Shade
Facts 		Shade
Design		 Shade
Modeller		 Shade
Audit
ShadeCalendar
Shade Planning + Design
Planning + design checklist

Creating shade
Selecting your shade system
Natural shade
Built shade
Combining natural + built

Climate and comfort
Climate-sensitive shade design
Cool shade
Warm shade
ShadeCalendar

Shade for specific sites
Schools
Childcare centres
The home
The street
Beaches
Outdoor restaurants
Parks and reserves
Sportsgrounds
Swimming pools

ShadeCalendar links your local climate to your requirement for protection against UV radiation. It shows when you should be providing solar protection and when people are likely to want outdoor warmth for your location over the year.

Your ShadeCalendar will look similar to one of the examples shown below. You can use it to check what sort of shade is recommended in your location throughout the year.

Three types of shade

Cool Shade
  • when temperature and UV radiation levels are high
  • block sunlight and block UV radiation

    • Warm Shade
  • when temperature is low but UV radiation levels high
  • allow sunlight but block UV radiation

    • No Shade
  • when temperature and UV radiation levels are low
  • allow sunlight and allow ‘safe’ UV radiation

    • How ShadeCalendar works

    Using a climate index called Apparent Temperature, ShadeCalendar assesses the annual climate data and UV Index of your location and creates a model for climate-responsive, solar protective shade.

    Apparent temperature is a measure based on human comfort. Using temperature, humidity, wind speed and radiance (the main factors affecting thermal comfort) it computes an index based on some typical human factors, such as perspiration rates, radiation absorption and metabolism.

    In computing Apparent Temperature at different locations, ShadeCalendar uses location-specific annual temperature and humidity data and 'typical' values for wind speed (based on a slight breeze) and radiation (based on moderate sunlight under clear sky conditions). To decide on a cut-off point, ShadeCalendar uses a ‘bioclimatic chart’ of human comfort and calculates the corresponding Apparent Temperature.

    To assess the intensity of UV radiation, the monthly average maximum UV Indexes as provided by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) and the New Zealand National Institute of Weather and Atmosphere (NIWA), are used.

    Combining UV Index and Apparent Temperature results in three shade options for different times of year.