Unique Methods of Harnessing Natural Light: A
Pillar of Timeless Custom Home Design
We love giving our followers a look into Jesse’s detailed design process, especially when his core principles that guide his process are so clearly laid out in application! Today we’re talking about the unique exterior garden that Jesse designed to harness natural light into his Mediterranean Beach House at different times of day!
For every custom home that Jesse designs, we complete initial sun studies as a first step, helping us to determine that the sun starts at the front of the home in the morning between sunrise and 10:00am, and finishes at the rear between 4:00pm and sunset. However, from approximately 10:00am until 4:00pm we determined that the sun spends the bulk of the day on the left side of the home where the square footage of windows are restricted for fire code. To solve this problem Jesse created an alcove in the footprint of the home that he lined with windows looking into the dining room, office, main floor foyer, stairwell, and second floor hallways. When the sun shines into this alcove it produces a kaleidoscope effect that offers light into each of the listed areas for up to three hours.
Harnessing natural light into every interior space possible is an incredibly impactful tool in our custom home design process. In our eyes, it significantly impacts the quality of the interior space in both direct and ambient natural light conditions, creating a bright fresh and airey feel that beautifully compounds our design efforts. By understanding the impact of the suns position, Jesse is able to organize his initial floorplan sketches around the suns position vs the highest average time of use for each space. It is for this reason that no two floorplans are ever the same in our firm, as each is designed in a way that prioritizes the locations of each room, windows, and skylights within those rooms. It is for this reason that every floorplan design Jesse creates often includes several intentional features that serve to draw light from one room to another. To Jesse, this approach is a pillar of a timeless custom home design.
