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What is Orientation of Building in

Architecture?

The Orientation of the building is generally used to refer solar orientation while
planning of house with respect to sun path. The orientation can refer to a
particular room or most important, the faade of the building. The word
Orientation is basically the positioning of a building with respect to the sun,
usually done to maximize solar gain at the appropriate time of the year when
required in cold climate and to minimize solar gain in a hot climate. Good
orientation can increase the energy efficiency of your home by making it more
comfortable to live in and cheaper to run from energy consumption point of
view.

The fact is that 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 designing a good home.
Must read: Importance of Site Analysis & Site Location

South orientation receives maximum solar radiation during winters, which is

preferable. As South faade has the advantage of receiving more solar

radiation during winter than that of receiving during summer. For openings on
the south facade, small overhang or curtains can cut off direct solar
penetration during summer and allows it during winter. This is a most
beneficial aspect, not available on any other facade.
East and west receive maximum solar radiation during summer. West is a
crucial orientation, because high intensity of solar radiation is received during
evening hours, when the internal gains are also at its peak.
Therefore, Deep verandahs or sunshades in the south and west facades
would effectively exclude these strong evening rays.
Aim of Building Orientation:

The most frequently used rooms during the day are oriented in the East and
the North whereas the rooms that are used mostly at night are restricted to the
South and the West, which are hotter directions.
More doors and windows are placed in the East to allow the Suns UV rays to
penetrate into the house in the mornings.
The orientation of kitchen should be towards the east to allow the UV rays to
destroy the germs that tend to multiply in the presence of moisture & food.
The design of houses should be in such a way that all rooms get the
maximum benefit of the sunlight whether the occupants desire it or not.
While deciding the building orientation, one must also take into consideration
the location of landscape feature in a plot, i.e. trees, planters, etc which will
affect the building depending on sun direction and sun path.
Trees and tall shrubs should be planted towards south and west of the site to
protect the inmates from the afternoon heat and to provide them with
oxygen.The open water bodies in gardens should be kept in the north-east to
enable the morning UV rays of the sunlight to destroy germs & bacteria before
using it.
The chief aim of the orientation of buildings is to provide physically and
psychologically comfortable living inside the building to give good health &
happiness to the user in a secure way.
Also read: What is an Altitude & Azimuth

Also read: Importance of Topography & Soil Condition in Architecture

You are here: Home / Architecture & Planning / What is an Altitude & Azimuth?

What is an Altitude & Azimuth?

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The position of the sun with respect to an observer & object is commonly
represented by two angles. These angles are Altitude and Azimuth.
Altitude:
The Altitude comes in, when you know in which direction the object is located
and how high in the sky to look for it.
Azimuth:
The angular distance which is usually measured
clockwise from the north point of the horizon to the intersection with the
horizon of the vertical circle passing through a celestial body.
OR
The cardinal direction in which the object can be found is known as Azimuth.
This varies between 0 and 360 degrees. North would be at 0 degrees, east in
90 degrees, and south in 180 degrees, 270 degrees in the west.
Must Read: What is Orientation of Building
Altitude ranges from 0 to 90 degrees, and measures the angle between the
horizon, you, and the object. An object with 0 degrees altitude is right on the
horizon, while an object at 90 degrees altitude is directly overhead. If you
stretch out your arm and make a fist, then your fist covers about 10 degrees
on your field of vision, so if the sun is at 40 degrees altitude, it is about 4
outstretched fists above the horizon.

Occasionally, you will see altitudes less than zero, e.g. At 9:30 PM, the sun
will be at -20 degrees altitude. In this case, the sun would be 20 degrees
below the horizon, you would be unable to see it, and it would be night time.

Altitude or height is based on the context in which it is

used aviation, geometry , geographical survey, sport, and more.
Here as a Geographical survey, an Altitude is the angular distance of any
point of celestial sphere ,measured from the horizon, on the great circle
passing through the body and the zenith.
How do you calculate the azimuth and altitude of an object?

For calculation of altitude and azimuth angle, one needs to calculate angular
distances. A simple way to do this is to remember that full moon is
approximately half a degree in size as seen from the earth; same things
happen when you stretch out the hand and give a thumbs up is also a half
degree. So, by estimating the numbers of thumbs between the horizon and
object one can get a rough estimate of its altitude and azimuth.
Both are measures relative to your position on the earth. They will change with
location and time. For example, an object at an altitude of 45 degrees at
midnight will not have an altitude of 45 degrees at 3 am (unless you are at the
north or South Pole). It will also not have the same altitude at another location
in the earth.
These angles are used to design a building space and mass to give a
comfortable atmosphere in both exterior and interior. Your building will create
shadow according to these angles. If designer has knowledge about it, it is
easy for him/her to create shaded space in a garden of the home.
Simultaneously, it is also to create massing in building design to give a
thermal comfort. To design a climate responsive building design, these are
one of the important factors.
By designing a climate responsive home, the user will get the healthy
atmosphere.
Also Read: What is Internal Reflected Component (IRC)?
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You are here: Home / Architecture & Planning / Importance of Topography & Soil Condition in Site
Analysis

Importance of Topography & Soil Condition in Site Analysis

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Topography is an important factor in site analysis. If a site is flat, topography

will not affect the location and layout of the building. But on a sloping site
topography is a significant factor. The slope of a site or slope of an adjacent
site will affect the access of sun & views.
Topography:

Topography refers to the slope and level of the land, whether the land is flat
and plain, or in sloping. Topography is a measurement of elevation and slope
is the percentage change in that elevation over a certain distance. Topography
is measured by to connecting points of same elevation. These points are
known as the topographic contours. Slope is measured by the distance
between one point to another point and this distance is divided by the lateral
distance between them.
Must Read: Importance of Site Analysis & Site Location

Courtesy - 123rf

From a design point of view, a sloping site will be more challenging. If a site is
sloping, the exact slope can be interpreted from a detailed Contour map. The
contour locations and spacing of contours will play a big role in the setting of
the building. It is always better to design buildings along with the contours,
integrating it into the design to reduce the unnecessary cutting and filling of
soil. i.e. you should not plan across the contour or should not cut the contours.
Soil:

Soil is a mixture of mineral particles, organic matter, water and air. Soil affects
the human activities from agriculture to engineering and construction of roads,
building & sewage disposal system. Generally Soils vary from place to place.
Their property also varies according to the type of soil whether Sandy soil,
clayey soil, laterite etc, all have different properties, which affect the design of
the building.

Courtesy - 123rf

Soil type, Ground conditions and stability is essential to determine whether

the site is suitable for a particular type of building where best place can be
located for a building. Urban planner authorities used soil map to identify
areas for suitable development for homes, industry, agriculture and recreation.
For example if soil map is showing poor quality of soil for crops than one
cannot develop that area for agriculture. Also Type and size of foundation will
be required to decide with respect to its soil bearing capacity. Therefore this is
very important from a structural point of view while designing buildings.
Thus both topography and soil are very important parameters as far as safety
of the house is concerned.
Also Read: 9 Major Things to be considered while selecting a Site
Also Read: What is Orientation of Building in Architecture?
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