Orienting the House
A study of the placing
of the house with
relation to the
sun’s rays
Price Twenty-five Cents
130 North Wells Street
© 1922. Eben Rodgers, President, A. F. B. A.
Detail of Residence, Sheridan Road, Chicago, Illinois
Walter Miller, Architect
In selecting a home site, there are a number of veryimportant things to be considered. When once yousettle the point of convenient accessibility to your workor place of business, you doubtless think first of theneighborhood in which you and your family are goingto live, the kind of people about you, the church,school, and library privileges, and such like questions.
Then you will consider the physical character of theplace, its slopes and levels, its trees, its gardens, itsoutlook, or, in a word, its attractiveness from anaesthetic point of view; to which are closely related thepractical questions of pure water supply, good drainage,and shelter from the extremes of weather. No matterhow attractive otherwise a locality might be, youwould not consider it for a moment unless the conditionsof sanitation and healthfulness were fully met; and youwould want some natural protection from the severestorms of winter as well as from the blazing heat ofsummer. In the winter you would want as little breezeand as much sun, and in the summer as little sun and asmuch breeze as possible.
Finally, in selecting your site, it would be well to havein mind the house you intend to build and the way youwant it to face. If possible, get your house plan firstand select your lot accordingly. Or, at any rate, pictureit all out in your mind to guide you in selecting yourlocation. By a little planning and forethought you maynot only secure the outlook you want but the exposuresto sun or breeze most desired. You cannot change[4]climatic conditions or topography, but, to an appreciableextent, you can adjust the location of your houseto them.
The Orientation Chart, here given, shows the points ofsunrise and sunset, on the horizon, midsummer andmidwinter, as well as the direction of the sunlight eachsuccessive hour of the midsummer and midwinter day.The chart will thus aid you, so far as conditions permit,in facing your house so as to get the sun or shadewhere you want it.
Chart to be used in connection with text of booklet, “Orienting the House”
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