Sun, Wind and Light: Architectural Design Strategies, 2nd Edition

G. Z. Brown and Mark DeKay. John Wiley & Sons, 2001. Paperback, 382 pages, $54.95.

Unlike some titles, in which I can read selections, skim the rest, and get the gist in a couple of hours, this book takes work! Each time I’ve sat down to review it, I’ve gotten absorbed in the exercises instead. So, here, finally, is what I’ve been able to glean.

In an age when we rely more and more on computers to think for us and give us answers,

Sun, Wind and Light takes the opposite approach as it introduces the principles of bioclimatic design for passive heating, cooling, lighting, and ventilation.

With attractive, hand-drawn illustrations and charts, it shows step-by-step how to put pencil to paper to make sun-path diagrams for solar gain and shading, to factor in humidity and temperature to predict comfort, to estimate heating and cooling loads, and much more. These “analysis techniques” from Part 1 are then applied in the “design strategies” that comprise Part 2, with studies and examples in descending scale from “building groups” to “buildings” to “building parts.”

Finally, Part 3, Strategies for Supplementing Passive Systems, introduces some active low-energy systems.

While the hand-illustrated examples are taken from buildings around the world, the climate data in the appendices is primarily from the “lower 48” United States. This book is an obvious choice as a textbook on climate-responsive design, but it should also serve as a valuable reference for anyone designing buildings with climate in mind.

– NM