Every project in the studio starts with a drawing that has no walls in it. Just the site boundary, north, and the path of the sun at the two solstices and the equinox.

It sounds precious. It is the most practical hour of the whole project. Once you know where the morning light falls in December, you know where the kitchen goes. Once you know which corner gets the long evening sun in June, you know where people will want to sit, and so where the living room wants to be.

Layout follows light, and a surprising amount of the rest follows layout: the roof shape, the window sizes, even the budget, because a house arranged around the sun needs less heating and fewer lamps.

We still do the sums and the models later. But the first drawing is always that one, in pencil, with the sun on it.