Assuming you are in the northern hemisphere, I would minimize north facing windows for energy conservation assuming your winter storms come from that general direction. Everything else equal, I'd design the house and all major rooms to face toward and be open to the southern exposure. I'd keep the utilitarian rooms and service spaces to the northern exposure.

Yes, northern hemisphere. My current house has the garage on the north wall, my last house had a shared wall on the north and south sides (townhouse), and the house I grew up in didn't have any windows on the north wall (again, mostly garage) so I don't have any experience to draw on.

I guess it also depends on where your views are (if you have any). I have beautiful vistas to my north and west. I also live in snow country so yes, get my winter storms from that same direction. I love that view about 8 months out of the year but the other 4 I do wish I'd done something different.

I think you are describing what contributes to good passive solar design. It's generally described as getting winter heat from the sun, prioritizing south windows for the northern hemisphere. Aim for 7-10% high SHGC south-facing glass to floor area for a balanced design. Reduce/re-distribute the other orientation's windows and you've got the most affordable and resilient heat available.

North-facing windows are a good direction for art studios or environments needing accurate color rendering or day-long diffuse light. Unless the windows are super performance, north windows waste heat compared to solid wall area and should be minimized unless the site begs for them.

If you have any air conditioning needs in summer, pay attention to East and especially West orientations which will contribute to overheating. The same is true for properly sized overhangs over the south facing windows.

I may have done a poor job explaining what I was after in my initial post. I wasn't trying to ask how to design a house with passive solar design. Obviously you want to minimize/eliminate north facing windows in that case. I was trying to get at this: if you plan the best possible house for your lifestyle on a specific piece of land and the floor plan places one room facing north, do you sacrifice efficiency so you can maximize light? Basically, is the extra light from a large window worth the added heating bill cost?

I have used triple glazing on north facing windows in some projects.

We also used triple glazed windows for our whole house as we are in Canada. I would definitely not want to sacrifice the light and have smaller or no windows on the north.

Carol

If you can, rotate the house so it isn't oriented dead north. A wall facing dead north will be cold and uninviting, encourage the growth of mold and algae, and snow/ice will linger there. Our view is due north, but I rotated the house about 30 degrees to the east so we get nice morning sun, while still keeping the view.

I have land (1 acre) already, but I'm still thinking about what I want in a house, so no plan/architect yet. When facing the main road square on, the front of the house will face southeast.

I like the idea of a garage at 90° to the house, forming a small courtyard, but I realised yesterday that would block off some of the southeast facing rooms. Putting a garage on the end like normal (normal for the area) would take up most of a northeast wall.

There will potentially be a road along the southwest property line in the future too, so I had been thinking of a side facing garage over there but then I realised that would block ideal too.

(And yes, I know y'all want me to get an architect. Let me puzzle through where I'd like rooms to be in relation to each other for a bit. I'll go when I can actually answer their questions about what I want with more than "uhhh I don't know?")

And yes, I know y'all want me to get an architect. Let me puzzle through where I'd like rooms to be in relation to each other for a bit. I'll go when I can actually answer their questions about what I want with more than "uhhh I don't know?")

Actually I did that too. I didn't give him an actual plan but just some rough boxes of where I wanted each room to be.

I'm about five hours north of the US border and there is no way with our long winters that I would want to give up any additional light. Yes to maximizing window size to increase light and to triple glazing, and also to extra insulation. There's always the old-fashioned approach of closing (heavier) curtains in the evening when it's dark anyway. But during the day the extra light is wonderful.

Most of our winter storms tend to come from the west or northwest.

Paraveina, to help you puzzle through where you'd like rooms to be in relation to each other, you might find helpful the books "A Pattern Language" by Christopher Alexander, Max Jacobson, et al. and "Patterns of Home" by Max Jacobson.