Orientation (architecture)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In architecture , orientation is understood to mean the orientation of a building or structure towards the cardinal points and thus above all towards the sun , but also the orientation on the property in relation to the surroundings.

The process of looking for the most favorable location for the building on the available property is called positioning .

For more detailed methods of orientation, see Orientation (geodesy) .

Orientation to cardinal points

Sacred motivation

The orientation towards the sun is important for religious reasons in church buildings , the word orientation (towards Oriens , east ) is related to the orientation of early Christian and medieval churches towards the east. The relevant technical term Ostung means in church construction the orientation towards the “actual” (or the structurally most favorable) point of the sun rising . The direction of the sunrise in Central Europe can vary between summer and winter solstice by more than 45 ° to both sides - i.e. H. from the northeast in summer to the southeast in winter (near the 60th parallel even by around 65 °). In isolated cases, churches were therefore oriented towards the feast day of the church patron, the patronage .

The primary purpose of this approximately eastward orientation is to put the altar side or the presbytery - the side of the choir - in the morning light for the early service. Therefore, from the Middle Ages on, the entrance side of the church is always the west facade ( westwork ) . Above the portal of cathedrals there are magnificent round windows from the Gothic period through which the afternoon or evening sun falls.

In the Chinese architecture , the direction also plays a central role: The Forbidden City in Beijing - like all planned cities and especially imperial cities since Xi'an the era - has an approximately checkered floor plan that precisely on the north-south axis in the image of the cosmic Order is aligned. The same applies to burial sites, which have to follow the Feng Shui rule of “a mountain in the north at the back, water in the south”.

Calendar aspects

In sacred architecture, the systems and structures were often oriented towards the cardinal points, some prehistoric systems are now assumed to be measuring instruments for observing the sky and astronomical calendar bases:
In the barrow of Newgrange in Ireland, the entrance is oriented to the east . On about 13 days around the winter solstice at sunrise, a ray of light penetrates the burial chamber for about 15 minutes.
Such lighting effects can be found all over the world, from the buildings of Egypt and Mesopotamia, through India to the pre-Columbian civilizations of America, so that coincidence seems unlikely.

In fact, all sacred orientations should also include aspects of the calculation of time (cf. Maria Lichtmeß , February 2)

Secular buildings

In the case of mundane structures, the orientation is chosen with a view to ensuring optimal lighting of the building. The orientation to the south is typical of the architecture of northern Central Europe and can still be seen on old farms today. In hotter areas, the building is mostly oriented towards the shadier north side , but here the exact direction of the compass is less important than the relationship to the surroundings and the street. In mountainous regions with winter shadows, the building orients itself according to the best direction for the location and can then point to south-south-east or south-west instead of the usual south. In addition to the residential building, the haystack is often oriented towards this on the sunny, alpine valley shoulders ; depending on the weather conditions, however, the prevailing wind direction can be more important.

The exact orientation according to cardinal points plays a major role today, especially in solar architecture and low-energy houses , in order to optimize solar heat gains.

Orientation to the environment

The surroundings also play an important role in the orientation of buildings. With a spectacular view , you will orientate the building there and open it. If, on the other hand, there is a risk of neighbors looking in on a house, it will be designed so that privacy is preserved. The same applies to the desirable protection against rail or road noise .

Alignment of the rooms

In many cases, the functionality of the rooms is also oriented towards specific directions. Here are some examples:

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Erwin Reidinger : Medieval church planning in town and country from the point of view of structural archeology; Position, orientation and axis bend. In: Contributions to Medieval Archeology in Austria, Volume 21/2005, Vienna 2005, pp. 49–66, ISSN  1011-0062
  2. ↑ Erwin Reidinger: Passau, St. Stephan Cathedral 982: Achsknick = time mark . In: The Passau Cathedral of the Middle Ages , publications by the Institute for Cultural Area Research in East Bavaria and the neighboring regions of the University of Passau, Volume 60, Passau 2009, pp. 7–32, ISBN 978-3-932949-91-3 , ISSN  0479-6748
  3. ↑ G. Gerstbach: Astrogeodetic Methods of Surveying Practice , Lecture and Script of the TU Vienna, 2002