Passive Solar Courtyards in Sedona

Perhaps the house in your head includes a court yard ¦better still maybe your home already has an Arizona Room ┬¥ or Solarium ┬¥ of its own. In any case, the solar orientation of the space can make or break the design!Sedona sits in the high desert ┬¥ and has a greater diurnal cycle. Diurnal temperature variation is a meteorological term that relates to the variation in temperature that occurs from the highs of the day to the cool of nights. High desert areas typically have the greatest diurnal temperature variations, so in Sedona you will generally want sun in the early morning and shade from about noon until sunset.

Of course the time of year makes a difference, too. In the winter you will want more sun and less shade, yet in the summertime, shade is VERY desirable! The most refined court yard designs will factor in the sun and shade patterns year round. The ideal court yard will have strategic exposure from the south, east and west and total exposure from the north. By strategic  I mean a very calculated study of how and when the sun enters the space. Let's hope your view is to the North, and let's hope your view is NOT to the West...oh my!

Ideally, you will have a covered court yard that allows light to come in when and where you need it and keeps it out when you don't want it. For residential architecture, I use software with a solar clock to track the exact patterns of the sun daily and year round. I am particularly interested in the pattern for Solar Noon  potentially the longest, hottest time of the year and Solar Midnight  potentially the shortest coldest time of the year.Images are sometimes worth more than words so have a look at the images here to see an architectural rendering of a court yard design with the sun at 10 am on a morning on the morning of May the 21st!

Finally, if you are planning a remodel, and addition or new home then, by all means, hire an experienced professional to pull it all together for you!