We are all familiar
with traditional sun path diagrams, showing the solstice sun paths across a
site. This one overlays it onto the
screen. You can see the current sun's
position, as well as adjust it for any date and time. Move the ipad around and continue to see the
sun path overlaid onto your screen while you are facing any direction. This can
be used for a variety of purposes, both pre and post design and construction.
Standing on a site
during planning, looking around, wonder what the sun does? Open the app and hold up the ipad. The sun's path will be overlaid onto your
screen. Maybe it's a cloudy day and you
can't see the sun, or you aren't on site at what could be a critical time
(evening, mid-day, or early depending on surrounding conditions) when there may
be some adjacent element that will affect the sun on the site with shadows.
After the building
is complete, stand in a completed space and use the app to see if there are any
critical times with the sun. Stand in an
atrium and use the augmented reality to see if the sun will enter the space on
the winter solstice, summer solstice, or Equinox's. You can also use the camera to take a picture
of what you see on the screen with the augmented reality and save the picture
for future reference.
Another feature of
the app is a live overlay onto google maps showing the current shadow
direction. This can also be changed to
any date or time. If you are in an urban
site and have a tall building next door, you can see when the shadows will be
cast onto your site. Use this app in
conjunction with Theodolite and figure out the height of the adjacent building
and in coordination with the sun angles available from Sunseeker, know how long
the shadows will be cast on your site and how long they will be there.
All these apps are
great but not one app will do everything you need it to so you must use a
variety of the tools at your disposal to find the answers you need.
Sunseeker also has a
pure data view in which it will tell you the azimuth and direction at any given
time at any given location if you are just looking for the raw data.
As we are called
upon to do more 'green' design, the sun angles come into play. Maybe it was just my education in the heart
of the Sonoran Desert in Southern Arizona, but the sun is an important part of
our built environment, and utilizing natural light and the sun to warm or light
spaces can add and bring a lot of benefits to a space.
