What we have done is a solar analysis, that is about the envelop: the exposition, the shadow analysis, the solar radiation.
-- The resultant exposition of the facades is North-East/ North-West/ South-East/ South-West
-- Caducous trees, projections, working on the envelop
-- Transparent surfaces are allowed where can come sun rays in winter and where we can guarantee appropiate shadow in summer season; opaque ones are positioned where we need to reduce the heat transfert
To understand how the solar radiation works releted to the exposition, we have analyze the solar radiation of the volums, using the Vasari Beta3 software:
Winter, morning – 21/12 h.9 (EAST)
Winter, afternoon – 21/12 h.14 (WEST)
Summer, morning – 21/06 h.10 (EAST)
Summer, afternoon – 21/06 h.16 (WEST)
From these pictures we have pointed out the things we have to work on.
First project of windows
Winter sunrise – 21/12 h.7,37 (EAST) . The North-East windows don’t have any light, since the sun rise up.
Winter morning – 21/12 h.8,37 (EAST). The South-East surfaces have sun light from early in the morning.
Winter, first afternoon – 21/12 h.13,37 (EAST) . South-East surfaces have light till the first afternoon.
Winter, first afternoon – 21/12 h.13,37 (WEST). South-West windows have sun in the afternoon.
Winter, sunset-21/12 h.15,37 (WEST). South-West windows have shadow at the sunset
2. We need to protect the transparent surfaces from the summer solar radiation by vertical protections, the caducous trees are a good solution
Summer, morning – 21/06 h.10 (SOUTH). South-East windows need orizontal protection from the sun light.
Summer, noon – 21/06 h.12 (SOUTH). Even the South West surfaces need an orizontal projection.
Summer, afternoon – 21/06 h.14 (SOUTH). The vertical protection caused by trees is not sufficent, must be higher.
Summer, afternoon- 21/06 h.16 (SOUTH). Trees work good as protection from 16h till sunset.
Summer, afternoon – 15/08 h.16 (SOUTH-WEST). Trees are working as vertical protection.
Summer, all the day – 21/06 sunrise-sunset (EAST).
Summer, afternoon – 21/06 h.16 (WEST)
We could have a better protection thanks to higher trees, or we have to project a vertical protection working on the envelop of the buildings.
Another things to take care on, is that for the first years of our building trees can't protect the surfaces because they need time to grow up. How can we solve this problem? Temporary panels applied on the envelop could be an answer?
3. In summer, where we can’t have trees we can protect the transparent surfaces by projection, which are working good as protections in the morning as late in the afternoon
Summer,morning – 21/06 h.8,33 (SOUTH-WEST). Projections protect the surfaces from early in the morning.
Summer, noon – 21/06 h.12,33 (SOUTH-WEST). Projections work even at midday
Summer,afternoon -21/06 h.16,33 (SOUTH-WEST). The horizontal protection, for west-exposed surfaces, is not sufficent to protect them in the first hours of the afternoon
Summer,late afternoon – 21/06 (SOUTH-WEST). Projections work late in the afternoon, till sunset.
Summer,midday – 21/06 h.13,33. Projections working at the hottest hours.
Summer,morning – 21/06 h.11,33. Projections in the morning, after the first hours of the day they are working good all the time.
Then we went deep in the study of the solar radiation for the transparent surfaces.
We create a new “Style” (see the image below) from the "Solar Radiation" window
At the end of this process, it’s possible to choose in what time of the year we want to make the analysis.
We choose the “Multy-Day Solar Study” to have the data about the peak and the comulative value of the solar radiation on our transparent surfaces.
The problem that occurs when you choose a long period (as we’ve made: 01/06 – 21/09, h.9 - 19), is about the dimention of the numbers’ font (as you can see below), which is too big and doesn’t allow you to read anything. So you have to regulate the “Scale”, using the “Properties” window.
Summer Period: 01/06 – 21/09 (9h-19h) . The cumulative value of the solar radiation is: 201 kWh/sqm.
Winter Period: 21/09 – 19/03 (10h-16h). The cumulative value is: 78 kWh/sqm.
HOME SURFACES ANALYSIS_ Eleonora Velluto's house
The exposure of southwest is indeed problematic. We didn’t have the opportunity to change it because we have to follow the grid imposed by our Master plan.
I brought as a case study my own home. Its exposure is very poor, in fact, it only faces southwest and there isn’t any projection that covers from the direct sun. The house overlooks the terrace, where all the sun is catalyzed and contributes to a further heating of the interior.
WINTER
SUMMER
During wintertime this could be better, but is summer time we can’t but turn on the air conditioner. The only part of the house were the climate is livable is the living room. Trough a winter garden opened at northeast, the air can circulate and create pleasant ventilation.
The perfect climate of the house is the guesthouse, which is covered at southwest by a gazebo and has little openings at northeast. This set is ideal for the temperature of the space, but tends to be very dark.Now we can apply this case to our project. On the left side, buildings have medium-small openings at northeast and big openings at southwest that should be covered by some projection (ex. The partition walls and the floors can go forward from the cladding).
On the right side, the stairs of the duplex that are external from the structure gives the shielding from the southwest sun, whereas the northeast side will have medium-small openings.