Solar orientation Sun angles and sun paths Determine sun angles for your location Solar software Passive solar design Conclusion 1. Solar Orientation Solar orientation is the positioning of a site, building, or space in relation to cardinal directions and, more importantly, the sun’s path. Whether it’s your site, your home, or even a specific room in your home, everything has a specific orientation and relationship to the sun’s movement across the sky.

1. Sun Analysis in
Architecture Design
By: Hussein Azher
Al-Nahrain Uni.
Architecture Dep.
Fourth year
2020-2021

2. 1. Solar orientation
2. Sun angles and sun paths
3. Determine sun angles for your location
4. Solar software
5. Passive solar design
6. Conclusion
7. Sources
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3. 1. Solar Orientation
Solar orientation is the positioning of a site, building, or
space in relation to cardinal directions and, more
importantly, the sun’s path. Whether it’s your site, your
home, or even a specific room in your home, everything
has a specific orientation and relationship to the sun’s
movement across the sky.

4. 2. Sun angles and sun paths
The azimuth angle is the horizontal angle
measured from due south. The greatest angle
would be on the horizon at sunrise/sunset.
The altitude is the vertical angle above the
horizon. The highest angle would be due south at
midday.

5. 3. Determine sun angles for your
location
Every geographic location has a slightly different sun path.
Once you know how the sun moves across the sky, you
can plan and design your house to respond to that
movement any day of the year and any time of the day.
Once you determine your azimuth and altitude angles,
you’ll use this information to start to design your project
to respond to the climate and movement of the sun,
ultimately helping you take big strides to create a more
sustainable project.

6. 1. Andrew Marsh’s Sun Path Application
http://andrewmarsh.com/software/sunpath2d-web/
https://drajmarsh.bitbucket.io/sunpath2d.html
4. Solar software

7. Select the location: Baghdad 33 - 44

8. Deferent view:

9. Sun Azimuth & Sun Altitude:

10. 2. Sun Angles Tool by Sustainable by Design
https://susdesign.com/sunangle/ Select the location: Baghdad 33 - 44

11. 3. Sun Analysis by Revit

12. Urban infill Project:
Determining windows position
and shading technology by
calculating solar heat.

13. Passive solar design works in three ways:
1. Direct gain systems: heat
spaces via direct solar gain
through glass.
2. Indirect gain systems: heat a
part of a building like a thick wall
or concrete floor then rely on
conduction to slowly transfer heat
to space over time, aka thermal
mass.
3. Isolated indirect gain
systems: heat an adjacent
space then rely on convection
to transfer heat to other spaces,
aka sunrooms.
5. Passive solar design

14. 6. Conclusion
To effectively design a house to respond
to the sun, start with the big overall
passive design strategies first and then
work your way down to the smaller

15. 7. Sources:
http://www.level.org.nz/site-analysis/sun/
http://andrewmarsh.com/software/sunpath2d-web/
https://drajmarsh.bitbucket.io/sunpath2d.html
https://susdesign.com/sunangle/
https://www.landscapingnetwork.com/landscape-
design/sustainable/solar.html
https://yr-architecture.com/importance-of-a-
concept/
http://yr-architecture.com/an-intro-to-solar-
orientation/
https://www.renieriarchitetto.com/riqualificazione-
energetica/en/services/buildings-physics/shadow-
analysis.html