As already suggested, if you live on or near any of the other degrees
of north latitude marked, imagine the center of the suns slipped
around to that degree, and then draw light pencil lines across the
chart parallel with the respective arrows. Do the same also for other
parts of the year than the solstices which are shown here. For each
succeeding month, move the center of the suns down and up from the
solsticial points about a third of the distance to “E.” At “E” the sun
has reached either equinox and will rise directly in the east and set
directly in the west. Remember that for several days on either side of
a given position of the sun, there will be no essential change in the
direction of its rays that you need practically to consider.
But at the times, other than the solstices, while you can thus get
the direction of the rising and setting sun, the sun-dial of our
chart won’t exactly apply. What happens is that as the sun moves down
or up from the solstice to the equinox, the summer hour spaces grow
more uniform, while the winter hours grow somewhat longer. But with
the general direction of the morning and afternoon light settled for
the two solsticial extremes, the hour position of the sun during the
between seasons will not be of so much importance.
Of course, you can’t have everything in this world exactly your own
way, but by studying carefully the Orientation Chart in connection
with your plans for building a home, you may get many valuable hints
for selecting your lot and locating your house which will lead to
arrangement of lasting satisfaction to you in the coziness, comfort,
and attractiveness of your home. A sunny corner or a shady spot, where
you need it and when you need it, may cure an invalid or develop a
poet, as the case may be and as the years go on.
_The Right Kind of House to Orient_
Before you have the problem of orienting your home, you have the more
important problem of deciding on the kind of home you intend to build.
It is one of the most, if not the most, important question you have to
settle.
In the first place, it is an economic question, for you want to be sure
of getting value received for the money you expend. To do so, the house
you build must, aside from its satisfactory design, be permanent; it
must be easily and economically maintained; it must be comfortable and
safe against fire; and it must be attractive. In a word, it must give
you satisfaction in every way, inasmuch as you and your family are
going to be in it a long time; or, if circumstances compel you to move,
you want the house to make a persuasively attractive appeal to the
intending renter or purchaser.
Such a house you can build of brick, the endurance of which has been
demonstrated through thousands of years. “By frost, nor fire, nor
flood, nor even time are well burned clays destroyed.” This permanence
of brick construction means a saving on insurance rates, on upkeep, and
on depreciation, while the material lends itself to the most beautiful
and varied artistic effects. “Strength and beauty,” the essential
characteristics of all good building, may be fully met in brick
construction.
If you have not already seen _The Story of Brick_, you should send for
a copy, as you will find in it many valuable suggestions.
AMERICAN FACE BRICK ASSOCIATION
130 North Wells Street
CHICAGO