Testing sunlight effects on paper prototype buildings with a torch

I have been making models of the summerhouse I am building. So far these prototypes have been to get a feel of how the building will look.

But models are also a good way to test how light will work in the building.
Here, the sun arcing across the sky is represented by a torch.

Paper prototypes like this are good, because they are quick to make and can be hacked about without getting precious. This particular one gets a bit sliced off, as you will see...

So here is a shot of how the latest design would look in late evening (sun lowish from the west)

Mid-morning summer sun (sun highish from the east)

Morning in winter (sun lowish from the east)

Here is a sample sweep of the sun from east to west across the front of the summerhouse.



This has made me rethink this. It seems like the extra protection provided by the front gable may not be so good for light. This is a summerhouse after all, not a shed. The feedback was "too dark".

So, I pulled off the gable and tried a straight angled roof with skylights. This showed obvious light pools inside the building, which would make sure it wasn't dingy.

Another angle

I'm so glad I tried this. It has changed the direction of the design.

Model-making as a means of visualising a design

I have just started a long thought-about project to build a summerhouse for lounging in the garden. Here are some reflections on design techniques...

Before building anything, I like to burn the end-product into my brain as a visualisation. That way, I can refer to the mental image of what it will look like, as I build it, without stopping. This just means I can see what the thing I am building looks like before it exists. This is handy.

One reliable way to do this is drawing...

And that works, but sometimes, I need to make a model to see what it looks like in the round.

Building something in miniature helps to show how the real thing might be.

And so, here is my first 3d draft of the drawing above. This is at a 1cm:1foot scale (about 1:30). The model is 12 cm long

It's paper, with details drawn with pen and ink, and tinted with felt tips

Here's another angle...

And another...

...and so on...

Here is a second model exploring a turret-styled doorway...

The same with doors opened...

And,after a change of siting location for the proposed building, here is a third model...

These models are just made by drawing out the sizes on paper, adding some extra tabs, to allow gluing. This looks like this...

It gets messy...

Shooting under different lighting allows you to see how a finished building might appear. Here are some moody looking shots, which show what the lighting into the building might look like in evening.

Of course, you can do all this with Sketch-Up and other computer modelling tools, but building a real model prepares you much more effectively for building a real building.