How it works

The sun does the heating. The shape does the thinking.

No panels, no fuel, nothing to switch. Watch a full day and night: in winter the solarium soaks up the sun and holds the heat overnight; in summer the high sun is turned away and the house stays cool.

Solar-passive heating, animated

A day and a night, in the solarium

THERMAL-MASS FLOOR INTERIOR SHADE COOL INSIDE THE SOLARIUM 6°C OUTSIDE −12°C
Winter · daytime
Sunlight Thermal-mass floor Heat into the house Inside temperature

Winter. Through the day the low sun pours onto the floor and the solarium climbs from cold to hot. The mass banks that heat and gives it back overnight — so the room stays warm long after the sun is down, and the heat flows into the house.

How hot is "hot"? On a clear winter day a Sophab solarium can reach the low 30s °C inside while it's well below freezing outside. Your house only needs about 20 °C — everything above that is free heat you can bank.

30s °C
what the inside of the solarium can climb into on a sunny winter day
~20 °C
all the house actually needs — the surplus is what gets banked
Overnight
the thermal-mass floor keeps handing that heat back after sunset
The idea in three parts

Why it works without a single moving part

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The sun changes height

In winter the midday sun rides low across the southern sky; in summer it climbs steep and high. That seasonal swing is the whole opportunity — welcome one, refuse the other.

The curve sorts it out

The glazing is steep down low and lies over up top. Low winter sun hits the steep part square and streams in; high summer sun hits the crown and is turned away — no switch to flip.

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The mass keeps the heat

A dark floor or wall soaks up the daytime sun and lets it back out slowly overnight, flattening the cold. Add earth tubes and the ground lends a hand too.

Ready to put the sun to work on your home?

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