Home / The guide / House design

Orient the house and zone the rooms

Orientation is free and nearly impossible to fix later. A long axis running east to west gives a long wall facing the winter sun and short east and west walls that are hard to shade.

How

1. Set the long axis of the house east to west.
2. Face the main glazed wall within 30 degrees of true south (northern hemisphere) or true north (southern hemisphere). The NREL builder guide says within 5 degrees is ideal and within 15 degrees performs almost as well.
3. Put day-use living rooms on the sun-facing side and bedrooms on the cooler side, as US DOE recommends.
4. Put bathrooms, laundry, pantry, garage and plant rooms on the west or the pole-facing side as a buffer, following Your Home guidance.
5. Keep east and especially west glass small. Avoid west-facing bedrooms in warm climates.
6. In hot humid climates, orient to catch cooling breezes and shade all walls rather than chase winter sun.

Sources

1. Passive Solar Design Strategies: Guidelines for Home Builders. Passive Solar Industries Council and National Renewable Energy Laboratory (US DOE), accessed 2026-11
2. Consumer Guide to Passive Solar Home Design. US Department of Energy, Energy Saver, accessed 2026-11
3. Passive Solar Design (Technology Fact Sheet DOE/GO102000-0790). US Department of Energy and NREL, accessed 2026-11
4. Orientation. Your Home, Australian Government, accessed 2026-11

Open in the interactive guide