Residential design services in Sutherland Shire explain the principals of daylighting for new home design

When correctly implemented into your new home design, daylighting design not only offers a higher level of comfort to the occupants of your home, but deliver a large net saving on energy consumed.

Here our experts in home design in the Sutherland Shire share some of the principles to consider for daylighting in Australia:

• North facing windows introduce sunlight and daylight into the home, particularly in winter when the sun is lower in the sky and direct sunlight contributes to heating the house.

• South facing windows (for latitudes below the tropic of Capricorn) predominantly introduce daylight without heat gains of direct sunlight — making them an ideal orientation for houses in warmer climates where home cooling is the main imperative.

• Skylights and light tubes of appropriate sizing and design can let in light without adding heat in summer or losing warmth in winter.

• Externally reflected daylight contains less heat than direct penetrating sunlight (i.e. the infrared heat is predominantly absorbed by natural and built environments).

• Light coloured interior surfaces reflect more light and reduce the level of artificial lighting required.

• Clerestories (with the associated eaves appropriately sized) are very effective at delivering daylight to the core areas of a home.

• Direct sun should be excluded from task areas (particularly polished surfaces including kitchen benches and desktops) because of the high potential for glare and discomfort.

• Internal sun penetration can be controlled with the least impact on an external view by vertical blinds on predominantly east and west oriented windows and horizontal blinds for predominantly northern (and southern, for north of the tropic of Capricorn) oriented windows.

To find out more about the drafting home design services we have to offer, contact our new home designers in Penshurst today.