Archive for April, 2010

Tweet In yesterday’s post, I explained the basics of building orientation and the appropriate types of shade for the east, west and south sides of a building.  Today I’m going to show you some examples of how shading is used brilliantly in some of Central Phoenix’s mid-century modern buildings. This mid-century modern beauty on Osborn and 4th Avenue uses these curved precast concrete panels to create shade for the windows on the south side.  Not only does the shade work well, as you can see in the photo below, it’s also fundamentally integrated with the design of the building making…

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Tweet The most important and fundamental energy-saving strategy you need to know about in Phoenix is shading your home from direct sun and heat gain.  Well-positioned shade around your house can save you up to 40% in your cooling bills. We explored creating shade from a planting perspective on the Blooming Rock blog on the week of March 15, 2010.  This week, I’m revisiting the topic of shade because it’s so very important for our climate especially with the upcoming hot weather.  I’ll be talking about shade from an architectural perspective and today we’ll start with a primer on home…

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