Figure 3.10 Building orientation relative to climate

a)unilateral building type b) back-to-back bilateral type c) bilateral through type

Figure 3.10Buildingorientation relative to climate[45]

Choosing optimal building orientation can be assisted by using software tools. An efficient tool is Climate Consultant which can calculate the effectiveness of passive and active building design strategies for specific geographic and climatic area. The building occupation hours are plotted on a psychrometric chart showing the dry-bulb, wet-bulb temperature and humidity ratio. The comfortable range of these parameters is shown within the rectangles. This chart can help understand the differences in creating a comfortable climate during the summer and winter period as different design strategies are needed for each of them. The Climate Consultant shows possible design strategies that can contribute to improvement of the comfort and the user can choose which one of them are preferable for the design. The tool calculates how much of the chosen design strategy contributes to the comfortable levels shown in percentage of occupancy time. Climate consultant can also offer to show best strategies for the design, so the architects can focus on those strategies with largest impact and benefit for buildings` sustainability.