PLATE 05 · ROOF TERRACE APARTMENT
The living room has the sun until 17:45.
15:00 · sun 33° · 2 of 2 rooms in sun51.5°N · 19 Sep · clear sky
Every room, this minute
Clear sky · hours of direct sun anywhere on the room’s floor, found by the same test that draws the gold in the render above.
Outside
Whole day, clear sky · horizon profile of what stands around it · no glass in the way.
The same rooms, all year
One mid-month day per cell · clear sky · direct beam at the sunniest point on each room’s floor.
Every plant, where it stands
5 standing · 1 getting by · 1 want moving
Boston fernBack of the living room0.0h
Medium this month · Bright direct from Apr
Forest-floor light is dim and indirect; fronds have no defence against direct sun.
Fronds thin out and the centre of the plant stops producing new growth.
Nephrolepis exaltata · Humid forest floor in the tropical Americas, in dappled shade.
Fiddle leaf figBy the terrace doors0.0h
Bright indirect this month
It begins as an epiphyte near the canopy, so it expects strong light and sulks without it.
Drops lower leaves one at a time and leans hard toward the window.
Ficus lyrata · Lowland West African rainforest, where it starts life high in another tree.
MonsteraLiving room0.0h
Low this month · Medium from Oct
It grows up trees toward light but under a canopy, so it is built for bright, broken light rather than open sun.
Leaves stop splitting and come in small and whole; stems stretch toward the window.
Monstera deliciosa · Understorey of Central American rainforest, climbing toward gaps in the canopy.
PothosStudy0.3h
Medium this month · Bright indirect from Apr
Adapted to dim broken light under trees; it will live almost anywhere and grow faster where it is brighter.
Variegation fades to plain green and the vines go leggy between leaves.
Epipremnum aureum · Forest understorey in the Society Islands, trailing and climbing in broken shade.
Snake plantStudy corner1.5h
Bright indirect this month · Medium from Oct
It tolerates almost anything because it evolved where the light is unreliable and the water more so.
Growth stops entirely, but it will sit unchanged for a year before complaining.
Dracaena trifasciata · Dry rocky ground in West Africa, full sun to deep shade.
Fit is a month-long question, read at the plant’s own spot. It does not move with the hour rail.
The brightest spot in a room is found once, over the whole year, so every reading of that room is of the same square metre.