one of the often overlooked rules of architecture is to "always site your house so that the sun shines into the shower on the winter solstice". like stonehenge, this lets you know
exactly when the days will be getting longer. this rule was even overlooked, as far as i know, by famous architectural idea organizers like christopher alexander. in his famous book,
'a pattern language' which is one of my favorites, he describes a set of "design patterns" that can be used to solve complex problems. the wikipedia link above describes the book, and you might want to check it out if you're about to design a new place to live or work or are just interested in organizing your design thoughts. it's a good one.
for our house, the rediscovery of this important rule was a happy accident of house positioning that i have enjoyed every morning the sun comes out around the time of the winter solstice. i was lucky today. the world did not end, the sun shone at least briefly while i was showering, and the days will soon be getting longer.
