Solar Regulation in Architecture and Civil Engineering

the use of various measures, techniques, structures, and equipment to ensure protection from the adverse effects of exposure to the sun’s rays and to provide comfortable conditions, with respect to the heat and light from the sun, in buildings and in open areas of populated regions. Three different aspects of solar regulation may be considered: (1) planning and design, (2) construction, and (3) the use of various systems of equipment.

Planning and design involves such problems as the efficient orientation of buildings, windows, skylights, and streets relative to the sun; the arrangement of galleries and loggias; the landscaping and provision with water of areas where the exposure to the sun is most prolonged and intense; the landscaping of the fronts of buildings; the provision of bright colors for the exterior protective structures of buildings; in southern regions, the painting of the interior surfaces of rooms in cool shades; and the surfacing of roads and sidewalks with materials that do not store heat.

Solar regulation in construction may be achieved through the use of stationary or adjustable sunshades; the use of heat-reflecting, heat-absorbing, or light-diffusing glasses and plastics in windows; the use of heat-insulation materials, such as mineral wool or fiber glass, and air spaces in outer wall structures; and the placement of a protective insulating layer of water on flat roofs.

Equipment systems may be used for such purposes as air conditioning and radiation cooling.

The basic requirements involved in solar regulation are the following: protection against overheating during hot periods of the day and of the year; protection against the glare of the sun throughout the year; the provision of the necessary (standard) levels of illumination and exposure to the sun in rooms of buildings; the provision of ventilation through windows; good visibility of the space outside the building from the rooms; and conformity to sound economic practice. The best protection against the effects of the sun’s rays is achieved when the exposure of rooms to the sun through windows is limited by the combined use of exterior adjustable louvers and of heat-reflecting glass in the outer window sash. The selection of efficient techniques of solar regulation is carried out on the basis of appropriate measurements and calculations.