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Green Building Bible, Fourth Edition
Green Building Bible, fourth edition (both books)
These two books are the perfect starting place to help you get to grips with one of the most vitally important aspects of our society - our homes and living environment.

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Fundamentals: What shape and which direction should a building point

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  1.  
    • CommentAuthortony
    • CommentTimeOct 2nd 2013
     
    What shape should a building be in terms of reducing energy use

    and which direction should it point in order to achieve the same goal
  2.  
    An interesting question. My house is perfectly square in plan which was probably to minimise the materials needed per unit area given that the structure is almost all in the perimeter walls. If you accept a rectangular plan and vertical walls as constraints then it also minimises the surface area to volume ratio and therefore perhapsheat loss.

    On the other hand solar gain via windows may change things.

    What about a square house with a mono pitch south facing roof to maximise solar PV and/or thermal?
    • CommentAuthoradi
    • CommentTimeOct 2nd 2013
     
    Thinking about it from PHPP modelling a cube maximises the internal space with the minimum external wall area e.g.the less wall area the less losses.

    A sphere is even mathematically better but its not a very useful shape to build a house!

    If part of the house is under ground you have less losses due to there being less of a temperature difference between the inside and outside.

    South facing passivhaus windows should have bigger thermal gains than losses compared with north windows so south facing windows are best so long as it doesn't cause the building to overheat in summer!

    Thinking outside the box you might be able to make a triangular shaped house be better as you could orientate it to have no north facing walls but would the increase in external wall area to internal space create more losses than the saving of having no north wall?
    • CommentAuthorTriassic
    • CommentTimeOct 2nd 2013
     
    Posted By: adisouth facing windows are best so long as it doesn't cause the building to overheat in summer!
    Mind you, you can always open the window to let out any excess heat in summer!
    • CommentAuthorTimSmall
    • CommentTimeOct 2nd 2013
     
    Terraced house with one external walls being south facing?

    Tower block?

    Half dome with flat face pointing South? Makes kitchen fitting awkward tho'...

    page 1 of:

    http://www.passivhaus.org.uk/filelibrary/Primers/KN4430_Passivhaus_Designers_Guide_WEB.pdf
  6.  
    I was thinking more of houses, but if we're going to go on to large buildings and fanciful designs, what about an extremely large spherical building containing an enormous number of flats. Of course, only those on the outside would have windows, but the cost of artificial lighting may be offset by reduced heat loss in a cold climate. If it was large enough, the curve of the external walls would be negligible and make fittings easier. However, it sounds rather dystopian to me!
    • CommentAuthorbarney
    • CommentTimeOct 2nd 2013
     
    As usual it's a balance Tony - the balance between volume to wall ratio, limiting depth for daylighting, availability of windows for passive gains, ability to offer shading for overheating risks.

    There are a whole host of other criteria ranging from fire to impact on surrounding properties or limitations of the plot.

    Regards

    Barney
    • CommentAuthorJonti
    • CommentTimeOct 2nd 2013
     
    <blockquote><cite>Posted By: TimSmall</cite>Terraced house with one external walls being south facing?

    </a></blockquote>

    I have often thought that for low energy and material costs that terrace style housing seems the best and also uses less land than detached. I still do not understand why solar panels are not a standard requirement where they are viable on new build.

    Jonti
    •  
      CommentAuthorSteamyTea
    • CommentTimeOct 3rd 2013 edited
     
    Did we not do this question a while back.
    Toblerone shaped maybe.
    Or a combination of shapes, half dome to the north, flat to the south.

    Or just mainly rectangular as we have now.

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