mesaAwnings: a simple cooling tech we apparently forgot about
Make them better looking and push-button retractable from inside, and people will want them.
I haven’t watched the video yet, but vernacular architecture back in the day commonly set shading elements like awnings at the right height/angle such that during midday in the winter, sunlight would still directly go through windows and hit interior floors and walls. During summer, the angle of the sun would be high enough that direct sunlight could not reach windows.
You can get pretty far with just those passive designs. There are tools to help you find the dimensions you’d need based on where you live without having to do any calculations yourself.
While that may be true, it doesn’t make people want them any more than they currently do. People want to have their full window view available whenever they want it. This means it needs to be retractable and extendable at the push of a button. And once you have that, it’s easy and helpful for it to also be automated
Speak for yourself, I’d rather not have the sun baking me. We don’t have central A/C where I live and we’re not allowed awnings of any kind. So it’s super heavy curtains. I’d jump for any kind of awnings in a second.
People want to have their full window view available whenever they want it.
damn, too bad you can’t just like, go outside, or something.
People get shot for doing that these days
you should try going outside. Might reduce your chances of getting shot from going outside.
Shade doesn’t have to block any of the view. Many very modern houses with giant windows use these principles.
View includes being able to see the sky. These permanently block some of the view of the sky.
It’s expensive. I got quoted 10k for 4 windows
Better quality of living (in the long run even living longer) and less energy consumption on the AC may change that calculation.
You can buy them off the shelf and then put them up yourself. Of course then you have to calculate the amount of pain it’ll be to put them up and the fact that it’ll never be as good as getting it done by professional. Plus in my case they’ll be a lot less blood involved.
10 grand does seem like a lot of money though. How large are your windows?
This is the real reason they disappeared - awnings cost money and don’t increase square footage. That’s also why every modern building is a boring box.
We didn’t forget about them, it’s still covered in architecture school. You can even make them look really cool. But they cost money, and that’s a hard barrier to cross.