can also
pull in dayligh
ht from sid
des facing away
a
from the sun, without
w
losing too mu
uch heat th
hrough lacck of
insu
ulation (low
w U-value).