An alternative solar chart and its use in a case study

Abstract

There are numerous ways of presenting the relationship of apparent solar time, day of year, solar azimuth angle, solar altitude for a defined latitude, as observed from a fixed point contained within a horizontal plane at that latitude. Differing from the commonly used stereographic and equidistant solar charts, an alternative form of solar chart based on regarding the sun path in the sky as an imaginary cylindrical surface is presented. Although it exhibits inconvenience in use in solar altitude readings around times of sun rise and sun set and its use for high latitudes is subject to further investigation, it finds its convenient use for architectural design under certain conditions for low latitudes.