how to arrange a building in northern vs southern America. both include 2 different climate zone and strategies are different
I believe that this question is about basic solar geometry.
Recommend buying Heating, Cooling & Lighting.
It explains the differences between Southern and Northern latitudes and how the sun path is for each.
is it simply a wording definition?
per the climate map , there are 2-3 climate zones, prevailing wind and building orientation could be different based on each climate zone. I am not sure what trigger the selection , to memorizing the wind /sun direction or else?
Hi @xurubi ,
Was this a Black Spectacles question? Or a question on the actual exam?
If it was a question you saw on the ARE can you please rephrase or remove your post? You can absolutely ask about concepts you encountered while taking the exam, but describing questions you saw on the exam is a violation of the ARE Candidate Agreement and needs to be removed ASAP.
Be sure to read the ARE Candidate Agreement on the last page of the guidelines.
it is a general question
@xurubi - thanks for rephrasing that.
Are we talking about orienting a building in North America vs. South America? If so, like @mingo.draft was getting at your solar geometry is going to be opposite. In the US and the rest of North America we typically add glazing to the south façade of a building if solar gain is desirable.
In the majority of South America if you want as much solar gain as possible you need to add windows to the north façade of the building.
If we are talking about siting a building in the northern continental US vs. the southern continental US there are different strategies you might want to take into account. If you are in the north US you probably want solar gain and southern facing windows may be a good idea. If you’re in the southern US you definitely don’t want south facing windows. You want overhangs that protect you from the sun as much as possible and probably want to capitalize on natural cooling from the wind. If we’re talking about mid US you might want to use deciduous trees for shading that will allow for the sun to hit the building in the winter when the leaves are gone, but shade it in the summer.
And remember, the IECC does divide the US into 6 different zones based on climate.
https://codes.iccsafe.org/content/IECC2018P4/chapter-3-ce-general-requirements
You might also check out some of the other resources in the ARE 5.0 handbook reference matrix if you need additional reading beyond the BKS lectures. Like Mingo said, the “Heating, Cooling, & Lighting” is a good resource. “Sun, Wind, and Light: Architectural Design Strategies” might also be helpful to you.
Hope this helps!
-Darion