Solar radiation is a heat source the building receives whether or not the design accounts for it. We quantify what it does across the year, so the glazing, shading and cooling decisions are made with the numbers in hand.
g-value
glazing assessed
8760h
sun path simulated
2
seasons assessed: summer and winter
What is Thermal & Solar Analysis?
Solar analysis follows the sun's path over the site and through the design: which façades receive how much radiation, at what time of year, and what that means as heat inside the building. The outputs inform real decisions: glazing specification and g-values, shading geometry and its seasonal performance, overheating risk in occupied spaces, and the cooling loads the mechanical design has to carry.
The analysis works in both seasons. In summer it prevents the overheating that turns a glazed building into a source of complaints; in winter it captures the free heating that good orientation provides. Shading designed on the geometry performs in August without darkening December.
It also gives architecture and engineering a shared basis for discussion. A shading study is often the document that lets the façade the architect wants coexist with the energy target the project carries. The same models cover the building's wider thermal behaviour, including internal and external loads, wind and how occupants perceive temperature, at the scale of a building, a room or a single wall. Our simulation software has passed the ASHRAE BESTEST procedure, and weather data comes from US Department of Energy datasets specific to each location. Projects include the S. Madre Teresa di Calcutta church complex and the Maspes Vigorelli velodrome in Milan, and the Italian Pavilion at EXPO 2015.
the process
How Thermal & Solar Analysis works
step 01
Solar geometry
Site, orientation and obstructions modelled across the year's sun paths.
step 02
Gains analysis
Radiation and heat gains per façade and per space, fed into the energy and comfort models.
step 03
Mitigation design
Glazing properties and shading options tested for seasonal performance.
step 04
Integration
Findings carried into the façade specification, the cooling loads and, where relevant, the certification file.
from our portfolio
Thermal & Solar Analysis projects we've delivered
Façades where the sun was calculated before the glass was ordered, and the overheating risk resolved as a specification rather than a chiller.
A glazed façade is a decision about how much sun the building takes in, and it is far easier to make well with the year's numbers in front of you.
Quantified early, a shading study often rescues an ambitious façade from a cautious response. Left late, it becomes a conversation about cooling capacity nobody budgeted for.
01 method
Both seasons assessed
Shading and glazing are evaluated across the whole year, so a solution that solves August is checked against what it costs in February. The two seasons pull in different directions, and the analysis finds the balance.
02 integration
Gains feed cooling design
When we also carry out the cooling design or the energy model, the solar gains feed straight into them, so the mechanical design reflects the façade as it will be built.
03 collaboration
A quantified façade discussion
A shading study gives the architect and the engineer the same numbers to work from. Because it replaces caution with a calculated answer, it often allows an ambitious façade to go ahead.
04 timing
Overheating found early
Overheating risk in occupied spaces is assessed at design stage, when the remedy is a change to the glazing or the shading. Found after occupation, the remedy is usually additional cooling plant.
Related services
lighting
Natural & Artificial Lighting
Daylight simulated across the year and artificial lighting calculated to EN 12464-1, designed together with the controls that keep the energy in hand.
Mechanical, electrical and plumbing design from concept to construction issue, engineered against a modelled performance target and verified after handover.
A short call is usually enough to frame the solar questions your façade should answer before the specification closes, while the answers can still shape it.
