Designing for tropical daylight

A building in Singapore is designed against a sun that is close to vertical for much of the year. That changes the geometry of everything. Deep horizontal overhangs work; the tall vertical fins borrowed from temperate architecture largely do not.

At Morrow House the balconies are 2.1 metres deep. That depth is not generosity for its own sake — it is the shade line. It keeps direct sun off the glass through the middle of the day while still letting reflected light off the courtyard reach the back of the living room.

Timber screens do the rest. They sit outside the glass rather than inside it, which is the difference between stopping heat and admiring it. Each screen slides, so residents set their own balance between privacy, breeze and view.

The result is a facade that changes through the day as people move their screens. The building looks slightly different every afternoon, which we think is a better outcome than a curtain wall that looks identical for thirty years.