The first step in passive solar design process is to determine solar access for a building and site. This will help designers determine strategies to control daylight and heat gain. Shading mask diagrams are very resourceful tools to determine solar access. This course will equip you to read and create shading masks so that you can use them in your design process.

A shading mask is a representation of the sky as viewed from a reference point, indicating the portion of sky that is visible and obstructed. Access to sky means access to daylight. When combined with a sunpath diagram, solar access can be determined. This makes the shading mask diagram a nifty tool for designing passive solar buildings. Additional data such as solar insolation, relative humidity etc can further be overlapped on the sunpath diagram making this a very interesting design tool. This course will ensure you have a thorough understanding of the concept of shading mask and equip you to read the diagram.

Further, the course includes a tutorial that shows how you can create a simple DIY shading mask kit inorder to create diagrams on your own. Software that can be used to create shading mask is also shared.

A separate module on the application of shading mask as design tool walks you through some of ways this tool can be used. Design decisions such as the size of shading devices, the right orientation of buildings, identification of the location for solar renewable systems, determining the height of building forms at a master plan level and many others can be informed using this simple tool.

This course is designed in a highly engaging content giving you a learning experience that’s comprehensive and fun at the same time. By the end of the course, you’ll be ready to use shading masks in your design process.