What will the basic form of your house be? Is is tall and boxy? Low and disseminate? Long and narrow, or roughly square?
They are fundamental questions that may have very significant ramifications regarding how your home is designed, what resources get into building it, how well they fit into its site, whether passive solar heating can enjoy a huge role in heating it, and just how easy it will likely be to maintain cool.
Taking into consideration the house configuration early in the design process makes a lot of sense.
A reasonably tall, boxy house has less area for any given amount of space and therefore won't lose heat as fast in cold temperature - while there is less wall area to get rid of that heat through.
A tall, boxy house also offers less roof area to soak up sunlight, resulting in savings in ac bills. The boxy house will even use less material in its construction.
On the contrary, the reduced house with more complex geometry might be better suitable for passive solar heating and natural daylighting, also it can be a more interesting house visually.
Additionally, it may lend itself better to outdoor living area (patios, decks, porches), thus providing inexpensive additional living space, especially in temperate climates where such spaces could be enjoyed on the long season.
In the American Great Plains, a minimal house also offers the benefit of being more protected against heavy winds and tornadoes.
From the solar heating standpoint, an extended, narrow house, using the long dimension running east-west, usually helps make the most sense. By doing this, there's more room to place windows on the south side of the house, to help heat it throughout the winter season.
Also, since east and west windows transmit significantlymore solar gain (net heat fromsunlight) throughout the summertime than south-facing windows, they contribute more to overheating. Thus, having less east- and west-facing wall area can help to manage all costs.
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Note: This article was sent to us by: Roger Hughes at 04112011
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