Winshade: a computer design tool for solar control

Computer-Aided Design tools have generated new possibilities in the passive solar design of buildings. WINSHADE is an integrated computer tool for the design of passive solar control through building fenestrations. It is based on the generation and the optimization paradigms of Computer Aided Design. Given the required inputs, it automatically generates prescriptive quantitative information to design optimum external shading devices and to select appropriate type of glass. The paper explains the theory and principles underlying this software and illustrates the outputs derived by running WINSHADE for a test case.