Shadow Analysis in SketchUp

Performing a Sun/Shadow Analysis can be incredibly helpful during the design process. It's helpful to architects who want to assess solar input to a building for passive or active solar collection. For landscape architects, it has always been ingrained in the materials of our field.

The sun gives life to our plants, the building blocks of our trade, along with the soil and water they bed in. The sun-shadow cycle is to plants as the blankets-on/blankets-off cycle is to people, it determines their waking hours and resting hours.

Sunlight has other effects on plants as well; it's what dries the morning dew. By removing moisture, the sunlight can prevent certain plant diseases, while an increase in shade or quantity of water will make plants more susceptible to plants diseases and fungal infections that thrive in moist environments.

My sun-shadow study had surprising results for me. I learned that the White Pine on the south-west corner of our lot casts more shade than I suspected on our largest garden bed. By using the date and time functions in SketchUp, I was able to see at what time of day our garden bed is in the shadow of the White Pine. This set of images shows the shadows in our yard from the very beginning of our growing season to the end.

If the sunniest hours of the day are from 12-noon to 4pm, this garden bed is progressively covered by the White Pine during these hours. Removing it could increase access to sunlight by several hours each day. I have been hesitant to remove the White Pine for reasons of cost and privacy however, this analysis has proved to be a strong argument for 'repurposing' our pine wood!