Essay — 6 min read
Designing for Kenyan Light
On the equator the sun is rarely a soft, raking light; it arrives overhead and unfiltered. Before a single wall is drawn, we study how it will move across the site — where the morning warmth should land, where the afternoon glare must be cut, where a cross-breeze can be coaxed through the plan.
Deep overhangs, recessed openings and shaded verandahs do most of the work. They let us open a building generously to its view and its air while keeping interiors cool and quiet. The result is architecture that feels calm in the heat without leaning on mechanical cooling to make it liveable.
Light handled well is also light that ages well. A facade designed around shadow reads differently at nine in the morning than it does at five in the evening — and that slow change is part of how a building earns its sense of place.