Chase the Sun....at Home

One afternoon this January I was standing in my kitchen when something shiny caught my eye. It was sunlight. You know, that stuff that hides behind a blanket of gray? That giant fireball in the sky found a gap and sent a beam straight onto my shirt.

I'd lived in that house for two years. Never saw that ray of light before.

It got me thinking about all the clients who've sat across from me saying they want "tons of natural light" without realizing that where, when, and how sunlight enters your home is something you can actually design.

Walking Through Before It's Built

Most homeowners approve their custom home design based on floor plans. They're imagining how it will feel. That's a risk.

Expensive homes with walls of glass can feel dark at 4pm if no one mapped where the sun actually goes. Bright, open kitchens can turn into greenhouses in July when afternoon sun pours straight in with nowhere to hide.

The problem isn't more windows. The problem is approving a design you've only seen in two dimensions and hoping you'll love how it feels to live in.

Before I finalize any custom home design, I create a 3D walkthrough using actual sun paths mapped throughout the year. You can experience your home at 7am in February. At 4pm in July. See exactly how light moves through each room as seasons change. Here’s what that looks like.

Imagine a home office facing the water. Beautiful idea. Then your 3D walkthrough shows that at 3pm (right when you’d be working) the glare would make screens unreadable. We orient it differently. Same view, better livability.

Or maybe you love the idea of a breakfast nook flooded with morning sun. Then the walkthrough reveals it would get blinding glare at 7am. We adjust the window placement and save you from years of squinting into your coffee (and cursing your architect).

Paul Rudolph used to cut big sheets of foam board and move them around to test where to put walls and railings. You could do the same thing today with computer modeling. The modeling has to happen before you fall in love with a floor plan. Not after.

Why This Changes Everything

When you're spending months and significant money designing a custom home, you don't want to be guessing. You want to know.

The 3D walkthrough eliminates the "What if I hate it?" fear. You see problems when changes are still easy and inexpensive. By the time we finalize construction documents, you already know how your home will feel.

Back to that moment in my kitchen. That ray of sunlight might have been intentional. Or it might have been luck. I'll never know. What I do know is that you don't have to leave it to chance.

You could walk around inside your new home before it's built. Experience your renovation before construction starts. Figure out exactly where that window ought to be to capture daylight, and see how the sun will illuminate your home in unexpected ways throughout the year.

The technology exists. Whether your architect uses it is worth asking about.

Want to see what a 3D walkthrough with real sun paths actually looks like? Watch one here.

I was standing in my kitchen one December afternoon and saw something shiny on my stomach. It was sunlight. In the two years I'd lived there, I'd never seen a ray of light come through so brilliantly into that deep pocket of our kitchen.

Designing a home in 2D with real sunlight paths is possible. It just takes someone willing to do the work before asking you to commit.

Does this approach make sense for your project?

Andrew Mikhael is an architect based in Gig Harbor, specializing in custom homes and major remodels for homeowners who value thoughtful design and careful decision-making. For consultations, visit andrewmikhael.com.