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Sun Study in Archicad is more than a presentation tool; it’s a fast and insightful way to test and validate design ideas. For architectural designers or students familiar with Archicad modelling, this feature provides immediate visual feedback on how sunlight interacts with your model and influences your design across specific timeframes.
All example views in this article use the Stacked Tower sample project by Enzyme APD, available for download on the official Graphisoft sample project page.
What to use Sun Study for
Rather than answering how much energy a building consumes, Sun Study helps answer:
Is my design behaving as intended under real sun conditions?
It allows you to observe how sunlight interacts with your model over time, making it useful to:
- See how shadows move across outdoor spaces, terraces, or courtyards.
- Understand whether spaces receive direct sunlight and for how long.
- Anticipate facade overexposure or lack of daylight.
This makes Sun Study particularly relevant during:
- Concept massing studies.
- Early shading strategy definition.
- Facade and opening proportion decisions.
How to create a Sun Study in Archicad?
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Set the correct information about the project location (Options > Project Preferences > Location Settings).
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Open or create the 3D view you want to use for the Sun Study (with the desired model display, shadows, and 3D Style).
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Go to Document > Creative Imaging > Create Sun Study.
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Choose the date range (single day, several days, or a season) and the time range you want to simulate.
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Set the frame interval (for example every 10, 30, or 60 minutes) and choose whether to create an on‑screen preview or save an animation/image series.
For a detailed step‑by‑step description of all options and settings, please visit this article.
Note: When your project location and sun settings are correctly defined in Archicad, BIMx can visualize the same accurate sun position, allowing you to review realistic shadows and interactively explore different dates and times with clients or stakeholders. You can find more information on this topic in this article.
Environment modeling for reliable Sun Studies
The sun does not interact with a building in isolation. Surrounding elements, both built and natural, often determine whether a facade or space is exposed to sunlight.
What should be modeled?
- Neighbouring buildings or blocks
- Significant terrain changes
- Tree masses or dense vegetation
- Walls, cliffs, or infrastructure elements
Notes:
- The built environment elements do not need architectural detail. What matters is their mass, height, and position. Using simple tools such as Morphs allows you to quickly represent these volumes without affecting model complexity.
- When you include trees in a Sun Study, make sure the size, type, and leaf density of the tree objects you use from the library reasonably match the real trees on site and the season you want to represent.
Using Sun Study with Design Options to inform design decisions
Using Sun Study together with Design Options makes it easy to test early‑phase alternatives and let daylight performance guide your choices:
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Use Design Options to keep multiple massing, facade, or shading variants in a single file.
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Run the same Sun Study view on each option (switch the active option) to compare how light and shadow behave.
You can set up the following as Design Options to compare:
- Mass and orientation
- Window sizes and positions
- Shading element depth and spacing
- Room placement and layout
Comparing multiple days instead of a single date
A single sun study day rarely tells the full story.
Running Sun Studies for contrasting seasonal conditions provides a more meaningful basis for design decisions.
Winter scenario: low sun orbit
A winter day reveals whether:
- Interior spaces receive enough direct sunlight
- Low sun angles penetrate deeply or are fully blocked
- Shading elements or surroundings unintentionally obstruct winter sun
This is especially relevant for living spaces, classrooms, or offices where winter sunlight contributes to visual and thermal comfort or to minimize energy consumption for heating. Understanding sun behavior in this case is also crucial when aiming for a passive building design.
Summer scenario: high sun angle and long exposure
A summer day helps evaluate:
- Risk of overexposure on facades and glazing
- Whether shading devices effectively block high-angle sun
- Prolonged solar exposure on outdoor spaces
This scenario often drives decisions about horizontal shading depth and facade articulation.
Spring / Autumn scenario: lower angle, longer exposure
Spring and autumn conditions combine relatively low sun angles and long exposure durations. This can result in higher heat gains than expected, especially on east and west facades.
Studying these days supports:
- Window size adjustments
- Selective shading strategies
- Facade orientation
Case studies
To see how Sun Study supports real‑world decisions, explore built projects where this feature helped shape facade design, shading strategies, and outdoor comfort:
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