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Visited a house in Palm Springs last month and noticed all the windows faced north
The owner said it kept the place cooler in summer but damn did it make the place dark inside. Has anyone else dealt with balancing light and heat in a desert home?
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ericcraig2mo ago
North facing windows in the desert actually doesn't work great for passive solar design. You want south facing windows to capture low winter sun for warmth, then shade them with overhangs in summer. North facing just means you get no direct sun at all which is why it's so dark. The owner was half right about keeping it cooler but missed the whole point of having sunlight come in when it's actually useful.
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troychen2mo ago
@angela_hart has a good point, south facing overhangs don't block all the summer heat, so dark north rooms might be a fair tradeoff down here lol.
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angela_hart2mo ago
Hold on, south facing windows with overhangs still let in high summer sun, so they aren't perfectly cool either.
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