What Is The Best Orientation For a House in Barcelona?

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Do you know what the best orientation for a house in Barcelona is? When you start looking for an apartment in Barcelona, whether that is a rental or you are going to buy a home, you always think of the criteria that will help you find your ideal home, the one that suits your situation best and meets all requirements.

The main factors we take into consideration are price, area, number of square meters, and the state the property is in, but you should never forget about a house’s orientation.

In this article we will shine a light on the most common orientations and which ones result in more sun hours. We will also share some of the advantages and disadvantages of each type of orientation in the Ciudad Condal.

Table of Contents

When do you enjoy more sun hours in an apartment in Barcelona?

Should you buy or rent one facing south or east? And why is the orientation so important? These questions may have popped into your mind at some point when looking at different apartments.

The main reason for checking the orientation is the effect it has on natural light inside the home, but you could also need less energy to heat the home and therefore save you some money each month.

Photo via Unsplash

If you compare Barcelona with other European cities, we are very lucky to have so many hours of sunshine at any time of the year, no matter what season it is. That is why there is great value in finding an apartment with the right orientation that is as bright as possible.

The more light enters the windows, the cozier and warmer an apartment feels.

Let’s find out what houses enjoy more hours of sunlight:

South-facing house

Renting an apartment in Barcelona that faces south means that the house will profit from the sun’s radiation for the largest part of the day and practically during the whole year. This seems to be something positive, right? It is, however, only beneficial in colder climates with long winters.

In case of Barcelona, with a warmer climate and without extreme temperatures, a south-facing apartment can come with a downside.

Too much radiation from the sun will heat the apartment too much, which results in turning on the air conditioning or fan for many hours. This then leads to (much) higher electricity bills.

Recommendations

Have awnings placed or hang dark curtains that will keep the light out.

North-facing house

This orientation only allows for direct natural light to enter the home in the morning. On the positive side this means that you enjoy the same amount of daylight throughout the rest of the day.

The biggest downside from this orientation is that if you want warm temperatures in all of the main areas inside the apartment, you are probably going to have to rely on heating.

This way you will be able to keep the temperature at a certain level when the apartment doesn’t benefit from radiation, especially in wintertime.

Recommendations

This orientation is perfect for rooms like pantries, dressing rooms, utility rooms and laundy rooms, as they don’t need much warmth from the sun.

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East-facing house

This is probably the best orientation your house in Barcelona can have if you are deciding on where to rent an apartment in Barcelona. The sun’s light will shine in the morning and fade as the hours of the day progress. The apartment will therefore be warmed up at the beginning of the day and will cool down during the rest of the day.

Knowing that summers can get quite hot in Barcelona, this orientation will help not to experience too much heat during the night.

Recommendations

One thing that adds more value to the property is that, besides facing east, it has sea views. Just imagine waking up every morning seeing the sun rise over the Mediteranean sea. Does that sound good or what?

If you are bothered by the amount of light that enters your home, you can always add vertical awnings that allow you to control how much daylight enters the rooms.

West-facing house

Having an apartment that faces west takes care of plenty of natural light entering the place from midday and onwards. The main advantage this has, is that once winter arrives and temperatures drop, the orientation will help heating up the rooms. This makes for more pleasant temperatures during the night.

South-facing apartment for rent via ShBarcelona

Winters in Barcelona are normally very mild, so this orientation can help you save on heating costs. In summer, though, it will become hot inside, and as a consequence you will spend much more on getting a comfortable temperature inside the house at night by turning on the air conditioning.

Recommendations

Avoid choosing an apartment that has the bedrooms or other rooms where you spend a lot of your time facing west if you don’t want to place vertical blinds or turn on the fan or air conditioning the whole summer.

Feng Shui and the lay-out of an apartment

The first time you read about the orientation of a house you probably thought of Feng Shui, but one actually has nothing to do with the other.

If you are still reading this article, then you have already discovered what is meant with the orientation and lay-out of a home. You will be able to profit from an increased amount of sun hours and even be able to save some on your electricity bill every month.

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Feng Shui is a Chinese decoration technique that aims at improving the energy in our home to have a positive influence on our well-being. Feng Shui looks at color schemes and where to place certain objects. It doesn’t just look at furniture though, it also affects the room itself. This article tells you more on the philosophy behind Feng Shui.

So what is the best orientation for a house in Barcelona?

Now that you have learned of the types of orientation, it is good to know that there are many more factors involved in choosing the ideal apartment, like wall insulation or real height, the best option when living in Barcelona and wanting to avoid extreme temperature contrasts, would be a southeast orientation. So this is in between east-facing and south-facing.

When looking at temperatures in Barcelona in both summer and winter, you will enjoy natural light all day during the colder months and have the afternoon and evening sun in summer.

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